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Running an airline business during recession

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Fitzpatrick, A. (2015). A Tale of Two Airlines. Time, 186(22/23), 106-109.

Assume you are running an airline business where the fixed costs in terms of rent or mortgage payments on the aircraft and terminal facilities are relatively high as a percentage of revenues. The employees are unionized with long-term contracts. What can you say about the airline's operating leverage? What steps could you take if you believed that the country was going into a recession? Give examples.

Include in your discussion how you would address the following:

Capacity decisions
Financing decisions
Labor relations
Pricing
Relations with government regulators

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An airline business during recession is discussed in a structured manner in this response. The related references are also provided.

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In compliance with BrainMass rules, this is not a hand in the ready assignment but is only guidance. Please do not copy and paste any part of my response.

Since the airline business where the fixed costs in terms of rent or mortgage payments on the aircraft and terminal facilities are relatively high as a percent of revenues, moreover, the employees are unionized, this means that the airline's operating leverage is high. Since the airlines have a high gross margin and relatively low variable costs have high operating leverage. The point is that the airlines have high mortgage payments, this means that the airlines are using considerable debt to finance its ongoing operations. Also, the airline has to cover a large number of fixed costs because of the union agreement, mortgage payments, and terminal facilities.
There are several steps the airline has to take if I believe that the country was going into a recession. It must reduce its fixed costs because lower sales revenues because of the recession can lead to a drastic fall in cash inflows. There are currently different methods of reducing fixed costs.

Capacity decisions:
The airline must accurately forecast demand during the recession. Since it is expected that the demand will be lower, the airline must reduce its capacity. The capacity reduction will occur by reducing the number of planes the airline owns. This money will be used to pay off a part of the mortgage loans. Second, the airline must also sell off some of its lower-performing terminals. This will further reduce its mortgage payments. The reduction in capacity must be done by the forecast of a decline in demand for airline services. During a recession, all routes do not experience a uniform decline. The airline must select those sectors where the decline in demand will be high and dispose of its terminals in those areas. ...

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