How to Open an Airline Business
An airline business is an important one. You will be connecting people together, and you will be providing a necessary service. Whether for business, pleasure or familial obligations, travelers are not hard to find if you provide a great flight experience with low prices. You'll simply need to get organized, be clear on your long-term ambitions with the company, and devise a new take on the industry.
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Instructions
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Write an airline business plan. This is different from any other business in the world. You have to plan for how to acquire the planes. Discover where you will likely make your profit based on past profit projections from airline businesses that have succeeded. See the link to the Small Business Administration for a step by step process of building your business plan.
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Look into how you will get your fleet of planes. You'll need to decide how many planes you will be able to get. It is best to start small. You can also increase with demand, but you first will need a modest amount of planes. Going too low will risk repulsing customers by not offering them enough choices, but having too many planes will mean that you lose a massive amount of money in the case of failure. You want to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst in the business world, especially the airline business world.
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Submit your business plan to banks for financing. You can go to your local bank, or you can choose a financing company or bank that is specifically geared to financing on airlines. Some are listed in our Resources section.
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Attract new customers prior to opening for business. You want to establish a logo for your company. A mascot is also a good idea. Having an easily recognizable image, saying and name for your company can mean everything when it comes to customer recognition and repeat service. For a new airline, getting your name out there is the most important part. Give the customer a good reason to choose you over the established airlines.
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Know your competition. You will be in competition with local airlines and with the major airlines. The major airlines are American Airlines, America West Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways. Know who they are. Know where they fly. Know what perks they offer the customers. You want to exceed the expectations of your customers, without going for broke in your own business.
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Establish your version of a customer rewards number or card. Offering your customers "miles" for future use for each mile flown is a great way to gain customer loyalty. It works for the major airlines, and it will work for you. This requires a great deal of honesty and marketing when it comes to making sure customers understand this process.
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Obtain the federal, state and local clearances for your planes and your business.
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Revise your original business plan to address changes along the way. Honestly assess what you plan to make for a profit within the first year, five years and 10 years. Take the revised plan to banks if you had trouble the first time. If not, re-submit any changes in your business that will effect it financially to your bank. Honest communication is a must in this business world.
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Host a big grand opening. While you want to become established, you want to become celebrated as a cheap alternative that is safe, efficient and fun. Take a flight. See what is lacking and what you wish for as a customer. This will give you a good clue as to what you can do to improve your own airline.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't put everything into your business. While the airline industry made significant profits from 1995 to 2000, the industry operated at a loss for years after that.
