China Southern Airlines

China Southern Airlines was founded in 1995 and is based in Guangzhou

It is China’s largest airline in terms of fleet size, with 309 aircraft. The airline employees over 45,500 full time employees. Its main hubs include Guangzhou and Beijing, but it operates in over 150 cities throughout China.

Furthermore, China Southern operates 616 domestic 82 routes, including 90 international routes and 25 routes in Hong Kong and Macau. As China’s only company that is in world top ten passenger airlines, China Southern Airlines is committed to building the core values of “CSAIR” consists of ‘customer first, (staff) respecting talent, (advantage) striving for excellence, continuous innovation and (return)contributing to society’ while incorporating social responsibility into the company’s development strategy. It is all to fulfill CSA’s vision and mission that to be the airline of “first choice” for our customers and employees.

Internal Analysis
In the value chain analysis. There are primary activities and support activities by China Southern Airlines (CSA). In the Primary Activities, first is inbound logistics. As CSA is a service oriented the logistic is the airplane itself and the staffs. As currently, China Southern Airlines operates more than 500 passenger and cargo transport aircraft, including Boeing 787, 777, 747, 757 ; 737 and Airbus A380, 330, 321, 320, 319.

Moreover CSA has earned an award for engine performance monitoring system by Natural Science ; technology progress Awards. Also CSA boasts for their 5,260 experienced pilots, and is the only Chinese carrier that has the independent capability to train its own pilots through its dedicated flight-training centre. Also CSA constructed a massive air cargo station, which covers more than 280,000 m2 with an annual capacity of managing 800,000 tons of mail and commerce. In addition, the Nanland Air Catering Co., Ltd., a holding subsidiary of China Southern, produce 8 30 million packed meals per annum.

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Second of the primary activity is the operations, CSA handle more than 2,000 daily flights to 193 destinations in 35 countries and regions across the world. Through close cooperation with its SkyTeam member airlines, China Southern Airlines’ global route network ps 1000 destinations to 187 countries and regions and nearly every major world metropolis. China Southern transported more than 86 million passengers in 2012, ranking the carrier first in Asia and the fifth among the 240 Airlines in IATA , topping all Chinese airlines for 34 years. Third is the outbound logistics, CSA done it very well as they are equipped with special online and mobile check in services. Fourth is the Marketing and Sales, CSA made a Social Responsibility Management to fulfill it’s mission to provide responsible service to the Party, the people and the nation at large.

In June 6, 2013, China Southern Airlines opened the Guangzhou-Moscow route, adding to the existing routes from Guangzhou to Paris, Amsterdam and London . China Southern also operate routes from Guangzhou to Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Brisbane, Perth etc. in Oceania, which form two beautiful fans. The China Southern Airlines’ European fan route network and Oceania network joins at Guangzhou Hub, cooperating with each other to create “Canton Route”.

By December, 2012, China Southern Airlines have kept a safe record of 10.37 million flying hours and carried close to 600 million passengers without incident. The airline’s safety commitment has – and continues to be – unwavering both throughout China and globally. On September 28, 2012, China Southern Airlines was honored with the Diamond Flight Safety Award by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), becoming the leading Chinese carrier to maintain the highest safety records in China.

China Southern Airlines has been honored as the “Best Airline in China” by several international media organizations and was honored with the “Five Star Diamond Award” by The American Academy of the Hospitality Sciences in January 2004. In 2011, China Southern Airlines earned its Four-Star status from SKYTRAX, the world’s most prestigious airline performance evaluation organization. That same year, China Southern Airlines also won the “SKYTRAX 2011 World Most Improved Airline”.

Parent Company
China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd.

Tagline/ Slogan
Always Cheaper Than On The Ground

USP
One of Asia’s largest airline in terms of both fleet size and passengers carried

STP
Segment
Customers looking for punctuality and efficiency

Target Group
Middle class / Upper middle class

Positioning
Smooth and efficient operations

SWOT Analysis
Strength

1. Largest air transport network in China with access to over 150 cities and over 600 domestic routes.

2. Centrally located in Guangdong for easy access to the rapid industrial growth of the Pearl River Delta.

3. Culturally, politically, linguistically, and historically synchronized with the Chinese market and the changes occurring within Chinese air transport.

4. Largest domestic cargo carrier

5. History as State Owned Entity and residual access and political access with the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Weakness
1. Small air cargo business segment and limited experience in air cargo freight and overnight transport logistics. 2. Undergoing continuous business reorganization and cultural change due to Chinese air transport deregulation, recent acquisitions, and alliances.

Opportunity
1. Utilize first-to-market advantage to build customer loyalty and to “lock-in” air cargo customers via contract and real-time technology before competitors commence expanded services in Chinese domestic market.

2. Utilize cultural background to implement Chinese air cargo information technology that reduces costs for independent shippers/forwarders in China through real time shipment communication.

3. Establish communication centres to accurately predict package/cargo volume and to reduce wasted belly space on domestic routes.

Threats

1. Increased domestic Chinese competition and resultant decreases in scale economies.

2. Inadequate grants of slot space and access to international hubs to compete internationally in the absence of further follow-through with alliances.

3. Increased competition from substitutes as Chinese surface transport infrastructure develops.

4. Jet Fuel price increases causing slowing of Chinese economy and overcapacity of air cargo carriers.

Competitors

1. AMR
2. Air China Limited
3. Air India

EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
Current Rivalry
As China Airlines have several competitors worldwide like EVA Airways becauseIf you’ve ever flown into (or out of) Taiwan then chances are good you were either on EVA Air or China Airlines, the two largest airlines native to the Republic of China.Between them, the two carriers handle approximately 64% of passengers visiting or departing Taiwan.

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