Virgin Atlantic Essay Example

Virgin Atlantic Essay The company I’m going to investigate is Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic is a British airline, which was founded almost 25 years ago; it is a leading player of Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group, who own 51% of it and Singapore Airlines owns 49%. Its headquarters are located in Crawley, West Sussex, England, near London Gatwick Airport, they also have Technical Engineering Centers and other buildings and offices for cargo and Logistics in Manchester and Norfolk. It operates between the United Kingdom and North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia from main bases at Gatwick and London Heathrow Airport, using a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircrafts. Despite Virgin Atlantic’s growth the service remains customer driven with an emphasis on value for money, quality, fun and innovation. On its long haul routes Virgin Atlantic operates a two class system: Upper Class (the airline’s business class) and Economy Class which is segmented into Premium Economy Class and Economy. Virgin Atlantic recently launched the Upper Class Suite – a new product which promises to take on other carriers’ first and business class products. Virgin Atlantic also has Upper Class Lounges at Various Airports in the UK, USA, Japan, Hong Kong and the Caribbean. Mission Statement: A Corporate mission statement should be an expression of the vision, the culture and the shared values of the organisation, as well as defining the boundaries or scope of the business. We will write a custom essay sample on Virgin Atlantic specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Virgin Atlantic specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Virgin Atlantic specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The four phrases to analyse a Mission Statement against, to evaluate its effectiveness are: Is it reasonably concrete and action oriented? Can People Understand it, relate to and put into action? Does it differentiate company from competitors? Is it simple, easy to put into words and easy to explain to customers? Virgin Atlantic has got a Simple Mission statement: 1. To grow a profitable airline 2. Where people love to fly 3. And where people love to work. 4. They’re mission Statement is easy to understand as its in simple words so nyone could understand it, including the customers. It relates to the organisation, its customers and the staff. The mission statement is concrete and action oriented but not excessively. It states what their targets are and what they are achieving for but does not go in too much in detail about them. Objectives: Our objective is to fly a profitable airline that people love to fly and where people love to work. Our focus is on further improving cust omer services for our business and leisure travellers, as well as setting new standards for the rest of the industry to follow. Our strategy is to ensure we offer the best business product in the air, grow our leisure business even further, and run an efficient but effective global airline. The Objectives of Virgin Atlantic are not too Specific, as they dont explain why people are going to love flying and working with them they dont state the best products they are planning to offer in the air. They are measurable because they could calculate the profit. They are achievable and could be achieved because the luxury airlines offer similar facilities. Objectives are also Realistic because the Virgin Group is successful and has plenty of resources including money. But there is no Time-Bound set on the objectives. Standards: Virgin Atlantics Standards are : We put customer service and commitment to our passengers at the heart of what we do. We strive to get it right, first time, every time. But occasionally, things dont go as planned. We believe that you have the right to know what level of service you can expect from us all the time even in those rare moments when we fall short of the very high standards we have set ourselves. Setting standards is useful in achieving high levels of customer care, because then the staff know what is expected from them and the success could be measured. Virgin Atlantic should also introduce other standards such as cutting down length of the queues to check in. Customer Feedback: The Methods Virgin Atlantic use to gather customer feedback is by Email, Post or Fax. These are effective methods because the feedback given in these forms is originally written or typed by the customers and can be stored to analyse and improve the service. Virgin Atlantic could also introduce Comment Cards on the planes, so customers can tick boxes and comment about their experience flying with Virgin Atlantic. The Feedback they gather is used for Accounts and Records, Advertising, Marketing and Public Relation, Administration of Membership Records, Research, Software Development and Testing and the consideration of complaints Purposes. Staff is not made aware of the feedback gathered but they should be since they have a role in the organisation. Customer Improvement To improve its Customer Care, Virgin Atlantic trains its staff at The Base- its new state-of-art training centre. According to Virgin Atlantic, Investment in its employees futures is vital for business to keep growing therefore from first day employees can focus on their training and development. Virgin Atlantic treats its employees as single most important part of Virgin Atlantic. Richard Branson believes: The people who make up Virgin Atlantic make Virgin Atlantic. This isnt a company that just talks about putting employees first or glibly claims that our people are our greatest asset. This is a company that simply wouldnt exist without the energy, the determination, the wit and the wisdom of our people†. Everyone at Virgin Atlantic has the intelligence to think on their feet and respond to any new developments that come their way, they work hard to provide unique brand and service which they are popular for. This, in turn, creates a lively, cooperative environment where everyone knows whats expected of them and works together to achieve it.. Reward and Recognition Schemes Virgin Atlantic has good reward schemes to motivate its employees and to keep them happy since they work hard. Virgin Atlantics full-time employees receive Seven free Flights to wide range of glamorous global destination. Also they offer competitive benefits packages: Pension and private medical schemes Life assurance Excellent discounts across the Virgin Group and lots of other companies Long term disability insurance Spouses and dependents benefit Dental plans Health screening Access to other major airlines discount travel, including European airlines All these benefits should motivate staff and increase their morale. Changes in Customer Care The Changes I would recommend for Virgin Atlantic to make are- Add more destinations world wide to different continents, this way the company can have a larger market and the customers would have bigger choice of destinations to fly to. Virgin Atlantic should also start flying nationally , within the UK aswell as international flights, This would be beneficial to the brand-loyal who want to travel from one city to another. Other British airlines, such as British Airways and BMI do national and international Flights. Since Virgin Group provides Various services like Virgin Trains, Virgin Mobile etc. Virgin Atlantic should offer discount to its customers who use other Virgin Product or Services, This would encourage customers. Bibliography http://virginally-atlantic. com/tridion/images/newpolicy_tcm5-540700. pdf http://wwp. greenwichmeantime. co. uk/time-zone/europe/uk/website/travel/airlines/virgin-atlantic/index. htm http://www. virgin-atlantic. com/en/gb/index. jsp http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Virgin_Atlantic_Airways