Professional Development II
Prepared by:
Casey Foo Don Lin Karen Lim Kim Hong Lawrence Lim
1
Executive Summary
The airline industry is not young, and if it is not because of budget airlines who revolutionized how the industry works in terms of pricing strategies and marketing, it is honestly quite boring to fly! Since the September 11 attacks, airports around the world, including Australia has stepped up security measures extensively, which adds to the ʻhecticʼ experience of air travel. This is exactly the phenomenon what our proposal, called the WonderFlight program intends to address, by bringing our customersʼ flying experience to the next level. WonderFlight aims to bring our customersʼ flying experience to the next level by introducing themes into selected domestic B737-700 flights and each theme changes every three months. To start with, the launching theme would be Lady Gaga. For each WonderFlight, our flight attendants will dress up according to the theme and perform the usual in flight services such as serving meals & beverages. Passengers may also opt to take polaroid pictures on board with our well dressed flight attendants with a charge. On top of that, a custom flight safety demonstration will also be performed by our flight attendants according to the theme to encourage our customers of their interests in the safety features of the aircraft. Famous hits of that theme will also be played on-board to generate a fun and party going atmosphere. Passengers are informed of such themes during their booking stage online and are encouraged to dress up as well. By selecting a WonderFlight, each ticket will be charged $10.00 on top of the fare, while $5.00 will be contributed to Virgin Blueʼs RedJet Foundation for charity purposes. For the polaroid picture service, $8.00 is charged for each picture, and 30% of our takings goes to the World Wildlife Fund for the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef. Virgin Blue is in a great position to invest in this innovative business idea as it now faces stiff competition from other airlines such as JetStar and most currently, Tiger Airways. Based on the appraisal of external environment (SWOT analysis), we acknowledge the possible threats that would hinder our proposal such as possible criticism (mainly exploitation of flight attendants). Therefore, our proposal also includes several measures to consider the interests and well being of our flight attendants. Financially, this project costs $284,500 as a start-up. The return on investment on this project is highly desirable. For a start, the projection of our income statement for the second and third month of implementation yields a net profit of $267,300 and $237,128 respectively. On a yearly basis, net profit for the first year is expected to be at over $1.4m; while the second and third yearʼs net profit increases to $2.3m and $3.2m respectively. On average, our proposal yields a profit margin of 27%. With a much improved cash flow in the last financial period, supporting the investment of this proposal can help bring the name of the airline to the forefront through word-of-mouth and reviewers. Besides earning profits, the proposal also aims to contribute a total of $9.8m to the RedJet Foundation and $1.6m to the WWF over the course of three years. This great deal of Virgin Blueʼs corporate social responsibility will serve as a desirable corporate image for the company.
2
1. Overview of Business Concept
The name of our business proposal is WonderFlight. As the name would suggest, the project aims to bring the flying experience of our customers to the next level by introducing a series of innovative ʻthemed flightsʼ as the new inflight entertaining program. This interactive program between our flight attendants and passengers is inspired by Cebu Pacific Airlineʼs attempt in giving in-flight safety demonstration a twist by dancing to a Lady Gaga hit- ʻJust Danceʼ in 2010. Our proposal intends to expand the initial idea to