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Marketing Plan for United Airlines

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Marketing Plan for United Airlines
Marketing Plan for United Airlines
Jayne Diaz
BUS 620: Managerial Marketing
Professor David Kalicharan
February 20, 2012

Marketing Plan for United Airlines

Airline companies are becoming more and more competitive as the low budget discount airlines are becoming popular. It is key for airlines to differentiate themselves among the various airlines to choose from, and United Airlines wanted to ensure that it offered products and services for all marketing segments. “United realized that it needed to develop a customer-centric future strategy and galvanize its organization to improve the customer experience for its most valued customers” (Prophet, 2012, para. 1). This paper discusses the marketing plan for the newly merged United Airlines. It will cover all elements of a marketing plan such as the company overview, executive summary, target market, competitors, product and services, and location. It will also go into detail of the marketing budget, pricing strategy, and the summary and implementation plan for the company.

Company Overview

United Continental Holdings, Inc. was created by the recent merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines as of October 1, 2010. The new company operates under the name United Airlines, using the former Continental's logo and color schemes. The combined company has about 86,000 employees (United Continental Holdings, Inc., 2012, p. 2). “United and Continental transport people and cargo through their mainline operations, which utilize full- sized jet aircraft, and regional operations, which utilize smaller aircraft that are operated under contract by United Express, Continental Express and Continental Connection carriers” (UAL, 2011, p. 4). Standard & Poor’s recently released the stock report for United Continental Holdings, Inc. giving some key facts on the overview of the recently merged United Airlines:
As of December 31, 2011, the company had about $7.8 billion in cash. The company



References: AAP. (2011). Budget airlines turn to social media. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/marketing/news/article.cfm?c_id=14&objectid=10702700. Air Leo Allegiant Travel Co. (2012). TheStreet.com Ratings, Inc. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from: https://wwws.ameritrade.com/cgi-bin/apps/Main. Anuwichanont, J.  (2011) Brettel, M. & Spilker-Attig, A.  (2010). Online advertising effectiveness: a cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 4(3), 176-196.  Retrieved February 20, 2012, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2153927311). Di Frisco, M. G. (2011). Identifying target markets for your brand. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from: http://www.how-to-branding.com/Identifying-Target-Markets.html. JetBlue Airways Corp. (2012). Standard & Poor’s Stock Report. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Co. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from: https://wwws.ameritrade.com/cgi-bin/apps/Main. Johannes, A Mullins, J. W., & Walker, O. C. (2010). Marketing management: A strategic decision-making approach. (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Prophet Scripophily. (2012). United Air Lines certificate vignette. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from: http://scripophily.net/unitedairlines1.html. The Times 100 UAL. (2011). 2010 United Continental Holdings Annual Report. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from: http://ir.united.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-reportsannual. United United Continental Holdings Inc. (2012). Standard & Poor’s Stock Report. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Co. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from: https://wwws.ameritrade.com/cgi-bin/apps/Main.

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