Porter Airline Case Study
Executive Summary
Porter Airlines is a continued success in the short haul air travel business. Its low cost structure has
enabled them to be proactive in the industry and gain a fairly large market share. Porter’s strategic
successes include its quick turnaround time upon departure and arrival, its competitive ticket
pricing, web ticket sales and its exceptional customer service. In addition, Porter’s low cost and low
maintenance on their Q400 turboprops give them a competitive advantage as they are put in par with
regional jets; they only need 35% capacity to break even. Furthermore, Porter increasingly becomes
more successful with its established methodical growth. In addition, Porter’s success as an entrant into
the business can be related with the circumstance of the dying airport Porter invigorated. However,
as Porter has been successfully thus far, continued success is ambiguous. This is the case for a couple
reasons: the dying airport was an historical event fully taken advantage of and this may not happen
again and other small companies are entering the marketing with similar strategies or some even
better. It in fact seems as though Porters current business model has reached its peak and now future
issues are priority. There are two major issues that Porter should consider when moving forward in the
business: (1) Branding; (2) Limited Resources. Porter Airlines competes based on branding. It wants
to be consumer’s first choice airline. With its exceptional customer service already an advantage, in
order to maintain market share, Porter will need more sustainable ways to be the brand that everyone
wants. Furthermore, Porter’s flights are still constrained to the 500 nm. They have future expansion
plans but find that they have limited resources. Porter will need greater access to resources to be
sustainable.
Issue 1:
Since Porter Airlines entered the crowded North American
Porter Airlines is a continued success in the short haul air travel business. Its low cost structure has
enabled them to be proactive in the industry and gain a fairly large market share. Porter’s strategic
successes include its quick turnaround time upon departure and arrival, its competitive ticket
pricing, web ticket sales and its exceptional customer service. In addition, Porter’s low cost and low
maintenance on their Q400 turboprops give them a competitive advantage as they are put in par with
regional jets; they only need 35% capacity to break even. Furthermore, Porter increasingly becomes
more successful with its established methodical growth. In addition, Porter’s success as an entrant into
the business can be related with the circumstance of the dying airport Porter invigorated. However,
as Porter has been successfully thus far, continued success is ambiguous. This is the case for a couple
reasons: the dying airport was an historical event fully taken advantage of and this may not happen
again and other small companies are entering the marketing with similar strategies or some even
better. It in fact seems as though Porters current business model has reached its peak and now future
issues are priority. There are two major issues that Porter should consider when moving forward in the
business: (1) Branding; (2) Limited Resources. Porter Airlines competes based on branding. It wants
to be consumer’s first choice airline. With its exceptional customer service already an advantage, in
order to maintain market share, Porter will need more sustainable ways to be the brand that everyone
wants. Furthermore, Porter’s flights are still constrained to the 500 nm. They have future expansion
plans but find that they have limited resources. Porter will need greater access to resources to be
sustainable.
Issue 1:
Since Porter Airlines entered the crowded North American