Analysis
North West Airline is just one of the major domestic airlines in the country. The company has the objective of being the most preferred airline by the air travelers. The airline also needs to be able to reach various destinations in the country. It has had the challenges of reaching various smaller cities that do not have jet services available to them.
The airline has also been having challenges with the formation of alliances especially with the commuter airlines. The Northwest airline has been encountering problems particularly concerning the inadequate capital available for the purchase of smaller airlines or the provision of services to its relevant destinations (Smith 77).
The cost of labor is also relatively higher when compared to that of smaller careers hence making it difficult for this operations take place. The Northwest airline has made alliances with Airlink which encompasses smaller airlines. Airlink relationships are based on negotiable contracts and performance and whenever the performance is bellow the expectations, the airline has always sought other alternatives from other service providers in the same market which are not always the most viable alternatives.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no connection between the Northwest airline and the Airlink flights. Interline transfers where passengers and baggage are transferred from one airline to the next have been noted to be time consuming. Different carriers may have gates that are remotely separate hence increasing the time for the interline transfers.
The Northwest airline has always been promising its customers convenience in terms of online connections although this has never been fully attained as passengers and their baggage often fail to make interline transfer connections. Some of the airline partners of the Northwest airline provide substandard airport services.
There exist some inconsistencies between the Northwest airlines and its partners especially concerning the information provided to the partners as well as the procedures that are involved in service delivery. The cooperation as well as the coordination in the online transfer between different carriers has had problems with the timeframe.
A number of factors have contributed to this. There is for instance a very big difference between the ground crews and the parties that are involved. The Northwest airline is unionized with rules and regulations concerning the activities to be undertaken by the various workers. On the contrary, the commuter airline workers are characterized by inexperience, they are none unionized and their payment is much lower in comparison to their counterparts in the Northwest airlines (Smith 200).
There seems to be much difficulty in the cooperation between the various management groups. Finger pointing and dominance have been common in most of the cases. The Northwest airlines have often cast any blame about underperformance on their partners given that they have no chance to defend themselves and even if they had, they lacked the incentives to do the same.
There seem to be no clear communication channels set to address the issues concerning the management for the various companies that are involved at the airport level. The other airlines that are involved do not have the resources as well as expertise like the Northwest airlines and this makes it difficult for them to undertake problem solving activities and ensuring improvement in their performances.
The Airlink careers have encountered dysfunctional consequences especially when it comes to performance goals. If the compensation is for instance on departure basis, the carriers might make every effort to ensure that planes leaves on that particular time without waiting for the passengers and baggage that are connecting (Smith 300).
There is need to integrate the activities of the Northwest airline and the Airlink so as to ensure uniformity among the two airlines. The Northwest airline is characterized by quality services, experienced and well paid workers as compared to the Airlink workers.
The fact that a plane is scheduled to depart at a particular time makes the connection of different carriers difficult as the arrival time of one is not always the departure time of the other. Efforts need to be directed towards ensuring the harmonization of the same. The communication channels need to be made clear at the airport level.
Recommendations
There are various recommendations to for the problems and challenges that are faced by the Northwest airline. The airline for instance needs to increase the services to the cities that are not served by jet services as this would increase their customer base and would ensure that they have an added advantage over their competitors.
The process of feeding the passenger traffic to the lager partners would greatly improve in such cases. The Northwest airlines should solicit for more capital and ensure that the purchase of smaller airlines is made easier or improve its service delivery to the relevant locations.
The airline need to teem up with those companies that have highly qualified staff and those that provide quality services that are of the required standard. The Northwest airline needs to integrate the activities and services of the Airlink into its own operations so as to reduce the costs that are charged during the inline transfers and this would be appealing and hence attract the customers.
The time for the interline transfer needs to be significantly reduced. The airline needs to ensure that the gates for the different carriers are not very much separated so as to ensure that the time taken while transferring flights is less.
The airline needs to enhance the convenience of its services to the customers by ensuring that the passengers are able to connect between flights easily (Smith 100).
The problems associate with the Airlink partners need to be eliminated. The airport services like the issuance of tickets, the check-in of luggage, boarding of the aircraft, as well as the flight information needs to be of high standards. Their should be no inconveniences between the Northwest airlines and its partners especially regarding the information issued to the customers as well as the procedures that are involved.
Cooperation and coordination needs to be enhanced within the respective carriers so as to ensure easy operation and for little time to be taken between the interline transfers. Coordination and corporation would ensure that standard services are delivered and information would be shared across the various carriers hence ensuring that there is standardization of services across the various airlines. The differences that exist between the ground crews and the parties involved need to be eliminated.
The Unionization of workers should not only to be associated with the Northwest airlines but the other airlines as well. The operation between these two needs to be linked and the experience of the workers as well as their pay standardized across the airlines. This would ensure that the services are of the same qualities across the airlines.
The employment process needs to be accompanied by a comprehensive vetting process which would ensure that only the qualified employees are employed. This would in the long run ensure that the services offered across the various airlines are of high quality and the taskforce is satisfied with the pay and the allowances.
This would motivate them to work more hence ensuring greater productivity. The standardization of the services would ensure that finger pointing and dominance is avoided as it has been the case whereby the Northwest airline shifts all the blame on the Airlink knowing that they are incapable of defending themselves and even if they had they would lack the incentives for the same.
The communication channels need to be made clear at the airport level so as to enable the tackling of managerial issues that exist between the companies at that level. Airlink lines need to be provided with the needed resources and the appropriate expertise so as to enable them to tackle the problems that they encounter as well as improving their performance as it is in the case of Northwest airline.
It is also appropriate for them to ensure that the Airlink goals that are set do not have detrimental consequences to the airlines. The planes need to wait for those passengers and baggage that are transferred across the lines rather than going exactly by the set time and hence inconveniencing the connecting passengers some of whom may opt not to use their services again (Smith 133).