Porter Airline Toronto: Seasonality
Companies that want to emerge successful in the aviation sector should be aware of the problem of seasonality and implement powerful strategies to mitigate it. Porter Airline Toronto continues to face different challenges due to this issue. There are unique aspects or factors that contribute to seasonality. For instance, Porter Airline Toronto is a regional airline that operates from Billy Bishop Toronto Airport.
Since this airline has its headquarters on the Toronto Islands, it usually finds it hard to attract a consistent number of customers throughout the year. Demographics also dictate the travel habits and frequencies of different clients. For instance, individuals aged between 19 and 25 years use Porter’s services in a seasonal manner (“Airline insight,” 2018). This is true since they have to travel for academic purposes during specific periods or seasons (Bastola, 2017). The percentage of students in need of transport services tends to increase during the months of February and July.
Similarly, gender is a determining factor when focusing on the predicament of seasonality. For instance, men travel more frequently in comparison with women. They move from one region to another towards the end of every month to visit their relatives, friends, and family members. The number of male passengers also decreases significantly in January and May. Bastola (2017) goes further to argue that careers and occupations dictate the frequency and rate at which different American citizens living in Canada use air transport.
This is the reason why the percentage of domestic passengers for Porter remains high (see Fiigure 1). Expatriates doing jobs in the United States tend to travel during specific seasons or periods of the year. Those working locally might decide to use other means of transport, thereby contributing to the issue of seasonality. Individuals in various managerial positions form a small percentage of potential customers (ZalagÄ—naitÄ—, 2018).
Despite the fact such professionals travel frequently, their reduced numbers are incapable of solving this predicament. Additionally, a small percentage of people above the age of 50 undertake managerial roles and might not make a significant difference for Porter.
The purpose of travel is another aspect that researchers and experts consider to confront this challenge. The rate of passengers tends to increase during Christmas and other festive seasons, thereby forcing companies such as Porter to implement superior measures to meet their demands (see Figure 2). Those travelling for medical tourism will focus on specific holidays or seasons (“Seasonal shifts,” 2018).
The geographic location where Porter operates is another aspect that explains why the company continues to face the problem of seasonality. Consequently, different passengers might decide to use other service providers depending on certain factors, including age, the season of the year, and the purpose of travel. It would, therefore, be appropriate for this organization’s leaders to identify and implement powerful initiatives to address this problem.
Proposed Managerial Strategies
The current predicament Porter Airline Toronto is facing reveals that seasonality is the major challenge affecting its performance. New managerial approaches are essential and can deliver positive results, reduce the amount of flight delays, and maximize profits (Kumar BR, Sharma, & Agarwal, 2015). The company is currently grappling with diverse issues, including understaffing, unique physical location, and limited budgetary allocation.
The first evidence-based approach for Porter to consider is the power of effective human resources (HR). This means that the company can implement a powerful operational model whereby employees, captains, and technicians will collaborate accordingly depending on the existing period (Kalemba, Campa-Planas, Hernández-Lara, & Sánchez-Rebull, 2017). The HR manager may consider the power of work-life balance to meet the changing needs of employees during peak season (Kwak, Seo, & Mason, 2018).
During low season, there is a need to focus on aircraft maintenance, training, and improvement of services. These measures will be successful if all employees are part of the process (Kraft & HavlĂková, 2016). Such gains or changes are essential and capable of improving the company’s sustainability whenever there are fluctuations.
Transformational management is an essential concept that this organization can consider to mitigate the problems of seasonality. Using this model, the leaders at the company will introduce a superior culture that resonates with the demands of the targeted passengers (Mhlanga, 2017). Effective managerial approaches can encourage employees to present evidence-based insights for improving performance. For example, some individuals can support the identification of new routes and destinations since different markets will have highs and lows at specific months or periods of the year (Mandal & Sarathy, 2018).
Proper leadership can guide employees to formulate evidence-based strategies for attracting more potential regional and local passengers. A supportive workforce presents the actual input and will ensure that such measures deliver positive results (Gregson et al., 2015). Effective management will ensure that operations are coordinated and informed by the number of individuals in need of superior transportation services.
Another commanding strategy is that of engaging in appropriate decision-making processes. The company’s leaders can identify powerful measures that can ensure that positive results are recorded during high seasons (Karaman, Kilic, & Uyar, 2018). For example, Porter can purchase or lease new aircrafts to meet the needs of more customers during such periods (Mirkovic, Vidosavljevic, & Tošić, 2016). Similarly, top management can support the maintenance of planes and training of workforce during low seasons.
The idea of supply chain management is another powerful approach that can overcome the issues associated with seasonality in the aviation industry. Proper coordination, logistical operations, and the use of modern technologies to acquire resources will streamline the actions different companies undertake (Spero, 2018). The selected firm can also develop state of the art supply chain management that promotes collaborative efforts with its key stakeholders and use supply network in an attempt to maximize value for every client (Alan & Lapré, 2017). These proposals are implementable without the need to incur extra costs in this organization to improve efficiency and minimize flight delays.
With streamlined supply chain initiatives, improved employee engagement, proper managerial approaches, and effective HR resources will result in coordinated operations during high seasons. Such efforts will be rescheduled when the number of customers decreases depending on the nature of demand (Chang, Chen, Hsu, & Hu, 2015). With Porters’ unique location, reduced number of employees, and limited budget, such measures will make it easier for this company to overcome most of the above predicaments.
The completed research has revealed that seasonality remains a major problem that many airline corporations encounter across the globe. This challenge disorients performance, thereby making it impossible for the affected company to record increased profits (Kwak et al., 2018). The introduction of appropriate HR practices, superior managerial strategies, and coordinated supply chain management will streamline operations without the need to incur additional expenses.
References
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