f4f3a From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2004, 246 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 months 3 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 2087 times:
I was wondering whether there has been an airline who has made a successful transition from short haul only operations, to long haul? Looking at successful business models they seem to do one or the other. Such as southwest emirates etc both good at one thing. All the airlines I can think of that have tried to make a transition have failed. Can anyone think of a successful example?
Quokkas From Australia, joined Jan 2012, 1355 posts, RR: 9 Reply 2, posted (5 months 3 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 2003 times:
I am not sure if you mean a transition from short haul only to long haul only or a combination of both. But I 'll give it a go with the latter, as I think they are probably more typical.
While it started out in 1947 as Malayan Airways Limited with a short hops from Kallang to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang, and has since been through substantial changes, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines comes to mind. The airline later introduced flights to Indonesia, Vietnam, Burma (now Myanmar), North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak. The first transcontinental flight was to London in 1971. By then it had become Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA). The following year it split into the two airlines we know today. Both SQ and MH offer long and short haul flights.
I don't think we can say that their model has failed but that politics got in the way of what could have been a successful single airline.
Even the example of Emirates is not completely accurate. Its first flight was to Karachi and today it serves, what? 22 - 24 routes in the Middle East and Gulf area. EK's model may be based on connecting passengers and boosting visitor numbers to Dubai, but it has successfully combined both short and long haul operations in its network.
[Edited 2012-11-27 05:28:44]
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leftyboarder From Turkey, joined Apr 2008, 647 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (5 months 3 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 1940 times:
Didn't (almost) every airline that has long haul ops today once start as a short haul only airline? Most old airlines can trace their beginnings to short hops to nearby countries.
f4f3a From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2004, 246 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (5 months 3 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 1474 times:
I mean short haul only to expand to do both or vs versa. Most that do are flag carrier airlines and have had a monopoly,so it would be a different storey in the modern era. Also many legacy Carriers the short haul loses money. It will be interesting to see if norweigen can make it work without compromising their short haul operation.
RDH3E From United States of America, joined Mar 2011, 1059 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (5 months 3 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 1400 times:
By virtue of the technology of the day, every US airline that started pre-WWII was pretty much a "short haul" airline, as it took 8+ stops just to go transcon.
max550 From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 1111 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (5 months 3 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 1326 times:
Air Asia X (D7)? I have no idea how well they're doing but they added long haul and still exist.
It's hard to find many other examples because the short haul LCC model as we know it has only existed for a relatively short period of time. It wasn't until deregulation in the US and later in Europe that short haul carriers started appearing.
RyanairGuru From Australia, joined Oct 2006, 2471 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (5 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 1050 times:
I guess it depends on how you define "successful".
I believe that AirBerlin and Air AsiaX are struggling somewhat, I'm not sure that their long haul networks have been runaway success stories.
It's early days for Virgin Australia, but have struggled to define their niche. They've tried JNB and HKT, both pulled, and ran a day return to NAN, which has reverted to 737s. Their AUH flights are basically there at the bidding of EY. LAX would be their only "successful" station, although I guess that isn't overly surprising given that their entire business model was written around flying to LAX.
Jetstar is the only one I can think of in recent times that properly fits your bill.
mig21umd From Australia, joined Feb 2005, 237 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (5 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 1014 times:
****** Virgin Australia ******
(formerly Virgin Blue) went from being a low cost carrier operating 2 aircraft on domestic services in Australia 12 years ago to now having a fleet of over 90 aircraft plus orders for more and their network today also includes long haul operations to Los Angles and Johannesburg offering first and business class service.
They have been turning a profit too so I guess they are successful.
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