Abstract:

The development of air traffic in the 1990's is a constant factor in the future foreseen by airlines and the organizations that represent them. Already developing markets (such as Europe and the Asian Pacific), together with new markets that are ripe for development (such as those of Eastern Europe), are giving rise to an unprecedented increase in the demand for new aircrafts. Ordering a 747 or a MD11 today means taking delivery no less than five years from now. Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Airbus and Fokker - the leading producers of commercial aircraft will have no trouble meeting their sales target for the next ten years. This increase in air traffic has been boosted not only by the growth of the world's economy and by increasing international economic exchanges but also by changing lifestyles and by the fact that mankind's age-old dream of discovering and visiting never-before-seen places has become a real possibility. A fast growing market and intensified competition generate a need for a different approach to business on the part of an airline - a review of its mission of its positioning on the market and of strategies for staying on top of a changing market.