AIRBUS

Airbus



Airbus

Introduction

Airbus is a leading aircraft manufacturer that consistently captures around half of all orders for airliners with more than 100 seats. Our product line-up, which covers a full spectrum of 12 aircraft models from a 100-seat single-aisle to the largest civil airliner ever, the double-deck A380, defines the scope of our core business.

An Airbus executive should attempt the following process for improving the current and future manufacturing.

Strategy

Airbus is building a new support strategy where customers pay for a significant portion of purchased services with data collected during operations. In a press briefing last December at the aircraft manufacturer's headquarters in Toulouse, France, executives from Airbus's customer services team explained that rather than becoming a standalone business unit, integrated customer support can help make Airbus airplanes more attractive. In addition, they outlined plans to create a network of MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) providers, and gave an extensive description of Airbus "e-solutions" for maintenance.

Patrick Gavin, executive vice-president for customer services, sees the emergence of low-cost carriers as one of the structural changes in the air transport industry that are influencing his business. "

Another structural change is the growing number of small, very specific carriers, such as cargo haulers, VIP airlines, etc. "A small carrier is not a small customer; think of JetBlue a few years ago!" Gavin said. Therefore, Airbus people are aware they have to adapt to each market.

Airbus has defined its new customer services policy around a basic but essential statement: "Airbus's core business is manufacturing and selling aircraft." Services come after. The bulk of the firm's profits come from aircraft sales, not services. This is another reason services will not be a standalone business.

Services should be

That was the definition of what services are not. Now for the definition of what they should be, according to Airbus customer services executives. They have assigned themselves three missions: safety, customer satisfaction, and contribution to airlines' profitability. In other words, satisfaction at the bottom line and not only in operations. As an Airbus spokesman put it, "customer service is not a deal maker but it can be a deal breaker."

Gavin believes this policy is consistent with the fact that airlines operate mixed fleets, with Airbus and Boeing aircraft. "We have to provide our customers with services for all their aircraft types instead of trying to force them to accept an Airbus service for their Boeing jets," he added. For example, to ...