Evaluation of Air Canada: Strategy, Workforce and Competition

Executive summary:

Air Canada is the biggest Canadian airline and the biggest service provider on the Canadian market, International and trans-border markets to and from Canada. Air Canada is Star Alliances’ founding member which offering the world’s largest air travel network. The reasons behind the selection of Air Canada are that it is in the list of Canada’s top 100 employers for the fifth straight year. Moreover, Air Canada was given a Five Star Global Award in 2018 by the Airline Passenger Experience association (APEX).

I came to know through my research that there is a link between mission and business strategy of air Canada. They made strategy in that way which helps them to achieve their goals, it aims at continuously improving customer experience and employee engagement and creating value for shareholders by concentrating on four key objectives. Furthermore, there are many reasons for selection of Air Canada from the list of Canada’s top 100 employers. Air Canada seek feedback from its employees on all aspects from design to final decorations. The firm promotes several charities and projects focusing on children’s health and well-being through the impressive Air Canada Foundation. Air Canada offers many competitive advantages such as air Canada vacations, air Canada cargo, air Canada jetz etc.

Regarding the management of supply chain, Air Canada has a key component of their responsible and sustainable sourcing strategy is the supplier code of conduct, supporting their mission of acting responsibly and morally. In relation of flexible working options, Air Canada provide flexible arrangements to their employees on the basis of the nature of position. Lastly, Air Canada is growing continuously, and it is clear about their future objectives. It earned record $18.1 billion operating revenue during 2018. During 2019, they will welcome their fleet with the first of 45 airbus A220-300 (formerly the bombardier C Series) aircraft as they move forward with the renovation and upgrading of their narrow body fleet.

Introduction

Air Canada is the biggest Canadian airline and the biggest service provider on the Canadian market, International and trans-border markets to and from Canada. Air Canada is Star Alliances’ founding member which offering the world’s largest air travel network. On September 1, 1937, the predecessor of Air Canada, Trans-Canada air Lines (TCA), opened its first flight. TCA had evolved to become the national airline of Canada by 1964; its name renamed to Air Canada. In 1989, the airline was privatized.

Air Canada is one of the world’s 20 largest airlines with a workforce of 30,000. The headquarters of the company are situated in Montreal. The reasons behind the selection of Air Canada are that it is in the list of Canada’s top 100 employers for the fifth straight year. Moreover, Air Canada was given a Five Star Global Award in 2018 by the Airline Passenger Experience association (APEX). Air Canada is North America’s only global network carrier to obtain a four-star rating by Skytrax, an independent UK survey company. The purpose of this assignment is to show the relation among the vision, mission and business strategy of organisation and reason behind the inclusion of firm in the list of Canada’s top 100 employers. It will also provide information about the competitive advantage of the firm, supply chain management as well. Apart from this, information on the flexible working options available to the employees, growth and future plans of firm will be provided.

Relationship between the organization’s vision, mission, and strategy statements

The main goal of air Canada is to become one of the best global airlines in the world. Vision, mission and business strategy of air Canada are connected deeply, strategies are made to accomplish the mission and vision. In achieving this objective, it aims at continuously improving customer experience and employee engagement and creating value for shareholders by concentrating on four key objectives:

• Identifying and applying measures to reduce costs and increase income.
• Pursuing sustainable opportunities in global development and leveraging competitive characteristics to properly expand margins by enhancing connection traffic through its global strategic gateways in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, as well as growing and competing in the industry of recreation to and from Canada.
• Encourage clients through continuous improvement of their travel experience and continuously excellent client service with extra emphasis on premium – oriented travelers and products.
• Promoting beneficial change in culture through employee participation programs. This involves significant training investments and other instruments that support outstanding client experience and encourage better cooperation and recognition of how airline and its skilled staff can work more closely together in a supportive and enriching environment.

Some additional key objectives which air Canada wants to achieve in 2019 are:

• To ensure safety, it is going to implement all training and other necessary measures to reinstate the Boeing 737 MAX efficiently, where applicable.
• Install the multi-factor authenticator software to all of their staff base.
• By announcing the launch of fresh destinations in 2019, Air Canada continues to grow its network
• During 2019, they will welcome their fleet with the first of 45 airbus A220-300 (formerly the bombardier C Series) aircraft as they move forward with the renovation and upgrading of their narrow body fleet.

Why Air Canada was recognized as one of Canada’s top 100 employers

There are many reasons for selection of Air Canada in the list of Canada’s top 100 employers. Air Canada seek feedback from its employees on all aspects from design to final decorations- the sever floor head offices are part of a multi-campus and feature a refurbished café with outdoor seating area and an affordable access to a fitness center, courses led by instructors, and a jogging club for employees. Furthermore, the firm promotes several charities and projects focusing on children’s health and well-being through the impressive Air Canada Foundation, it has allocated more than 1, 58 million dollars over the previous year to regional and grassroots organisations, as well as more than 1350 airline tickets.

Employees of Air Canada enjoy several special economic benefits, ranging from tax free discounts to Air Canada cargo personalized shipping discounts to family travel discounts. Air Canada is an indigenous scholarship and award program partner for indigenous students who complete their education in an aviation-related program such as pilot or aircraft mechanics. Air Canada has also worked with jazz aviation to establish a partnership with first nation’s technical institute to assist young aboriginal learners become pilots- the proposal involves advice on the preparing of resumes and work interviews, as well as visits to flight simulators and flight activities.

Air Canada's Competitive Advantage and how they Manage their Supply Chain

Air Canada offers many competitive advantages as compare to its counterparts which I will mention through following paragraph:

Air Canada vacations is a Canadian leader in tour operations, providing including hotel packages, Air Canada Rouge roundtrips, Aeroplane flight prizes and a broad range of cruises, tours, and excursions on board Air Canada Rouge and its Star alliance partners. Repeated recipient of the “Choice Award for Favourite Tour Operator” for travel media agents. A hundred of destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South American, as well as Asia, Europe and the US are offered by air Canada vacations. Besides this, Air Canada Cargo offers a global direct shipping service. The industry-leading experts’ team from Air Canada Cargo provides its clients a distinctive collection of company solutions customized to satisfy the requirements of the shipping community effectively and economically. Recently, air Canada extended their cooperation with GTA dnata to include all AC cool chain shipments. Some goods involve unique handling by their very nature.

To safeguard the integrity of the shipment and comply with regulatory demands, they provide several shipping options for special cargo. In addition, Air Canada Jetz, the specialty charter service of air Canada, offers first-class air travel with all-business-class comfort seating and personalized service for professional sports teams, business clients, and entertainment groups. A range of refined meals and a large range of wines and spirits can be enjoyed in every Air Canada Jetz flight. International clients and the 100k members of the Altitude super elite business class now have exclusive personal air Canada concierge facilities available at 47 airports around the world. Concierges are an instant resource for these clients in-person during regular business hours and 24/7 for all issues relating to travel and airport, additional requests and individualized services like hotel, restaurant and ticket bookings.

Supply Chain

They operate with different suppliers globally to assist themselves attain their environmental objectives and encourage accountable behaviour. Air Canada has over 9500 suppliers and it spent 6.3 billion dollars on goods and services alone from Canadian suppliers, except fuel and labor. The total supplier expenses of air Canada in 2018 amounted to 12.4 billion dollars. Despite the size of the supply chain, the top 100 companies receive more than 86 percent of expenditure. Several Air Canadian branches are responsible for management of these relations, but the bulk of these expenses are covered by strategy procurement, which involves fuel purchases as well.

Moreover, a key component of their responsible and sustainable sourcing strategy is the supplier code of conduct, supporting their mission of acting responsibly and morally. The code is based on the principle and clearly states their suppliers’ expectations to guarantee compliance with Air Canada norms in the following main fields: integrity of businesses, accountable company practices and responsible treatment of people and the environment.

Types of Flexible Working Options available to Air Canada's workforce

There are numerous types of flexible working options available to the employees of air Canada. People can apply for the job as per their qualifications, skills, and interests. Air Canada always open recruitment for several job positions in different departments. Company has arranged the departments according to the nature of jobs. There are various departments such as aircraft maintenance, airports & cargo, contact centres, finance, flight operations, in- flight service, information technology, people, culture& communications etc. employees have flexible schedule for work on the basis of the nature of the position. Employees can work for morning shifts, afternoon shifts, evening shifts, and night shifts in air Canada.

For example: if you operate as a customer service officer from 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., or 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. Shifts in the afternoon. Part time is 6 hours a day, and it can be 8-16 hours complete time per day. You can exchange shifts, hand out shifts, trade, grab shifts or even partial shifts. Similarly, employees work in-flight service such as pilots, air hostess are require to work for long hours. Moreover, Air Canada always pays attention towards their employees and they provide every benefit and facility to their employees. Employees of Air Canada enjoy several special economic benefits, ranging from tax free discounts to Air Canada cargo personalized shipping discounts to family travel discounts.

Is the organization Progressive and Forward Thinking?

Air Canada is growing continuously, and it is clear about their future objectives. During 2019, they will welcome their fleet with the first of 45 airbus A220-300 (formerly the bombardier C Series) aircraft as they move forward with the renovation and upgrading of their narrow body fleet. A further 18 Boeing 737 MAX planes will be delivered, which entered their fleet in 2017 after a strong order of 61. By the end of 2019 air Canada plans to run 37 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, including 29 bigger models of Boeing 787-9, all 37 planned for delivery by the end of 2019. Apart from this, by announcing the launch of fresh destinations in 2019, Air Canada continues to grow its network: Toronto to Vienna, Montreal to Bordeaux, Raleigh, N.C. Furthermore, with the objective of getting all their planes fitted with wi-fi by the end of 2019, Air Canada provides wi-fi through its 184 narrow-body flights and selected north American flights. what’s more, the comprehensive worldwide network of air Canada offers scheduled passenger service to 64 airports in Canada, 60 in the U.S and 98 in Europe, Asia, Australia, Mexico, south America, the middle east, the Caribbean.

Air Canada always pay attention towards the safety, in 2019 their objective is to manage the safety risks and dangers connected with the airbus A220 aircraft being introduced, fresh routes and fresh initiatives or projects. Regarding environment, air Canada continue to make progress with the 2020 corporate waste strategy by: program for the reduction of single-use plastics. In some maple leaf lounges, the collection and recycling method is expanded. Thus, air Canada is growing rapidly, and it earned record $18.1 billion operating revenue during 2018.

Conclusion

Overall, Air Canada is the biggest Canadian airline and the biggest service provider on the Canadian market, International and trans-border markets to and from Canada. It makes strategies which helps to fulfil their mission and vision. Air Canada offers many competitive advantages such as air Canada vacations, air Canada cargo, air Canada jetz etc. Employees can work for morning shifts, afternoon shifts, evening shifts, and night shifts in air Canada. Air Canada is growing continuously, and it is clear about their future objectives.

References:

• Air Canada, Retrieved October 1, 2019, from
• https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/about/corporate-profile.html
• https://www.aircanada.com/content/dam/aircanada/portal/documents/PDF/en/corporate-sustainability/2018-cs-report.pdf
• Indeed, Retrieved October 1, 2019, from
  • https://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Air-Canada/faq/what-are-the-working-hours?quid=1bbp2qlsr52sq86n
  • eluta, Retrieved October 1, 2019, from
  • https://content.eluta.ca/top-employer-air-canada