Malaysia Airlines Marketing Mix (4Ps) & Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy of Malaysia Airlines through marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).
Malaysia Airlines Product Strategy:
Malaysia Airlines is a flagship airline of the Government of Malaysia serving customers worldwide. Malaysia Airlines offers First class, Business class and economy class on its international flights to its customers in its marketing mix while it offers only economy class and business class on its domestic flights. Its fleet has 75 aircrafts out of which 54 aircrafts have been manufactured by Boeing(B737) and 21 aircrafts have been manufactured by Airbus (15 A330 and 6 A380) . Further, Malaysia Airlines is a member of the global alliance of Oneworld with several other partners to provide superior travel experience to its frequent international flyers by offering flights to more than 1000 locations worldwide. Further, it also offers lounge services at various airports worldwide. It has won several awards for excellent service delivery. Malaysia Airlines also provides different in-flight entertainment system based on the class in the aircraft.
Image: Wikimedia
This concludes the product strategy in Malaysia Airlines marketing mix & strategy.
Malaysia Airlines Price/Pricing Strategy:
Below is the pricing strategy in Malaysia Airlines marketing mix strategy:
Malaysia Airlines has always been a very competitive airline especially in Asia. While after the tragedy of loss of two airlines, it had cut the costs of the flights to hold on to the crew and flyers but is has since managed to distinguish itself with premium quality services offered.
As Malaysia Airlines offers full service flights its costs are now generally higher than low cost carriers. Further as it needed to differentiate itself from its competitors it charges a premium for them with prices comparable to that of Emirates. Further Malaysia Airlines is a 5-star airline which offers various frills with complimentary drinks and meals and has also even won many accolades for its food and beverages offered, thus justifying its premium pricing in its marketing mix.
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Malaysia Airlines Place & Distribution Strategy:
Following is the distribution strategy in the Malaysia Airlines marketing mix:
Malaysia Airlines operates using a hub system with its flights operating from its home base of Kuala Lumpur International Airport and a secondary hub of Kota Kinabalu. It operates on several international and domestic routes providing access to 150 plus countries with the help of its global alliance oneworld with partner airlines. Malaysia Airlines also uses code sharing arrangement with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, SriLankan Airways, etc.
It also signed another code sharing agreement with Emirates to provide service in 90 destinations across Asia, Africa, the Americas and Middle East.
Malaysia Airlines Promotion & Advertising Strategy:
The promotional and advertising strategy in the Malaysia Airlines marketing mix is as follows:
Malaysia Airlines made several efforts to rebrand itself as a premium safe carrier after 2014. It takes its public relations very seriously as it sponsors English premier league team Liverpool FC giving it the rights to be its official global airline partner. Also, Malaysia Airlines advertises its services through traditional media such as TV adverts, newspaper adverts and digital media through Google ads. Further it also undertakes sales promotion activities offering discounts on certain travel routes during the year. As a part of customer retention strategy, Malaysia Airlines also offers a frequent flyer program to its regular customers. It also maintains a dedicated website for its airlines for making bookings and other information.
Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing mix of Malaysia Airlines.
People:
Malaysia Airlines understands that people are most important for its business. Since airline service is a high contact service with high experience attribute, it employs 12000 people working in 53 cities for the smooth functioning of the airlines in keys areas such as procurement, marketing, flight crew, on-ground staff. Further, the Malaysia Airlines invest heavily in the training of their employees as they are responsible for the passenger safety and with that purpose in mind, they had established Malaysia Airlines Academy in 1994 to train the employees and develop aviation professionals and foster the culture of ‘Malaysian hospitality’ in their employees. They have a dedicated career portal on their website for potential employees.
Process:
Malaysia Airlines is effectively doing people processing and thus offers a set of facilitating services to its customers for the same. The process involves making reservation for the flight using the airline website, third party booking website or through other dealers. After which the flight information is shared with the customer. The passenger is required to arrive at the airport and can use the lounge facilities at the airport in case of first class or business class reservations. The flight offers baggage handling, meal service and flight entertainment as a part of the complete service to the passenger. Apart from this there are several other business processes of Malaysia Airlines.
Physical Evidence:
Malaysia Airlines has several places where its physical presence is felt by customers, especially its aircrafts. As it is a high contact service provided by Malaysia Airlines, the Physical Evidence plays a major role to provide a tangible proof of the quality of the service. On the ground, the physical evidence includes the reservation counter, the tickets, the brand logo, the customer service counter, lounge facilities while the in-flight evidence includes the aircraft size and interiors, the seating configuration, cleanliness of the place, the uniforms of the employees, the other passengers. Hence this completes the marketing mix of Malaysia Airlines.
About Malaysia Airlines:
Malaysia Airlines is a government owned national carrier of Malaysia which operates flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport as well as another hub in Kotu Kinabalu and provides full service flights to its customers. It faces competition from other full-service flight operators such as Singapore airlines, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific etc. It maintains a strong position in southeast Asia.
Malaysia Airlines is operated by Malaysian Aviation Group which has four business segments: Air Transportation services, Ground services, Aircraft leasing and talent development. After the airlines lost two aircrafts in 2014, it focused on the airlines’ restructuring and rebranding to return to profitability.
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