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Easy Jet
easyJet's operational policies were based on keeping costs to a minimum to allow the airline to offer the lowest fares possible. The airline's operational model focused on moving people from point A to point B in the best and cheapest possible way, stripping out all unnecessary costs. Towards this end, it adopted a number of practices that helped curb wasteful expenses and provided the best possible service within the limits prescribed by cost.

easyJet's success can be credited to two strategic imperatives. The first was “sweating the assets”, that is making sure the planes were as full as possible and flying as much as possible. The second was a sophisticated yield management system which could set an infinite number of fares for a given flight, based on the demand and supply position for that flight. The prices for the seats fluctuated depending on the demand for them at a particular time.

The airline followed a strategy of cost focus by adopting the following operational policies:

easyJet identified that food served on flights constituted a major proportion of the expenditure per passenger. Most airlines served food regardless of the distance or duration of the journey. Customer feedback revealed that passengers did not want meals on short haul flights. They preferred to pay less for the flight and have a choice of purchasing light snacks or food as per their choice on the flight. easyJet therefore, identified that huge savings could be made by not serving meals and consequently, did away with the practice of serving food.

Instead of serving food, easyJet offered passengers the choice of purchasing drinks or snacks from an on-flight kiosk (called easyKiosk). This helped the airline cut out unnecessary expenditure on food. The benefits of savings were transferred to passengers in the form of lower fares. Another advantage of charging for food on flights was that it brought in additional revenue. Not serving food did not detract from the quality of service, as easyJet mostly flew short distances of a few hours duration, and passengers did not need major refreshments on these short journeys.

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