West Jet: The Phenomenal Success of an Airline - Essay Sample

Introduction

Founded in 1996, West Jet has become of the most successful airlines in the world, boasting a fleet of more than 90 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft. In addition, the airline has flown to over 85 destinations in the world in approximately 18 countries. This is a huge success considering that the airline started with only three used Boeing 737 aircraft but has expanded tremendously in recent years. This paper investigates the success factors for the airline focusing on the impacts Information Technology had on its strategies.

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During the growth of the airline, the management came up with a strategic plan. The plan was to come with the way to allow two or more airlines share the same flight. By doing so, the business arrangement would give access to more passengers in various parts of the world (Ivey, 2013, pg. 1). Furthermore, the connections would be easier by permitting single bookings across multiple airlines networks. In spite of the success West Jet had been having at the time, they needed this plan to expand their market scope to keep up with the other airlines.

In as much as the plan was appealing to the organization, they required an IT system to be integrated within the airlines to enable smooth operations. However, West Jet faced major setbacks in its IT structure that could not enable it to keep pace with other developing airlines. To start with, the company lacked an IT expert, who would work as the Chief Information Officer, at the executive level. This was despite the fact that they had an officer who was responsible for the IT activities of the company. Having a slot allocated for such a position in the top level management was very pivotal for the development of the company.

Secondly, even though West jet airline appointed a new officer for the position of the Chief Information Officer, she quickly realized that selling her ideas to the staff and colleagues at the IT department would be a tall order. Having assessed the situation at the company, the new officer soon noticed that the management would not easily take the changes she was considering to bring to the company. Her proposed changes would have drastic effects on the employees and the organizational structure as a whole. However difficult it would be for the airline to accept the proposal, she knew certain changes had to be undertaken.

The IT structure at West Jet was such that the basic functions of planning, building, operating, and maintaining revolved around a functional group (Ivey, 2013, pg. 4). This was the case as with other departments in the organization. According to the structure, everyone was expected to be all-purpose and anyone could respond to any emergency, the area of specialty notwithstanding.

To solve the problems that came with the type of IT structure the company had, the newly appointed officer prepared a number of changes which she unrolled and steered the airline forward. First of all, she quickly canceled the monthly meetings between the Vice President and the business unit heads by replacing it with a more reliable IT way of presenting reports and requesting funds. Another change was also the introduction of an all-support IT system that worked round the clock rather than tiring the workers. One more change that was introduced concerning the IT structure and IT budgeting was to move the data center further from the runway to avoid accidents as well as create a redundant system for backing up data.

Conclusion

To sum up, West Jet airline achieved a number of successes after integrating a number of IT changes to the structure. The incorporation of IT strategies in management would later see the airline get more traveling opportunities and ultimately attain success at a faster rate.

Reference

Ivey Publishing (2013), West Jets Airline Information Technology Governance and Corporate Strategy.