Competitive strategies applied in the airline travel companies: A qualitative research towards Turkish companies

Airline Sector is one of the most competitive sectors, because of the social, economical and political developments experienced nowadays. Competitive strategy is one of the most important concepts that affect the success of the companies in this changing environment. The aims of the study are to determine what the competitive strategies applied in Turkish airline travel companies are, the key dynamics and competition advantages factors of the sector are. Turkish airline travel companies, performing their activities in the airline travel sector, are included in the context of the research. Qualitative research method was preferred and structured interviewing technique was used in the research. The data was obtained from the face to face interviewing with the managers of the companies. The data has been analyzed with qualitative methods, document analyzing and reporting. In conclusion it is reached that the Airline Travel Companies generally practice low-cost strategies, but some of them rarely practice differentiation and focused strategies too. Also, it is understood that the Airline Travel Companies usually prefer defender and analyzer strategies, prospector strategies are evaluated in second plan. Another important conclusion, the sector is going to transform more competitive structure and consolidation and concordat will have been experienced in the near future.