Air France.

Marketing Mix

Product

Air France has two main strands of product offering on the ground services and in-flight services.

The first relates to access to major airports with appropriate parking, duty free shopping facilities and safe and efficient baggage handling as well as good quality customer service at reservation counters, booking in desks, online booking services etc.

Inflight services are less tangible and more prone to customer perception, and include areas such as cabin crew approachability and comfortable seating as well as in-flight shopping and entertainment/ refreshment.

For Air France, delivery of a quality product in both aspects is a major element of business offering as they realise the importance of this to customers.

Price

For many leisure travellers, price is one of the major considerations when choosing an airline, along with accessibility to airports, and flight times. For Air France, their price structure is based on basic fares, both leisure and business plus additional costs such as taxes, and the service provided by the airline. As a strategy they have selected value for money pricing , charging the average price when compared with their competitors.

Place

Place in this context refers to how, where, why and when consumers purchase. For Air France this may be direct through the airline, either online or by phone, as part of a holiday package or through a third party travel agent.

Promotion

Encouraging awareness of the value provided by an airline is done through promotion. In the case of Air France this is done through a combination of joint promotions with their strategic partners, both airline and non-airline based as well as direct advertising and promotion through magazines and TV advertising and in holiday brochures. The company’s promotional stance is heavily based in promoting its French basis, with a brand image based on style, colour (blue) and positioning themselves as the representation of France in the air.

In addition, the company’s partnerships with organisations such as Hertz Rent a Car, who are able to offer discounts and special deals to Air France customers and Allianz, who offer a digital safe-box to Air France customers, offer a further route to raising customer awareness of the brand and its offers.

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