North American Airlines Take Off by Alan Wise, Ketil Gjerstad, Marguerite Fitzgerald, and Jason Guggenheim
The 2017 Consumer Value Creators Series NorTh AmeriCAN AirliNeS TAke off By Alan Wise, Ketil Gjerstad, Marguerite Fitzgerald, and Jason Guggenheim he airline industry is dominating The Top Ten Tthe travel and tourism sector—out- Of the top ten performers on this year’s pacing hotels, cruise lines, and others in travel and tourism list, nine are in the air- the sector in terms of value creation. North line industry and seven are based in North American carriers in particular have bene- America. (See the exhibit.) That includes fited from restructuring, scale efficiencies, five US carriers: and consolidation over the past decade, giving them a strong position and lower • Hawaiian Holdings, parent company of costs in a robust market. Hawaiian Airlines (which finished first) In 2017, The Boston Consulting Group con- • Delta Air Lines (fourth) ducted its annual study of the total share- holder return (TSR) of more than 2,300 • Southwest Airlines (fifth) publicly traded companies in 33 industry sectors, including 80 companies in travel • Alaska Air Group (sixth) and tourism. (See “How Top Value Creators Outpace the Market—for Decades,” BCG • JetBlue Airways (tenth) article, July 2017.) It’s tempting to cite lower fuel costs as the From 2012 through 2016, the global travel reason for this collective strength, but and tourism sector delivered an average that’s likely a subordinate factor at best. annual return of 19%. It ranked ninth Lower fuel prices affect all carriers world- among the 33 sectors we analyzed and sec- wide, not only those in the US. ond among the five consumer segments.
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