Marketing Evaluation of British Airways

 

Executive Summary

This blog analyses the British Airways tourism marketing strategies based on fundamental marketing principles. It examines the internal segmentation, targeting and positioning tactics of the company and an external perspective with application of the Five Forces of Porter. The blog explains the competitive position of British Airways in the global airline market and suggests future marketing strategies to enhance marketing in the company. The blog will offer marketing ideas that are in tandem with modern tourism marketing trends and consumer demands.

Figure 1: British Airways

(Source: British Airways, 2022)

Introduction

The blog will assess existing data on marketing of British Airways in the vicinity of tourism marketing. It brings in major concepts of tourism marketing like segmentation, targeting, positioning and competitive analysis. It will illustrate the details of the analysis in a systematic manner in a coherent format to be presented in five chapters, giving internal as well as external analysis of the airline.

Background of the Company

British Airways (BA) is a leading airline in the world with its headquarters in the United Kingdom and was established in 1974 as the flagship carrier. BA is headquartered in London and, through Heathrow Airport which is its main hub, it serves more than 170 destinations in more than 80 countries. The organisation belongs to the Oneworld alliance and has a good record in terms of quality service, innovation and customer satisfaction. BA is also a very important part in leisure as well as business tourism, where it will provide high-end and economy services to varied customers (Britishairways, 2025).

British Airways also made significant investments in digital innovation, customer experience and sustainability in recent years. BA has been able to remain resilient due to its adapting marketing styles and its subsequent reinforcing of the loyalty programs such as the Executive Club ‌(British Airways, 2022).

Figure 2: British Airways Background

(Source: William, 2024)

Internal Analysis

STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) of British Airways

Segmentation

British Airways (BA) pursues a multi-dimensional approach to segmentation strategy in line with the distinctiveness of the various customers globally. The company has combined a mixture of geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural segmentation approaches to provide tailored services to specific market segments (BA, 2025).

Geographic segment: BA offers its services in over 8 countries across 170 destinations. This extended network provides the airline with a chance to customise its service to regional liking, regulations and customs. To demonstrate, a flight to Asia can often have food options that reflect local dishes, but a flight within Europe can have a more simplified and short-haul version of the services offered ‌(Britishairways, 2025).

Demographic segment:  British Airways will divide its consumers into age, income, occupation and purpose of travel. It aims particularly at business travellers and leisure travellers, structuring products to meet different income levels. Airline flies four unique cabin classes, which include First Class, Business (Club World), Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus) and Economy (World Traveller) (Britishairways, 2025). This arrangement enables BA to cater to the high-end consumers who want to enjoy high-end experiences and budget-conscious travellers who want low-cost and dependable services.

Psychographic segmentation:  BA targets consumers who care about comfortable travel, image, dependability and green products. Through branding, the airline focuses on the British heritage, luxury service and innovativeness. The appeal of ‘To fly, To Serve’ campaign targets the passengers in the emotional appeal mode and shows that BA is focused on providing unique travel experiences (Business Outreach, 2023). Travellers who are concerned with sustainability are also catered to by the airline with the pledge of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Figure 3: To fly, To Serve campaign

(Soruce: Business Outreach, 2023)

Behavioural segment: BA divides its customers using booking frequency, journey purpose and brand loyalty. The Executive Club and the Avios points system aim at rewarding frequent fliers by rewarding repeat bookings with tiered benefits, including lounge access, priority boarding and cabin upgrades. Conversely, the promotional fares, package offers and friendly booking online tools are used to target occasional/holiday travellers. The airline similarly utilises consumer feedback and information analytics to hyper-customise offers and suggest services according to historical behaviour (BA, 2025).

Figure 4: Evolution of British Airways Executive Club

(Source: BA, 2025)

Targeting

British Airways follows a differentiated targeting strategy, where they target more than one market segment and market the products and services segment-wise. BA does not have one marketing message that it applies to the entire population, but rather designs its campaigns and services by the needs and expectations of the required segment (BA, 2025).

Business travellers represent a high value group and they are offered such advantages as priority check, fast-track security, use of luxurious lounges and flexibility of tickets. Such clients appreciate the value of time, comfort and stability. Leisure travellers such as holiday makers and families are chased by competitive prices, seasonal discounts, travel packages and digitally accessible platforms. These are campaigns based on affordability, convenience and destination appeal (BA, 2025).

Loyal customers and regular flyers enjoy the benefits of the Executive Club offered by BA, which rewards customers for flying miles. There is a hierarchy (Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold) where greater levels of loyalty are rewarded by exclusive privileges, such as additional baggage weight, seats reserved and partner discounts (BA, 2025).

Covering several well-defined segments, BA reinforces customer retention, market share growth and brand loyalty both locally and internationally.

Positioning (Perceptual Map)

British Airways brands itself as a luxurious yet accessible global carrier that combines tradition, dependability and contemporary comfort. The brand differentiates through the provision of a quality in-flight experience, good customer service and connectivity to customers globally through the Oneworld alliance (Ward, 2022).

Airline	Price	Quality of Service
British Airways	Medium-High	High
Emirates	High	Very High
EasyJet	Low	Low-Medium
Lufthansa	Medium	Medium-High

Figure 5: Positioning Of British Airways

(Source: Ward, 2022)

Based on this positioning, it is clear that BA targets clients who are ready to spend some extra money in order to be more comfortable, renowned and serviced. Compared to BA, Emirates is more luxurious, which is why the mainline carrier has a strong competitive advantage over the low-cost carrier EasyJet in terms of service and brand perception. This middle-ground enables British Airways to appeal to a diverse range of consumers, including corporate travellers and discerning holidaymakers, through delivering value-led superior experiences (Ward, 2022).

External Analysis

Porter’s five forces analysis of British Airways

Competitive Rivalry: The airline industry is very competitive. British Airways rivals Emirates, Lufthansa and Air France and low-cost airlines such as EasyJet. Severe price wars, similar routes and evolving consumer demand continue to intensify competition, even more so after COVID as carriers compete to recover market share.

Figure 6: Competitors in European Airline Industry

(Source: For, 2024)

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Fuel suppliers, aircraft manufacturers (e.g. Boeing, Airbus) and airport service providers are also very powerful, as there are few alternatives. Delays in the Aircraft delivery or escalating prices of fuel can have devastating consequences on the operations of BA which will bring a lot of inflexibility and an extreme reliance on the suppliers (Lo Verde, 2024).

Bargaining Power of Buyers: Bargaining power is moderate to high among the buyers. The online comparison tools allow customers to conveniently change airlines to get better deals. Price sensitivity of particular segments of customers is mitigated by BA's brand image, its loyalty schemes and superior offerings.

Threat of New Entrants: Threats are less significant since significant capital requirements, governmental barriers, and brand loyalty is high. It challenges new entrants that have to secure airport slots and compete with the established international network and partnerships of BA (Britishairways, 2025).

Threat of Substitutes: Short-haul or business travel can be replaced by alternatives such as virtual meetings. BA has low substitute threats in long-haul and leisure travel, where environmental concerns and digital change may affect this force with time.

Future Development and Conclusion

The marketing audit of British Airways highlights numerous strengths as well as threats. Its internal competitive advantages are its segmentation and premium positioning, and the external competitive threat is intense rivalry and supplier power. The analysis underscores the necessity of adaptive strategies to sustain dominant market share in the fast-evolving tourism industry (BA, 2025).

The existing marketing approach has successfully combined high-quality services and affordability. Environmental communication, online interaction and post-COVID customer experience may be enhanced. Customer trust can be enhanced by further personalisation with AI, enlarging sustainable practices and better affordable offerings that will not affect quality negatively (Britishairways, 2025).

British Airways is in a good position and should keep innovating. The envisioned marketing strategy must be centred on the digital revolution, complementing customer loyalty programs and sustainability needs. These strategies will be able to keep BA competitive and relevant in the dynamic global travel market (BA, 2025).

References

BA (2025). Dupsy Abiola. [online] Dupsy Abiola. Available at: https://www.dupsyabiola.com/blog/evolvingworldofloyalty#:~:text=Members%20earn%20Avios%20points%20for,Platinum%20Pro%2C%20and%20Executive%20Platinum.  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].

‌BA.com. (2025). Our Culture. [online] Available at: https://careers.ba.com/our-culture  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].

‌British Airways (2022). BRITISH AIRWAYS EXPANDS US ROUTE NETWORK IN TIME FOR SUMMER. [online] Britishairways.com. Available at: https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/news/02062022/british-airways-expands-us-route-network-in-time-for-summer  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].

‌Britishairways.com. (2025). About British Airways | Information | British Airways. [online] Available at: https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/about-ba  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].

Britishairways.com. (2025). Travel classes | Information | British Airways. [online] Available at: https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/travel-classes  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].

‌Business Outreach (2023). Marketing strategies of British Airways. [online] Business Outreach. Available at: https://www.businessoutreach.in/marketing-strategies-of-british-airways/#:~:text=The%20company%20has%20made%20many%20alliances%20and,audience%20and%20create%20a%20strong%20brand%20value.  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].

‌For (2024). GRIDPOINT CONSULTING. [online] GRIDPOINT CONSULTING. Available at: https://www.gridpoint.consulting/blog/a-comparison-of-european-airline-results-for-2023  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].

Lo Verde, A. (2024) Competition Dynamics and Market Power: Analysis of the Duopoly Between Airbus and Boeing in the Civil Aircraft Manufacturing Industry (Doctoral dissertation, Politecnico di Torino). Available at: https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/32687/

Ward, S. (2022). Strategically segment and target your dream clients. [online] Epitomise.co.uk. Available at: https://www.epitomise.co.uk/blog/strategically-target-and-segment-markets/  [Accessed 5 Aug. 2025].

‌William, H. (2024). British Airways Launches Sale on 7 US Destinations For 2025 Flights. [online] Aviation A2Z. Available at: https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2024/12/21/british-airways-launches-us-destinations/#google_vignette  [Accessed 6 Aug. 2025].