3. What effect do the process changes have on the firm’s brand image? EasyJet, the low-cost, no-frills airline, has been the subject of many case studies and is widely used as an example of how an innovative approach to marketing can produce tremendous competitive advantage. This does not mean that things have always gone smoothly for the airline – in fact, at one point it looked as if the company was going to become a victim of its own success!

The demand for cheap flights, and the availability of new routes, was growing faster than the airline’s ability to buy or lease aircraft. EasyJet could not afford to relax on opening up new routes, because a failure to seize opportunities in that regard would have left the routes open for competitors, of which many had grown up since the early days when Ryanair and EasyJet were the only two budget airlines in Europe. Also, passenger numbers were growing so fast that EasyJet’s prices were rising – unless one booked very early indeed, the aircraft would be filling fast and the computer system would raise the air fare, thus destroying the company’s main selling point.

The choices were simple: either the company would have to raise fares across the board and use the money to fund new aircraft (thus destroying the firm’s only competitive advantage), or it would have to find ways to make the existing aircraft work harder. EasyJet chose the latter course.

Aircraft suffer from some limitations. They fly at the speed they fly: although it is possible to speed up a little, the cost in fuel outweighs the savings made. They have a fixed number of seats: unlike buses or trains, passengers cannot stand in the aisles. They cannot tow trailers, or have extra carriages put on, or in any way expand their capacity. Many airports nowadays do not operate on a 24-hour basis, because of environmental and noise considerations, so short-haul aircraft are effectively grounded overnight. The only slack in the system that EasyJet could identify was the turnround time on the ground: the less time spent on cleaning and servicing the aircraft ready for its next batch of passengers, the more time it could spend in the air.

EasyJet called in the consultants, but rather than hire time-and-motion consultants, the airline brought in a group which specialises in developing innovative corporate cultures.

For the next 3 months the consultants interviewed all the people involved in turning round the aircraft – the baggage handlers, the caterers, refuelling companies, airport staff, EasyJet front-line staff, ground engineers, pilots, cabin crew and even the cleaning contractors. The consultants then were in a position to set up the right conditions for people who actually do the job to pool their ideas.