| dc.description.abstract | An analysis of the airline industry today clearly shows that business growth and survival is
mainly determined by size. Relatively big airlines dominate the international flights market with
the few small airlines that have attempted to venture into the market performing decimally or
closing business after just a few months in operation. In East Africa for instance, the market is
dominated by Kenya Airways and quite a number of new entrants have been forced to either sell
work under Kenya Airways or close shop. The only Airlines that have survived the East African
competition and who seem to be succeeding include Precision Air and Rwanda Air Express.
This study sought to investigate the competitive strategies adopted by the small airlines in East
Africa. A Cross sectional survey was undertaken due to the fact that we intended to describe the
area of research and explain the collected data in order to investigate the differences and
similarities with our frame of reference within a given period of time. The population of study
was the small airlines in operation within the East African Region, whose number stood at 12 as
at March 31st, 2008
Desk study was undertaken, in which a review of the relevant literature was carried out. Primary
data was collected from the various airlines with the aid of a semi-structured undisguised
questionnaire with both open ended and closed questions. Personal interviews were also
conducted with 5 of the respondents selected at random, aided by an interview schedule. For
purposes of the study, the data was analyzed by employing descriptive statistics such as
percentages, frequencies and tables. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used as
an aid in the analysis. | en |
