E-commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

E-commerce - Essay Example e mysterious flu virus that originated in Southeast Asia, soon spread throughout the world and many countries so affected had been crossed out as travel destinations. As for the surging oil prices, all kinds of transportation systems were logically the first and worst sufferers. The airline industry received the hardest blows. In effect, the airline industry was among the sectors of the world economy lying prostrate as the old millennium changed to the new. Many flag carriers, notably Swissair of Switzerland and Sabena of Belgium, could not hang on and wrote finis to their operations. In the US, a number of domestic airliners filed for bankruptcy proceedings as an option for folding up completely. Going into 2005, the airline industry as a whole was estimated to have suffered losses to the tune of $43 billion (Watson, J., 2006). This was equivalent to the combined capitalization of 13 American airlines in today’s terms. The British Airways (BA), which for many years held the distinction of being the world’s most profitable airline, found itself hemorrhaging by 2 million pound-sterling per day in operating costs during those troubled years, following the 9/11 tragedy and the added one-two punch of SARS and the almost doubling cost of fuel. From 2001 onwards, BA went through an almost uninterrupted four-year decline. As the world’s largest international airline, BA is regarded as the industry leader, its profit ledger the bellwether of the market. Had it collapsed in the aftermath of 9/11, there would have been serious repercussions for both the aviation industry worldwide and global business as a whole. Airlines have precisely taken to forming an alliance among themselves to consolidate their resources so they can joined hands in warding off industry-wide problems like rising fuel costs, overcapacity and under-capacity. Such an industry grouping is the American Alliance which consists of Cathay Pacific, Qantas and other airlines. BA, an