The document provides a SWOT analysis of Virgin Atlantic airline. It discusses the company's strengths such as its strong brand value and focus on quality customer service. Weaknesses include financial challenges from Brexit and poor differentiation from competitors. Opportunities include changing customer preferences and growing business travel. Major threats include increased competition from other airlines and economic conditions from Brexit. The conclusion emphasizes Virgin Atlantic's strengths in branding and customer experience while needing to address weaknesses like financial issues and lack of differentiation from rivals.

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Virgin Atlantic SWOT Analysis
Introduction
Virgin Atlantic is an airline company from Britain owned by a
top businessman known as Richard Branson. The parent
company for Virgin Atlantic Airline is the Virgin Group that
exists in the international market category. Leading unique
selling points for the airline company comprise of premium
airline, the upper middle class, in addition to the middle class
categories. According to the organization background review, it
is evident that Virgin Atlantic primarily targets reliability and
passengers seeking comfort market segments as part of its target
market segment. Preferred target groups comprise of
Corporates, the upper middle class category, in addition to the
middle class. Looking at the company’s position, it is evident
that the airline company concentrates on the premium services
that focus on customer experience as well as hospitality. In
comparison with other passenger carrier airplanes, Virgin
Atlantic is considered to be the seventh largest. Ever since its
foundation, the airplane has carried approximately 5.4 million
passengers in its different classes.
SWOT Analysis

2. Strengths
Virgin Atlantic depicts the ability to uphold a strong brand
value through propagating the cool image that has been
influenced by the owner. The airline maintains a remarkable
image by making certain it remains appealing to the
contemporary generation as well as exuberate factors such as
vigor along with youthfulness. Being an industry trendsetter is
an appropriate factor that is essential in airline business that
most companies have failed to take into consideration. The
ability to concentrate on quality is another ideal strength that is
identifiable with the Virgin Atlantic ensures the company is
constantly observing music quality despite the availability.
Positioning is an important part that is easily identifiable when
running operations in the airline industry. The company is
stationed as the source of revenue brand despite the tickets
being costly when compared to its rival organization (Carter,
2013). Virgin Atlantic ascertains that its service quality along
with personalized attention directed towards customers is top
notch to make the brand standout from its rivals. The ability to
maintain multiple customer clusters is another relevant part of
the strengths since it has three clusters that consist of economy,
premium, in addition to luxury categories. Through making
certain that the airline company ramps up and down its service
quality as well as level of personalizing the organization has
been the source of providing diverse standards of services for
each category. Lastly, customer satisfaction has been another
reliable strength aligned with the successful operations of
Virgin Atlantic in the global market.
Weaknesses
Financial challenges have been the main weaknesses affiliated
with the Atlantic Airlines in the present day following issues
associated with Brexit that are likely to result in financial
difficulties considering that the organization is spendi ng more
in dollars. Poor differentiation is another relevant weakness
aligned with the business operations of the Virgin Atlantic
organization. Despite having been a pioneer once in the airline

3. market segment, the organization was incapable of developing
solid dissimilarities (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). Most
organization in the airline sector has been employing similar
strategies that are associated with the strategies employed at
Virgin Atlantic. The notion of the airline being expensive
among various categories of customers is an alarming weakness
that may limit the organization to accomplishing its objects.
Opportunities
The airline company has multiple opportunities that consist of
avenues within its environment surrounding business
operations. An alteration in customer preferences is an
appealing opportunity that has greater likelihood of changing
the airline organizational preferences. With more experts
finding their way to the corporate world, then business scopes
are likely to continue growing (Antonetti et al., 2017). Various
categories of customers are willing to spend an extra dollar on
plane seats in case they fall under the category of individuals
comfortable with travelling.
Threats
Competition is the greatest challenge that the Virgin Atlantic
has to consider in its business model as it continues to deal with
the excess pressure from competitors such as Lufthansa, Fly
Emirates, the British Airways, and Air France among others.
Through Brexit, it turns out that the conditions of the airline
company remain to be crucial (Antonetti et al., 2017).
Conditions brought about by Brexit exhibited a sudden dip from
the number of customers travelling overseas.
Conclusion
Since the airline company is an industry trendsetter is an
appropriate factor that is essential in airline business that most
companies have failed to take into consideration. Virgin
Atlantic is stationed as the source of revenue brand despite the
tickets being costly when compared to its rival organization. By
making certain that the airline company ramps up and down its
service quality as well as level of personalizing the organization
has been the source of providing diverse standards of services

4. for each category. Multiple organizations in the airline sector
has been employing similar strategies that are associated with
the strategies employed at Virgin Atlantic.
References
Carter, S. J. (2013). Marketing Plan Example: Virgin Atlantic
Little Red. Germany: GRIN Verlag.
Jobber, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2019). EBOOK: Principles
and Practice of Marketing, 9e. Spain: McGraw-Hill Education.
Antonetti, P., Baines, P., Fill, C., &
Rosengren, S. (2017). Fundamentals of Marketing. United
Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Running head: Threats to your organization 1
Threats to your organization 8
Threats To Your Organization
Threats to Virgin Atlantic (VA)
The biggest threat to Virgin Atlantic that comes under the
socio-environmental domain is the Increased Competition in the
European Market. VA faces competition from several brands,
including Emirates, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Air France, and
British Airways. These airlines provide first-class service,
including highly comfortable seating, several entertainment
facilities, first-class lounges, terminals, and check-in counters
for passengers and on-demand meal options (Sadq, 2016). These
airlines offer a wide range of products and value-based variable
policies for pricing. These airlines invest in marketing by

5. making promotional advertisements and offer incentives like
loyalty programs, promotional codes, and discounts to
customers (Baxter, 2019). These airlines have made effective
use of social media platforms and have travel agents' portals
tied with Facebook and Twitter accounts. To be competitive,
Virgin Atlantic should invest in customer-oriented techniques of
social media marketing and cookies information. VA should
enhance its service quality, expand its network of global routes
and develop strategies for cost control.
Another threat to Virgin Atlantic in the Legal dimension is the
investigation by the EU of Delta's Ownership on non-European
investments in the European airline industry. In April 2014, the
EU began investigating that these investments should
contravene restrictions imposed on non-European control and
ownership. Inquiries were made on 49% of Delta's stake in VA.
The restrictions imposed by Delta are not overtly contravened
by corporate governance structure and ownership of VA. This
has increased the concerns of the European Commission over
whether there is a control of Delta. These investigations have
put a question mark on the relationships of Delta and VA. This
threat can be reduced by building on equity relationships and
driving cost synergies with Delta. The significance of VA
revenue to Northern America’s Revenue is that if there occurs a
cost reduction of 1ppt, then it would lead to a gain of 0.55ppt in
operating margins.
Cyber Security threat is another major threat in the
technological dimension to Virgin Atlantic. Several airlines
have suffered data breaches that have affected their customers.
Cybercriminals are present that hack websites and sensitive
personal data, including passport details and customer bank
account details. These data breaches greatly impact customers.
The airline business is a lucrative target of cybercriminals who
seek financial gains (Baxter, 2019). The cost of remediation for
protecting customers is very high, along with regulatory fines
imposed on companies. The myriads of legacy systems in
aircraft are liable to exploitable vulnerabilities, which have

6. become a source of major concern. To reduce this threat, VA
must invest in developing a strong security system. A system to
keep a record of safety, security practices, and resilience must
be developed that should be strong enough to withstand physical
security threats, extreme climate events, terrorist attacks and
respond promptly with caution.
References
Baxter, G. (2019). Capturing and Delivering Value in the Trans-
Atlantic Air Travel Market: The Case of the Air France-KLM,
Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic Airways Strategic Joint
Venture. MAD - Magazine Of Aviation Development, 7(1), 17-
37. https://doi.org/10.14311/mad.2019.01.03
Sadq, Z. (2016). Virgin Group Success Businesses:
Diversification, and Key Strengths.. 1. 56-67. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318727329_Virgin_Gr
oup_Success_Businesses_Diversification_and_Key_Strengths
SWOT FINAL PAPER INSTRUCTIONS
SWOT Analysis Paper Structure
Analyze the internal and external environments of the
organization along the following terms:
Section I:
Write a company history, including a mission statement if
available.
Section II:
Thoroughly explain at least two major strengths and two major
weaknesses of the organization. For each strength, discuss why
it can be considered a distinctive competence for the
organization. For each weakness, discuss what the organization
could do to minimize it. You should have a minimum of a full
paragraph for the discussion of each strength and weakness.
For each strength and weakness, ensure you use relevant

7. business theories, concepts, and practices that are aligned to
support the statements and findings. Note that bullet points are
not acceptable.
Select any five relevant financial ratios that would be
appropriate to the analysis. If you are unable to get specific
financial statement information then you can work with other
appropriate financial information that you are able to obtain
such as information from a divisional budget. There are plenty
of websites that provide information on financial ratios and the
following are two examples. If these links are not working, you
can still search using the key words "financial ratios" and that
should take you to websites that provide this information:
https://www.accountingverse.com/managerial-accounting/fs-
analysis/financial-ratios.html (Links to an external site.).
https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0910/6-basic-
financial-ratios-and-what-they-tell-you.aspx (Links to an
external site.)
Discuss how the financial ratios can be applied to the SWOT
analysis. Do these ratios show strengths? Is the organization
struggling financially? Are there financial opportunities?
Section III:
Thoroughly research and analyze two opportunities and two
threats that this organization is facing. Each of these
opportunities and threats must come from a force or forces
occurring within a dimension of the general environment within
the organization's external environment (keep in mind an
opportunity or threat can stem from more than one dimensio n
within the general environment). Be sure to include in your
discussion the relevant dimension of the general environment
from which each of these forces is derived.
Include in your analysis an explanation of how each of the
opportunities and threats will likely impact the company and
why. Include other companies or industries which may also be
affected. Include a TOWS analysis and be ready to make

8. recommendations and suggestions as though you were the
manager. A TOWS analysis involves the same basic process of
listing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, but
with a TOWS analysis, threats and opportunities are examined
first and weaknesses and strengths are examined last. After
creating a list of threats, opportunities, weaknesses and
strengths, managers examine ways the company can take
advantage of opportunities and minimize threats by exploiting
strengths and overcoming weaknesses. You should have a
minimum of a full paragraph for the discussion of each
opportunity and threat.
For each opportunity and threat, ensure you use relevant
business theories, concepts, and practices that are aligned to
support the statements and findings. Note that bullet points are
not acceptable.
Section IV:
Summarize your SWOT analysis by discussing how the
organization can capitalize on the opportunities presented in the
analysis along with ways it can limit or neutralize identified
threats before they happen. Some questions that you will want
to consider when summarizing your SWOT are:
Opportunities:
What opportunities exist in your market or the environment that
you can benefit from?
Is the perception of your business positive?
Has there been recent market growth or other changes in the
market that create an opportunity?
Is the opportunity ongoing, or is there just a window for it? In
other words, how critical is your timing?
Threats:
Who are your existing or potential competitors?
What factors beyond your control could place your business at
risk?
Are there challenges created by an unfavorable trend or
development that may lead to deteriorating revenues or profits?
What situations might threaten your marketing efforts?

9. Has there been a significant change in supplier prices or the
availability of raw materials?
Have there been shifts in consumer behavior, the economy, or
government regulations that could reduce your sales?
Has a new product or technology been introduced that makes
your products, equipment, or services obsolete?
Discuss how the organization can capitalize on the opportunities
that are occurring from the dimensions from within the general
environment. How can the organization neutralize the threats
that are occurring from the dimensions from within the general
environment?
Ensure you use relevant business theories, concepts, and
practices that are aligned to support the statements and findings.
Note that bullets points are not acceptable.
Paper Format:
Include correctly formatted parenthetical citations and a
reference list, following APA guidelines. You must have a
minimum of three external research sources.
Be sure to check for correct spelling, grammar, and
organization.
Your paper should be a minimum of 1000 words.
Running head: WEAKNESSES OF VIRGIN ATLANTIC 1
WEAKNESSES OF VIRGIN ATLANTIC
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WEAKNESSES OF VIRGIN ATLANTIC

10. Finance challenges
All the companies have different strengths, but there are always
some weaknesses that cannot be ignored. There are two major
weaknesses of Virgin Atlantic Airlines are financial challenges
and poor differentiation. Both weak points are important, and it
is needed for the company to work on them. The financial
challenges started with Brexit, and since then, the company has
been facing many issues. The airlines have to pay the amount in
dollars, but the exchange currency is in pounds. It is only one
factor of the financial challenges, and it is expected to be
resolved soon, but it is seen that there is another challenge that
has been presented (Bhasin, 2018).
Pandemic has stopped the air travel, but it made the people
confined to their house, so there is various news that the
company is running out of money and there are many things that
need to be managed. At the start of the pandemic, no one knew
that the lockdown would go so long, and the airline industry had
to face a huge loss. Recently, the company has issued its
financial statement, and it has been seen that the capital is three
times lower than the previous year.
Issue and crisis management can be implemented to handle the
financial crisis. The issue is the coronavirus, and the company
needs to accept that natural pandemics cannot be fought against,
and the humans are helpless about it. The issues and crisis
management theory enables the whole management to think of
the strategies that can minimize the impact of the crisis. As
soon as the strategies are defined, there is a need to work on
them and get back on track (P, 2020).
The preventive measures are to be taken for the company, and
the financial crisis can be handled by using paid software, i.e.,
auditing software. Earlier, the company used to have the data in
the spreadsheet and QuickBooks, but after the pandemic, it is
needed that effective financial statements should be made, and
there should be no mistake in it. Moreover, the latest software
tells about the strategies to improve the system. The cost of the

11. software is almost 100 USD, and it needs to be renewed.
The laptops are the tools used to communicate for the company,
and the employees already have their laptops provided by the
company. The outdated technologies should be eliminated from
the company, and the updated technologies should be
introduced. It will also help to overcome the weaknesses of the
company.
The cost of the product is minimal, as it has been mentioned
above, so that the company will buy it. The financial software
cannot be leased because all the company's private information
is saved inside the software. However, the weakness is
presented because the company faces challenges, and there is a
need to address them (Essay, 2020).
Poor Differentiation
The company's differentiation strategy has been a complete
failure because it is one of the leading companies in the state.
Still, the new entrants have beaten it up with their strategies. It
has been observed that several other companies started the
business later than it and the reason is lack of quality services.
The differentiation policy is implemented to maintain the
distinction from the other companies.
The communication theory should be implemented in the
company because employees and managers maintain
differentiation. There should be meetings, and employees
should be empowered to give their opinions and suggest what
can be improved. The communication between the managers and
employees minimizes the gap and helps overcome the
weaknesses (Arnott, 2020).
The products to be bought for the differentiation issues are the
personal protection equipment, including face masks and head
protection. Moreover, an interface has to be developed that
maintains the management data and process. It will guide the
company on how the activities should occur and how things can
be normalized. There is almost an expenditure of 2000 USD for
the complete interface system. It cannot be leased because of
the privacy of the company. The company must protect its data,

12. and it has further been seen that the expenses are less than the
benefits. The poor differentiation has been selected because the
company has to improve its differentiation strategy. It needs to
be on track and regain its status, so it was important to discuss
it as a major weakness.
The company's current liabilities are 1,351.6 million pounds
that include different categories like borrowing, trade, deferred
revenues, provisions, and others. The company is bad at
adopting technology and communication. The technology
innovation and the communication strategies should be
improved because they are guarantee success. The traditional
methods of financing should be avoided, and modern
technologies should be introduced. The company can buy both
technologies mentioned above because they are minimal and are
management software. The company is in poor cash flow
because of the coronavirus. The highest cash flow was in 2016,
and since then., the company has been facing loss that has been
worse now because of coronavirus (Virginia, 2020).
References
Arnott. (2020). VIRGIN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
ANALYSIS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS. Retrieved from
https://www.globalsocialmediamarketing.com/virgin-strategic-
management/?cn-reloaded=1
Bhasin, H. (2018). SWOT analysis of Virgin Atlantic. Retrieved
from https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-of-virgin-
atlantic/
Essay. (2020). Virgin Atlantic: SWOT analysis. Retrieved from
https://phdessay.com/virgin-atlantic-airways-swot-analysis/
P, S. a. (2020). Virgin SWOT and PESTLE Analysis. Retrieved
from https://www.swotandpestle.com/virgin-atlantic/
Virginia. (2020). Virginia Annual Report 2020. Retrieved from
https://corporate.virginatlantic.com/content/dam/corporate/Virgi
n%20Atlantic%20Annual%20Report%202020_final%20v1.pdf

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SWOT SUMMARY
SWOT Summary
Summary
Virgin Atlantic is a British airline company that has its
headquarters in Crawly, England. The airline offers its services
to over one million passengers to more than thirty different
destinations worldwide. Like all organizations globally, Vi rgin
Atlantic has to carry out a swot analysis to identify its
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to help it
devise a successful strategy to gain a competitive advantage.
The purpose of this essay is to provide a summary of the SWOT
analysis and describe recommendations for improvement.
Strengths
There are two main strengths of Virgin Atlantic. These are
technological innovation and brand recognition. Virgin
Atlantic's strength of technological innovation is evident in its
fully automated operations. It coordinates all its activities such
as booking, payment, and communication through technology
that enables the online delivery of these services (Baxter, 2019).
Full automation has made it possible for the organization to
develop a competitive advantage over its rivals. The second
strength is brand recognition, where the airline brand is
recognized in more than fifty countries, which has helped the
organization attain customer loyalty. Its brand recognition has
resulted in it having the lowest turnover rate and it to attract
talented employees.
Weaknesses
There are two major weaknesses of Virgin Atlantic; they are
financial challenges and poor differentiation. The financial
challenges started with Brexit, and since then, the company has

14. been facing many issues. The airlines have to pay the amount in
dollars, but the exchange currency is in pounds. The covid-19
pandemic has also resulted in a loss of revenue where the
financial statements that have been released are three times
lower than the previous years (Arnott, 2020). The theory that
can be used to address this weakness is the issue and
management theory. The company's differentiation strategy has
been a complete failure since the new entrants in the market to
beat up its strategies. The communication theory should be
implemented in the company because employees and managers
maintain differentiation.
Opportunities
There are several opportunities that Virgin Atlantic can take
advantage of to gain competitive advantages. The first
opportunity is a change in customer preferences where people
are willing to spend extra money for comfort in airplane seats.
The airplane company can take advantage of this opportunity to
differentiate from other aviation companies to increase its
competitive advantage both in the long and the short term. The
organization can seize this opportunity by ensuring that they
provide comfort to the customers (Tran, 2014). The other
opportunity is to expand into new routes with more than fifty
thousand routes globally, and it only operates on 200 routes. It
can seize this opportunity by taking advantage of the merger
with Delta airlines, penetrating new markets. The leadership
theory that can be used to implement these opportunities is the
situational leadership theory. This leadership theory can be
utilized by using a democratic leadership approach to choosing
the new routes for Virgin Atlantic expansion.
Threats
The biggest threat to Virgin Atlantic that comes under the
socio-environmental domain is the increased competition in the
European Market. VA faces competition from several brands,
including Emirates, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Air France, and
British Airways. The second threat to Virgin Atlantic in the
legal dimension is the investigation by the EU of Delta's

15. Ownership on non-European investments in the European airline
industry (Baxter, 2019). In April 2014, the EU began
investigating that these investments should contravene
restrictions imposed on non-European control and ownership.
Recommendations
The recommendation for improvement is for the organization to
expand into different routes, increase flight frequency, and
introduce value-added services. By implementing these
recommendations, the organization can gain a competitive
advantage and increase its revenue. These recommendations will
ensure that Virgin Atlantic becomes a leader in the aviation
industry.
Virgin Atlantic is a British airline company that offers one
million passengers to more than thirty different destinations
worldwide. The strengths that Virgin Atlantic has are
technological innovation and brand recognition, and its
weakness includes financial challenges and poor differentiation.
There are several opportunities that Virgin Atlantic can take
advantage of to gain competitive advantages; these are changes
in customer preferences and expansion to new routes. The
threats which it faces include increased competition and legal
dimensions.
References
Arnott. (2020). VIRGIN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
ANALYSIS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS. Retrieved from
https://www.globalsocialmediamarketing.com/virgin-strategic-
management/?cn-reloaded=1

16. Baxter, G. (2019). Capturing and Delivering Value in the Trans-
Atlantic Air Travel Market: The Case of the Air France-KLM,
Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic Airways Strategic Joint
Venture. MAD - Magazine Of Aviation Development, 7(1), 17-
37. https://doi.org/10.14311/mad.2019.01.03
Tran Viet, T. (2014). Public Relations in enhancing brand
values: case study Virgin Atlantic and Vietnam Airlines.