Defining The New Era Carrier (NEC)

In this series of posts we’re looking at the all the different types of passenger airlines that operate in the world, and narrowing that list down to the most basic types. After doing some research and analysis, we have determined that there are six fundamental airline types. In this post we look at the definition of The New Era Carrier (NEC).

Introduction: Defining the Six Fundamental Types of Airlines

Type 1. The Legacy Carrier
Type 2. The Regional Carrier
Type 3. The Low Cost Carrier (LLC)
Type 4. The New Era Carrier (NEC)
Type 5. The World Carrier
Type 6. The All Business Class Airline (ABC)

Additional Notes on the six fundamental airline types.

JetBlue airlines, like Virgin America, does it different

Virgin Australia would also be a New Era Carrier

The Legacy Airline, Regional Airline and Low Cost Carrier can account for the majority of operating airlines around the world; but not all of them. There are a few passenger airlines that just don’t fit any of these traditional definitions. In the U.S. there are 2 airlines that in particular are very different from most of their counterparts; Virgin America and JetBlue.

Neither of these two airlines is an old mainline legacy carrier. JetBlue started operations in the year 2000 and Virgin America flew their first flight in 2007. They also don’t look like a typical regional (even a large regional). The two have operations on both sides of the U.S., and frequently route distances are medium or long haul. Lastly, and I think this most important, their service models are not minimal or bare bones in nature (like an LCC). Both airlines offer a more comfortable inflight product, have upper tier passenger services, and operate business or domestic first class cabins.

Virgin America mood lite cabin

JetBlue with TV’s at every seat

The New Era Carrier (NEC)

Some have called these new airlines Hybrid Airlines, but this term doesn’t fit. Jet Blue and Virgin America aren’t the synthesis of existing business models; they’re really whole new incarnations. When JetBlue was started, its original name was NewAir. Richard Branson in the mid-2000s called Virgin Blue a “New World Carrier” explaining it wasn’t just another new LCC. New World Carrier is to close to World Carrier, which is a different animal altogether. Since no one has yet to name this district category of carrier, we then are going to need to coin a new phrase in order to describe and identify this new type of airline. The name, New Era Carrier or NEC, seems adequate enough. With the name determined let’s define what this type of airline a new era carrier is.

New era carriers have the following characteristics:

1. New era carriers (NECs) do not have a long history as they are more recent airlines. They typically have started their operations during the last 20 years.
2. Most of their route structure is hub and spoke like the legacy carriers, but they can also include some point to point flights.
3. Flight distances are mostly a medium and long haul operation, with some short haul in lucrative more populated markets.
4. Geographically operations are mostly focused into a single continent or country (North America in both JetBlue and Virgin America’s instance, Australia in Virgin Australia’s instance).
5. A new era carrier’s fleet consists of either one or a couple aircraft types. The majority of aircraft are narrow body.
6. NEC’s are not usually a member of the big 3 airline alliances, but they do usually have partner relationships with a number of other airlines.
7. New era carriers are very focused on elevating the customer experience. This is accomplished with upgraded product design, brand marketing, and a heavy use of technology.
8. Like legacy carriers, new era carriers offer higher end travel services, including airport lounges, for luxury or upper market business travel.
9. NECs operate multiple classes of inflight cabins including coach, premium economy, business and domestic first class.
10. Pricing structures are broad with competitive pricing on basic seats and higher fares when more lucrative opportunities exist.
11. New era carrier’s frequent flyer programs are usually a hybrid type plan, with some legacy type elements, but also generally not as rewarding as traditional legacy airlines.

NECs are the recent entrant on the passenger aviation arena, and not many airlines currently fit their definition. It is felt that many of the innovations used by these carriers have been, or will be copied by other airlines in order to be more competitive. Virgin America and JetBlue are solid examples of NECs operating in North America. Virgin Australia is an example of one outside the U.S. Azul in Brazil and WestJet in Canada could be candidates for new era carriers, although these last two examples also have some LLC characteristics.

Azul in Brazil

WestJet in Canada

Of course all of these airlines have one of two persons in common, Sir Richard Branson and Mr. David Neeleman. Both Branson and Neeleman are entrepreneurs that wanted to change the nature of air travel. Branson’s Virgin label is connected with Virgin America and Virgin Australia (and of course Virgin Atlantic). Neeleman is connected with JetBlue, WestJet and Azul airlines. When he started JetBlue he was quoted as saying “to bring humanity back to air travel.” Although not identical, both of their strategies used unorthodox methods to elevate the customer experience. At the same time, they believed (as similar to low cost carriers) they could operate below the higher cost structure of the legacy carriers.

Both airlines brought many innovations to the airline industry. JetBlue was the first carrier to have inflight entertainment, including TV reception, at every seat. Instead of offering just peanuts for snacks, an assortment of items are offered, and in unlimited amounts. Virgin America offered mood lighting and the ability or order food from the seat installed entertainment system. These and other innovations were at the time radical changes from what the other airlines were doing.

It’s ironic that Virgin America will be acquired by Alaska Airlines, a very large U.S. regional that wants to grow in size to compete with the big three U.S. airlines. This will undoubtedly change the landscape of aviation in the United States, and it’s unclear how. In any case it should be interesting to see how this story unfolds, and if the new era carrier is an airline type that can continue to exist in the aviation industry.

In our next post we’ll look at what makes an airline a World Carrier.