Business Research Project
QNT/561
May 17, 2016

Business Research Project
Airline X was started in 1967 and over the last 49 years it has grown and made a name for itself by having the lowest fares in the market. Airline X refuses to charge their customers the same sort of fees as the other airlines, not charging for bags, Airline X also does not charge to modify your flight if your travel itinerary has been changed, this has created a faithful customer base. In 2014, Airline X was able to increase their flights beyond the neighboring states that the Federal Government had limited them to for 34 years. In the first quarter of 2015 Airline X increased their passenger traffic by 22 percent and decreased their fares by 14 percent. Airline X currently carries more passengers domestically than any other Airlines (Southwest Airlines, n.d.).
Airline X has employed Team C to explore the connection between the independent (fuel and oil prices) and dependent (the amount of seats available) variables for Airline X. The premise is that if Airline X is filling the planes they already have, does Airline X need to look at purchasing more planes to increase the amount of seats available and to replace the outdated or older jets in their fleet. To accomplish this Team C must develop a research question. The management team for Airline X has decided that the research question should be: If the fuel and oil prices do not continue in a downward trend will it still be feasible for Airline X to order the newest plane in the Boeing fleet the Next-Generation 737 with the seating capacity of 210 compared to the 175 seats their current largest jet has, also how many of the new planes can they afford to take on? ("Boeing", 2016) And the hypothesis statement should be: Airline X will be able to purchase at least 15 of the new jets and still increase their profits.

Research Question