Exploring the Industry Activists’ Experience and Interpretation of the Competitiveness of Iran Air

The Islamic Republic of Iran Airlines (Iran Air) is one of the oldest global and regional airlines and the core of the Iran’s aviation industry. Examining the activity status of this airline company over that past six decades indicates a downward trend in its share in the Iran’s air transportation market as one of the most important indicators of airline competitiveness. In addition to the general business strategies of airlines and economic factors, what have significantly reduced Iran Air's competitive ability in the air transport market are the non-economic factors and social facts imposed on this firm from the outside. This study sought to analyze the interpretation and understanding of competitiveness as the core of the success or failure of economic enterprises and also to identify the social variables involved in the competitiveness of airlines from the perspective of top and senior managers of Iran Air. This study was conducted with a qualitative approach and thematic analysis method. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 23 former and current managers of Iran Air. PEST analysis tool was used to categorize the themes. The topics analyzed in the framework of political, economic, social and technological macro environmental variables are: the quality of government interventions, sanctions, the weakness of the regulatory body, the government's attitude towards air transportation, market structure, company characteristics, Iran Air Pension Fund crisis, management instability, state management limitations, fleet diversity, entry of competitors, exchange rate, peoples’ attitudes, family size, religious beliefs, and distraction from technological developments. The results showed that among macro environmental variables, social variables (family size and religious beliefs) are considered great opportunities for boosting Iran Air’s competitiveness.