ScotAir recent performance and trends in the passenger air travel industry.

 

Last year was a good year for the passenger aviation industry: the overall number of passengers (1) went up, and the trend continued into this year. We expect passenger number to continue to (2) increase for some time. However, our profits began to (3) fall at the beginning of the year. The reason for this was the arrival of two new low-cost competitors. The last two months have not been easy, but we hope that this difficult phase is now coming to an end. As soon as we get the green light, we plan to buy three more planes to add to our fleet. With these planes and the resources already available to us – crew, our existing planes, airport slots, etc. – we intend to set up a new low-cost subsidiary. This will be a milestone in our company’s history. For many years, our percentage of the market (4) remained steady, but it (5) went down for the first time ever at the beginning of the year. However, with our new subsidiary we expect it to (6) grow again. We’ve set ourselves a deadline: to become the market leader once again by the end of next year.

 

Unit 6

 

Task 4. The vocabulary in this exercise is used to describe movement or trends.

Find four pairs of opposites in the box below

 

A. fall decrease go down

grow increase go up

rise shrink

 

1………………………….

2………………………….

3…………………………..

4…………………………..

 

B. Translate the following words and word combinations. All of them describe

movement or trends.

 

1) increased rapidly ………………………….

2) went up a bit ………………………….

3) climbed slightly ………………………….

4) increased steadily ………………………….

5) dropped markedly ………………………….

6) declined a little ………………………….

7) rose dramatically ………………………….

 

C. There are several ways of expressing the same meaning. Try to find synonyms to the given word.

 

a) to increase - an increase

to………… …………..

to…………… ………….

to…………. ……………

to…………… ……………

 

b) to decrease - a decrease

to…………… ……………..

to…………… ……………..

to……………. …………….

to…………… …………….

 

c) to stay the same

to………………………

to………………………

 

 

Unit 6

 

d) to reach a maximum

to ………………………

to………………………..

 

e) to recover…........... - a recovery

to ……………….. - …………………

to………………… - …………………

 

f) to deteriorate…………. - a deterioration

to…………………… - ……………….

 

READING

 

Task 5. Read a presentation and decide whether it is a good one or a bad one. Why? Why not?

 

How our customers react to a merger? My next slide shows two charts which illustrates the problem. Recently, customers of large Spanish companies that had been involved in mergers were asked if they felt that prices and service had improved, remained the same or deteriorated as a result of the merger. As you will notice in the pie-chart, only a third of customers noticed on improvement, compared to almost half who said that things had got worse.

Let’s look at the second chart which shows customer satisfaction by sector.

As you can see, after a merger customer satisfaction falls by an average of almost 9% in the retail sector, whereas it remains about the same in the service and financial sector, and rises by 5% on average for manufacturing companies.

The figures seem to suggest that, on the whole, customers are always likely to react negatively to mergers. This is due to a perceived drop in levels of service after a merger. The results indicate that retailers, where service is crucial to customer satisfaction, are particularly affected, as opposed to manufacturers, who benefit from mergers. Of cause, this is the result of improved product quality and design, which are the most important factors for their customers.

 

Task 6. Read the presentation again. Write a letter to your Russian colleague who was unable to attend the presentation, informing him of the key ideas given by a speaker.

 

PRACTICE 1.

 

Internet Research. Search for the keywords “bad presentation” to find out what not to do when you are giving a presentation.

 

 

Unit 6

PRACTICE 2. Use the information on the presentation note cards below to

prepare a short presentation. You are going to give a presentation to a number of people who are interested in investing in your product.

Prepare a three-minute presentation.

 

WINE PRODUCTION IN CALIFORNIA

– currently produces more than 90% of the wine in the USA;

– only a small percentage is organic;

– this is changing/new trend;

– organic wine is more expensive/price per bottle is falling as sales increase;

– sales of organic wine increasing by 20% a year;

– health & wealth are influencing sales;

– good news, the future looks green.

 

SALES TRENDS FOR NATURAL COSMETICS IN EUROPE

– natural cosmetics sales in Europe are increasing;

– the sales figures are doubling every 2-3 years;

– natural ingredients/quality/fewer skin problems;

– premium brands like Aveda and Dr Hauschka are becoming very popular;

– sold in pharmacies, supermarkets and health food shops;

– online sales increasing;

– the market share is highest in Germany and Austria / 4%of total cosmetic sales.

 

THE SILENT JET

– number of international airports increasing;

– passenger numbers / noise/ pollution increasing;

– aiming to decrease noise by 99%;

– engines above the wings / noise will go up not down;

– could fly at night/ increase the amount of flights in each 24 hour period;

– expensive/need funding;

– plane should be flying by 2020.

 

PRACTICE 3.

Internet research. Search for the keywords “presentation tips” to find answers to the questions below:

1. How long is a good presentation?

2. What should you research before a presentation?

3. What are the most important parts of a presentation?

4. What are the best ways to practise a presentation?

5. Which colours and fonts should you use in your slides?

6. How should you deal with hostile questions?

7. What’s the latest presentation technology available?

UNIT 7.