Abstract
Purpose: This study investigates the relationships between service efficiency in 5 major cost centres (namely, business orientation, network coverage, physical resources, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and human resources) and profitability in the global airline industry.Design/methodology/approach: The study integrates the Slack-based Model (SBM) of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with the Alternating Conditional Expectation (ACE) regression to understand the relationships between an airline’s profitability and its efficiencies in 5 identified operations areas.Findings: Based on the observational data obtained from 75 international airlines, the relationships between operational performances and profitability are found to be curvilinear and contingent on an airline’s operating model.Research limitations/implications: The omission of non-IATA airlines and many low cost carriers may hinder a holistic view of the airline industry.Practical implications: Management can influence the profitability of an airline through its strategic operations decisions that affect an airline’s cost, service quality, and financial structure after the influences of location and size have set the stage. Airlines pursuing cost leadership should seek to increase productivity especially in MRO, human resources and physical resources; whereas airlines pursuing service differentiation may choose to provide quality service at lower efficiencies or pursue an approach to improve quality and efficiencies simultaneously.Originality/value: Identifying operations practices that are consistent with a firm’s competitive priorities is important in the multifaceted service environment today. An integrated SBM-ACE regression model, which permits different input-output mix, variable return to scale and non-linear relationship, is proposed and applied to analyze the profit impact of service efficiencies in the five key operations areas.
Highlights
Competition in the global airline industry has heightened and become more multi-layered in recent years, following the deregulation of the airline industry and globalization of many economies
Our results show that profitability increases continuously as efficiency in business orientation and physical resource increases
The associated ranks are used to reflect the relative rankings of the airlines in each decision area since direct comparisons within each decision area can be distorted by the number of variables used in characterising the areas
Summary
Competition in the global airline industry has heightened and become more multi-layered in recent years, following the deregulation of the airline industry and globalization of many economies. We propose that the overall efficiency of an airline is a sum of its efficiencies in five key areas (according to an IATA survey for 2013, flight deck crew and cabin attendant expenses, aircraft rentals and depreciation, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and airport and navigation charges constitute 13.1%, 10.3%, 9.6% and 8.3% of the total operating cost of an airline, respectively, with fuel cost accounting for the largest portion of 34 % of the total operating cost.) These areas are its business orientation, network coverage, physical resources, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and service staff employed for onground and on-board services, forming the cornerstones of its operations. An airline needs to deploy qualified pilots, and sufficient flight and ground staff to serve passengers both on-board and on-ground
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