Airline Research Articles

Flying Towards Sustainability: The Role of Leadership in Airline Operations

In the evolving realm of the airline industry, sustainability is non-negotiable. This editorial delves into the pivotal role of leadership in driving environmental responsibility within airline operations. As societal awareness of environmental issues grows and regulatory frameworks tighten, leaders must proactively devise strategies to steer their airlines towards greener practices. The editorial presents pragmatic approaches for leaders to embrace sustainability, including investment in renewable energy sources, optimization of operational efficiency, and collaboration with industry partners on eco-friendly initiatives. By demonstrating foresight and ingenuity, leaders can guide their airlines through present challenges while charting a course towards a more environmentally sustainable future.

PROGRAM PENGEMBANGAN WISATA ALAM DANAU GUMANG GANAM DI BAWAH SALURAN UDARA TEGANGAN TINGGI DI DESA OBEL-OBEL

The development of tourist destinations in Lombok is growing very quickly. The tourist attraction of Gumbang Ganang Lake Tourism Village in Obel-Obel Village is a tourist attraction with extraordinary uniqueness because right above it is the High Voltage Air Line owned by PT. PLN. Currently, data has begun to be recorded with the Pokdarwis group. There are challenges that need to be fixed, namely the problem of explaining the radiation from SUTT. If it is done correctly, nothing detrimental will happen, and waste handling is still carried out sporadically without any storage tanks. This is overcome by providing outreach and handling directly to this tourist destination. In this program, which has been implemented in a very short time, it has provided progress in knowing and being directly involved in Obel-Obel Village so that the development of tourism in the vein of SUTT right above the lake provides CSR and contribution from PT. PLN.

Service accessibility strategy for aircraft maintenance routing with interorganizational collaborations on outsourcing maintenance

Airline companies are increasingly outsourcing their fleets’ heavy maintenance to independent maintenance service providers. This paper investigates the aircraft maintenance routing problem (AMRP) under the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) outsourcing mode. Considering interorganizational maintenance implementation, an airline company’s accessibility to maintenance service is affected by the varying maintenance capabilities of the maintenance service provider, which depends on heterogenous maintenance resource availability (e.g., the accommodation capacity of maintenance hangars and the availability of maintenance technicians and aviation spare parts). To enhance the airline’s service accessibility to maintenance service, we propose an efficient maintenance planning strategy with a collaborative mechanism based on service information sharing and service capability evaluation from the airline’s perspective. Afterward, a time-complexity reduction approach is presented to enhance the discrete-time-stamp-indexed mathematical model formulation. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach were evaluated through various problem scenarios, based on the operational data from a regional airline. Managerial implications regarding maintenance strategy and the accuracy of maintenance capability evaluation are also discussed.

A review of ancillary services in the airline industry

A review of ancillary services in the airline industry

The Spirit Effect: Ultra-Low Cost Carriers and Fare Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry

The Spirit Effect: Ultra-Low Cost Carriers and Fare Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry

Creating architectural advantage in the airline industry: Strategic options for airlines to migrate value

Despite their central role in the industry, airlines have been consistently unable to earn their capital costs. The academic literature has noted the airlines’ limited success in capturing value, offered plausible explanations for it, but has been remarkably silent regarding strategic options for airlines to change their situation. The present paper addresses this gap by analysing the vertical embeddedness of airlines into the industry structure and focusing on the dynamics of the interfaces with adjacent industry segments. Using secondary data from industry reports and primary data from semi-structured interviews with industry experts, our analysis aims at identifying the main drivers and strategic options for value migration. The interfaces between airlines and distribution partners as well as airports show the highest potential for value migration, primarily for well-positioned low-cost carriers or larger multi-airline groups. To obtain that advantage, however, airlines need to extend their offering beyond the flight segment and reduce their replaceability by leveraging customer data along the entire travel chain, e.g., by sharing customer insights between segments and, thus, accessing additional revenue potential. For smaller, independent airlines, leveraging their -if present- dedicated niche strategy, will be the only lever to survive in the long-run. With its systemic perspective, this paper complements the currently fragmented literature on airline vertical strategies and suggests four generic strategic options for value migration to the airline segment.

Understanding the impact of network structure on air travel pattern at different scales.

This study examines the global air travel demand pattern using complex network analysis. Using the data for the top 50 airports based on passenger volume rankings, we investigate the relationship between network measures of nodes (airports) in the global flight network and their passenger volume. The analysis explores the network measures at various spatial scales, from individual airports to metropolitan areas and countries. Different attributes, such as flight route length and the number of airlines, are considered in the analysis. Certain attributes are found to be more relevant than others, and specific network measure models are found to better capture the dynamics of global air travel demand than others. Among the models, PageRank is found to be the most correlated with total passenger volume. Moreover, distance-based measures perform worse than the ones emphasising the number of airlines, particularly those counting the number of airlines operating a route, including codeshare. Using the PageRank score weighted by the number of airlines, we find that airports in Asian cities tend to have more traffic than expected, while European and North American airports have the potential to attract more passenger volume given their connectivity pattern. Additionally, we combine the network measures with socio-economic variables such as population and GDP to show that the network measures could greatly augment the traditional approaches to modelling and predicting air travel demand. We'll also briefly discuss the implications of the findings in this study for airport planning and airline industry strategy.

An experimental study for identifying customer prominent viewpoints on different flight classes by topic modeling methods

The airline industry has a wide range of customers with different tastes and expectations of airline services. Therefore, knowing the different attitudes of customers and consequently addressing their opinions is paramount in this business. Airlines offer different flight classes to customers to provide passenger transportation services and use different methods to evaluate customer satisfaction. One of the methods used to analyze customer opinions is the use of text analysis with machine learning techniques. In this study, to analyze the textual data, we used topic modeling to identify passengers' attitudes. In the first stage, we evaluated the performance of three different topic modeling methods: Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). As a result of the modeling process, LDA had the best performance with an average coherence value of 0.42. Eventually, after determining the optimum number of topics as 10 topics, the prominent topics were interpreted and explained. The results of this study demonstrate the common and distinct attitudes of customers of economy class, business class, and first class. As appeared in the results of the economy flight class, the most important topic that appeared in comments was "passenger care". However, in whole reviews and reviews of business and first flight classes, the topic of "time" was more repetitive. Given the wide application of the presented methodology, the findings of this research can provide airline managers with a broader insight into passenger preferences and guide them on how to provide quality service for their customers.

INDICATIONS OF UNFAIR BUSINESS COMPETITION IN DETERMINING AIRCRAFT RATES ASSOCIATED WITH LAW NUMBER 5 OF 1999 CONCERNING MONOPOLY AND UNFAIR BUSINESS COMPETITION (CASE STUDY OF KPPU KANWIL IV SURABAYA)

This study intends to find out the legal norms for the behavior of airlines in setting very low prices for scheduled domestic commercial airline tickets with the aim of eliminating competitors in the same class and the same route based on the perspective of Law No. 5 of 1999 concerning the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition , and describes the obstacles experienced by the Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (KPPU) which has the authority to supervise and investigate this case. This study uses the Juridical Empirical Research method and concludes that by eliminating the rules regarding the requirements for adding flight frequencies that can be carried out by airlines on one route, it creates gaps for airlines with a larger fleet advantage to be able to carry out selling and loss practices, namely by setting fares lower than its competitors but with a greater number of flying frequencies causing a decrease in the competitiveness of these routes, this is clearly not in accordance with the rule of reason for the issuance of the Law on Anti-Monopolistic Practices which aims to increase competition in the market and pay attention to the balance between business actors and the constraints experienced by KPPU as the competent authority in this case is that there are no rules regarding the option of forced summons that can be carried out by the KPPU in order to present the reported party in the framework of investigating a case which results in a delay in completing the case

Meeting economic and social viability goals in regional airline schemes through hub-and-spoke network connectivity

AbstractWe examine the viability of regional connectivity schemes by considering both social and economic objectives. In India the scheme is called UDAN (loosely translated affordable air travel) which is designed to include economically backward communities in India into the air travel grid. Using secondary data sources from the airline sector in India, and qualitative interviews of knowledgeable personnel in the airline industry, we demonstrate the importance of hub-and-spoke network design in comparison to point-to-point connectivity for regional connectivity networks. Specifically, we develop Viable Hub Location Problem for Regional Connectivity (VHLPRC) for resilience and sustainability through bilevel optimization with single leader and two independent followers. We test our proposed approach using datasets from USA and India. Our analyses suggest strategically choosing primary hubs and re-routing traffic through regional hubs for long-term commercial viability or survivability of regional connectivity schemes. The introduction of regional hubs had mixed effects. On the positive side, it improved reach, albeit at considerable (hidden) costs. On the negative side, several sub-programs had to be abandoned for a variety of reasons, including lack of demand traffic. The lessons learned from this study inform policy makers, academics, and practicing managers on how to remain viable and sustain operations in regional connectivity schemes. With the introduction of social variables, commercial viability has been shown to face specific real-life challenges. An attempt to help solve these problems is also presented in this paper through risk reduction, capacity augmentation, and by continuing fare subsidies.

ANALYSIS OF FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO WORK STRESS AMONG EXPATRIATE AIRLINES CREW IN SAUDI ARABIA

Work stress can significantly impact the performance of cabin crew in the airline industry, potentially leading to job errors with critical implications for safety, a paramount concern in the industry. The research focuses on factors influencing work stress among cabin crew, providing a valuable reference for improving both service quality and safety in the industry. The potential key factors that affect work stress, including workload, cross-cultural adjustment, rotating work schedules, interpersonal relationships, organizational relationships, and physical demands, are established through extensive literature reviews. The relevant data were collected from a sample of cabin crews in Saudi Arabia representing various nationalities. The most pertinent factors for the problem setting are determined by applying a multivariate regression analysis, where the theoretical understanding is statistically verified. The analysis suggests that the theory is supported by the sample data with a fitness level of 0.85 in terms of the determination coefficient, implying strong materialization of the theory. Furthermore, the agreement between theory and reality is supported by the ANOVA and t-tests. The study concludes that workload is the most dominant factor affecting work stress, followed by organizational relationships and rotating work schedules. Statistically less significant factors include cross-cultural adjustment, interpersonal relationships, and physical demands.

Assessment of the Financial Stability of Airlines with Different Business Models before, during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

Assessment of the Financial Stability of Airlines with Different Business Models before, during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

Culture and human factors in aviation security

Culture and human factors in aviation environment are not new concepts. They have been primary components of the aviation safety system and have become fundamental to the operations of air carriers. Their significance in ensuring safe aviation practices is widely recognised and accepted today. These concepts have been seamlessly integrated into the organisational DNA of aviation safety, shaping core principles and practices. In contrast, aviation security has historically lagged behind, often seen merely as a component of the broader safety framework. Over the years, safety and security have evolved separately, reflecting their distinct natures. While aviation safety has reached a high level of maturity, aviation security is now in a position where it must catch up. Current aviation security staff recruitment and retention challenges need to be addressed by creating better strategy for future recruitment, professionalisation of security workforce and improved airport environment. Embedding strong and effective security culture, consideration of human factors and their impact on staff performance and development of mission valence can positively affect airport working environment, leading to better staff retention and positive perception of aviation security roles.

Comparative Network Efficiency Analysis of the Airlines in Turkey After Deregulation

Deregulation has significantly developed the civil air transport industry in an ever-globalizing world. Even though deregulation has caused significant structural transformations in airline companies, the effect of deregulation effect on the production, marketing efficiency, and competitiveness of airline carriers worldwide, especially in Turkey, has not been fully revealed yet. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the efficiency of Turkish air carriers after the deregulation process in Turkish civil aviation by dividing the efficiency into production and market efficiency. Production and marketing efficiencies of airlines were estimated using the window network data envelopment analysis methodology. Efficiency analysis results showed production efficiency at 0.887, marketing efficiency at 0.764, and system efficiency at 0.796. Results also indicate that low-cost airlines have a higher production efficiency score (0.918) than full-service airlines (0.825). In comparison, the marketing efficiency of full-service airlines (0.879) is higher than that of low-cost carriers (0.708). The study determined that the system efficiency does not change according to the business model. The system efficiency score of the full-service provider airlines with a larger market share is higher and more balanced. The close and dynamic monitoring of the air transport market and the continuation of operations under a business model incorporating an appropriate marketing mix will increase the marketing efficiency of the airlines.

The effect of organizational factors and information management on e-CRM success and sales performance: an application in the airline industry

The effect of organizational factors and information management on e-CRM success and sales performance: an application in the airline industry

Prioritizing crisis management approaches in the airline industry. Evidence from Greece

The global airline industry has faced a considerable downturn, because of the recent COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Numerous measures had to be taken from governments and the airline industry itself in order to survive the pandemic crisis. The Greek airline industry is the main case of this study. The main goal of this study is to prioritize the appropriateness of crisis management approaches in the domestic airline market. To achieve that, Fuzzy MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision Making) is employed (consequently a set of criteria and their weighting). The criteria are extracted using the thematic analysis and synthesis method gathering data from the international literature and news. The MCDM analysis is implemented in a fuzzy setting due to the inherent uncertainty in the airline market. The results of this study demonstrate that the actions better characterizing the crisis operations of the domestic airline companies fall under the knowledge-based management approach.

The Mediating Role of Customer Relationship Managment (CRM) in the Effect of Innovation on Perceived Service Quality: The Case of Airlines System

Today, businesses apply the Customer Relationship Management approach to ensure customer satisfaction and sustain customer loyalty. In this approach, it is aimed to go beyond satisfaction by putting the customer at the center. This research conducted at Antalya Airport aims to examine the impact of technological innovations by airline companies on the perceived service quality of passengers and how this impact is shaped through customer relationship management practices. The results of the study provide strategic recommendations and guidance for companies in the aviation sector. This presents an innovation in facilitating companies to make direct inferences from the research findings, aiding them in deriving practical insights. Through face-to-face interviews with passengers arriving at Antalya Airport, a sample of 430 respondents was reached, and all completed surveys were utilized. The data obtained from these passengers were analyzed using IBM SPSS 21 and SmartPLS 4 programs within the framework of established hypotheses. The results of the Structural Equation Analysis indicate a direct partial impact of innovative activities implemented by airline companies on the perceived service quality. This direct effect is found to create a complete impact indirectly. Additionally, it has been determined how customer relationship management practices shape this impact by acting as a mediator. The findings provide guidance to airline companies in understanding the influence of technological innovations on customer satisfaction and optimizing strategic customer relationship management practices. This study recommends that companies in the aviation sector focus on technological innovations to gain a competitive advantage and enhance customer satisfaction.

Airline environmental sustainability actions and CSR impact on customer behavior

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are growing concerns among passengers and airlines. However, the communication of such actions by airline companies is underexplored. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze airlines' CSR and Environmental Sustainability Actions (ESA) communications' impact on customer loyalty, through a Relationship Marketing (RM) perspective. Following a text-mining approach, 6181 Facebook comments were collected. A word frequency matrix was created from the collected data and used as input for PLS-SEM to test raised hypotheses. Results suggest that communication based on ESA and CSR positively affects behavioral loyalty and commitment. RM moderated ESA's communication impact on customer loyalty but not on the relationship between CSR communication and loyalty. These findings suggest that communicating environmental efforts positively affects customer loyalty, providing airline managers with valuable insights that should be considered within communication strategies to enhance return and customer retention.

Airline dynamic pricing with patient customers using deep exploration-based reinforcement learning

This paper addresses a crucial issue in the airline industry by tackling a dynamic pricing problem in the presence of patient customers, a scenario that has gained significance due to the revenue loss of airlines caused by customers’ non-myopic decision-making. To effectively capture this non-myopic characteristic, we propose a Markov decision process (MDP) including a history of offered prices as a state variable. In contrast to previous studies, distributions of customers’ properties are assumed to be unknown in advance for a more realistic representation of real-world scenarios. To deal with the new challenges of the problem, we propose utilizing a specific learning framework (i.e., deep exploration-based RL) that is unexplored in this domain. The numerical experiments demonstrate that its performance can be improved on the MDP we designed and show that it outperforms the benchmark algorithm. The structures of pricing policies generated from the bootstrapped deep Q-network algorithm imply that airlines should offer high and low prices alternately from the beginning of the sales period rather than increasing prices as time goes on. We also ascertain that more frequent consecutive high-priced periods can increase airlines’ revenue in environments with higher customer patience levels.

Rancang Kontruksi Saluran Udara Tegangan Menengah (SUTM) 20 KV Di Desa Tanjung Kasri Kecamatan Jangkat Kabupaten Merangin Provinsi Jambi

Construction design and electricity distribution planning cannot be separated from how the electricity distribution system is built. Moreover, electricity is an important factor in creating a just and prosperous society in all fields. This research analyzes the design of the 20 KV Medium Voltage Air Line (SUTM) in the Tanjung Kaasri Village location, Angkan District, Merangin Regency, Jambi Province, whether it is in accordance with the standards used by PLN (SPLN). The research method used is the method of observation and measurement in the field. The results of the research concluded that when calculating the mechanical force of the pole, a 12 meter, 200 daN iron pole and a 9 meter, 100 daN iron pole were chosen as the schor pole. Then the use of TM poles includes: TM-1 Number of 45 rods, TM-3 Number of 80 rods, TM-4 And the cable used is AAAC-S 150 mm with a total number of cables of 22,240 The calculation results and the realization in the field are almost close, the difference is only under 1%. By always carrying out evaluations on each project, this data can be used as input for project owners and implementers, so that the quality and reliability of the system can be met.