International Aviation Industry Research Articles

Life cycle assessment in aviation: A systematic literature review of applications, methodological approaches and challenges

The environmental impacts of the international aviation industry are increasingly becoming the focus of public debate, forcing both airlines and aircraft manufacturers to integrate sustainability into their future decision-making processes. As a method for quantifying environmental impacts, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is able to support decision-making processes for the operationalization of sustainability goals. Life cycle assessments are already being used by researchers and practitioners in the aviation industry. This paper examines the current status of LCA applications, methodological approaches and challenges in aviation by means of a systematic literature review and focuses on contributions that are outside the scope of sustainable aviation fuel. After screening 1117 contributions, 45 contributions were considered in the analysis of the methodological implementation. Based on this analysis, challenges and further research requirements were identified. The paper concludes by proposing a framework for conducting LCA in the aviation industry.

The Ups and Downs of Learning and Using English: Aviation Students’ Voices

Proficiency in English has become the standard language in the international aviation industry. To avoid accidents, all aviation personnel needs to communicate in English. The communication skills of aviation personnel should be developed during their studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate aviation students' successes and challenges in learning and using English. Six aircraft maintenance students from three different aviation schools in Malaysia participated in the study. Using a qualitative research design, the study collected information from open-ended interviews and document analysis gathered from online postings. The data were analyzed thematically and managed using ATLAS. ti software. Overall, the results showed that students experienced more successes than challenges in learning English. There were three themes categorized under successes and challenges: opportunities, feelings, and progress. The results could help course module developers and language teachers create modules that meet the needs of aviation students.

Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon.

Collisions between birds and airplanes can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion US dollars annually. Driving away birds is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of current deterrence methods is limited. Live avian predators can be an effective deterrent, because potential prey will not habituate to them, but live predators cannot be controlled entirely. Thus, there is an urgent need for new deterrence methods. We developed the RobotFalcon, a device modelled after the peregrine falcon, and tested its effectiveness to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. We compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military airbase. The RobotFalcon scared away bird flocks from fields immediately, and these fields subsequently remained free of bird flocks for hours. The RobotFalcon outperformed the drone and the best conventional method at the airbase (distress calls). Importantly, there was no evidence that bird flocks habituated to the RobotFalcon over the course of the fieldwork. We conclude that the RobotFalcon is a practical and ethical solution to drive away bird flocks with all advantages of live predators but without their limitations.

Strategies to Mitigate Carbon Emissions for Sustainable Aviation: A Critical Review From a Life-cycle Perspective

The international aviation industry is one of the fastest growing industries, resulting in an increase of greenhouse gas emissions. Controlling aviation carbon emissions is needed to further prevent future climate change as the demand for aviation continues to expand. Effective ways should be taken to control aviation carbon emissions, namely identifying the set of driving factors behind the carbon emissions, as well as, exploring low-carbon technologies in aviation. However, few studies have systematically identified the driving factors and given a timeline list of aviation low-carbon technologies. Therefore, from the life cycle perspective (including the aircraft designing, operating, and recovery), this paper applies text mining and literature metrology to identify the driving factors systematically. Moreover, an evaluation model is established to present the prioritization of factors, and the Delphi method is applied to create a timeline list of the low-carbon technologies in the aviation industry. The results show that demand, technological improvement, and alternative fuels are the most important factors affecting carbon emissions in the aviation industry, with their contribution percentages of 16 %, 14 %, and 12 %, respectively. In the short term, aviation relies more on policies to reduce emissions (supported by 79 % of experts). In the long term, technological progress enables the production of increasingly mature alternative fuels as well as reduces production costs. Among the set of experts, 74 % support strategies relating to renewable fuel and low carbon technologies as the main factors for the aviation industry to reduce carbon emissions.

Impacts of the COVID-19 on all aircraft emissions of international routes in South America

SummaryThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on South America’s economic development, as well as its international civil aviation industry. This paper seeks to calculate the emissions of six pollutions (CO2, CO, HC, NOx, SO2, and PM2.5) from the international routes in South America during 2019–2021 and discusses the impacts of COVID-19 on the emission change. The modified BFFM2-FOA-FPM method is proposed to unify the CO2 and non-CO2 calculations. The calculated results' average error rate is about 5.12%. The results showed that COVID-19 affected all emissions, including the number of routes, average flight distance, aircraft configuration, the proportion of CCD phase emissions, average emissions, etc. In addition, some airlines increased the number of flights and aircraft types during the pandemic, increasing emissions. The results give a reasonable data basis for the aviation industry in South America to formulate emission reduction policies.

Route-based performance evaluation for airlines – A metafrontier data envelopment analysis approach

The international aviation industry is essential for both passengers and commodities. Previous literature tends to evaluate aviation performance from the perspective of airlines or airports. However, each route faces a different operating environment and thus has a different profit portfolio. Therefore, a route-based performance evaluation can better reflect the range of operating characteristics by considering the differing characteristics of routes. This study conducted an empirical analysis of 112 international routes from two Taiwanese airlines. To first identify the key variables that have a significant impact on airline performance, a systematic literature review was conducted using a meta-analysis approach. This study then used those key variables to measure route-based performance with data envelopment analysis (DEA) modeling. Finally, k-medoids cluster analysis was used to explore successful factors for air route performance as complementary research to the DEA modeling. Model results show three groups of routes can be clearly identified by considering route efficiency. Each group has very distinct route characteristics (e.g., Asian routes vs US routes) and some route planning recommendations can be developed. The results of this study can help operators and policy makers improve operating performance and identify key factors for route development and planning.

The Need for a Global Aviation Cybersecurity Defense Policy

Abstract Commercial aviation is vital to the economic health of the global economy. Commercial aviation as a global entity should be an international critical infrastructure that constantly safeguards and protects from malicious threats, including cybersecurity threat actors (Nobles, 2019). The international aviation industry needs a comprehensive cybersecurity defense plan to prevent cyber-based threats from negatively impacting civil aviation. Critical components of the global aviation systems consist of airport operations, air traffic management, ground operations, airline operations, unmanned systems, operations (Kessler, Craiger, & Haass, 2018), aviation maintenance, airport security (physical security), and cargo and logistics. The existing aviation infrastructure was designed, engineered, and implemented without forbearance on cybersecurity (Kessler, Craiger, & Haass, 2018). The lack of international cyber governance impedes the enforcement of cybersecurity policies; therefore, requiring a global-based alliance to create standards and best practices for evaluating and managing cybersecurity risks (Urban, 2017), especially in commercial aviation.

Biofuel Discount Rates and Stochastic Techno-Economic Analysis for a Prospective Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply Chain

The international aviation industry has the goal to gradually reduce carbon emissions mainly by using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). However, currently SAF cannot be produced at competitive prices relative to petroleum-based jet fuel. Pennycress is a crop whose oilseed could be used as a relatively low-cost feedstock to produce SAF, potentially benefiting farmers and the environment. This stochastic techno-economic analysis (TEA) studies an enterprise buying pennycress oilseed from farmers, extracting the bio-oil and selling it to a biorefinery that converts bio-oil into SAF. Maximum buying prices (MBP)—prices that yield a zero net present value—the crushing enterprise could pay farmers for pennycress oilseed are estimated. To conduct the analysis, discount rates are estimated based on financial data of biofuel firms, thus providing a realistic benchmark to evaluate profitability and feedstock buying prices. Estimated risk-adjusted discount rates vary between 12 and 17%, above rates typically used in similar valuations. Estimated stochastic MBP range between 10.18 and 11.73 ¢ pound−1, which is below the price at which farmers are willing to plant pennycress, according to recent research. By considering the crushing facility’s inherent cash flow structure and risk, the distributions of stochastic modified internal rate of return suggest the crushing enterprise could be economically attractive at a 14% discount rate, our most likely estimate. However, between 11 and 17% times the cash flow model is simulated, the firm falls under financial distress. Overall, the findings suggest potential barriers for deployment of a SAF supply chain without governmental incentives or related policies.

Open Skies Policy: The Developing Countries Point of View

The concept of open skies policy is an international policy concept which aims to liberalize of rules and regulations on international commercial aviation industry. For developed countries, by allowing air carriers unlimited market access to its partners’ markets and the right to fly to all intermediate and beyond points, open skies agreements provide maximum operational flexibility for airline alliances. They may have the best opportunities, as they will be able and in the best position to offer the best product to the better part of the air traffic market. On the contrary, for developing countries, open skies policy may cause more harm to the interests of airlines than bring economic gains to the countries. Further, it will lead to a domination of the international air transportation market by the biggest and most developed countries that finally it will return the situation to monopolistic system. To take care of emerging needs, it would be more appropriate to periodically renegotiate the existing bilateral agreements.

항공안전데이터 구조 분석 및 표준 분류체계에 관한 연구

In order to enhance the safety of the international aviation industry, the International Civil Aviation Organization has recommended establishing an operational foundation for systematic and integrated collection, storage, analysis and sharing of aviation safety data. Accordingly, the Korea aviation industry also needs to comprehensively manage the safety data which generated and collected by various stakeholders related to aviation safety, and through this, it is necessary to previously identify and remove hazards that may cause accident. For more effective data management and utilization, a standard structure should be established to enable integrated management and sharing of safety data. Therefore, this study aims to propose the framework about how to manage and integrate the aviation safety data for big data-based aviation safety management and shared platform.

A Software-Based Monitoring Framework for Time-Space Partitioned Avionics Systems

Recently, avionics systems have evolved into a time and space partitioning (TSP)-based integrated modular avionics (IMA) structure for integration into a single system from a variety of existing independently configured federated systems. The TSP-based IMA architecture is suitable for solving size, weight, and power problems in avionics systems. Partitioning real-time operating systems (RTOSs) to support TSP-based IMA have been researched, and the international aviation industry has established the ARINC 653 standard for a partitioning RTOS. The ARINC 653 standard has defined the health monitoring (HM) function for debugging. However, the HM of the ARINC 653 standard does not support monitoring and debugging functions, such as snapshot, cycle, and, redundancy monitor, which makes the system development hard. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to introduce a monitoring framework that supports high reliability and stability for RTOS and application software based on TSP structure used in avionics systems. The proposed monitoring framework is designed for Qplus-AIR, an RTOS based on the TSP structure that conforms to the ARINC 653 for aircraft systems. It is also applicable to other RTOSs based on TSP structure that does not conform to ARINC 653. It supports monitoring functions, such as snapshot, trigger, and cycle as well as various debugging functions. It also supports debugging and monitoring operations under the redundancy of avionics systems, and minimizes the intrusive effect, which is a disadvantage of the software-based debugging approach. These functionalities enable avionics system developers to monitor and measure the performance of TSP structure-based RTOS and application software in flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles. Our evaluation results show that the proposed monitoring framework is suitable for monitoring and debugging of RTOS and application software based on TSP structure.

RETRACTED: Carbon Emission Mitigation Potentials of Different Policy Scenarios and Their Effects on International Aviation in the Korean Context

The objective of this study is to seek better policy options for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in Korea’s international aviation industry by analyzing economic efficiency and environmental effectiveness with a system dynamics (SD) model. Accordingly, we measured airlines sales and CO2 emission reductions to evaluate economic efficiency and environmental effectiveness, respectively, for various policies. The results show that the average carbon emission reduction rates of four policies compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario between 2015 and 2030 are 4.00% (Voluntary Agreement), 7.25% (Emission Trading System or ETS-30,000), 8.33% (Carbon Tax or CT-37,500), and 8.48% (Emission Charge System or EC-30,000). The average rate of decrease in airline sales compared to BAU for the ETS policy is 0.1% at 2030. Our results show that the ETS approach is the most efficient of all the analyzed CO2 reduction policies in economic terms, while the EC approach is the best policy to reduce GHG emissions. This study provides a foundation for devising effective response measures pertaining to GHG reduction and supports decision making on carbon tax and carbon credit pricing.

Not Your Granddaddy's Aviation Industry: The Need to Implement Cybersecurity Standards and Best Practices within the International Aviation Industry

The international aviation industry’s increased usage of technology has generated new cybersecurity concerns that cannot be ignored. The lack of a global cyber governance makes it difficult to enforce cybersecurity policies. An industry-wide, multistakeholder approach must be taken to develop international standards and best practices for assessing and managing cybersecurity risks. This paper will first address the impact cyber threats and attacks have had on the aviation industry. Next, it will explain how technologies like NextGen and aircraft wireless internet have made cybersecurity more vulnerable. Third, it will present the basic cybersecurity framework and analyze past attempts by international aviation organizations to execute cybersecurity risk management programs. Finally, it will offer better solutions to evaluate and handle cybersecurity risks in the international aviation industry and suggest that these solutions be combined. Both public sector and private sector support for international standards and best practices is required to significantly strengthen cybersecurity for the entire global aviation industry.

Gone With the Wind?: The Inherent Conflict between API/PNR and Privacy Rights in an Increasingly Security-Conscious World

Advance Passenger Information (‘API’) and Passenger Name Record (‘PNR’) are an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in the international aviation industry. In the absence of mandatory content and transmission requirements, an increase in the number of countries requiring such data has resulted in significant complexity and expense associated with compliance. Simultaneously, the transfer of API and PNR data runs directly counter to privacy rights of residents of the European Union and other countries with strict privacy legislation, rendering compliance even more difficult. This article explores the background of API and PNR, the international guidance materials regarding content and transmission, the lack of harmonization between the different API and PNR regimes currently in effect, privacy and data protection philosophies and prioritization in the United States and the European Union and the interplay between privacy and API/PNR, the current reality facing airlines, and the emerging trend towards increased data transfers at the expense of privacy.

항공온실가스 배출현황 및 감축규제 대응방안

Global aviation is projected to grow in demand by an annual average of 4.1% between 2014 and 2034. It can be said that environmental impact from aviation will therefore be expected to increase on a similar scale. As regards civil aviation emissions, the sector contributes between 2~3% to International aviation GHG emissions. In the European Union(EU), aviation emissions account for about 3% of the EU's total green house gas emissions, of which a majority are said to come from international flights. In terms of traffic volume in 2013, Korea's international aviation industry 11th with regard to passengers and 3rd with regard to cargo, attaining the overall rank of 5th in the world. GHG emissions has been increasing steadily over the last 4 years, averaging 3.9 percent a year, due to the growth of low cost carriers and the increased demand for air transportations. As for aviation in Korea, there are a number of means intended to attain the Government's emission control objective in an efficient manner, such as AVA (Agreement of Voluntary Activity), TMS (Target Management System) and ETS (Emission Trading Scheme). In addition, the Government intends to better adapt to ICAO's Global MBM(Market-based Measures) that will come into performance on Year 2020. In the study, we focused on GHG mitigation measures that is fulfilling the AVA, TMS, ETS in the Government and suggest the effective measures to reduction the aviation GHG emissions.

HFOQA 이벤트 분석과 SMS를 통한 국내 회전익항공기 체크리스트 개발

According to various researches, one of main causes of flight accidents is influence of human factors. It is important to collect and analyze event data in advance to minimize and prevent human errors by developing safety checklist. As a result international aviation industry developed Flight Operations Quality Assurance for commercial airliners, and, upon its proven effectiveness, it is now highly recommended to adopt for helicopter operations. Consequently, S government organization instituted Helicopter Flight Operations Quality Assurance system in 2012. Hence, this study conducted regression analysis of S organization's flight event frequency and applied ICAO SMS Matrix to categorize the severity of the events according to international standards. Based on the analysis, this research derived fundamental checklist factors for helicopter, which can be a proactive measure for safe operation.

Opening ASEAN's Skies, the ASEAN Way: Lessons from the European Experience and the Prospects of an Integrated Aviation Market

In an integrated regional economy, connectivity is vital to facilitate efficient and expedited cross-border trade and travel. Hence, it was not surprising that the establishment of the common market in Europe and the ASEAN Economic Community in Southeast Asia have been accompanied by measures to establish a Single Aviation Market (SAM). Presently, the EU already has a fully integrated aviation market. ASEAN aims to achieve the same by next year but the prospects of it actually happening are not really bright. Thus, are there any lessons that ASEAN can take from EU’s experience in establishing its own SAM within a landscape of regionalism and integration? Extending the concept of SAM, EU and ASEAN are now considering the possibility of having an open skies agreement between them. The proposed agreement, in itself, has the potential to change the landscape of the international aviation industry due to the huge market base of both regions and the growing importance of ASEAN in the global economy. With the ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASAM) still not in place, what will then the future hold for the EU-ASEAN open skies agreement?

Developments in aviation meteorology

Developments in aviation meteorology

International Airline Groups in Africa

This paper contributes to the international research project ‘Capturing the Gains: Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Production Networks and Trade’. Its main aim is to analyse the operations of international airlines in Africa and assess the influence of the international aviation industry on the development of tourism in selected African states. Simultaneously, through an exploration of the different ways in which international airline groups can foster the development of the tourism sector in Africa, the paper informs the general understanding of the influence of tourism on regional development. Although in general terms the paper focuses on the whole of Africa, more detailed issues are analysed on the basis of South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.

Coasian economics and the management of international aviation emissions

The recent decision by the EU Parliament supporting an emissions tax and subsequent carbon trading scheme for European airlines provides the structural foundation for an exploration of the role of Coasian economics in emissions abatements in the international aviation industry. The paper begins by outlining Pigouvian taxation in aviation and considers, from a business context, the potential reaction of international air transport operations. It is argued that the tenets underlying Coasian approaches to negotiated or bargained optimum pollution levels is an alterative lens through which emissions controls can be viewed, although such an approach is perhaps not entirely efficient due to the presence of significant transaction costs, complex regulatory environments governing access.