Large Airline Research Articles

Finite Horizon Touchdown Analysis of Autolanded Aircraft under Crosswind

The paper presents a worst-case touchdown condition analysis of an autolanded aircraft under crosswind. Aircraft dynamics are generally considered altitude- and speed-dependent and, thus, well covered inside the linear parameter-varying framework. Following a specific parameter trajectory tracking the instrument landing system’s guidance signal, its dynamics amount to a finite horizon linear time-varying (LTV) system. This allows to explicitly respect the varying dynamics during the flare maneuver, changing control laws, and the finite horizon of the approach using a finite horizon LTV analysis. A time-varying trajectory uncertainty is proposed to respect the effects of different environmental conditions and aircraft parameters in the analysis. By representing the uncertainty as an integral quadratic constraint (IQC), recent advances in the worst-case gain analysis of finite horizon LTV systems can be utilized. The analysis condition is based on a parameterized Riccati differential equation, which leads to an efficiently solvable nonlinear optimization problem. Applying the robust LTV framework, worst-case touchdown conditions of an autolanded large airliner under crosswind wind are calculated. The obtained results are evaluated against Monte Carlo analyses of the nonlinear model.

EVALUATION OF THE OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY OF THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES’ BIG SCALE FLAG CARRIER AIRLINES USING DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS

Civil Aviation Industry has entered into a great development trend, especially since the 1978 deregulation period. Strategies implemented by airlines are of great importance in this development trend. Although airline partnerships cause airlines to lose their brand values, more successes are achieved under operational and financial criteria. For this reason, airline partnerships have been a strategy used by both large and small scale airlines in European aviation for the last 10 years. When it is examined the 10 biggest airlines of Europe excluding low-cost carriers, it is seen that only Turkish Airlines have not in a partnership. The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of partnerships established on the airlines' operational and financial efficiency. While the number of revenue passengers and the total number of landings are operational inputs, the available seat kilometer and revenue passenger kilometer are financial outputs. While the results obtained from these data help to determine how efficient the biggest airlines in Europe are, on the other hand, it expresses how important it is in its different criteria.

Air Terrorism as a Threat to the Safety of Air Transport

The author of this article addresses the issue of the threat posed to air transport security by air terrorism. The main goal of this article is to identify the specific threats arising from air terrorism and examine their implications for the functioning of air transport as a whole. The dangers posed by attacks using hijacked light aircraft as well as large passenger airliners are highlighted. The article is based on the literature study and the author’s own analyses of the issue.

Influential factors on Chinese airlines’ profitability and forecasting methods

We establish profit models to predict the performance of airlines in the short term using the quarterly profit data collected on the three largest airlines in China together with additional recent historical data on external influencing factors. In particular, we propose the application of the LASSO estimation method to this problem and we compare its performance with a suite of other more modern state-of-the-art approaches including ridge regression, support vector regression, tree regression and neural networks. It is shown that LASSO generally outperforms the other approaches in this study. We concluded a number of findings on the oil price and other influential factors on Chinese airline profitability.

저비용항공사의 시장확대에 따른 대형항공사의 이용고객의 전환비용과 신뢰 전이, 구매의도 간의 영향 관계에 관한 연구

In the early days, LCC operated domestically, and steadily expanded its market share, eroding the market share of FSC. Since then, LCC have diversified into aircrafts and have entered the international market, threatening the maintenance of FSC airlines’ market. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the switching cost, trust transfer, and purchase intention that occurs when customer trust is changed from a large airline to a LCC. The results of this study are as follows: First, learning and investment costs are rejected and uncertainty costs are supported in explaining the relationship between switching cost and trust transfer. Second, in the relationship between trust transfer and purchase intention, learning and investment costs are rejected and uncertainty costs are support. Third, trust intentions are supported by purchase intentions. Therefore, we have identified the important marketing characteristics that the trust formation of customers of large airlines can positively influence the purchase intention of low cost carrier.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial airlines in the United States and implications for the kidney transplant community.

Many deceased-donor and living-donor kidney transplants (KTs) rely on commercial airlines for transport. However, the coronavirus-19 pandemic has drastically impacted the commercial airline industry. To understand potential pandemic-related disruptions in the transportation network of kidneys across the United States, we used national flight data to compare scheduled flights during the pandemic vs 1-year earlier, focusing on Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) pairs between which kidneys historically most likely traveled by direct flight (High Volume by direct Air transport OPO Pairs, HVA-OPs). Across the United States, there were 39% fewer flights in April 2020 vs April 2019. Specific to the kidney transportation network, there were 65.1% fewer flights between HVA-OPs, with considerable OPO-level variation (interquartile range [IQR] 54.7%-75.3%; range 0%-100%). This translated to a drop in median number of flights between HVA-OPs from 112 flights/wk in April 2019 to 34 in April 2020 (P<.001), and a rise in wait time between scheduled flights from 1.5hours in April 2019 (IQR 0.76-3.3) to 4.9hours in April 2020 (IQR 2.6-11.2; P<.001). Fewer flights and longer wait times can impact logistics as well as cold ischemia time; our findings motivate an exploration of creative approaches to KT transport as the impact of this pandemic on the airline industry evolves.

The future of airports post COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic has hit most sectors of the world and has led to many industries coming to a standstill. It has led to restrictions of movement and travel ban. As a result of these restrictions, transport sector especially in aviation has impacted badly.With the uncertainty of further impact of the current situation, there is a likelihood of the aviation business rebounding at a slower pace bringing V-shape and U-shape recovery as per analysis of economic impacts on civil aviation by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO (2020). Currently, airline capacity is down 70 to 80 percent in April 2020 compared to April 2019, and multiple large airlines have temporarily ceased operations. Largely, almost 60 percent of the global fleet was grounded in early April 2020 as per McKinsey report (Curley et al., 2020).In order to support the sinking capacities and revenues, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) calls on the European governments to provide relief to their airlines to sustain their operations. Furthermore, this document highlights the future of airport and air transport industry based on revenue generation sources, cost control strategies and integration of innovations with respect to variable demand and capacity during and post COVID-19.

Determinants of wave-system structures of network airlines at hub airports

This paper attempted to analyze the factors influencing the existence and configuration of wave-system structures of large network airlines at hub airports based on the statistical data of daily flight schedules. A bootstrapped binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between wave-system structure and its influential factors. Further, a partial least squared regression model was employed to uncover the determinants of wave-system structures' configuration. It is found that the interaction effects of two types of flight rates positively determine the existence of a wave-system structure, and the rate of airline's daily flights had the biggest impact on the configurations of wave-system structures.

Air transport demand and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa: Direction of causality

Air transport may be a key tool to advance economic development. However, it is uncertain whether air transport boosts economic development, or vice versa. Both views have theoretical and empirical support. In some countries and regions, air transport is important for initiating development, for example by attracting foreign direct investment or granting access to lifelines. Elsewhere, economic development drives air transport demand. Establishing the direction of causality for regions/countries segmented by income level may inform pragmatic policy. This study analyzes the causal relationship between air transport demand and economic development for six sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1981–2018. Vector error correction and vector autoregression models are employed to identify long- and short-run causalities. The results reveal heterogeneous, context-specific causal relationships. In the long-run, for South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, the direction of causality runs from economic development to air transport demand; for Ethiopia, causality runs in the opposite direction, with increased demand for air transport promoting economic development; and for Senegal and Angola, the relationship is too weak to infer causal directions. Possible explanations for this heterogeneity include differences in per capita income, low-cost carriers' share of national aviation markets, the presence of large home-based airlines, and comparative geographical advantage as a natural hub.

Fuel-Saving Climb Procedure by Reduced Thrust near Top of Climb

This paper proposes a new fuel-saving climb procedure by reducing thrust near top of climb. Aircraft usually climb at maximum thrust during the climb phase. However, as revealed in this paper, the maximum thrust during climb is not always optimal considering the fact that the engine fuel efficiency of the maximum thrust is worse than that of the cruise thrust. Potential fuel savings of 40–80 lbs by a large jet airliner can be the result of this different engine thrust, but such savings cannot be fully achieved because of aircraft capability and air traffic control constraints. Therefore, the author proposes a practical fuel-saving climb procedure to satisfy the constraints of current aircraft and air traffic control operation. It is shown that a simple rule ( climb from 6000 ft below the optimal cruise altitude) can save more than half of the potential saving (20–50 lbs) regardless of the initial weight with the same aircraft type. It is also confirmed that the proposed procedure works for other aircraft types.

Wildlife strike cost revelation in the US domestic airline industry

Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last revisited its wildlife strike disclosure policy in 2009, the American domestic airline industry has undergone a significant increase in concentration. We analyze how the aforementioned shift in market structure has impacted the voluntary repair cost disclosure of US airlines following a damaging wildlife strike event. We also investigate the related relationship between profitability and disclosure using an instrumental variables strategy. Lastly, we examine the interaction between competition and profits. Our results show the probability of large American airlines disclosing direct repair costs after a wildlife strike event are linked to market competition and profitability. These findings could directly inform policies managing the economic burden of wildlife strikes, most importantly, the current voluntary disclosure policy.

Community Detection in Airline Networks: An Empirical Analysis of American vs. Southwest Airlines

In this paper, we develop a route-traffic-based method for detecting community structures in airline networks. Our model is both an application and an extension of the Clauset-Newman-Moore (CNM) modularity maximization algorithm, in that we apply the CNM algorithm to large airline networks, and take both route distance and passenger volumes into account. Therefore, the relationships between airports are defined not only based on the topological structure of the network but also by a traffic-driven indicator. To illustrate our model, two case studies are presented: American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Results show that the model is effective in exploring the characteristics of the network connections, including the detection of the most influential nodes and communities on the formation of different network structures. This information is important from an airline operation pattern perspective to identify the vulnerability of networks.

A branch-and-price heuristic for the crew pairing problem with language constraints

In large commercial airlines, the monthly schedule (roster) of the crew members is usually determined by solving two problems sequentially, namely, the crew pairing problem (CPP) and the crew rostering problem (CRP). While the CPP finds a set of low-cost feasible anonymous pairings, the CRP assigns these pairings to the crew members to create a valid roster. The CRP often involves language constraints, which request language qualifications among the crew members operating some flights. In this case, the pairings returned by the CPP are not necessarily compatible with the qualifications of the available crew members, resulting in a large number of violated language constraints in the CRP. In this paper, we propose a new CPP variant, called the CPP with language constraints (CPPLC), that takes into account two types of soft language constraints that help producing more suitable pairings for satisfying the CRP language constraints. To solve the CPPLC, we develop a branch-and-price heuristic that includes an efficient partial pricing strategy for handling the large number of subproblems needed to model the language constraints. We also propose an acceleration technique to compute a high-quality (usually fractional) solution at the root node of the search tree. The proposed algorithm is tested on seven real-world datasets. We show that pairings produced by the CPPLC are better-suited for the CRP, resulting in a reduction of the number of violated CRP language constraints that varies between 61% and 96%, when compared to the pairings obtained from the traditional CPP.

Exploring the Fourth Order

Companies are organised to fulfil two distinctive functions: efficient and resilient exploitation of current business and parallel exploration of new possibilities. For the latter, companies require strong organisational infrastructure such as team compositions and functional structures to ensure exploration remains effective. This paper explores the potential for designing organisational infrastructure to be part of fourth order subject matter. In particular, it explores how organisational infrastructure could be designed in the context of an exploratory unit, operating in a large heritage airline. This paper leverages insights from a long-term action research project and finds that building trust and shared frames are crucial to designing infrastructure that affords the greater explorative agenda of an organisation.

Study on Optimization of Drag Characteristics of Large Civil Airliners

In order to reduce the drag of large civil airliners and improve the economy of their operation, this paper chooses the shape of a typical large civil airliner as the research object, analyses the causes and classifications of the drag of large civil airliners, and puts forward the drag reduction measures for different sources of drag by means of numerical simulation. The results show that the frictional drag can be reduced by installing vortex generator on the rear body of the fuselage, the form drag can be significantly reduced by installing the after body end plate, improving high angle of Attack Performance and the induced drag can be further reduced by using the vertical section add to the lateral section of the winglets. The results can lay a theoretical foundation for aerodynamic shape design and optimization of large civil airliners.

Overcoming the Valley of Death: A Design Innovation Perspective

In large organizations, innovation activities often take place in separate departments, centers, or studios. These departments aim to produce prototypes of solutions to the problems of operational business owners. However, too often these concepts remain in the prototype stage: they are never implemented and fall into what is popularly termed the Valley of Death.A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use design nevertheless encounter implementation challenges due to the larger infrastructure of the organization they are part of. This research aims to explore which organizational factors contribute to the Valley of Death during design innovation. An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is applied. Four projects are analyzed to identify implementation challenges. A thematic data analysis reveals organizational design, departmental silos, and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the formation of, and encounters with, the Valley of Death. Arising resource‐assignment challenges that result from these factors are also identified. Materialization, user‐centeredness, and holistic problem framing are identified as design practices that mitigate encounters with the Valley of Death, thus leading to projects being fully realized.

항공사 객실승무원의 체면민감성이 직무스트레스, 직무만족 및 조직몰입에 미치는 영향 : FSC 항공사를 중심으로

This study aims to investigate the effect of social face sensitivity on occupational stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of cabin crew members employed in large Korean domestic airlines that operate in teams. This study suggests that cabin crew members experience high levels of occupational stress caused by the state of being conscious of managing their social face not only to passengers, but also to crew members and it is expected that the resulting occupational stress will affect their levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In this study, I have set consciousness for others, consciousness of shame, and consciousness of formalities as the sub-factors of social face sensitivity and have surveyed cabin crew members employed in large domestic airlines from January 5th, 2019 to February 20th 2019. A total of 223 questionnaire responses were used for analysis. The analysis of this study demonstrates that the consciousness for others, the consciousness of shame, and the consciousness of formalities have a positive (+) effect on the levels of . Second, occupational stress has a negative (-) effect on the degree of job satisfaction. Third, occupational stress has a negative (-) effect on the organizational commitment of the crew members. Fourth, it was concluded that job satisfaction has a positive (+) effect on organizational commitment.

Amsterdam to Dublin Eventually Delayed? LSTM and Transfer Learning for Predicting Delays of Low Cost Airlines

Flight delays impact airlines, airports and passengers. Delay prediction is crucial during the decision-making process for all players in commercial aviation, and in particular for airlines to meet their on-time performance objectives. Although many machine learning approaches have been experimented with, they fail in (i) predicting delays in minutes with low errors (less than 15 minutes), (ii) being applied to small carriers i.e., low cost companies characterized by a small amount of data. This work presents a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) approach to predicting flight delay, modeled as a sequence of flights across multiple airports for a particular aircraft throughout the day. We then suggest a transfer learning approach between heterogeneous feature spaces to train a prediction model for a given smaller airline using the data from another larger airline. Our approach is demonstrated to be robust and accurate for low cost airlines in Europe.

Review of Environment Influence on Virgin Australia’s Competitive Strategy

In order to analyze the environment influence on the business competitive strategies about the second largest airline in Australia, Virgin Australia, some basic information about Virgin Australia was retrieved and concluded in details from the scope of both the external and internal environment. It is obvious that the environment could affect the implementation of the competitive strategies. The paper also provides recommendations as to how Virgin Australia might maintain or improve its competitive strategies.

Fênix Sorri - O Caso Smiles

O objetivo deste caso é apresentar a evolução do modelo de negócio do Smiles, desde a sua criação, como um programa de fidelidade da maior companhia aérea brasileira na época, a VARIG, até o momento mais recente, como uma companhia independente de capital aberto, que se transformou em um programa de coalizão. Ao longo do caso, o leitor se deparará com várias situações ligadas à gestão de negócios, especialmente do ponto de vista das decisões estratégias e de definições relacionadas ao tripé configuração, construção e apropriação de valor, inerentes aos estudos relacionados à Modelo de Negócios, assim como conceitos provenientes de diversas áreas do conhecimento em Administração de Empresas. Espera-se que sua utilização contribua para o enriquecimento dos estudos, cujas temáticas estejam associadas às áreas de Estratégia e, sobretudo, de Modelo de Negócios, valendo-se de uma situação real, que permitirá aos leitores maior vivência da realidade de uma das principais companhias brasileiras no seu setor de atuação. Notas de ensino são apresentadas ao final propondo formas para utilização do caso, embasamento teórico e sugestão de questões para discussão. O presente estudo foi realizado em 2015, com consentimento da então “Head of Marketing” da companhia, para fins acadêmicos, e atualizado, por meio de dados secundários, em 2017.