Major Airlines Research Articles

On the impact of jet fuel cost on airlines’ capacity choice: Evidence from the U.S. domestic markets

Using publicly available datasets, we analyze three capacity decisions (flight frequency, aircraft size, and load factor) of seven major airlines and address their relationship with the level and fluctuations of three exogenous factors (fuel cost, total passenger demand, and unemployment rate). Our results show that increased passenger demand is associated with smaller aircraft and more frequent flights, while higher fuel costs are associated with larger aircraft and less frequent flights. Overall, our results indicate that airlines adjust both flight frequency and aircraft sizes to manage capacity and maintain load factors in response to fluctuations in passenger demand and fuel cost.

THE “AIRCRAFT NATIONALITY” IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

INTRODUCTION. An aircraft bears nationality of the state in which it is registered. This rule was first set in international air law conventions in the beginning of the XX century and it is still effective. At the same time there are no established criteria which the state entitled to put an aircraft in its register should fit. Due to this for the time being, aviation liberalization and deregulation have made it possible for air carriers to use leased aircraft registered in another states, and to adopt common maritime “flags of convenience” practice. This is true for our country, as more than 80% of fleet used at regular passenger flights by major Russian airlines, including the national carrier Aeroflot, is registered outside the Russian Federation. As a result, the meaning of “aircraft nationality” has become rather formalistic. The objective of this research is to study the impact of this situation on the global civil aviation and to search for legal solutions to mitigate possible negative effect thereof. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Study materials include international agreements on civil aviation, primarily Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944, as well as documents of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), international conventions on the law of the sea, UN International Court practice and studies of legal scholars. General scientific and private scientific methods of cognition composed methodological basis for the study. RESEARCH RESULTS. In the course of the study the author reveals two approaches to the “aircraft nationality” definition in international law. The first one is based on the notion that aircraft belongs to a state due to the fact of registration. This approach substantiates the idea of exclusive flag state jurisdiction over aircraft, similarly to a state’s jurisdiction over the regions adjoining to its territory (e.g. territorial waters). The second approach provides for the link between a state and an aircraft as the core nature of “nationality”, with registration being merely the confirmation thereof. Consequently, state’s jurisdiction is based on personal principle instead of territorial, which allows states other than flag state, primarily state of operator, to exercise jurisdiction over aircraft. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The author concludes that well-established formalistic approach to the “aircraft nationality” together with the exclusive flag state jurisdiction rule have adverse effect on civil aviation in the course of its liberalization and deregulation. The case is not only the economy of single states, but global undermining of uniform compliance by air carriers with international safety standards, as well as impeding or completely eliminating state supervision over aircraft maintenance and aviation security. The author suggests for air law development subject to the concept of “nationality” as the link between a state and an aircraf

Airline Timetable Development and Fleet Assignment Incorporating Passenger Choice

Flight timetabling can greatly impact an airline’s operating profit, yet data-driven or model-based solutions to support it remain limited. Timetabling optimization is significantly complicated by two factors. First, it exhibits strong interdependencies with subsequent fleet assignment decisions of the airlines. Second, flights’ departure and arrival times are important determinants of passenger connection opportunities, of the attractiveness of each (nonstop or connecting) itinerary, and, in turn, of passengers’ booking decisions. Because of these complicating factors, most existing approaches rely on incremental timetabling. This paper introduces an original integrated optimization approach to comprehensive flight timetabling and fleet assignment under endogenous passenger choice. Passenger choice is captured by a discrete-choice Generalized Attraction Model. The resulting optimization model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program. This paper also proposes an original multi-phase solution approach, which effectively combines several heuristics, to optimize the network-wide timetable of a major airline within a realistic computational budget. Using case study data from Alaska Airlines, computational results suggest that the combination of this paper’s model formulation and solution approaches can result in significant profit improvements, as compared to the most advanced incremental approaches to flight timetabling. Additional computational experiments based on several extensions also demonstrate the benefits of this modeling and computational framework to support various types of strategic airline decision-making in the context of frequency planning, revenue management, and post-merger integration.

The Value of Relational Contracts in Outsourcing: Evidence from the 2008 Shock to the US Airline Industry

We study relational contracts as a means to govern transactions across firm boundaries. We focus on the airline industry, where real-time adaptation of flight schedules under bad weather is not formally contractible, and yet is essential for performance and long-term profitability. While outsourcing reduces the operating costs of major airlines, it increases their risk of failed adaptation due to a loss of control in favor of the regional partners. We theoretically show that majors and regionals can implement efficient rescheduling through self-enforcing relational contracts if their partnership’s present discounted value (PDV) outweighs the total adaptation cost. Using the beginning of the 2008 crisis as an exogenous shock, we find that, consistent with the centrality of relational contracts in governing airline partnerships, outsourced routes in networks with higher total adaptation cost, and hence higher PDV, were more likely to remain outsourced to the same partner after the crisis.

An Analytical Approach to Accessibility and Usability Evaluation of Nigerian Airlines Websites

In the present globalized world, online access to information and service irrespective of location and time have become the order of the day. A major gateway to online information and services in any corporate or government organization is the website. Thus, websites accessibility and usability across different organizations is gaining interest among researchers and practitioners. This study focuses on evaluating the level of accessibility and usability of websites of major airlines in the civil aviation industry in Nigeria for the purpose of ascertaining their level of compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. In achieving the aim of the study, different automated tools such as the A-Checker tool, European Internet Inclusion Initiative (EIII) e-accessibility tool, WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool (WAVE), Functional Accessibility Evaluation Tool and Mobile Friendly Test were used in the study. In addition, heuristic method was used for the usability testing. Based on the various tests conducted, majority of the websites show known problems (KP) and high failure in terms of xhtml conformance with the stipulated guidelines. Findings from the coding and design tests reveal an average performance while the websites’ implementation tests and mobile friendly tests were not satisfactory. The usability evaluation reveals that most of the websites do not have functional and required usability tools expected from commercial airlines. In practical terms, this study provides pointer to stakeholders in the civil aviation industry in Nigeria on the importance of ensuring that websites deployed facilitate seamless interaction with customers and enable service delivery without constraints.

A STUDY OF CHINA’S MAJOR DOMESTIC AIRLINES’ SERVICE QUALITY AT SHANGHAI’S HONGQIAO AND PUDONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS

In a highly competitive market, service quality can be the core competitive advantage for airline’s profitability and sustained development. This paper has investigated the differences in the passengers’ expectations and perceptions of the service quality of China’s four major domestic airlines: Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Hainan Airlines in China’s domestic market. The results will assist airline management to improve service quality by reducing the difference. Surveys were conducted with domestic passengers at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Shanghai Pudong Airport in China. The results show that there are significant differences of service quality between passengers’ expectations and perceptions among major Chinese airlines. Passengers consistently rate ‘good safety records’ as the first priority of seven SERVQUAL dimensions, but low price remains the most important factor that passengers consider when choosing a Chinese airline. The conclusions reached in this work suggest that Chinese airlines should consider improving service quality rather than providing cheaper air tickets in order to gain competitive advantage.

Proposing a framework for airline service quality evaluation using Type-2 Fuzzy TOPSIS and non-parametric analysis

This paper focuses on evaluating airline service quality from the perspective of passengers' view. Until now a lot of researches has been performed in airline service quality evaluation in the world but a little research has been conducted in Iran, yet. In this study, a framework for measuring airline service quality in Iran is proposed. After reviewing airline service quality criteria, SSQAI model was selected because of its comprehensiveness in covering airline service quality dimensions. SSQAI questionnaire items were redesigned to adopt with Iranian airlines requirements and environmental circumstances in the Iran's economic and cultural context. This study includes fuzzy decision-making theory, considering the possible fuzzy subjective judgment of the evaluators during airline service quality evaluation. Fuzzy TOPSIS have been applied for ranking airlines service quality performances. Three major Iranian airlines which have the most passenger transfer volumes in domestic and foreign flights were chosen for evaluation in this research. Results demonstrated Mahan airline has got the best service quality performance rank in gaining passengers' satisfaction with delivery of high-quality services to its passengers, among the three major Iranian airlines. IranAir and Aseman airlines placed in the second and third rank, respectively, according to passenger's evaluation. Statistical analysis has been used in analyzing passenger responses. Due to the abnormality of data, Non-parametric tests were applied. To demonstrate airline ranks in every criterion separately, Friedman test was performed. Variance analysis and Tukey test were applied to study the influence of increasing in age and educational level of passengers on degree of their satisfaction from airline's service quality. Results showed that age has no significant relation to passenger satisfaction of airlines, however, increasing in educational level demonstrated a negative impact on passengers' satisfaction with airline's service quality.

대형항공사에서의 기업역량과 CSR 활동이 브랜드 애착과 전환비용 및 지속이용의도에 미치는 영향

대형항공사에서의 기업역량과 CSR 활동이 브랜드 애착과 전환비용 및 지속이용의도에 미치는 영향

Estimating strategic responses to the march of a low cost carrier to primary airports

We empirically investigate the capacity responses of major incumbent airlines facing the entry of a new low cost carrier in a secondary airport of a multiple airports region. We develop an empirical model that allows for time-varying strategic responses, aiming at identifying possible degrees of route entry threat. We consider the case of the entry of Azul Airlines in the densest conurbation in Brazil. Our results suggest that the incumbents preemptively fortified their flight frequency positions on threatened routes to deter the anticipated march of the newcomer from the secondary airport toward the existing primary airports.

Non-price competition in the US airline industry: a VAR model

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which major US airlines respond to one another in quality of service improvements.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing monthly data, the authors estimate a five-equation vector autoregressive model to determine which airline leads or follows others in quality of service improvements.FindingsThis study found that the five major airlines make interrelated decisions when responding to customer complaints concerning flight problems, over-sales, reservations, ticketing, boarding, and customer service. Every airline either responds to or influences the changes in customer complaints faced by at least one other airline, while some airlines do both. However, only one such relationship was found when examining if airlines change the percent of flight delays they have control over in response to changes in flight delays faced by another airline.Practical implicationsThe number of passenger complaints against an airline can be influenced by the airline, as can the number of carrier-caused flight delays. The industry leaders in responsiveness to consumer complaints are US Airways and United. However, airlines do not, as a group, respond to the carrier-caused delays of their competitors. The prescription to improve airline service vis-à-vis flight delays is simple: tell passengers why flights are delayed. To protect or gain market share, airlines would compete for customers by minimizing flight delays in a similar manor to how they respond to customer complaints.Originality/valueNo other paper that the authors are aware of has addressed the issue of identifying leaders and followers in the US airline industry regarding changes in service quality as reflected by changes in passenger complaints and flight delays.

The influence of emission thresholds and retrofit options on airline fleet planning: An optimization approach

The global framework for aviation is given by growth expectation (growth rates of 2–5% p.a.) in combination with the challenge to reduce the environmental impact. Especially airlines are under increasing pressure due to ambitious CO2 reduction targets. To reduce fleet emissions, airlines can purchase modern and fuel efficient aircraft or apply retrofits to the existing fleet (e.g., blended winglets). Decisions on these alternatives are part of airline fleet planning where the development of fleet size and composition is determined. Focusing on the transition towards energy-efficient aviation, this paper investigates the influence of emission thresholds and retrofit options on airline fleet planning by making use of an optimization model. Based on real-world data, the model is applied to two major European airlines for a planning horizon between 2016 and 2025. The results indicate that emission thresholds and retrofits can make a significant contribution to achieving short term emission targets. However, the potential is limited due to existing investment budget constraints and the fact that retrofits are only available for short- to medium-haul aircraft. This calls for the development and certification of further retrofit programs as well as the deployment of further measures such as bio-/electrofuels or hybrid electric aircraft.

객실승무원 조직의 여성 리더십과 직무효능감 및 직무만족의 구조관계 분석

The purpose of study is to analyze the structural relationship among feminine leadership, job engagement, and job satisfaction in major airline. Through convenience sampling method, total 250 surveys were distributed to major airline members. After removing 20 surveys which had insufficient answers, frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation model were used for real analysis. The results of this research is presented as follows: First, democratic participation behavior and relations-oriented behavior influenced on occupational self-efficacy positively. Second, occupational self-efficacy also influenced od jon satisfaction positively. Third, relations-oriented behavior and transformational behavior influenced on job satisfaction.

Chinese airline efficiency under CO2 emissions and flight delays: A stochastic network DEA model

This article is focused on the efficiency assessment of 13 major Chinese airlines from 2006 to 2014, applying a stochastic network DEA (SNDEA) to account for randomness in undesirable outputs such as flight delays and CO2 emissions. Two stages are considered: flight and network efficiency. Efficiency estimates are computed using multivariate copulas to control for time (trend) and individual (DMU) effects. A robust regression approach is subsequently developed to address the impact of contextual variables on efficiency levels. Results suggest that more progress has been made over the course of the years in terms of controlling flight delays that in terms of reducing CO2 emissions. These results call for specific policies that can target the latter issue more properly: authorities should pay a closer look on airlines listed in the stock market and that operate international flights to apprehend best practices and design regulatory marks to the sector. This paper also lends a distinctive contribution to the literature by modeling the first time the trade-off between flight delays and CO2 emissions in airline efficiency problems.

Business Model Innovation in Airlines

The business models innovation in airlines can contribute to the creation of value, competitive advantage and profitability with new possibilities of action. The proposed paper aimed to identify the business models adopted by airlines and identify how the innovation occurs at these organizations. The methodology adopted is characterized as empirical, exploratory and descriptive research by multiple case study with three major Brazilian airlines. The results demonstrate that the search for paradigm breaks, related to the dichotomic traditional models of low-cost and full-service, toward hybrid business models occur linearly, as examples highlighted by companies, in which internal changes in business models are considered major organizational innovations.

A hybrid optimization-simulation approach for robust weekly aircraft routing and retiming

We address the robust weekly aircraft routing and retiming problem, which requires determining weekly schedules for a heterogeneous fleet that maximizes the aircraft on-time performance, minimizes the total delay, and minimizes the number of delayed passengers. The fleet is required to serve a set of flights having known departure time windows while satisfying maintenance constraints. All flights are subject to random delays that may propagate through the network. We propose to solve this problem using a hybrid optimization-simulation approach based on a novel mixed-integer nonlinear programming model for the robust weekly aircraft maintenance routing problem. For this model, we provide an equivalent mixed-integer linear programming formulation that can be solved using a commercial solver. Furthermore, we describe a Monte-Carlo-based procedure for sequentially adjusting the flight departure times. We perform an extensive computational study using instances obtained from a major international airline, having up to 3387 flights and 164 aircraft, which demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed approach. Using the simulation software SimAir to assess the robustness of the solutions produced by our approach in comparison with that for the original solutions implemented by the airline, we found that on-time performance was improved by 9.8–16.0%, cumulative delay was reduced by 25.4–33.1%, and the number of delayed passengers was reduced by 8.2–51.6%.

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM IN JAPAN: A LITERATURE STUDY

In Japan, the transportation system is the lifeblood of the country in order to ease the flow of people, goods, and information, supporting the achievement of optimum economic resources allocation. To that end, the transportation service should be fairly evenly available and affordable purchasing power. This is a literature study, whose main data sources are books, literature, records, and reports that have to do with the subject matter being solved. The results show that Japanese transportation system is very modern, comfortable, secure, punctual, and well-organized, as well as outstanding in service and responsible, so that people use public transport rather than private cars. Transportation in Japan as in other countries includes land, sea, and air transports. On land, there is a transport in the form of excellent trains and become a major transportation in Japan. In addition, there are also subway trains. To connect between islands, especially the four largest islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu) there are ferries as a means of crossing. Also available is a comprehensive international air service through two major airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, as well as foreign airlines based on the operators who fly all over the world. Transportation in Japan is generally accommodated by Japan Railway (JR), the state-owned company JR Bus, JR Train, and others.

Learning English to fly: A study of Chinese cargo airline pilots’ learning engagement

Due to a growing concern with the English language competence of international airline pilots, a growing body of research has been conducted on issues related to the International Aviation English Test, which pilots need to pass in order to fly on international routes (e.g. Jones, 2003; Ragan, 1997; Seiler, 2009). This paper contributes to this research by reporting on a mixed method inquiry into Chinese pilots’ engagement with learning English for aviation. The study involved a survey of 165 pilots working for a major Chinese cargo airline, and follow-up interviews with two of the surveyed participants (one senior and one junior) to explore their International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) test preparation and learning engagement. The findings of the study indicate that policy-makers and relevant English language education specialists need to develop tailor made courses that will better help these pilots to improve their command of English and thus ensure aviation safety.

Taking-off corporate social responsibility programs: An AHP application in airline industry

The notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) involves multiple stakeholders and is directly pertinent with quality, strategy, sustainability, and brand image of an organization. CSR endeavors include a wide range of core focuses such as community participation and cultivation, customer involvement, equitable operating demeanor, and environment, among others. Stakeholders within the society expect excellent organizations attain and perpetuate culminating results from CSR conduct that entertain or outpace expectations. In this paper, a multi-criteria decision-making methodology (MCDM), Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), is applied in Turkish airline industry to assess and weigh the CSR program criteria among multiple alternatives. The proposed evaluation model identifies key factors regarding the criteria and sub-criteria of a CSR program hierarchically in the airline industry. Questionnaires based on the pairwise comparison, answered by thirty-one experts working in four different major airline companies, are used to assess the relative importance of related factors. Then, fuzzy linguistic variables are adopted to rank the selected CSR programs of airliner companies. It is observed that CSR paradigm in the airline industry is envisaged within a restricted economic realm besieging social and environmental dimensions, rather than within the totality of systemic efforts towards multi-faceted issues. The study is important in putting forth the current CSR opinion of the Turkish airline companies.

Operational efficiency of ASEAN airlines: based on DEA and bootstrapping approaches

PurposeFor strategic and competitive insights, the purpose of this paper is to measure and benchmark the comparative operating efficiencies of Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) major airlines and present a new interpretation along with managerial implications.Design/methodology/approachThis research statistically tests returns to scale and the equality of mean efficiencies for 15 ASEAN airlines covering the period 2010-2014. The disaggregate input efficiency of ASEAN airlines is computed by comparing the target and actual inputs.FindingsThe disaggregate input efficiency of ASEAN airlines shows that aircraft efficiency is the lowest, operating cost efficiency is better, and available seat efficiency is the best.Originality/valueThis paper applies data envelopment analysis models, disaggregated input efficiency measures, and bootstrapping approaches to compute the operational efficiency of ASEAN airlines. Strategic suggestions are made to improve the operational efficiency of ASEAN airlines.

The relationship between empowerment and the three-component model of organisational commitment: an empirical study of Thai employees working in Thai and American airlines

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the moderating role of organisational culture on the relationship between empowerment and the three dimensions of organisational commitment amongst flight attendants working in a collectivist organisation and an individualist organisation.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a sample of 439 Thai cabin service attendants from two major flag-carrier airlines (one based in Thailand and the other based in the USA) using self-administered questionnaires. Structural equation modelling was utilised to examine the hypotheses.FindingsOverall, the findings revealed associations between empowerment and organisational commitment in both sample groups. Nonetheless, the extent and direction to which empowerment influenced the different dimensions of organisational commitment differed significantly.Research limitations/implicationsCross-sectional study of Thai employees may limit generalisability of the findings to other contexts.Practical implicationsIn use of empowerment for developing employee commitment to organisation, practitioners should take organisational culture into consideration. As such, relationship is weakened or strengthened based on whether the organisation is more individualist- or collectivist-oriented in its organisational culture. In an individualistic context, organisations can foster affective commitment through empowerment more easily than in a collectivist context. On the contrary, in a collectivist organisational context, it is easier to build normative commitment among employees through empowerment than to do it in an individualist context.Originality valueProvide empirical evidence in regards to the role of organisational culture in conditioning the relationship between empowerment and organisational commitment in a non-Western context.