Major Airlines Research Articles

The Research and Strategy Analysis of Public Health Emergency in Civil Aviation

Facing the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, China's civil aviation industry has suffered an unprecedented blow. As an important part of the transportation industry, it’s an urgent problem for major airlines and airports to do a good job in safety protection and ensure the smooth and stable operation of flights. Domestic airlines and airports had some friction with passengers in the process of operation due to the need of epidemic prevention and control, which brought unprecedented pressure to the development of civil aviation. The friction with passengers once again sounded the alarm for the development of civil aviation. Airlines and airports are seeking a solution of taking the right measures in the event of public health events. It’s effective to build an impregnable wall of epidemic prevention and protection. We need to work together from legal norms, operational procedures, scientific and technological innovation, channel publicity and other aspects.

Pilots After Shoulder Surgery and Rehabilitation in a Dedicated Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Unit of a Major Airline Returned to Work Earlier When Compared to Standard Rehabilitation by External Providers

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to compare the time to return to work (RTW) for pilots who underwent shoulder surgery and underwent rehabilitation within a dedicated musculoskeletal rehabilitation (MSK) unit of a major airline to a group of pilots who had standard rehabilitation and to calculate cost savings.MethodsThe database of Emirates Airline was searched for all ICD-10 codes relating to shoulder pathology. Pilots who had shoulder surgery between January 2017 and June 2021 were included. Pilots who had previous shoulder surgery, underwent fracture surgery, joint replacement, revision surgery, or conservative treatment were excluded. The time between suspension and reinstatement of their license was defined as RTW. Cost savings were calculated on the basis of the median salary and rosterable fraction of a commercial airline pilot. RTW compared between a group undergoing rehabilitation in the MSK unit and a group receiving standard rehabilitation by external providers. Group allocation for either attending MSK unit or standard rehabilitation occurred randomly and according to the individual pilots preferences.ResultsThe MSK unit treated 36 pilots (36 males/0 females, mean age 45.4 ± 9.4), and 18 pilots (17 males/1 female, mean age 50.3 ± 7.3) were treated by external physical therapist providers. Patients treated by the MSK unit returned to work at a mean of 85.3 ± 32.8 days, and patients treated by external providers returned to work at a mean of 117.9 ± 42.5days (P = .02). The cost savings for pilots treated by the MSK unit were calculated to be $27,948 USD per patient.ConclusionsThe results of this study showed that pilots’ after shoulder surgery RTW times range between 85 to 118 days. Rehabilitation in a dedicated MSK unit reduced the return to flying duties by 39%. Pilots treated by the MSK unit returned to work by a mean of 33 days earlier with cost savings of $27,948 USD per pilot.

The pentagon fraud theory perspective: understanding of motivation of executives to manipulate with the financial statements of a state-owned enterprise

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Indonesia are important economic actors in the national economy. However, SOEs have problems with accountability and financial transparency. SOEs problems ultimately lead to high economic costs and reduce efficiency. This study aims to determine the practice of fraudulent financial statements in SOEs. The method used in this research is descriptive. Data was obtained using observation and documentation of the Garuda Indonesia Group company which is a major airline in Indonesia. In addition, data were obtained from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), which consists of 36 samples. This study analyzes the financial statements from 2010 to 2018 as an independent variable. The dependent variable is measured by the elements of the pentagon fraud theory (pressure, opportunity, rationalization, competence, and arrogance) to detect fraudulent financial statements. Data analysis uses Kernel regression parameters, namely R-squared, predictive sign, and standard error, to detect earnings management in the context of the Garuda Indonesia Group. The results show that all the elements of the pentagon fraud theory affect financial statements. The study results show that the pentagon theory of fraud can be relied upon to detect misreporting in financial statements of SOEs. Furthermore, the study results are expected to be considered by related parties to be better prepared when detecting financial statement fraud using the fraud pentagon theory model.

Learning Personalized Product Recommendations with Customer Disengagement

Problem definition: We study personalized product recommendations on platforms when customers have unknown preferences. Importantly, customers may disengage when offered poor recommendations. Academic/practical relevance: Online platforms often personalize product recommendations using bandit algorithms, which balance an exploration-exploitation trade-off. However, customer disengagement—a salient feature of platforms in practice—introduces a novel challenge because exploration may cause customers to abandon the platform. We propose a novel algorithm that constrains exploration to improve performance. Methodology: We present evidence of customer disengagement using data from a major airline’s ad campaign; this motivates our model of disengagement, where a customer may abandon the platform when offered irrelevant recommendations. We formulate the customer preference learning problem as a generalized linear bandit, with the notable difference that the customer’s horizon length is a function of past recommendations. Results: We prove that no algorithm can keep all customers engaged. Unfortunately, classical bandit algorithms provably overexplore, causing every customer to eventually disengage. Motivated by the structural properties of the optimal policy in a scalar instance of our problem, we propose modifying bandit learning strategies by constraining the action space up front using an integer program. We prove that this simple modification allows our algorithm to perform well by keeping a significant fraction of customers engaged. Managerial implications: Platforms should be careful to avoid overexploration when learning customer preferences if customers have a high propensity for disengagement. Numerical experiments on movie recommendations data demonstrate that our algorithm can significantly improve customer engagement.

SITUATION OF EUROPEAN AIRLINES CAUSED BY COVID-19: RESTRICTIONS, GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented crisis, severely affecting the economy and many sectors, including the airline industry. This paper reviews this situation to see how airlines have acted since the beginning of COVID-19. The airline industry is dependent on financial support and subsidies to cope with the massive drop in air travel due to the coronavirus. The support received by the major airlines has been examined. In addition, a comparison has been made of all the aviation restrictions that have been implemented by different European governments. Travellers from countries with a higher incidence of cases, or with a growing rate of cases, have the most restrictions on travel to other countries. Furthermore, the strategies and protocols being implemented by certain airlines following the lifting of some of the restrictions on passenger air traffic are analysed. This paper will provide an insight into how airlines are coping with this unfavourable environment, as well as some of the future prospects and strategies of the aviation sector.

항공사 객실승무원의 체면민감성이 직무만족에 미치는 영향: 자기효능감의 조절효과를 중심으로

The purpose of study is to investigate the impact of face sensitivity of cabin crew on job satisfaction and moderating effect of their self-efficacy. For this study, data were collected from 261 questionnaires completed from a total of 350 questionnaires distributed throughout the two major full-service airlines in Korea and multiple regression analysis and hierarchical regression analysis proposed by Baron & Kenny (1986) are applied on it. The main findings are as follows: First, while social formality and self-conscious shame of cabin crew has a significant positive effect on their job satisfaction, but self-conscious low esteem has no significant effect on it. Secondly, self-efficacy has a significant positive moderating effect between social formality of face sensitivity and job satisfaction but no moderating effect between self-conscious low esteem or self-conscious shame and job satisfaction.

Government Bailouts of Airlines in the COVID-19 Crisis: Improving Transparency in International Air Transport

ABSTRACTCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents the airline industry with unprecedented challenges that constitute no less than an existential threat. Given airlines’ importance in the economy, which includes providing connectivity, preserving jobs, and supporting related sectors, many governments have given local airlines enormous financial support since early 2020. Although it is well understood why many governments cannot allow their major airlines to shut down, the ongoing massive government bailouts can distort competition in the airline industry. This article analyzes various government bailouts of airlines in the COVID-19 crisis and discusses how these bailouts are creating a growing problem with fair competition in the international air transport market. While examining the unique regulatory framework of international air transport, the article recommends multilateral, bilateral, and unilateral rule-based approaches that can better serve economic governance of international air transport in the post-COVID-19 era. Although this article does not suggest major legal reforms, which would be too ambitious and unrealistic at this stage, transparency can be significantly improved through the recommendations provided here.

Sinus Barotraumas in Commercial Aircrew.

BACKGROUND: Sinus barotraumas are a common condition in aviation medicine, sometimes compromising flight safety and even permanently grounding aircrew. Considering this and the ever-increasing amount of commercial aviation, a thorough examination is required.METHODS: In this survey study, an anonymous, electronic questionnaire was distributed to commercial aircrew of the three major commercial airlines operating in Finland (N 3799), covering 93% of the target population (i.e., all commercial aircrew operating in Finland, N 4083). Primary outcomes were self-reported prevalence, clinical characteristics, and health and occupational effects of sinus barotraumas in flight. Secondary outcomes were adjusted odds ratios (OR) for frequency of sinus barotraumas with respect to possible risk factors.RESULTS: Response rate was 47% (N 1789/3799), with 61% (N 1088) of the respondents having experienced sinus barotraumas in flight. Of those affected, 59% had used medications, 18% had undergone surgical procedures, and 53% had been on sick leave due to sinus barotraumas (38% during the last year) in flight. Factors associated with sinus barotraumas were female sex [OR, 2.47; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.354.50] and a high number of upper respiratory tract infections (3 vs. <3 URTIs/yr: OR, 3.61; 95% CI 2.654.93).CONCLUSION: Sinus barotraumas were reported by 61% of commercial aircrew. They caused an increased need for medications, otorhinolaryngology-related surgical procedures, and sickness absence from flight duty. The possible risk factors were female sex and a high number of URTIs/yr.Lindfors OH, Ketola KS, Klockars TK, Leino TK, Sinkkonen ST. Sinus barotraumas in commercial aircrew. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(11):857-863.

High-Order Community Detection in the Air Transport Industry: A Comparative Analysis among 10 Major International Airlines

Community detection in a complex network is an ongoing field. While the air transport network has gradually formed as a complex system, the topological and geographical characteristics of airline networks have become crucial in understanding the network dynamics and airports’ roles. This research tackles the highly interconnected parts in weighted codeshare networks. A dataset comprising ten major international airlines is selected to conduct a comparative analysis. The result confirms that the clique percolation method can be used in conjunction with other metrics to shed light on air transport network topology, recognizing patterns of inter- and intra-community connections. Moreover, the topological detection results are interpreted and explained from a transport geographical perspective, with the physical airline network structure. As complex as it may seem, the airline network tends to be a relatively small system with only a few high-order communities, which can be characterized by geographical constraints. This research also contributes to the literature by capturing new insights regarding the topological patterns of the air transport industry. Particularly, it reveals the wide hub-shifting phenomenon and the possibility of airlines with different business models sharing an identical topology profile.

Lookahead approximate dynamic programming for stochastic aircraft maintenance check scheduling optimization

This paper proposes a lookahead approximate dynamic programming methodology for aircraft maintenance check scheduling, considering the uncertainty of aircraft daily utilization and maintenance check elapsed time. It adopts a dynamic programming framework, using a hybrid lookahead scheduling policy. The hybrid lookahead scheduling policy makes the one-step optimal decision for heavy aircraft maintenance based on deterministic forecasts and then determines the light maintenance according to stochastic forecasts. The objective is to minimize the total wasted utilization interval between maintenance checks while reducing the need for additional maintenance slots. By achieving this goal, one is also reducing the number of maintenance checks and increasing aircraft availability while respecting airworthiness regulations. We validate the proposed methodology using the fleet maintenance data from a major European airline. The descriptive statistics of several test runs show that, when compared with the current practice, the proposed methodology potentially reduces the number of A-checks by 1.9%, the number of C-checks by 9.8%, and the number of additional slots by 78.3% over four years.

A matheuristic for the robust integrated airline fleet assignment, aircraft routing, and crew pairing problem

We address an integrated airline scheduling problem that combines three airline planning processes: fleet assignment, aircraft routing, and crew pairing. For a given daily flight schedule, the problem requires simultaneously assigning aircraft and crews to each scheduled flight, taking into account aircraft maintenance restrictions and crew work rules. We propose to solve this complex problem of integrated flight planning while taking into account robustness considerations. In this regard, robustness is achieved by restricting tight connections in the schedule and increasing the number of connections where crews follow the aircraft. We formulate the problem using a very large-scale, yet compact, mixed-integer programming model, and we propose a matheuristic consisting of a decomposition approach and a proximity search algorithm. Computational experiments carried out on real instances from a major airline and having up to 14,014 itineraries, 646 flights, and 202 aircraft provide evidence of the proposed approach’s efficacy. In particular, we find that the average deviation from a conservative bound is at most equal to 0.6%.

Halal hospitality goes global: challenges of (not) serving alcohol in an Islamic tourist destination: a case study of Egypt

PurposeThe study investigates perceptions and debate that are linked to the relationship between religion, alcohol, tourism and hospitality within the context of an Islamic tourist destination. An analytical approach involving a review of literature, assessment of conservationists’ attitude representing Islam and Christianity, and current trends using a student sample to determine intentions is used. The study findings suggest that alcohol and religiosity are not compatible, use, abuse and dependency are more common among non-believers than believers. A tense dispute continues in the Arab World around alcohol. The study contributes to the literature by highlighting economics, social practice, theoretical and managerial implications related to alcohol service in Egypt and suggests a way forward for global Muslim staff working in the hospitality, tourism, and travel industries.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses an analytical approach involving a review of literature, assessment of conservationists’ attitude representing Islam and Christianity and current trends using a student sample to determine intentions.FindingsThe study findings suggest that alcohol and religiosity are not compatible, use, abuse and dependency are more common among non-believers than believers. A tense dispute continues in the Arab World around alcohol.Research limitations/ImplicationsThe study is assessing the relationship between religion, alcohol, hospitality and tourism within the context of Egypt, advances knowledge about halal tourism and hospitality by explicitly linking religious obligations and the implication on tourism. The findings should be used with caution considering the subjectivity of responses and the size of the sample.Practical implicationsThe service/hospitality industry managers could be Muslims or non-Muslims representing major airlines, hotels and restaurants where alcohol is served by Muslim employees. These managers should consider avoiding the sale or serving of alcohol completely, and if not, they must not force their workers to serve alcohol if they chose not to.Social implicationsFaith-based (e.g. Muslims, Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons), ideological or ethically driven alternative services should be created for the staff concerned with alcohol service/consumption. Employment is to be provided to adherents of these faiths or ideologies as an alternative resort.

Too few, too many, just right: Creating the necessary number of segments for large online customer populations

We develop a framework to reduce the number of customer segments to the smallest quantity without losing essential information of the underlying population in the electronic marketplace. As a use case of this approach, we create personas for these segments to enhance customer understanding. We use (a) matrix factorization to identify customer behaviors and construct customer segments, (b) statistical heuristics to collapse into meaningful segments, and (c) automation to enrich by generating a persona profile for each segment. We evaluate our approach in a case study using more than 21 million online flight bookings of a major airline company resulting in a 57.5% decrease from 1194 to 507 segments, thereby reducing segment noise. Three customer mega-segments emerge: Behaviorally same – Demographically different, Behaviorally different - Demographically same, and Behaviorally and Demographically different. As one of the first efforts at the essential task of customer segmentation reduction for large customer populations, findings have implications for organizations desiring to employ segmentation and/or personas for enhanced customer understanding.

Significant variables currently influencing air travelers’ preference for domestic airlines in Nigeria

In recent years domestic airlines are improving their services, and the major airlines in Nigeria are ahead of others based on superior strategies; in fact, some airlines are not fully utilized, which affects their profitability, while others are highly utilized. Market dynamics and regulatory forces are the key variables that influence airline attributes, features, and developments, but this is most evident where each airline competes for passengers despite the different route choices and airports of departure. This study aimed to examine the significant variables that are currently influencing air travelers’ preference for domestic airlines in Nigeria. Primary data were obtained through systematic and random sampling of air passengers, and a questionnaire was employed for data analysis. In Lagos and Abuja airports, 757 and 682 questionnaires were administered respectively with 71.1% and 61.9% returned respectively. Regression analysis was utilized to analyze the primary data. The study found that time, safety, and fare are the most influencing factors determining passenger choice of domestic airlines in Nigeria. The current findings are crucial for policymaking, particularly during the phase of airline planning and management especially during the Covid-19 pandemic era that has challenged the economic buoyancy and the purchasing power of passengers.

Does Workplace Issues Influence Women Career Progression ? A Case of Indian Airline Industry

The present study helps to understand the mediation effect on workplace issues and career growth perspective of women employees in the Indian airline industry. The paper comprehends to gauge the relationship of different factors with the career perspective of women. Exploratory research design has been used in this research. The study includes the detailed analysis of 562 responses collected from women employees working at all hierarchy levels of the six major Indian civil airlines namely Air India, Indigo, Spice Jet, Go Air, Air Asia and Vistara with the help of a structured questionnaire. It is very essential to understand the workplace issues that women are facing in civil aviation sector and find out strategies to eliminate prevailing discrimination. This study might help improve the women representation on board, reduce gender gaps in workforce participation, may provide more creative, innovative and engaging environment for overall growth of business as well as people. The study explore factors directly and indirectly (with mediators) affecting the impact of workplace issues on women career growth perspective prevailing in the Indian civil airlines. Approaching to the respondents was the most difficult undertaking due to their tight schedules and even in the wake of guaranteeing privacy; women employees were not ready to share their experiences. Hence, the convenience sampling was embraced where acquaintances helped in getting the responses collected.

The Performance Analysis of Beibu Gulf airlines Based on DEA Model during the Pre-COVID-19 Pandemic Period

During the COVID-19 pandemic period, all airlines experienced a severe impact and the route operating cost is very susceptible to the impact of flight duration and aviation fuel prices. This paper analyzes the operation performance of Beibu Gulf airlines (low cost airline company) with data envelopment analysis CCR model in pre-COVID-19 pandemic period. Under the domestic vigorous promotion of tourism development and people's huge demand for travel, the airlines in mainland China continue rapid development, which accelerates the emergence of local airlines other than the four major airlines and leads to increasingly fierce operation competition in the civil aviation industry. Behind the competition among airlines, the operational performance of airlines can best reflect the company's development status. In this context, airlines should choose appropriate operational strategies to strengthen its competitiveness and operational capabilities. The DEA model is a mature input-output research tool, and there have been many studies related to operational performance of the aviation industry. By using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) solver software, the input and output indicators from 2017 to 2019 are analyzed. Preliminary results show that routes and oil price factors have not reached effective status. Beibu Gulf Airlines gradually shifts to low-cost mode, the faced challenges are as follows: 1. The competition among domestic low-cost airlines; 2. The current poor overall service quality of low-cost airlines as evaluated by customers; 3. How to arrange routes, flight, service strategy, etc. Airbus uses enhanced aviation systems for this series of aircraft to improve the overall reliability of the aircraft, reduce maintenance and spare parts costs, thus helping airlines greatly reduce maintenance costs, which is very beneficial to low-cost airlines. Based on this, this paper puts forward some suggestions, such as optimizing routes, developing feeder flights in second tier cities of popular destinations, controlling fuel costs, making low-cost aviation fuel reserves, reducing the weight of passengers' carry-on luggage or charging additional baggage charges.

The new CORSIA baseline has limited motivation to promote the green recovery of global aviation

The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is the first programme to tackle carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from a single industry at the global level, to realize the carbon-neutral growth of international flights from 2020 onwards. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a drastic decline in the global aviation industry. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adjusted the CORSIA by removing 2020 emissions from the baseline, which now will only be based on 2019 emissions. We estimate that the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from global international flights decreased by 70 % from February to July 2020 compared to those in 2019. Our analysis suggests that the annual CO2 emissions from international flights during the pilot stage of CORSIA (2021–2023) will be far below the revised baseline even if the global aviation industry could embrace an optimistic recovery. The major airline companies will have very limited motivations due to the CORSIA scheme to implement mitigation actions proactively. Therefore, more progressive actions are needed to align the industry recovery of global aviation and climate change mitigation during the post-COVID-19 period.

Flight rescheduling, fleet rerouting and passenger reassignment for typhoon disruption events

ABSTRACT This study aims to develop a model to help carriers effectively and efficiently deal with flight rescheduling and passenger transport problems after a typhoon disruption event. A network flow technique is employed to construct an optimization model with the objective of minimizing the total operating costs. The model is formulated as an integer multiple network flow problem with certain side constraints, and is characterized as NP-hard. To efficiently solve realistically large problems, a heuristic algorithm is developed. Moreover, a dynamic application framework is proposed to assist decision makers in running the model and adjusting the flight schedule with the passage of time. To evaluate the model and the heuristic algorithm, a case study based on the operations of a major Taiwan airline is performed. The test results demonstrate that the model and the algorithm could be useful references in actual operations.

COVID-19 and the airline industry: crisis management and resilience

COVID-19 y la industria de las aerolíneas: gestión de crisis y resilienciaPropósitos de investigaciónLa pandemia de COVID-19 ha desencadenado una época de crisis e incertidumbre para la industria del transporte aéreo. Las sombrías perspectivas para la industria han llevado la resistencia empresarial a un punto crítico. La crisis ha causado daños y conmociones que la industria de la aviación nunca antes había soportado. En este documento, proporcionamos una comprensión integral de las estrategias de respuesta de las aerolíneas generadas tanto interna como externamente mediante el examen de las prácticas comerciales para la gestión de crisis.Métodos de investigaciónNuestro estudio examinó los documentos de investigación y los informes económicos de organizaciones autoritarias, incluidas la IATA, la OMS y la ONUWTO, desde diciembre de 2019 (el mes en el que ocurrió el brote de COVID-19) hasta marzo de 2021 (el mes más reciente actualmente). También hemos integrado artículos de noticias reconocidos públicamente para cubrir una amplia gama de prácticas empresariales en la industria aeronáutica. Hemos realizado un análisis temático filtrando artículos de noticias y informes económicos que mencionaban las palabras clave “COVID-19”, “pandémica”, “CoV-2”, “coronavirus” y “corona”. Codificamos las acciones de respuesta de las compañías aéreas a lo largo de la matriz de dos eje (tiempo y magnitud) y generamos nuestras ideas en un momento oportuno.ConclusiónLas principales aerolíneas han modificado la toma de decisiones en relación con la propagación exponencial del virus, que es directamente proporcional al nivel de deterioro de la industria aeronáutica. Cuando el impacto fue bajo en la etapa inicial, las principales aerolíneas mantuvieron su status quo. En poco tiempo, la magnitud de la destrucción se hizo alta, lo que hizo que las aerolíneas implementaran ajustes de capacidad y solicitaran medidas de socorro del gobierno. A medida que se profundiza el deterioro industrial, las aerolíneas siguen pidiendo paquetes de ayuda estatal y han cambiado su enfoque hacia el transporte de carga de productos básicos de alta demanda y suministros farmacéuticos. Por último, la adversidad y la incertidumbre industriales les han hecho posponer las oportunidades de adquisición agresivas.ValorVarios investigadores han investigado los impactos del COVID-19 en la industria de las aerolíneas. Sin embargo, sigue habiendo escasez de estudios sobre las actividades comerciales obstaculizadas y la gestión de crisis de la industria de las aerolíneas. En ausencia de estrategias de respuesta suficientes contra el pánico de COVID-19, este documento tiene como objetivo proporcionar una comprensión integral de las estrategias de respuesta de las principales aerolíneas a la pandemia de COVID-19. Además, este documento brinda una oportunidad para que la gerencia en el sitio revise cómo las principales aerolíneas mundiales han respondido a la crisis y encuentre información gerencial para restaurar la sostenibilidad de su negocio.

Exploratory data analysis for airline disruption management

Reliable platforms for data collation during airline schedule operations have significantly increased the quality and quantity of available information for effectively managing airline schedule disruptions. To that effect, this paper applies macroscopic and microscopic techniques by way of basic statistics and machine learning, respectively, to analyze historical scheduling and operations data from a major airline in the United States. Macroscopic results reveal that majority of irregular operations in airline schedule that occurred over a one-year period stemmed from disruptions due to flight delays, while microscopic results validate different modeling assumptions about key drivers for airline disruption management like turnaround as a Gaussian process.