Analysis of Birmingham International Airport - Case Study Example

Case Study, Birmingham International Airport Name: Institution: Birmingham International Airport Operations Management The operations management at Birmingham International Airport (BIA) is principally responsible for managing most of the airport’s resources; ranging from the airfield to terminal operations. They do this with the aim of providing high-level customer service to give the passengers an easy and comfortable journey. The operations at BIA can be divided into two departments: the terminal operations unit and the airfield operations (Johnston, Chambers, Harland, & Slack, 2003) The terminal operations service provides services to passengers, airport users, airline operators and other related agencies. The airport ground staff is involved in loading and unloading luggage and freight form aircraft between flights. They ensure the aircraft is in perfect condition, cleaning, filling in fuel tanks, and putting meals on board. Working closely with the ground staff are the luggage handlers whose work is to sort, check and dispatch bags to the departing aircraft. At the information desk, the staff deals with customers’ queries and concerns such as plane departure, bank and hotel locations. Other staff on the ground includes the shop attendants and cleaners. The key staff of the terminal operations is the security, which is composed of about 300 people. Another important group of the terminal staff is the facilities’ management and the engineering services team who are involved in the maintenance of the whole site (Johnston et al., 2003). The operations management works closely with the customer care division in handling complaints from customers, airport users, and passengers. The staff working at the terminal ensures that the terminal area is clean and efficient in order to ensure the comfort and convenience of passengers. The operations management is also involved in daily gate planning, flight information management, and real time gate management (Johnston et al., 2003). On the other hand, the airfield operations involves maintaining the runways, agreeing slot allocations with the airlines, developing and implementing safety management systems, as well as training of the fire crew Operations management provides an interface with various other departments and agencies operating in the airport. It also promotes safe and efficient airport operations. Terminal duty managers are involved in sorting out the day-to-day operational problems. The team of terminal managers covers the airport 24 hours a day, every day of the week, with one senior manager overseeing each shift. The duty managers are responsible for facilitating communication between the terminal crew so that passengers get accurate information. The main issues that these managers have to deal with are issues such as delays or diversions of flights. The terminal managers also have to deal with major incidents like bomb threats or other major security problems. The landslide operation is involved with efficiency and safety of the landslide activities. The terminal managers coordinate with internal and external parties on accidents, vandalism and road damage (Johnston et al., 2003). Communication meetings are held every week to coordinate the duties of the operations and duty managers with the operational planning department. Aside from providing the infrastructure for all the other organizations on site such as airlines, handling agents, retailers, cargo handlers, operations management also provides the leadership and coordination for them. The operations management also liaises with other stakeholder groups such as community groups to monitor and improve the environment. The airport’s operations management enables the success of the company by achieving excellence in the appropriate performance objectives, as well as by bringing satisfaction to the customers (Johnston et al., 2003). As the operations director, Mr. Richard Heard supervises and coordinates all the operations and maintenance of the Birmingham International Airport. His specific roles include: 1. Supervision of employed staff concerned with the day-to-day running of the airport and short and middle term planning. This includes both at the airfield, as well as in and around the terminals 2. Working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority to coordinate airfield activities 3. Hiring of staff such as the airport security 4. Enhancing productivity by ensuring that operating procedures with airside and terminal divisions are fully coordinated; 5. Coordinating and setting the safety and customer service standards for everyone to adhere to 6. Working closely with other managers to formulate and update policies and procedures. For instance, procedures for fires, evacuations, bomb threats, ill passengers and even deaths in the terminal have to be put in place effectively. 7. Performing annual operational planning to ensure efficiency in allocation of infrastructure to airlines 8. Ensuring efficiency of operations by working out how to best allocate the airport’s infrastructure to the airlines 9. Facilitating meetings 10. Ensuring regulatory compliance Through the short-term day-day tactical issues, operations management is able to achieve long-term goals of the airport. For instance, the operations management has assisted the airport to grow in business through encouraging other airlines to fill in off-peak times, which is ideal for long haul operators. Initially, due to the short-haul European traffic, the peak times were always busy; therefore, it limited other airlines. Since most of the flights and takeoff were all concentrated during the same hour and the rest of the day was typically open, the manager sought other avenues to be able to use the open hours. Now, the airport has expanded having flights to South East Asia, America, and Dubai (Johnston et al., 2003). Using the forecasts of passenger numbers, the operations management has been able to set up teams to oversee the planning of new building projects such as new catering outlets, car parks, and people mover systems. The set up plan was used to guide the decisions of the managers about what to build and when and how to pay for it. This has facilitated the growth of the company towards achieving their goal. Because of these improvements, BIA has been growing at the rate of about 10 percent per year, in the past 10 years. In 2000, the airport handled 7.6 million passengers and the growth is set to continue with an anticipated 10 million passengers expected to travel through Birmingham, by 2005. To achieve this plan, the operations director played a major role in formulating a budget and allocating resources (Johnston et al., 2003). Lastly, in keeping with the long-term goals of the company, Birmingham operations have assisted in minimizing costs through the efficient use of airports. Hence, the efficient ground operations have enabled the airport to have higher turnarounds. References Johnston, R., Chambers, S., Harland. C., & Slack, N. (2003). Cases in operations management. (3rd ed.). FT Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Read More