Introduction to Airline and Airport Management - Essay Example

INTRODUCTION TO AIRLINE AND AIRPORT MANAGEMENT The travel and tourism industry is one of the growing and profit-generating industries in the world. The commercial air transport is greatly contributing to the economic and social benefits. The world commercial air transport has generated at least 24 million jobs. Today, one out of four persons travels by air every year and one-third of exports is transported by commercial air transport.1 Since the passengers’ needs and expectations are changing, technological advancements are increasing and entrance of low cost airlines are causing environmental concerns therefore, service provisions of commercial air transport is facing a direct influence. It is important to evaluate whether these factors are positively affecting the commercial air transport or not. Passenger Needs and Provisions of Commercial Air Transport The expectations of air passengers have increased in terms of quality of air transport services. Since passengers groups can be segmented into various categories based on different variables therefore, their needs may vary. The immense variability among the needs of the passengers has always been a major concern for the airlines. The ultimate need of all passengers is their satisfaction. Apart from the service quality improvements made by all airlines, the airports have widely adopting the quality criteria. Since the airports are also operating in a more competitive environment therefore, airport management is improving to serve passengers in a better manner. In the previous years, the customers used to buy tickets directly from the airlines and no contractual relationship used to exist between the customers and the airport. Today, the situation is very different because even without having any contractual relationship with the airports, the passengers expect to have excellent airport services. For fulfilling the needs of the passengers, the airport nowadays are giving great focus towards ground handling, security checks, airport access and border controls etc. The European airports have developed “Airport Voluntary Commitment on Air Passenger Service.” It has been developed after the extensive consultation of airport management with Consumers, European Commission and European Government. According to the voluntary commitment, European airports accept the responsibility to provide defined quality of services to the travellers without any legal binding on a consistent basis. For example, according to Airport Voluntary Commitment, “Each airport will prominently publicise the services it offers for assisting passengers with reduced mobility (PRMs).” 2 The service provisions, which have been made through this Voluntary Commitment of airports, include assisting passengers during periods of delays, improving public transport access, provisioning of infrastructure for check-in, baggage and security, improving trolley management, enhancing cleanliness and preparing yearly consumer reports regarding customers’ satisfaction. Similarly, many airlines have also introduced new policies to fulfil the passenger needs. The Blue Sky policy is to, “Provide a framework that encourages competition and the development of new and expanded international air services to benefit travellers, shippers, and the tourism and business sectors.”3 The airlines are getting dependent on computers for their operational and strategic management. It is interesting to note that passengers are willing to pay more for their luxury travel. Recently, a computer scientist in Greece designed a program through which airlines would be able to fill many seats on each flight without leaving anyone stranded at check-in. The idea of developing an intelligent web portal through which the passengers will be able to find the airline seats that suit their travelling requirements is also under consideration. This web portal will further improve the services of commercial air transport to fulfil customers’ needs.4 Furthermore, the business travelling has increased in commercial air transport, and business travellers require special facilities during their flights. The corporate and business travellers’ lounges, mobile accessibility on flights are some other facilities, which have been provided to fulfil the needs of the business travellers. In short, different segments of consumers travelling by air have sorts of needs and these passengers needs are immensely influencing the aviation industry. Technology Developments and Provisions of Commercial Air Transport The environmental impacts have also made the commercial air transport to emphasize on the use of environmental friendly technology. Technological innovations in aviation industry have brought about by major financial investments. Technological advancements in aviation industry have improved the efficiency of air transport services. The online booking, e-ticketing, online flight information and many other facilities have improved the services of aviation industry. The computerized systems, latest software programs and web portals are being used for facilitating the passengers. Through the advancements in aircraft technology, smaller crafts have been designed, which are very efficient and fast. The improvements in technology have also made air travel reliable and safe. The reduction in emissions level of aircrafts and their noise has been possible only because of advancements in technology. According to Air Transport Action Group, NASA QAT (Quiet Aircraft Technology) programme as well as the European ACARE programme has reduced the noise of new aircrafts as compared to the aircrafts, which were used 40 years ago and it is expected that perceived noise levels would further reduce by 50 percent up to 2020.5 According to Air Transport Association, “between 1978 and 2007, the U.S. airline industry improved its fuel efficiency by 110 percent, resulting in 2.5 billion metric tons of GHG savings – roughly equivalent to taking more than 18.7 million cars off the road in each of those years.”6 Moreover, the dramatic improvements in fuel and GHG efficiency of commercial airlines have been possible because of investments in fuel-savings aircraft technology, cutting-edge route optimization software and winglets. In short, in the last few years, major technological developments have been made in aviation, which are not only benefiting the passengers and service providers but they are also reducing the environmental concerns. Environmental Concerns and Provisions of Commercial Air Transport The competition in aviation industry is growing very rapidly and serious environmental concerns are arising. The competitive situation in the industry has led to the fundamental changes in the provisions of commercial air transport. In consideration to the environmental concerns of aviation industry, Federal health and environmental laws introduced the Acts including Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA) and Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA).7 Since the federals laws have a great impact on aircrafts materials and processes therefore, many developments have been made in the aviation industry in the last few years. All these Acts have been introduced for different purposes such as Clean Air Act deals with controlling the ozone-depleting chemicals. This legislation affects the aircraft design and operations of airlines. According to Air Transport Action Group, various changes have been made in the development of new crafts because of the environmental concerns. The new aircrafts are 20 decibels (dB) quieter as compared to the aircrafts 40 years ago. Nowadays, aircrafts are 70 percent more fuel efficient as compared to air crafts 40 years ago and their carbon monoxide emissions have reduced by 50 percent, unburned and smoke have decreased by 90 percent. It is expected that the aircrafts, which will be produced by 2020 will produce 50 percent less noise during their take-off and landing (minus 10 dB). More research programmes are being conducted which are further expected to reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide by 50 percent savings and oxides of nitrogen by 80 percent by 2020. Apart from the developments of new aircrafts, the increase in the air traffic management is expected to reduce fuel burn by 6 to 12 percent and improvements in operational efficiencies can result 2 to 6 percent fuel saving.8 Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that commercial air transport services have been facing major improvements and developments within the last few years. However, there are still many limitations, which are hindering the provisions of commercial air transport. For example, according to Air Transport Action Group, passengers’ flights of over 1,500 km are causing 80 percent of aviation-greenhouse gas emissions and there is no alternative mode of transport for such long distances. The increasing considerations of commercial air transport for passenger needs, technological advancements and environmental concerns will surely contribute in further enhancing the quality of air transport. However, the improvements are only possible if strong government leadership of states, commercial airlines, air transport associations, consumers and airports make collective efforts. Bibliography 21st Century Aviation: A Commitment to Technology, Energy and Climate Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2009, from Air Transport Association : http://www.airlines.org/government/issuebriefs/Techonology-Energy-Climate-Solutions.htm ACI Europe. (n.d.). AIRPORT VOLUNTARY COMMITMENT ON AIR PASSENGER SERVICE. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from http://www.safetyonthewater.ie/upload/general/2697.pdf Ang, A. (2008, November 10). Intelligent airlines meet passenger needs. Retrieved October 29, 2009, from Innovations Report : http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/logistics/intelligent_airlines_meet_passenger_121943.html ATAG. (1999). Air Transport and the Environment . Retrieved October 29, 2009, from ATAG: http://www.atag.org/files/AirTransportEnvironmentFlyer.pdf Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport . (n.d.). Challenges and Opportunities Facing Freight & Passenger Carriers Serving North America. Retrieved October 29, 2009, from CILTNA: http://www.ciltna.com/TOC2009_08_Gaspar.pdf Environment . (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Air Transport Action Group : http://www.atag.org/content/showissue.asp?folderid=472&level1=3&level2=472& New Materials for Next-Generation Commercial Transports . (1996). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from The National Academies Press: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5070&page=45 Research and Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2009, from ATAG: http://www.atag.org/content/showissue.asp?pageid=1227&level1=3&level2=472&level3=1227 Read More