Aeronautica
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Journal article A comparative study of the net profitability of airlines in global strategic alliances and a group of airlines not in an alliancePerezgonzalez, Jose D (Aeronautica, 2011)This study examines the profitability of airlines pertaining to global airline strategic alliances for a period of eleven years, centred on the year airlines joined their alliances. Overall, the results obtained show that airlines which joined Oneworld, SkyTeam or Star Alliance lost relative performance and, thus, profitability after joining their alliances, even when they had been doing exceptionally well before joining. In contrast, a group of airlines not in an alliance remained profitable throughout a comparable period of time, achieving a positive relative performance at the end of the eleven-year period. As a similar pattern of profitability occurred for each group of allied airlines, these results suggesting that the benefits of joining an alliance may not necessarily translate into profitability. In fact, airlines might have been better off by themselves than they did by joining an alliance, at least in regards to net returns alone.
Journal article Aviation Employees' Intentions to Report Safety ConcernsTani, Kawtar; Gilbey, Andrew (Aeronautica, 2012)Following investigation of the Air Adventures accident in New Zealand, it was found that, prior to the accident occurring, a number of people had held concerns about the pilot in charge, but had not communicated their concerns to those with authority to intervene. The regulatory body claimed that had they been informed of people's safety concerns prior to the accident occurring,they could have had an opportunity to do more so that an accident is averted. This study explored what aviation employees would do if they had safety concerns, or became aware of wrongdoing, in the context of aviation. The findings of a survey of 116 aviation businessessuggested that under-reporting of safety concerns and wrongdoing in aviation may be widespread. There was also evidence that the manner in which observers become aware of wrongdoing or safety concerns may affect their reporting intentions (e.g., do nothing vs. report to a manager), and that a participant's gender and position within their organisation (management vs. staff) may interact with their reporting intentions.
Journal article What would you do if....? Improving pilot performance during unexpected events through in-flight scenario discussions.Martin, Wayne L.; Murray, Patrick S.; Bates, Paul (Aeronautica, 2011)The ubiquitous reliability of the modern airliner has engendered a significant change in the traditional causes of aircraft accidents. Engine reliability in particular, coupled with sophisticated systems for flight path awareness such as Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS), Vertical Situation Displays (VSD's), Head Up Displays (HUD's) and Electronic Flight Bags (EFB's), have greatly decreased the prevalence of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents. Inflight loss of control (ILOC) has become far more common than CFIT, often as a result of automation anomalies, failures or mismanagement. With engine failures and fires becoming relatively rare, it is the novel and unexpected events, coupled with human related mismanagement of those events, often through a lack of knowledge and/or expectation, which are weighing on modern accident statistics. A project was completed over 10 weeks at an Australasian Airline, where pilots were encouraged to discuss novel event scenarios. It was hypothesised that discussion of novel events would, in the absence of actual practice, develop a mental plan for the management of such events and also raise levels of expectation for such events. At the completion of the project all the pilots were asked to complete an online survey which outlined their perceptions of project utility, expectation and efficacy as a result of the discussions. While only 44% of available pilots responded, results were overwhelmingly positive.
Journal article A case for social constructionism in aviation safety and human performance researchFerroff, Costa; Mavin, Timothy; Bates, Paul; Murray, Patrick S. (Aeronautica, 2012)This paper outlines the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in organisational research as applied in the aviation environment and argues the case for both approaches in such research. Aviation safety and human performance research, with its largely observation based methodology and life critical outcomes, is an area where quality of research is more important than academic argument as to the purity of research methodology. Though the desire for high quality research should always be the underlying principle in methodology selection, it appears that one research approach is more prevalent. Quantitative research methodology has been, and continues to be, the preferred research methodology under which aviation research is conducted. With its grounding in the natural sciences, this methodology is indeed a logical choice for research in an industry based in a highly evolved technical environment. From a historical perspective, early aviation research topics revolved around subjects with a basis in physics, chemistry, engineering and medicine. These subjects naturally lend themselves to the analytical and empirical nature of quantitative research methodology; underpinned by a positivistic epistemology, stating that positive substantiation of all enquiries is essential for authentic research. While research in aviation continues unabated under the positivistic approach, the maturation of the aviation industry has resulted in an expansion of research topics to include areas related to human performance. It is in this field that numerous researchers have concluded that the use of quantitative processes may exhibit flaws due to the attempted removal of the human element in the research process. The aviation environment is complex with a myriad of cultural, organisational and technical interrelationships considered by many to be a human construct. As a human construct, it is logical that some research needs a qualitative element to add context and depth to the results. Logic dictates that there may be a legitimate role for research in this field to contain elements of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. With this in mind perhaps it is time to consider qualitative research, as founded in social constructionist theory, as a valid component of aviation research methodology.
Journal article Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) for the management of safety in single pilot operations (LOSA:SP) in Australia and New Zealand.Earl, Laurie; Murray, Patrick S.; Bates, Paul (Aeronautica, 2011)This paper investigates the feasibility, effectiveness and benefits of implementing a single pilot operations variant of the multi-crew Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) methodology, in the management of safety in single pilot operations. LOSA is designed to provide a proactive snapshot of system safety and flight crew performance as a way of preventing incidents and accidents (Klinect, 2006). The data indicators underlying this effort are based on a conceptual framework known as Threat and Error Management (TEM) (Helmreich, R.L., Wilhelm, J.A., Klinect, J.R., & Merritt, A.C. 2001). A number of incidents and accidents involving single pilot operations both in Australia and New Zealand have given emphasis to the vulnerability of this group to safety issues and confirms statistics that show this category of aviation has a higher incidence of accidents and incidents than in other sectors of the industry (CASA, 2009, NZCAA, 2009). By adapting LOSA to single pilot operations (LOSA:SP) the framework/methodology could provide a proactive method of diagnosing operational safety performance strengths and weaknesses under normal operations leading to the identification of additional training requirements and improved procedures without relying on adverse safety events for such information. A case study was undertaken at a mid-sized company operating exclusively single-pilot, twin turbo-prop fixed wing aircraft to ascertain whether the methodology was viable in the single-pilot environment. Observers rated pilot performance on a 4 point scale using four standard threat and error counter-measure categories under 12 sub-headings. Whilst the study achieved its objective of determining whether a single-pilot line operations safety audit could be successfully developed, the data were indicative and insufficient for statistical analysis. Larger samples are required from future studies for more definitive conclusions and recommendations about threat and error management.
Journal article The Effect of Group Polarisation on Perceived Invulnerability in General Aviation PilotsLee, Seung Yong; Gilbey, Andrew (Aeronautica, 2012)People who perceive themselves as relatively invulnerable to negative events may be more likely to engage in the kinds of behaviours that make the negative events more probable, while group polarisation refers to a tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than those of individual group members. Accordingly, it was predicted that, following discussion, two pilots may experience greater levels of perceived invulnerability than either would when flying alone. Seventy-eight participants completed a measure of invulnerability whilst alone and then again following discussion with a peer. Contrary to expectation, invulnerability scores in pairs were significantly lower than those of participants alone. Participants who scored highest on perceived invulnerability whilst alone tended to show greater reductions in invulnerability when in pairs. The current findings suggest that groups of pilots may be less likely than lone pilots to be susceptible to perceived invulnerability.
Journal article A problem of airport capacity definitionMarintseva, Kristina V.; Sharifov, Firdovci Achun-Ogly; Yun, Gennadiy N. (Aeronautica, 2013)The problem of determining the capacity of airports is formulated as a special integer programming problem, for solution of which an effective algorithm is proposed. The initial data of the problem of passenger traffic between airports is offered to be solved by estimating the elements of the Origin-Destination Matrix.
Journal article Development of aviation in conflict countries: turbulent flight or steady climb?de Haas, Sam Jochem (Aeronautica, 2013)A review of the development of commercial aviation in conflict countries, case studies: Iraq and Afghanistan 2000-2012.
Journal article The European business aviation industry - status quo and future projectionsLinz, Marco; Ziegler, Yvonne; Lang, Kathrin (Aeronautica, 2011)The small number of scientific publications on business aviation identified by an intense literature review reveals that there is a lack of awareness among aviation researchers for this high-growth, high-yield segment. Especially an up-to-date market analysis reflecting the individual characteristics of business aviation as well as a corresponding outlook on its potential future developments are missing. In this paper a STEP analysis based on secondary data is conducted to assess the European market environment followed by a Porter five forces analysis based on secondary data and expert interviews to assess the current state of European business aviation. In order to give an industry outlook, the Delphi methodology is applied and the findings of an extensive future study on the business aviation future in the year 2025 are presented. The sample consists of 57 aviation strategy experts with an average industry experience of over 22 years evaluating future projections. For this purpose, an innovative Real-Time Online-Delphi methodology has been used. The major contribution of the paper is the development of an up-to-date business aviation market analysis as well as an elaborated outlook on the anticipated business aviation future, which provides a valuable basis for strategy development.
Journal article The Impact of Technology-Based Self-Service on Airline Passengersde Groot, Ron (Aeronautica, 2014)The provision of service in many industries is affected by the introduction of Self-Service Technology, none more so than in the airline industry. Many of the traditional service encounters have been changed from a position of consumers directly interacting with front-line service employees, to an encounter between consumers and a technology-based self-service (TBSS) facility. The purpose of this research is to contribute to understanding the impact on airline passengers of this ever-increasing use of TBSS by airline companies from the point of sale through to the flight booking and check-in processes. The objectives of the research are to examine the principal factors affecting adoption or rejection of TBSS. To determine the effects on customer satisfaction as a result of reduced personal interaction due to the use of TBSS. To make a comparison of the use of TBSS in airlines compared with other industries and examine passenger preference on the use of the Internet versus airport kiosks for flight check-in. The results of the research were based on reviews of literature relating to the objectives. The literature included academic journals, industry journals, masters and doctorate theses, aviation industry surveys and reports.