Stakeholder engagement in air route development - The role of leadership and governance

Abstract

The air transport and tourism industries have a symbiotic relationship, and their intersection is an important area for academic research. A review of the air transport and tourism literature (Chapter 2) identified that air route/service development (ARD) is an emerging research theme. ARD is a topic of great interest in the aviation and tourism sectors but has received limited attention in both the academic and professional literature. In the context of this thesis, ARD is defined as the process of the engagement activities undertaken by airports and other involved stakeholders leading to the attraction of new routes, retaining existing air services or improving air access and capacity. Encouraging airlines to operate new routes involves a number of business agreements amongst several stakeholders. This research focuses specifically on stakeholder engagement within the ARD process. The tourism literature identifies leadership and governance attributes as key contributors to stakeholder engagement, but so far has focused predominantly on the context of small/medium enterprises (SMEs). This study extends these findings and explores the roles of leadership and governance among large tourism stakeholders, in this context airports, airlines, tourism authorities, consultants and government agencies. This exploratory study uses a two-phase mixed methods approach. In the first phase (Chapter 5), an online survey instrument was used to collect data from ARD experts from around the world (n=100). This survey identified key leadership and governance attributes associated with successful ARD examples. Analysis of the results distinguished seven attributes (strategic vision, leadership, trust, partnership, effective/constructive communication, information/knowledge sharing and results production), with partnership being the attribute most frequently chosen. The respondents pointed out more than 60 successful examples of ARD worldwide. Despite the acknowledgement that countries in the Middle East have established successful cases of ARD, it was challenging to secure participation in this research from relevant stakeholders in this part of the world. As a result, secondary data from the AirportIS database was used to study transit passenger traffic and its impact on transit tourism development at the major airport hubs in this region (Chapter 3). In addition, another successful ARD example at a regional airport was explored through the case study of Adelaide Airport (Chapter 4). The summary of this study on the dynamics of stakeholder engagement between primary and secondary ARD stakeholders and economic factors leading to successful ARD is included in this thesis. In the second phase, an in-depth analysis of ARD stakeholder engagement evaluated the key leadership and governance attributes and their roles in Australia. A total of 22 indepth semi-structured interviews with ARD experts was conducted (Chapter 6). This study aimed to evaluate the importance of leadership and governance in stakeholder engagement explored in the first phase of the thesis. ARD lessons from Australia, including the importance of leadership and governance attributes at each of the four ARD stages, indicated the uniqueness of the ARD process in this country. The central findings of this research are summarised in five main areas: (1) ARD process (involved and leading stakeholders); (2) key leadership and governance attributes and their role in ARD stakeholder engagement; (3) implementation of the seven key attributes through the four ARD stages; (4) different perceptions of attributes held by various ARD stakeholders; (5) differences in perceptions and ARD strategies within airports of different sizes. While the majority of the airports and tourism authorities consider the airport to be the leading stakeholder, airlines also identify themselves in this role. Similarly, airports and airlines perceive the role of the top leadership and governance attributes from different perspectives. When it comes to ARD decision-making, all stakeholders agree that airlines make the ultimate decision. All ARD stakeholders also agree about what the attributes’ roles are at some of the stages of ARD. For example, strategic vision must be clearly identified during stage one (development of route objectives), and effective/constructive communication and information/knowledge sharing ensure the success of stage two (market research). At the same time, trust and leadership must be present during all four stages of ARD. In the final stage (route implementation), all stakeholders aim to achieve their results production goals. This research also brings a novel approach by examining airport size and how it influences ARD processes in Australia. While major city airports could lead the ARD conversation without additional support, regional and emerging airports build their ARD results through close partnerships with tourism authorities and government bodies. Also, smaller airports often lack resources and ARD experience. To overcome these issues, there is a need for individually tailored strategic vision and close partnership with other stakeholders, including consultants. The results indicate that key leadership and governance attributes, dominant within each of the four ARD stages, are contingent on the type of the stakeholders involved. The outcome of this study benefits industry professionals, particularly airports, airlines and tourism authorities who do not have extensive ARD experience. From an academic perspective, this thesis explores two concepts present in tourism studies, leadership and governance, in the context of ARD. The mixed-method approach offers an in-depth analysis of the ARD process and contributes to previous, mostly quantitative, ARD studies. This thesis provides a significant contribution to academic knowledge as one of a few studies analysing the role of leadership and governance in the context of ARD. From the practical side of implications, the results of this thesis can be used by various ARD stakeholders and tourism/aviation policymakers.