Issue 26

President’s Speech

American Airlines’ Takeover of TWA and Its Corporate Restructuring after the Tragedy of September 11 th, 2001

by Steve Swidler, Auburn University and Triant Flouris, Concordia University Aviation MBA

This contribution chronicles American’s takeover of TWA, its struggles subsequent to the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 and ultimately the restructuring that occurred as the airlines hovered near bankruptcy.

Anti-competitive Behavior in the Airline Industry: The Case of Predatory Pricing

by Daniel Zwick, TU Berlin

Deregulation of formerly strong regulated markets often leads to dramatically changes of market structure because increasing competitive pressure emerges for incumbent firms. However, questions arise if competition will be sustainable during the conversion of the market from government-restricted regional monopolies to an integrated competitive market. One possible threat for market development in the airline industry could be anti-competitive behavior by large dominating incumbent carriers. Such action might arise in multiple ways – one of the most important of those is predatory pricing.

Conceptual and Regression Models for Passenger Demand Prediction: A Case Study of Cairo Airport and Egyptair

by Khaled A. Abbas from the Egypt National Institute of Transport

This contribution develops demand models for passenger aviation from/to Cairo airport. The contribution starts by forming a conceptualization of main factors affecting passenger demand for international air transport from/to Egypt.

Human Resource Management Training and Accident Prevention in the Airline Industry

by Mr. Assaad Farah, Concordia University

The evolution of Crew Resource Management (CRM) is informatively described in this article by Mr. Assaad Farah as an introduction to the research which analyses the relation of CRM with reduction of certain pilot errors.

Corporate Resource Management: an Integrative Approach to an Effective Aviation Organization

by Victor Ujimoto

The above named article gives an historic overview of Crew Resource Management and ends by introducing new principles of it, like creating a proactive organizational culture. The author of this article, Dr. Victor Ujimoto, argues that the concept of Crew Resource Management should indeed be broadened to Corporate Resource Management. By means of a couple of elaborate examples of successes, for instance by Southwest Airlines, and mishaps the proposition for this new concept is illustrated.

Airport of the World: Rotterdam Airport

by Jasper Spruit

The second largest airport of The Netherlands is more in development than ever before. In this Airport of the World editor Jasper Spruit provides an overview of the most important facts and an analysis of the past and future developments.

The Graduate: Ricardo Pilon

Airline of the World: Southwest Airlines

by Jurjan Knol

As one of the most successful airlines in the low-cost market segment, Southwest Airlines is often used as an important benchmark for the airline industry. In this article, Jurjan Knol looks at the logic behind the success of Southwest Airlines from an organizational perspective, thereby using the five elements of Galbraiths STAR-model: Strategy, Structure, Processes, Rewards, and People.

Conference Report: The Future of Aviation in The Netherlands

by the editors

After almost nine months of preparations, Aerius in close co-operation with PNL (Platform Nederlandse Luchtvaart) organized On March 11 th the symposium “Aviation in the Netherlands, in a responsible way towards the Future” (in Dutch: ‘Luchtvaart in Nederland, Verantwoord de Toekomst in’). Around 150 participants attended the conference that took off at 09.00 in the morning in the Auditorium of the Schiphol Group headquarters at the airport.

Company Profile: Dragonair

Jasper Spruit about Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (Dragonair) that was founded in 1985 with a Boeing 737-200A aircraft flying from Hong Kong to Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia). Dragonair currently serves 29 Asian destinations, including 21 in the mainland, with flights to the mainland exceeding 200 per week with one of the youngest and most advanced aircraft fleets in the region.

Ashgate Book Review: “Pilot Selection”

by Floris Boesveldt

Floris Boesveldt reviewed this book which is intended to acquaint the reader with the significance of pilot selection in terms of money, safety, and volume of training underway. It presents the history of aircraft pilot selection and the scientific methodology underlying the development of effective and valid selection procedures.

Ashgate Book Review: “Fatigue in Aviation: a Guide to staying Awake at the Stick”

by Amrita Bose

The topic, fatigue, of this book is as interesting as the title suggests. Not only is it relevant for those who are working irregular shifts, the insights into sleep and the architecture thereof is also enlightening for anyone with a busy schedule. Perhaps nibbling off sleep-time is not that profitable after all…