Category: Airlines

Introduction

In following essay we will discuss the benefits of corporate social responsibility of the airline companies. The essay will look into the corporate social responsibilities that airline companies engage in as well as the benefits of these activities.

It will look into how these responsibilities contribute to the profits of the business even though the main aim of such responsibilities is not to make profit.

Corporate social responsibility refers to a set of activities that companies engage in as citizens of a given nation. It is where a company takes responsibility and participates in the community by engaging in activities that are beneficial to the community.

The beneficiary of such activities may not necessarily be direct clients of the organization. Due to globalization and advent of technology all over the world, airline industry has become very competitive. Consumers are also aware of the companys need to be socially and ethically responsible and therefore buy services from companies that have corporate social responsibilities.

However, there are ethical standards to be observed in the execution of such responsibilities. The corporate social responsibility should be beneficial to the community.

CSR should not be intended to bring profit but should be the way the company acknowledge and appreciate the society and institutions within the society for the role they have played towards the existence of the organization.

The aim of corporate social responsibility should not make the organization profitable but help the community as well as stakeholders whose role is critical to the company.

Even though the aim of corporate social responsibility is giving back to the community, there are responsibilities that bring profit to the organization (Davis, 2005).

The corporate social responsibility has become an important aspect, which is crucial for the profit of any company. It helps the company to ensure that the costs incurred are lower that the revenue to be generated in order to avoid making loss.

This is because the company cannot exist in isolation but within a community where people live together in harmony. The community is what makes any airline company thrive as many of the customers are very loyal and use it all the time.

The society has three aspects that influence the existence and profit margin of the organization. They include all the employees, as they are part of the community. The way the company behaves with their employees determines its profitability.

The second social entity involves the customers who influence the demand through the willingness and ability to utilize the products as well as services provided by the company.

The customers are crucial to any business and determine its profit margin. The company must develop programs that target the existing customers in order to attract and retain them.

The company must also give services to the society through community-based projects that benefit members of the society who may not even have interest in the company.

It may target people who live near the company premises as its services affect them in general. The community-based programs may affect the businesspersons, institutions, and civic societies in that organization. The other entity that has to be included in the corporate social responsibility is the government.

Sponsoring or collaborating with the government in any project positively affects the company and ensures that it is considered as a critical partner of the government.

This ensures that there is good relationship between the government and the company. The companys employees and government officials work together to ensure that the business is successful (Epstein, 2008).

Airline CSR activities

The following are some of the social corporate responsibilities that airline companies engage in with the first one being environmental conservation. This entails conserving the natural environment as well as measures to minimize air pollution, water pollution, land pollution and noise pollution.

Environmental conservation is critical to the airline companies. Environment conservation has become a matter of concern to the companies that operate airlines as they emit large volume of green house gases.

The huge volume of non-renewable energy consumed by the airline companies make the industry a source of air pollution and emitter of carbon. Across the globe, there is a widespread need to conserve the environment and the natural resources.

It leads to the creation of policies that regulate matters of conserving the environment and climate control (Werbach, 2009). Airline companies such as British Airways, Virgin Airlines and KLM have come up with social corporate responsibility programs that aim at conserving the environment.

For instance, British Airways has a carbon-offset program where the company provides resources to organizations that advocate for environmental conservation through activities such as tree planting, forest rehabilitation and development of green house projects.

The American airlines on the other hand aim at reducing their carbon emission by fifteen per cent by the end of the year 2020.

This is an ambitious project to conserve the environment and there should be benefits linked it, which motivates the companies to engage in such projects (Griffiths, 2003).

The environmentally oriented social corporate responsibilities aim at achieving three major objectives that influence the profit of the company. The first one is that it makes the company look positive in the eyes of the customers.

This means that the customers and the public view the company in positive light because it is concerned with the sustainability of the welfare. Such positive attitude gives the company a good reputation (Werbach, 2009).

Secondly, the environment oriented corporate social activities provide the company with an opportunity to save resources through the green house projects.

For instance, an Etihad airline from Abu Dhabi hopes to save one billion U.S dollars within five years by developing bio fuel projects that will provide bio fuel to the company.

This project although it initially started as corporate social responsibility activity has slowly made profit for the airline company by saving many airline expenses that would have been used to purchase fossil oils.

Thirdly, the environment related corporate social responsibilities lead to the creation and development of resources and activities that minimize the waste through projects such as the green projects, recycling of waste materials and minimized use of energy within the offices during working hours (Wood, 1991).

In the year 2010 plan of Abu Dhabi, the Etihad Airways played the role of driving the diversification and growth of the economy in the country.

Through the study conducted in Abu Dhabi it was noted that the company has played a major role in collaboration with the government of Abu Dhabi by providing data that is used to assess 210 companies within the country.

The airways company plays other important roles in the economic sector like trade, labor supply and productivity, tourism and local investments. The company has contributed a lot in generating money that helps in employing workers in the non-oil industry.

This has been beneficial to the company in the sense that it has gained positive press coverage, which creat positive image to the public hence being in a position to attract many customers (Wheeler, 1997).

Many airways companies engage in supporting travel and tourism sectors within the country as a way of attracting more clients to the country and being at a better position to influence the movement of tourists.

For instance, Etihad is one of the airways companies that have engaged in supporting the tourism industry as a way of attracting more tourists to the country. In the year 2010, the company became a destination manager.

The company offers business opportunities as well as leisure to the clients. It therefore provides a range of products and services that are non-competitive to its clients. This helps to attract and retain customers due to the high quality products as well as services.

The company launched a marketing campaign in the year 2011 campaigning for Abu Dhabi as the best tourist country. It was therefore an opportunity for all the tourist stakeholders to display the best that the country can offer to the tourists.

Through the companys engagement in supporting the sector of travel and tourism, it has been able to improve the business since there are many tourists in the country (Wheeler, 1997).

Training and development

Airline companies engage in the development of training academies as a way of training and developing the graduates to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to handle the technical job in the aviation industry.

Airline companies like Etihad has art training academies, which offer positive learning environment for providing technical training.

This helps learners to gain technical competency and necessary skills in handling business operations in the aviation industry as well as the safety measures and knowledge in delivery (Epstein, 2008).

The company has therefore devised a way of training and developing its new employees such that after the interview process the employees acquire new skills other than those learnt in school.

This started in the year 2010 with an aim of providing all the necessary tools and information to the recruits to ensure that the members become oriented to the operating system of the company.

After the second stage of training and development, the company engages its employees in the succession planning where the employees talents are identified and developed accordingly.

In this stage, the training and development team of the company identifies the talents of each employee with an aim of developing internal talents in relation to the critical roles of the organization.

This kind of involvement is of great benefit to the company as it helps to improve the productivity of the company since each employee works in a section where he or she performs best (Habisch, 2005).

Remuneration and performance appraisal

Airways companies like any other company offer both financial and non-financial benefits such as supplementary flight tickets to friends, family members and home ownership schemes.

The company engages in such activities as a way of motivating its employees and this increases productivity as well the profit. (Epstein, 2008).

Companies like Etihad reward their employees based on individual performance. This kind of reward improves the performance of the employees.

This aims at motivating the employees who strive to attain their best at work place. This benefit the company as its employees will always work hard to achieve best results, which in return increases the productivity of the company.

This has therefore helped most airline companies to achieve the expected results because without such kind of motivation productivity might be of poor quality since most of the operations in the aviation industry are technical (Griffiths, 2003).

Crisis and humanitarian aid

Airways companies engage in crisis and humanitarian activities as a way of improving public image. For instance, Etihad Airways has always assisted the public in cases of natural disasters.

In the year 2010, Etihad offered donations to countries like Australia, Pakistan and Haiti. In Haiti, the company offered medical assistance to citizens and other humanitarian supplies.

In Pakistan, the company had to assist during the floods by supplying relief clothing, food and medication to the citizens. The company offers care by air services as another form of humanitarian aid from Abu Dhabi.

This initiative provides space for carrying relief food and other facilities to other countries free of charge.

The company has air links where it provides free web-based portal, which helps non-governmental organizations to come together with the aim of settling humanitarian crisis (Habisch, 2005).

Engaging in such activities is one way of participating in the corporate social responsibility. The company has always enjoyed the opportunity of recognition by its stakeholders in the UAE as well as the members of the community in which it operates.

This has therefore assisted in attaining the expectations of the stakeholders since it proves how responsible the company is (Epstein, 2008).

The engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility involves the community support activities. These activities aim at ensuring that the airline company meets the community needs.

They help the community to connect with the local people by providing services that are needed by the people in the local community. For instance, Etihad has a project of helping the disabled people in the Abu Dhabi.

Such projects improve relationship of the airline with the locals who feel that the company has played a role in providing solutions to problems within the society (Werbach, 2009). The company also has Mosaic awards that recognize the local community or people who have harnessed their intercultural skills.

The company does this for instance by being hospitable to the tourists or having knowledge on local and cultural issues that they are willing to share with the members of the society. Such activities make the airline a service provider of choice for the local community (Griffiths, 2003).

Some of the corporate social responsibility activities aim appreciating the government for its role in regulating the industry. For instance, Etihad airlines have special seats for the government delegations.

They also provide free air transport to government officials of the foreign ministry twice a year. The aim of this activity is to position the company positively in the mind of the government.

This may result in profitability of the company, as the airline may not be subjected to discriminatory regulation that may affect the company. It also places the airline in a position to lobby for policy changes in issues that affect the airline industry, this ability to influence the government and regulatory bodies are critical.

Although ethically the activity may be wrong, the initial intention of giving to the community makes it right. The intention is not to influence the government but the influence is the result of the social corporate responsibility.

This has seen the airline companies having advantage due to reduced taxation and favorable government policies that guarantee high profit margin (Werbach, 2009). Payment of taxes is no longer a business expense but a corporate social responsibility in the sense that the taxes help the community.

Airline companies that provide faulty tax returns yet they sponsor other activities default one of the most important Corporate Social Responsibility.

This is because Corporate Social Responsibilities are based on the premise that the companies are citizens and as responsible citizens pay taxes, responsible companies should pay taxes (Wartick, 2005).

The other community Corporate Social Responsibility that is common among airline companies is that of sports sponsorships. Sports draw a huge number of spectators for entertainment.

When the airline company sponsors a sports event it gets an opportunity to present its brand to the public. For instance, British Airways is a sponsor of the Olympics event.

This gives the company a chance to market itself to the athletes and Olympic enthusiasts who have to travel to the venue by air.

By sponsoring the event through giving ticket to the sports fanatics or providing free services, the company is known by many people. Through such sponsorships, the company benefits from free press coverage that serves as a marketing opportunity for the airline company (Wartick, 2005).

Another company that benefits from community support program is the American Airline that sponsors Run for the Zoo event where the community participates by running for the wildlife conservation. Through the publicity that the event receives, the company receives positive press coverage.

Other than having free press coverage, community support activities provide the community with a sense of ownership where the community feels that they are part of the company and they work towards mutual co existence with the airline company.

This mutual coexistence leads to increased customers implying increased sales volume and high profit margin (Habisch, 2005).

The other corporate social responsibility involves the development of activities that aim at helping other businesses that relate to the airline industry. For instance, a country may develop resources or training programs that target businesses where its employees have to travel by air frequently.

The company may prepare a free seminar for such businesses on how they can save on transport expenses. By sponsoring such activity that aims at helping other businesses, the company creates good relationship with potential clients who may benefit the business in future.

For instance, KLM Airlines holds seminars where they train business executives on how to make easy travel arrangements urgently and places to travel for business that makes the company excel in corporate sales (Griffiths, 2003).

Conclusion

Corporate social responsibility is an imperative part of an organization. Any company that is guided by business ethics must have corporate social responsibilities that it engages in as a member of the society.

Putting the society ahead before the profit margin by delivering quality services and then giving back to society is the foundation of corporate social responsibility.

References

Davis, K. (2005). Business and society: Environment and responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Epstein, M. (2008). Making sustainability work. London: Greenleaf Publishing Limited.

Griffiths, A. (2003). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. London: Routledge Publishing.

Habisch, A. (2005). Corporate social responsibility across Europe. London: Springer.

Wartick, S. (2005). The evolution of the corporate social performance model. Academy of Management Review, 15(6), 767.

Werbach, A. (2009). Strategy for sustainability: A business manifesto. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Wheeler, D. (1997). The stakeholder corporation: A blueprint for maximizing stakeholder value. London: Pitman.

Wood, D. (1991). Corporate social performance revisited. Academy of Management Review, 2(4), 691-718.

Why was Kiwi Airlines so successful initially?

The success of Kiwi International Airlines lies in its felicitous entry strategy. It was established by Ewan Wilson in 1994 and performed international flights between Australia and New Zealand. Originally, they provided the first-class service at the same time offering rather cheap flights. For example, they offered gourmet meals and expanded legroom of the 36-inch pitch (Kiwi, the Dream that Almost Came to Life, 2014, p. 4).

Moreover, Kiwi International Airlines started their business as a usual discount carrier with the selection of simplified flight paths that were built on the point to point principle, in other words, direct flights between airports instead of landings in hubs. Particularly, the company operated in Hamilton and Dunedin cities. The above strategy was utilized in order to maximize the use of aircraft and to minimize delays associated with transit passengers and loss of baggage between flights. After a while, Kiwi International Airlines expanded the number of suggested cities that, in its turn, led to the success of the company, too.

What went wrong  why did Kiwi Airlines go out of business so fast?

It goes without saying that Kiwi International Airlines went out of business rather fast. First of all, a good strategy came along with a bad name. After all, the kiwi bird, a symbol of New Zealand, cannot fly. A driving force of any business is the word in the minds of the customers; therefore, it is impossible to achieve success, starting with the wrong label (Smith, 2013). From my point of view, it would be better if the Kiwi International Airlines had its own catchy and pleasant label and name. Second, it was connected with the companys financial strain. Nobody could predict that the company would involve in debts. Third, after some time, Kiwi International Airlines became a low-cost carrier that offered low ticket prices in exchange for eliminating most of the traditional passenger services.

For example, food service consisted only of coca-cola and peanuts. Consequently, it caused customers dissatisfaction. In this way, both economic and operational misfortune forced the situation when Kiwi International Airlines went out of the market.

So why did Kiwi Airlines fail  why did Qantas and Air New Zealand respond?

One more reason for Kiwi International Airlines failure is strong competition in the airline market. World practice shows that usually, companies that offer their service for a reasonable price with comfort and ready to deliver passengers to the desired destination all over the world survive in this business. It was not surprising that such serious airlines as Qantas and Air New Zealand reacted aggressively as they incurred losses due to the Kiwi International Airlines strategy.

For example, Air New Zealands passengers were picking up flights for $US120 round trip for the 2200 km (1378 mile) international flights (Cowling, 2015, para. 2). In addition, they provided their frequent customers with different bonuses and promotions that help them to save a decent amount of money. A distinctive feature of the airline is the quality of service for passengers. Consequently, any detail on this issue could lead to success or failure.

Qantas and Air New Zealand were major transnational carriers that completely comprehended the above issues coming to the market for a long time and having invested a lot in infrastructure, service, and the aircraft. Therefore, they have made all attempts to prevent the rise of Kiwi International Airlines. Thus, tough competition on Trans-Tasman flights led to the collapse of Kiwi Airlines in 1996.

References

Cowling, M. (2015). Will Kiwi Regional Airlines succeed? Risks are high. Wild About Travel. Web.

Kiwi, the Dream that Almost Came to Life. (2014). The Real World, 18(1), 4-5.

Smith, P. (2013). Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks.

The core activities that Porter Airlines undertakes include tapping unmet client needs with a distinct strategy and making prices fair as possible. The activities that other airlines typically perform that Porter avoids are taking long-haul flights and serving many countries. These activities matter because Porter Airlines intends to offer excellent services to its customers. The airline aims to have a customer value proposition grounded on service, speed, and convenience. Tapping unmet necessities and making flight charges fair makes it possible to realize the needs of every person. Porter Airlines is changing how people fly, such as unpredictable security lines and long check-in lines. Furthermore, the airline puts much effort into research, planning, and being a premium short-haul carrier.

The Porter Airlines strategy has been successful to date as air travelers get quality services at affordable prices. The approach has enabled the airline to stand out among other airlines. Porter Airline provides exceptional air services to compete with other established airlines such as Air Canada (Stevenson, 2019). Porter Airlines strategy provides numerous services comprising free ferry services across the TCCA every 10 minutes, hotel and car rental arrangements, beverage and snacks services on every flight, and web check-in for domestic flights. The strategy also focuses on the weakness of other airlines and uses such flaw for their advantage.

Porter Airlines needs to think about moving forward by expanding to other destinations and incorporating cargo planes. Expanding to different destinations would accelerate its financial growth due to increased flights. Consequently, it would enhance the airlines competitive advantages as a result of economies of scale. Incorporating cargo planes would enable the airline to compete effectively with other established cargo airlines. The current strategy is effective as it is; therefore, there is no need to adjust it.

Reference

Stevenson, G. (2019). 3. Air Canada versus CP Air. In The Politics of Canadas Airlines from Diefenbaker to Mulroney (pp. 43-64). University of Toronto Press.

Today aircrafts are considered to be the safest type of transport. An organization that provides people with passenger and freight transportation is called an airline. As a rule, each airline has an air operating certificate or license. It is given by the national aviation authority to provide an aircraft operator with the opportunity to exploit the aircraft for commercial goals.

According to this certificate the airline admits that it is responsible for the safety of its workers and the members of the general public. An air operators certificate includes the information about the aircraft that is used by the company, the area where it is used (particular airports or some region) and the purpose of usage. The process of the certification includes four stages: inquiry, application, assessment and certification.

The inquiry allows to understand what steps should be made to apply for the certification. The applicants find out what kind of the application form they need and where they can get it by contacting with PAC. After that they write the statement of intend and send it to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and ask to arrange a pre-application meeting. The project manager evaluates it according to the received information.

During the application, the documentation is checked. As a rule, the list of the personnel and operations manual are examined. If the application gains a positive estimate, it is addressed to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Regional Office for assessment. It is obligatory for the applicant to pay the fee for the processing of the air operators certificate.

Otherwise, the Safety Authority is able to ignore the application and not to access it. If the applicant did not provide all the requirements, the application can be considered later, when the information is added, or the Civil Aviation Safety Authority may decline it.

The operations that were mentioned in the application are examined to make sure that they are safe and appropriate to meet regulatory requirements. The next step is the verification of the evidence that supports the application. All these take place within the assessment stage.

The safety of the aircraft, the qualification of the staff, and the facilities are checked with the help of a project plan, which was prepared by the applicant and showed on the formal application meeting with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority project team. Such technical documentation assessments as flying operations, cabin safety, airworthiness, dangerous goods, safety management system, aerodromes, alcohol or other drugs, and ground operations must be performed, verified and tested.

During the certification phase, one applies to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority for an air operators certificate. The certification is issued if the applicant is able to comply with the safety rules and the Safety Authority is satisfied with the results (Air operators certificate process manual, 2012).

Operational reporting consists of the dialed data that is organized in order to meet the needs of the Department of transport (DOT). The up-to-the-second information must be reflected to make a short-term accurate decision. For example, all delay time should be recorded to collect air traffic activity.

The staff must deliver OPSNET reports for the time they are working (usually 24 hours). Personnel make a preparation and distribution report on National Airspace System. Traffic/operations counts must be reported and submitted. Aircraft category, equipment, weather, runway, and volume are also to be mentioned (Operational data reporting requirements, 2011).

Airlines spends include different sources. Of course, the certification process is one of them. A license should be gained each time some improvement is made or a new aircraft is going to be used. Thus, the total expenditures become higher. However, I believe the costs to be worthy. The certification process is extremely accurate to prevent an emergency, or at least to be prepared to react. That is why I believe, its stages should not be omitted and the process should not be streamlined in order to assure safety.

Introduction

The most renowned value of the project management is its ability to achieve the strategic objectives without the disruption of the working process. It is especially important in the air transportation industry because the stable and secure course of business as usual defines the quality of the service. The airlines and air transportation industry represent quite a specific environment for developing the new initiative and project management. A number of components need to be accounted for while developing a project, including comfort and safety of the customers and minimal interference with the working process.

For Etihad Airways as one of the leading airline companies in the Middle East, it is important not only to preserve its status and quality but also to be innovative and to improve constantly in a busy market alongside its competitors. It is also important to point out the fact that the best option for improving the companys position is combing advanced level of quality with a new customer appeal. Therefore, the project designed for Etihad Airways will represent the advancement in the customer service by improving the quality of the passenger self-service.

The project charter, scope, aims, and objectives

The project charter

The main service that will be introduced by the project is the system of passenger self-service for the customers of Etihad Airways. It became a part of the common practice for the airlines to guarantee the customers the access to the self-check-in kiosks at the airports. The main objective of such option is to make the passage through the airport easier for the customers, spare them waiting in queues (Sultan & Simpson 2000).

Moreover, there is room for improvement of such systems, and the projects for Etihad Airlines objective is to use all the potential opportunities of the passenger self-service in order to make their travelling more comfortable. The two main directions of the project are, first of all, to add a number of the various options to the self check-in kiosks for the Etihad Airlines customers and, secondly, to design and develop the mobile application offering to the passengers the remote options of booking the flight, buying the tickets, and monitoring the updates of any kind.

In particular, the customers will have more access to control different aspects of their flights remotely without the need to obtain all the details from the workers of the airport and creating queues. The most significant innovative options are that the customers would be able to self-check-in, print their boarding passes, as well as the labels for their luggage and add their preferences concerning their seat on the plane and when buying their tickets. It will make the overall experience more pleasant (Bitner, Ostrom & Meuter 2002).

The target customers, for whom the advancements achieved by the project, would be most interesting should include the different social groups who are interested and used to using technology in their everyday life. In such a way, Etihad Airways will be able to make an appeal to the new target audiences of active people who value their time, and alongside that are potentially likely to spend more time travelling than most of the people. At the same time, if the marketing campaign for the project is calculated correctly, the regular customers of Etihad Airways will also benefit from the innovations of the new project.

The opportunity for the project implementation has a two-fold appeal. First of all, it is important to point out the fact that the use of mobile technology and application for solving the daily tasks is growing in popularity. In other words, the potential customers will not be intimidated by the innovation. In terms of the technology readiness, the target audience of Etihad Airways forms the opportunity in itself.

There are a lot of ways of applying the mobile applications, but the technology that does not require human interaction and is mostly based on the self-service has not been largely applied in Etihad Airways marketplace and among its competitors. Therefore, the second aspect of the opportunity is that the customers not only have enough knowledge and experience to use self-service kiosks and mobile applications, but also need them because their lifestyle is faster and more dynamic (Liljander et al. 2006).

In terms of product categorization, the project will include two parts mentioned above. The first element is to incorporate the self-service kiosks for the customers of Etihad Airways to be able to check in automatically for a flight and to print their boarding passes and Q-tag labels for their luggage. The second element of the project is to design and develop the mobile application under the name of Etihad Airways. The application will allow customers to book, pay for, and monitor their journeys remotely in order to make the travelling experience more flexible and controllable.

The project aims, objectives and management planning

The main aim of the project is to allow the customers of Etihad Airways access to different kinds of self-service and remote management options. The first objective is to develop the platform for the mobile application and design it with a safe and comfortable, yet full of options interface. The second practical objective is to install the kiosks of the passenger self-service in the range of different major airports.

The definition of the projects scope and cost management

In terms of the definition of the managerial projects scope, it is important to list the actual activities that will be performed during the project. At the initiating stage, the project managers will conduct a survey among the regular customers concerning the issue of what services they lack most in terms of passenger self-service. After analyzing the collected data, the managers of the project together with the executives of Etihad Airways will define the measurable goals on the basis of the costs and benefits analysis.

For instance, given the costs of incorporating each of the proposed options of the self-service kiosks, they will define what the most beneficial and convenient way to provide such services is, how much kiosks need to be installed and where to locate them. Thus, the project management plan will include costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedule of the performance agreed with the executives.

The next part of the scope of the project management plan is the stage of execution when the parts of the project approved by the Etihad Airways executives will be brought into life. Alongside, the important component of verifying the scope is constant monitoring and controlling the execution of the project in terms of time management, quality management, and total quality management.

In terms of the time scale, it is important to identify the duration of all the stages of the project execution from the proportion, in which the duration of the entire project management is 100%. The following diagram represents the duration of the project management stages for the implementation of customer self-service for Etihad Airways in percents.

It is important for the executing stage to be the longest in the process because the majority of the practical activities take place at this period. However, the monitoring stage, despite having the separate share of the time scope in the project, also includes the constant control over the stage of execution. Finally, the closing stage is a project phase at which the results of the project are estimated, and the effectiveness of the initiative is evaluated based on the operational feedback.

Overall, considering the scale of the project and the necessity to include the self-service systems at the international airports worldwide, the estimated time for the project initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing, will require no less than 12 months. The budget of the project will require two separate directions of the cost, which are the costs of developing and implementation of the mobile application, and the second one, which is more demanding in terms of cost.

Thus, to define the exact estimated costs, it is important to know the scale of the project. For the testing initial implementation of the 20 passenger self-service kiosks, with the producing and maintenance cost of each of them of $10,000 (Gundersen et al. 1974) only the operational budget of the group developing the self-service machines will be no less than $250,000. Adding to that the extra managerial costs, costs of the mobile application as well as airport fees and taxes, and the salary for the employees for 12 months, the determined budget should be no less than $1,000,000.

Stakeholders identification and communication management

Stakeholders identification

The major stakeholders in the project management for Etihad Airways are the airline company, the companys main competitors, the regular customers of Etihad Airways, and the target customers to whom the company tries to create an appeal. In managing the project for Etihad Airways, there are two main aspects concerning how the stakeholders will receive the new approach presented by the project. They are technology readiness among all the stakeholders and the scope of the project coverage. The following figure represents the correlation between those factors.

The main benefit of the designed project for the company itself, as a stakeholder, is to occupy the new niche in the competitive market. The main objective, of course, is to make use of the technological advancements before the competitors do it. However, it is also important to point out the fact that the project leads Etihad Airways to the entirely new position on the international arena since joining the customer self-service kiosks and introducing the mobile application will help the airlines to engage customers from all over the world.

It also will appeal to the regular customers, who live dynamic lives and do not want to spend a lot of time queuing at the airports (Wang, Harris & Patterson 2012). The customers readiness, not only in the Middle East but also in the worldwide perspective, to use such technology is the prime opportunity for Etihad Airways to attract the new target market.

Communication management

The important aspect is to distribute information among the stakeholders. The customers should know in advance about the project, whereas the task of the project manager is also to take the information about the customers feedback to the senior executives (Bitner, Ostrom & Meuter 2002). In such a way, the manager can not only report the performance but also make the forecasts about the budget and about meeting the expectations of stakeholders.

Work Breakdown Structure

In case of the project management for Etihad Airways, the main work of the project team will be divided into two main areas. They would concern incorporating the customer self-service kiosks to the airports that do not have them, as well as introducing Etihad Airways to the self-check-ins all over the world, and developing the mobile application that would help with the passenger self-service and travel experience. However, the managerial work for both those operations would be conducted on the same scale and from the same centre. The following diagram shows the expectancy of the duration of all project stages in days and is followed by the detailed explanation of the planned activities.

Particular tasks of the project managers during the initiating stage will include pitching the project to the Etihad Airways executives and conducting a survey among the regular customers of the company. The aim of it is to find out the passengers preferences, opinions on their flight experiences, as well as to define how they would like the mobile application to look like and how it would be more convenient to locate the passenger self-service machines.

The following WBS chart illustrates the distribution of the particular tasks at the different stages of the project.

At the planning stage, the estimated budget will be approved and the time scale of the project will be divided amongst the managers of particular parts of the project. According to the integrated managerial plan, the budget, and other resources will be divided among the people responsible for a particular task.

At the executive stage, the managers will coordinate the work of two groups of people. The first one will develop the mobile application, and the managers are to control their budget, monitor their progress, and create test groups to receive customer feedback. In the other group, during the executing stage, the project managers are to contact the management of all the airports where the self-service systems are to be installed, to organize the work of the technical specialists who adopt and develop the system for Etihad Airways.

Finally, they are to ensure all the necessary performance and security tests of the machines before the final testing and the closing stage. The performance of the integrated change control will take place at the closing stage to ensure that all the changes that were incorporated in the project during the executing and monitoring are consistent.

Development and explanation of project life cycle and time management

The project life cycle

The life cycle of the project can be calculated from the distribution of time among the particular project stages and the exact activities of each of the stages. The following Gantt chart will represent the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of the project in the average number of days required.

Thus, the initiating stage that will include pitching the project, conducting a customer survey and formulating the initial requirements, is expected to take 10% of the project time, i.e. 30 days. The next project phase is the planning stage.

At this point, the activities of analysis of the collected requirements, establishing the budget, planning the project scope, defining the time scales, and analyzing the potential risks take place. 20% of the overall time of the project is assigned for planning. It will take from 60 up 70 days because the managers will need to verify the scope by analyzing the technical details.

The expectations of the stakeholders collected from the customer survey and the meetings with executives will be compared to the technical opportunities within the budget and timescale. As a result, during this period, the project managers establish which technical activities will be included in the executing stage and which ones will not.

At the phase of the project execution, which is planned to take up to 45% of the Etihad Airways projects time, the technical experts will perform the main activities. Meanwhile, the tasks of the managers, at this stage, are to create the environment, provide the integrity, and control the working process. It is the most time-consuming stage (Wang, Harris & Patterson 2012), and a lot of changes to the original plan are expected to be introduced. Therefore, this stage will take from 160 to 170 days.

The monitoring project stage will take up to 15% of the project time, not including the activities of the managers controlling the working process in the course of the executing stage. At this phase, the managers analyze the deviations from the original planning and verify the scope. The activities connected to the usability evaluation and security testing take place. It does not include the additional management process, such as managing project quality, time management, risk management, and the monitoring project communication. The controlling stage along will take 75 days.

Finally, the closing stage includes all the activities connected to the launch of the customer self-service kiosks and mobile application for self-service into the market. At this stage, the group of managers and technical specialists responsible for the mobile application will present it to the focus group and analyze the feedback, and the group that developed the passenger self-service for the customers of Etihad Airways will conduct final tests of the equipment security, safety, and convenience. This stage is estimated to take up to 30 days.

Time management of the project

Although the activities of the project life cycle were estimated in terms of what is the optimal amount of time required for their execution, the timescale of the project also includes the minimum and the maximum calculated duration of each of the stages. Such approach helps to adjust the time scale for all the risks.

Project management processes

Managing quality: the use of TQM

At the different stages of the project, in order to guarantee the quality of the provided service of product, which in the case of Etihad Airways, is passenger self-service options, the project managers need to plan quality, perform quality assurance, and control quality.

In the project for Etihad Airways, the two main aspects of total quality management (TQM) are adapting to the expectations and needs of the stakeholders, such as regular customers and potential customers and making sure that the two different groups of the project team work in an integrated manner. Total quality management is one of the means of dealing with the rapid and unexpected changes in the business environment (Anjard 1998).

In particular, it means that, at the different stages of the project, there may be some issues hindering the execution of the original plan. It this, total quality management is helpful in terms of bringing the quality up to the customers expectation within the scale of possible solutions, adapting to the changes and recalibrating the scope. However, it is also important to underline the fact that total quality management is based on the continuous feedback. It ensures that the feedback in the company is continuous between not only the management but also the employees themselves. Also, if the communication in the workplace is based on the shared responsibility and employees are interested in improving the quality of the products, the process of meeting the customers demand is much more well-organized.

Managing quality: the use of QA

The next aspect of managing quality is quality assurance (QA). The main aim of this project process is to avoid mistakes in the course of the executing stage of the project. For the managers of Etihad Airways project, the main quality control measurements, in terms of quality assurance will be checking the gradual developments of both groups designing mobile application and developing the self-services systems in order to make sure they are following the plan, which was draft to meet the customers expectations (Anjard 1998). The quality assurance will be executed after finishing each of the phases of designing mobile application and the customer self-service kiosks by means of the usability expert evaluation.

Managing quality: the use of QC

Quality control (QC) presupposes a number of assessments and tests in order to evaluate the achieved results of both groups. In the case of the project for Etihad Airways, the quality control will take place at the monitoring and closing stages of the project, when the group of managers and technical specialists responsible for the mobile application present it to the focus group and analyze the feedback.

Meanwhile, the group that developed the passenger self-service for the customers of Etihad Airways will perform a number of tests designed to evaluate the convenience and security standards of the new system in order to assure the quality. The quality control will be conducted at the executing, monitoring, and closing stages of the project by running the safety tests for the kiosks and security assessment and usability expert evaluation for both the kiosks and the mobile application.

Human resources management

The first stage of developing human resources plan is to define required resources for every activity. Thus, considering the estimated timeline of the project and the necessity to create two groups for two different tasks of the projects, the resources will be divided into two teams. The following organizational chart represents the detailed organizational structure of the project.

The top manager of the project will require the assistant manager and two middle managers for each group. They will coordinate the work between two groups, and both of the middle managers are to have technical knowledge. The group developing the mobile application will include one manager, who is a technical specialist, IT specialist team of 4 people, and the graphic designer team of 3 people. The same graphic designer team will be involved in the work of the second group, who will be developing the customer self-service systems for Etihad Airways.

The second team will also include the top manager, 2 information security experts, 3 IT specialists, 2 application evaluation experts, and 1 technical engineer for constructing the exterior. Alongside both teams, the project requires short-run services of the PR specialist and the HR assistant. Whereas the rest of the teams will work throughout the project, they are both needed at the stage of planning for hiring the human resource and organizing focus groups of customers.

Business risks, project procurements, and conclusions

Possible risks

1. There are a number of the possible risks concerning the duration of the different project activities and stages because of the relatively long timescale of the project.
2. Also, there are some risks related to the possibility of Q-tag labels malfunctioning or some of the components of the project failing the security tests.

Risks mitigation, project procurements, and conclusions

1. The basic risk management plan for the project is to conduct, consistently, the risk identifying activities, such as qualitative and quantitative risk analysis. The middle managers of each group are to create the risk registers for the situation if the risks are discovered further in the process than at the planning stage.
2. The most of the risk responses, such as changing Q-tag labels for alternatives in case of them failing security test, will be predicted at the planning stage, but the updates will be the responsibility of the management.
3. The registers will also assist in implementing the procurement plan, and administration of the procurement documents. As a part of the closing stage of the management project, all the results and documents and will be summed up together, and the managers of the project and Etihad Airways executives will make a conclusion about the project.

Reference List

Anjard, RP 1998, Total Quality Management: Key Concepts, Work Study, vol. 47, no. 7, pp. 238-247.

Bitner, MJ, Ostrom, A, & Meuter, ML 2002, Implementing Successful Self-Service Technologies, The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 16, no. 4, pp.96-108.

Gundersen, JL, Julian, RL, Kosco, TJ, Lewis, DE & Sklar, RE, Hughes Aircraft Company, 1974, Passenger Entertainment/Passenger Service and Self-Test System. U.S. Patent 3,795,771.

Liljander, V, Gillberg, F, Gummerus, J & Riel, A 2006, Technology Readiness and the Evaluation and Adoption of Self-Service Technologies, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 13, no. 3, pp.177-191.

Sultan, F & Simpson MC, 2000, International Service Variants: Airline Passenger Expectations and Perceptions of Service Quality, Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 14, no. 3, pp.188-216.

Wang, C, Harris, J & Patterson, PG, 2012, Customer Choice of Self-Service Technology: the Roles of Situational Influences and Past Experience, Journal of Service Management, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 54-78.

Introduction

Information about an individual or entity is always considered private unless the person in question whether natural or artificial sees it appropriate to disclose it. Data protection covers more of the relationship between collection, processing and dissemination of data. It can be defined simply as the prevention of misuse of information collected from a person or an entity. In our case, the information is personal information collected from an individual before traveling in air. There has to be some physical or technical measures to guard against unauthorized access to this personal data. This personal data may involve things like; the name of the person, his or her origin, his financial status, his mission and even the race and attachment to a group or religion. The purpose of the data protection is to protect the individual from being mishandled as a result of this information. (Ethics, Privacy, and Data Protection 2007).

Questions like who should handle which personal data and where should the data be transmitted to will always find their answers in data protection policies. Different countries have different data protection laws. Some like the US have the information act, the EU has the data protection act and others have different laws. For example, in 2003, the US decided to follow the freedom information act FOIA in disclosing any personal data upon request.

How does data protection in European community compare with data protection in the U.S.A.? The two have very different data protection laws and their policies differ in all aspects including the kind of data to be protected and the consequences for violating such laws. The history of data protection in the European community is based from experience from the World War 2 while that of the U.S. is simply based on preventing fraud theft and terrorism.

The EU data protection law covers a wider area than the US. In the US, the data considered is very personal; they are only concerned with the personal data of the customers. The EU on the other hand have a concept known as data subjects which ensures that the information about personal data of the customers employees, customers, suppliers and all contacts is put to consideration. Enforcement of the data protection law is quite different in these two countries. It is more definite and defined in the US than in the EU. In fact, most of the law violations in the EU go unpunished unlike the US where even a slight violation is published and punished. This is so because of the broad scope of the law in the EU and lack of resources. Whenever there is a security breach in the EU, notification does not reach each affected person unlike in the US where each affected individual is notified. (Elizabeth 2007).

Discussion

Personal data is private unless the individual has given consent to its processing and handling. In one of the acts on data protection, the US agreed with the EU that personal information concerning racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or other beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life, and criminal convictions should be disclosed. This is categorized as sensitive data, and the main question is, suppose the data subject doesnt want the data to be disclosed? What will happen? Is it going to be released with out his consent? And if this is done, does it not go against the law of right to privacy which states that every body has a right to determine which information should be disclosed, to who and for what purpose? It makes the whole issue an ethical dilemma. This is because an individual might see an opportunity to benefit from this situation by making ones restricted data available in return for a fee, one may argue that this is legal but is it ethical. Are people happy with the amount of information collected, stored, manipulated, and transmitted by the air line operators about them before they travel? (Simon 1999).

The United States ordered all international airlines to provide detailed information about their passengers to the government. This information contain sensitive data about the travelers including; name, address, flight number, credit card number, and choice of meal. It was a security measure after the September 11 bombing. The directive provides a challenge in the air line industry. In one aspect, they must ensure that their passengers data is kept secure, in the other hand they must comply with the US security measure. (John 2009).

The European air lines are concerned that providing access to the information to the US would violate their privacy laws. Human rights organizations are also raising concerns on the same issue and they criticize the air lines for failing to follow the stipulations in the privacy act. European airlines have petitioned their governments to clarify the airlines obligations. The EU court advisor for example advised that giving airline data to US is illegal. That was back 2005. (Edward 2005).

Protests are being held world wide against the surveillance of air travelers, collection of telecommunication data, and biometric registration of citizens. One protest was held in 11 October 2008 under the slogan freedom not fear. Passengers claim that they are kept for a long time in the US airports. These are some of the issues the airlines are addressing. They are searching for a better information policy to inform all passengers about their rights and how their data are processed by the US authorities. The passengers should know why the data is being collected and how it will be processed. This duty is placed upon the airlines to educate their employees on data protection. (2008).

The airlines should ensure that their staff is trained in how to collect the data, how to relay it to the US and how to cope with customers in case there are problems in collecting the same. A case study of the Lufthansa German airlines will help us understand better such training. A new employer should be trained on these issues before beginning duty. The privacy statement of the airline regards protection of personal information very important. (Lufthansa training 2009).

The trainees need to know the meaning and purpose of data protection. They are sensitized that customers have to know and decide who is to handle the data and where the data might be relayed to. Though they are supposed to comply with the Germany data protection law, they are encouraged to be able to decide when to pass the information to a third party like the spouse and other persons. They are supposed to do some plausibility check which determines whether the person has the legal authority to access the information or not. (Privacy news highlights 2008).

The plausibility check looks for details like, does the person seeking the information have a personal relationship with the person who is traveling, may be a relative or an employee? And if there is a relationship, does he know some essential details of the travel data and why does he or she need such details. They are then trained on the meaning of terms like personal data, controller, third party receiver. (Cirrus Airlines 2008).

They are supposed to understand the confidentiality statement which states that any body handling data should maintain the confidentiality of the data during and after their work in the airline industry. They are trained on the reasons why many employees violate regulations governing data processing including intention, negligence, inexperience and curiosity. They are then informed on the possible offences and the fines there in after committing such crimes. Another element here is on whose information should be protected. New trainees are also provided with information about when personal data might be processed. For example data can be availed when the federal data protection law or other laws allow its processing and utilization, when the data subject gives permission, when there is a contract between the controller and the data subject, if the personal data is generally accessible, or when one has done a plausibility check and found it appropriate to do so. (Lufthansa training 2009).

They should also know the rights of the data subjects. They are trained that the data subject is entitled to make inquiries about his data free of charge, have any incorrect data corrected or deleted, or have data disabled. They are supposed to ensure data security that is to ensure that the data is protected from lose, destruction and misuse which is done by ensuring that rooms, cabinets, and PCs are locked when possible, that data is not copied or taken home unless its for duty purposes, that storage media is properly disposed, that passwords are handled well and that data is only availed when necessary.

Another element of their training is about data transfer. Data should only be disclosed to the data subject, and to a third party if there is permission from the law or from the data subject. Details on why the data is needed should be in written form and also feedback must be written. If courts, companies and other corporate bodies need any information, they should do so through writing and they should provide a legal basis for their request of information. (Wyatt 2008).

Whenever data cannot be availed, the controller is trained to explain why this is so. They should give adequate reasons for withholding that information. Incase sensitive information is passed out accidentally; they are trained on what to do. They are trained never to cover up anything as this may lead to more troubles. There is also training on who should disclose information. That not everybody is allowed to disclose the information even when allowed by the law or the person concerned.

The last bit of their training is why passenger data is so sensitive. That data disclosed will affect the customers privacy and it may also lead to undue competition from competitors. In general, they have a knowledge that data protection is necessary as a standard service element of the customer orientation, as a social responsibility of the airline and in order to comply with statutory regulations. This is the course of a new trainee in the Lufthansa airline on how to protect personal data. (Lufthansa training 2009).

Whenever information gets in the hands of more than one person, it ceases to become secret and it can be conveyed to so many people within a very short time. This is the greatest challenge as far as the protection of data is concerned. Both new and existing employees pose a great threat to the safe guarding of this information in the airline industry. Some employees will disclose the information about VIP passengers by a way of gossip. They may tell their friends the travel plans of that person which is a breach of the law. The consequences there after may be overwhelming. It will always remain a challenge on how to keep their mouths shut on this important information. (Linda 2006).

The training of new employees in Lufthansa offers in depth information on how to ensure that the personal data is secure and protected. Due to ignorance and negligence, some employees will fail to observe these precautions and disclose information without proper security verifications. Though there are stipulated fines for such an offense, it will be hard to determine whether it was intentional or accidental. Information will always go out of control accidentally. The team leader should always be prepared to tackle such an occurrence.

The greatest challenge is to educate both new and existing employees on when to access personal data, for whom, and under what conditions. Continuous seminars should be available to create awareness of the importance of maintaining data protection at all times. Employees should be reminded of the existing legal actions against those who disclose personal information without proper procedures. (Lufthansa training 2009).

Conclusion

In general, data protection in relation to the airline industry is a complicated issue. It is made more complicated by the various acts concerning the same by different governments. There is a contradiction between the policies. For example, there exists an agreement between US and the EU that personal data of the passengers should be availed whenever necessary, on the other hand the law gives right to safeguarding of personal information. Corruption may also lead to disclosure of personal information by the employees handling such data. The world should seek to establish better rules and regulations to safeguard the personal data of passengers while at the same time working to curb terrorism. (2008).

Works cited

Cirrus Airlines, Privacy and data security, 2008, Web.

Elizabeth H. Johnson. Data protection law in the European Union. 2007. Web.

Ethics, Privacy, and Data Protection, 2007. Web.

Edward Hasbroucks, US require passenger details from international airlines. The Practical Nomad, 2005.

John Leyden. Airline passenger data deal struck 2006. 

Lufthansa airline. Access to reservation information by US homeland security authorities. 2009. Web.

Lufthansa, Data protection introduction, Power point presentation. 2009.

Simon Rogersburg. Privacy and new data protection act. Ethical IMIS journal Vol.9 No.6, 1999. Web. 2009.

Privacy news highlights. EU-Art 29 working party issues opinion on transfer of PNR to US authorities. 2008. 

Freedom not Fear: Worldwide protests against surveillance 2008. Web.

Linda D Koontz. Privacy: Key challenges facing federal agencies. 2006. 

Wyatt Kash, U.S, EU agree on data protection framework. 2008.

Introduction

Labor relations and human resource management are the fields of study that deal with different aspects of relationships between organizations and employees. The presence of strategies to guarantee employee satisfaction and staff retention is specifically important in the airline sector of the aviation industry. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the biggest shocks for the aviation industry in the U.S. and globally, which cannot go unnoticed for airline employees and employee-employer relationships. This essay explores the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on airline labor relations with special attention to labor unions functions and factors that increase the need for effective workforce management in the industry.

Old and Current Factors in Airline Labor Relations

Product Perishability and the Resulting Dangers of Industrial Action

Even without the pandemic, the airline sector of the industry in question was associated with employee relations issues due to the unique characteristics of air transportation services. Prior to the start of the pandemic, the international airline industry employed over 8 million employees directly and supported more than 49 million jobs (Harvey and Peter 307). In the U.S., those figures were over about 700 thousand people and 10 million jobs before the disease outbreak (Harvey and Peter 307). In the airline industry, labor relations and workforce management processes have always been attached much importance due to the presence of different but interconnected factors.

To start with, regardless of disease pandemics, natural disasters, and other circumstances, the need for effective labor relations practices in the industry is enormously high due to the issue of product perishability. Most importantly, the finite seat inventory of an airline is widely regarded as an example of perishable assets. Obviously, unlike many types of sellers, airline service providers are incapable of treating passenger seats on canceled flights as a strategic resource (Harvey and Peter 309). Any canceled flight has immediate consequences for the organizations operations and increases the risks of reputational losses. Taking that into consideration, any attempts of employees to start industrial action due to being dissatisfied with labor relations practices are extremely costly for employers in the airline sector, both financially and reputationally. History knows multiple examples of very costly airline strikes in the U.S. and Europe, and the repetition of such events today would exacerbate the situation and decrease the aviation industrys chances to survive the pandemic even more.

Demand for Air Travel and Labor Relations

The peculiarities of the demand for air travel present another factor that supports the need for effective labor relations and employee-employer communication strategies in the airline sector. As is highlighted by Harvey and Peter, the demand for airline services is cyclical and is dependent on the rate of economic growth, which involves the elevated risks of uncertainty for airline employees after major crisis events (308). Fluctuations in economic growth have a tremendous impact on the demand for airline services, especially when it comes to business class flight deals (Harvey and Peter 308). Considering these characteristics of demand, airline employers should be able to build workplace relationships in which airline staff members would be ready to make concessions during periods of low demand (Harvey and Peter 308). The expected concessions may include employees readiness to accept temporary wage restraints, reductions in travel allowances, or salary cuts.

At times of the worrying epidemiological situation, the cyclic nature of demand is problematic for labor relations in the global airline industry since it exacerbates misunderstanding between employers and the workforce. During the period of low demand for air transportation services, for instance, now, airline employees are anticipated to face job losses, reduced work schedules, and associated changes in personal income (Harvey and Peter 308; Josephs). In theory, demand does not stay low forever, and when downturns are finally over, airline employees assume that the returning financial prosperity will provide enough resources for the complete removal of wage restrictions. From the perspective of airline management teams, increases in demand can be misleading and are often followed by even greater reductions in demand. Considering this and the need to restore airlines competitiveness, employers in the sector foresee financial risks and avoid rapid improvements in employment conditions, which adds to the risks of industrial action (Harvey and Peter 308). Therefore, demand fluctuations play an important role in labor relationships in the airline sector.

The impact of uncertainties related to the demand for services on labor relations is especially high today, during the ongoing crisis linked with the need to pay as much attention as possible to the struggles affecting the healthcare sector. After the relaxation of lockdown restrictions in the United States and due to essential seasonal demand fluctuations, the demand for internal flights has increased in recent months, and the first signs of labor market recovery have also appeared (Josephs). Among other things, recent improvements include the trend towards the normalization of the airline flight completion rate after the peak of flight cancellations in March and April 2020 (Airlines for America 10). Despite that and a six-time increase in the percentage of the active fleet (5% in February and 30% in September), U.S. airlines do not guarantee consistent improvements in labor conditions for their employees (Airlines for America 22; Josephs). All of this may affect labor relations in the industry by motivating industrial action and protests caused by employees and labor unions attempts to keep the number of those losing jobs to a minimum.

COVID-19 and Employment Trends in the Airline Sector

To predict future issues in labor relations and spot some emerging trends, it is essential to study the current situation with employment in the industry. When discussing the long-term economic effects of the pandemic and the resulting job losses, some authors believe that the crisis will create financial conditions similar to those at the times of the Great Recession (Sobieralski 1). Having used the vector autoregression model to draw comparisons between different uncertainty shocks affecting the airline sector in the past and today, Sobieralski makes predictions regarding the effects of the pandemic on airline employment (1). The effects on employment are expected to be the most pronounced for major airlines, which is related to the inflexibility of their business models and larger payroll liabilities compared to other carriers (Sobieralski 4). For low-cost carriers, large industry shocks result in sharp declines in employment, but business model flexibility and relatively low employee wages are expected to help them to recover faster than major airlines (Sobieralski 4). Probably due to the effects of contracting, regional airlines are expected to demonstrate an increase in employment levels after the lifting of restrictions (Sobieralski 4).

Statistical research methods also allow delving into some labor relations issues in the aviation industry by predicting the effects of the pandemic on different groups of employees. According to the study by Sobieralski, some employees will face deeper workforce cuts compared to other groups in the industry (9). Among them are major airline employees that fulfill passenger handling tasks and those in low-skilled jobs, whereas managerial staff will be the least affected by changes in employment (Sobieralski 9). Many low-skilled airline employees are not represented by specific trade unions, which is why lawmakers must make sure that employees from this category will receive enough funds.

Labor Unions and Their Current Role in Labor Relations in the Aviation Industry

The Rate of Unionization in Aviation

In aviation and the airline sector, employees membership in labor unions plays a significant role in the process of employee and labor relations by enabling airline employees to engage in collective bargaining. At the times of the crisis linked to the pandemic, a high degree of unionization continues to be among the major trends in aviation and the airline sector. Almost 43% of airline employees in the U.S. held membership in trade unions in the 1980s; that number reached 50% in 2005 and remains high today (Josephs; Walsh 19). Aviation and airline transportation is widely known as one of the most unionized industries, with specific organizations existing to protect the rights of airline pilots, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, and mechanics. The process of collective bargaining in the U.S. aviation industry has often been contentious, protracted, and centered on carrier demands for concessions but remains central in determining airline workers employment terms (Walsh 20). Taking todays financial crisis into account, aviation and airline labor unions are now facing an extremely difficult task involving the minimization of negative changes in employment conditions.

Labor Unions Responses to the Ongoing Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has already become one of the key events encouraging aviation labor unions to initiate strong political action to ensure more protection for airline employees. These efforts mainly refer to advocating for the expansion of financial support measures implemented by the federal authorities of the U.S. Some airlines in the U.S. have already received federal financial support to protect a number of jobs in the industry. However, the most recent federal aid package has expired in October. According to estimates, it is expected to leave over 75.000 U.S. airline employees in a state of uncertainty about their jobs and future careers (Josephs). Financial losses due to COVID-19 are still tremendous for the industry, which cannot be left unnoticed in terms of employees career prospects and opportunities to protect themselves. In this situation, labor unions get into a political game and attempt to support airline workers.

Labor Unions as Intermediaries between Employees and Lawmakers

During the COVID-19 pandemic, employees in the sector continue to rely on labor unions when it comes to the labor relations process and negotiations. Bearing responsibility for negotiations with airline managers is what can be cited as the main and traditional function of airline labor unions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions have made perceptible amendments to labor unions role in labor relations. To some degree, the situation has created specific circumstances in which both airlines and airline employees are severely affected and need financial assistance from another external party  the government. Today, trade unions fulfill their role by directly interacting with the government and transforming into influential political actors.

This new role of labor unions in the aviation industry finds reflection in many news articles published since the start of the pandemic and covers industrial relations in the airline sector. First of all, the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged different aviation labor unions to propel cohesiveness to the next level and work together in the name of the industrys recovery and employees well-being. At the end of March, a group of thirteen aviation labor unions wrote a letter to the U.S. Congress (Aviation Unions Call on Congress). The signatories included organizations to represent safety workers, pilots, flight attendants, media/communications specialists, and aerospace professionals.

In the mentioned letter, the labor unions highlight the degree to which the selection of the right priority areas affects the effectiveness of any large-scale financial support measures and relief packages. The 9/11 events are mentioned as an example of the key crisis events affecting the industry in the past (Aviation Unions Call on Congress). As per the signatories statements, the countrys responses to the economic issues affecting the U.S. airline industry in the post-9/11period were not that effective and well-considered when it comes to frontline employees, not management teams. According to the signatories, the financial package that the U.S. Congress provided for the aviation industry nineteen years ago just did not prioritize people. That resulted in giving all support to executive leaders and shareholders, almost no benefits and support for frontline aviation workers, and abuses of the Bankruptcy Code by employers for the purpose of imposing harsher concessions (Aviation Unions Call on Congress). From the labor unions viewpoint, too many employees can be made to accept permanent and rather strict concessions one by one just because their interests and needs are not treated by authorities as to the priority area.

From the letter, it is clear that one of the most critical goals that aviation labor unions are willing to achieve is to prevent the repetition of the post-9/11 scenario in terms of the measures to facilitate the aviation industrys restoration. After expressing their deep concern for common employees in the U.S. aviation industry, the labor unions encouraged the U.S. Congress to plan industry support measures by placing special emphasis on common workers needs (Aviation Unions Call on Congress). The organizations specific expectations regarding federal aid include statutory guarantees that most of the money will be used to support frontline employees and minimize changes for these professionals (Aviation Unions Call on Congress). Thus, in the current circumstances, aviation labor unions unite in larger groups to communicate frontline employees interests to organizations with lawmaking and budget planning authority.

Aside from writing open letters to the U.S. Congress, aviation labor unions have taken an active part in advocating for the extension of federal aid to help airlines to survive the period of almost non-existent demand for air transportation services. At the end of March, the U.S. Congress approved a $32 billion aid package to support airline workers (Joseph). Being worried about the impact of demand that remained low at the moment, aviation labor unions contacted the U.S. Congress and presented the request to double the aid funding to prevent massive job losses (Joseph). Later, the executive leadership of American Airlines supported labor unions efforts to decrease the need for involuntary furloughs by extending federal payroll aid (Joseph). The request of aviation labor unions regarding doubling the aid package won massive support from lawmakers and the U.S. President, but the final decision regarding an extra $25 billion in funding was not made as quickly as expected (Joseph). Despite the speed of decision-making processes at the federal level, aviation labor unions were active in pushing their requests, thus motivating employers to follow their example.

At the present moment, airline labor unions continue efforts to increase the amount of money aimed at supporting frontline employees. For instance, on the 7th of October, the Association of Flight Attendants has reported the creation of another letter to the U.S. Congress. The letter signed by thirteen labor organizations presents a response to the unexpected suspension of negotiations devoted to the need for additional COVID-19 relief measures to support the aviation industry (AFA). The group of airline labor unions and trade associations in the travel industry continues to insist on the necessity to extend the Payroll Support Program to prevent the mass collapse of the aviation industry (AFA). Despite labor unions attempts to gather lawmakers support, no decisive and timely action followed their previous requests, and the PSP expired on the last day of September (AFA). Unfortunately, it minimized some airlines chances to avoid dozens of thousands of furloughs.

In addition to direct communication with the authorities, aviation labor unions and their members make use of other ways to voice their concerns, including rallies and protests outside of the workplace. In the context of labor relations, rallies are often used by employees to demonstrate support for political initiatives or even attract public attention to prominent issues surrounding their communication with employers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary sources of uncertainty affecting the airline workforce are the future of federal aid packages and airline managers access to funds to keep as many jobs as possible.

In response to the sources of uncertainty, some local events have already been organized by airline employees and labor union members to use the available means to fight for their jobs. The airline employees rally that took place on the 15th of September near the Federal Court House Building in Cleveland is among the most recent examples of protests involving the participation of union members (Vandenberge). The participants claims were related to the increasing risks of massive furloughs and requests to take action to expand the Payroll Support Program before October to prevent negative implications for both employees and millions of jobs supported by the airline industry (Vandenberge). Although the rally did not result in the immediate continuation of negotiations over the extension of PSP, it demonstrated the degree of unity between the members of labor unions.

Conclusion

To sum up, uncertainty shocks from the pandemic have a huge impact on the aviation sector and labor relations processes. It is due to the sectors unique characteristics and nature, such as being service-intensive, having comparatively high labor costs, and the popularity of aviation labor unions. Airline employees are well aware of the prerequisites to employees job satisfaction and intentions to stay at their jobs, but the current situation with federal aid extensions severely limits their opportunities to prevent job cuts. Although with mixed success, aviation labor unions fulfill the role of intermediaries between at-risk employees and the lawmaking authorities.

References

Airlines for America. Tracking the Impacts of COVID-19. 2020, Web.

Association of Flight Attendants. Aviation Unions and Industry Urge Congressional Action to Extend PSP. AFA News Release. 2020, Web.

Aviation Unions Call on Congress to Prioritize Workers in Relief Package. TTD. 2020, Web.

Harvey, Geraint, and Peter Turnbull. Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. Air Transport Management: An International Perspective, edited by Lucy Budd and Stephen Ison, Routledge, 2017, pp. 307-318.

Josephs, Leslie. A Flood of Job Losses Looms as Airline Industry Struggles in Pandemic. CNBC. 2020, Web.

Sobieralski, Joseph B. COVID-19 and Airline Employment: Insights from Historical Uncertainty Shocks to the Industry. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, vol. 5, 2020, pp. 1-9. Web.

Vandenberge, Jordan. In-Depth: Airline Workers Rally for Extension of Vital Federal COVID-19 Relief Program. News 5 Cleveland. 2020, Web.

Walsh, David. Where Have They Landed? Observations on US Airline Labor Relations. Labor and Employment Relations Association, vol. 21, 2017, pp. 18-22.

Since any air travel has various risks associated with it, airline corporations developed a special protocol for flows, callouts, and checklists. All these three procedures are used to ensure the readiness of the aircraft, pilots, and crew members for a flight (Lift Academy, 2021). Flows, checklists, and callouts are essential for airline teams not to miss critical checkpoints when preparing the jet and help keep the entire crew up-to-date on the preparation process and ongoing flight dynamics.

Before specific examples of the three crucial terms mentioned above are made, they must be adequately defined. Flow is the technique that allows one to go through the system of the aircraft along the flight to check if all components of the jet work properly (Lift Academy, 2021). For example, pilots may decide to use their own rhythm, at which they go from checking the radio to updating other crew members about the overall status (Lift Academy, 2021). Callouts can be defined as clear and specific interactions with the flight crew to deliver a particular message (Lift Academy, 2021). Pilots may notify the crew members about potential complications so that they can communicate this information to passengers. Checklists are understood as distinct elements of the aircraft that must be scanned before the flight to ensure the safety of passengers and the team (Lift Academy, 2021). This item is more specific because it helps pilots to follow through this list to ensure that the jet is not damaged and that there is no danger of fuel leaks or engine failure.

In summary, the concepts of flows, callouts, and checklists are integral to any flight operation. These methods help prepare the aircraft and communicate with crew members about the status and parameters of the jet before and along the flight. Flows and callouts may not have a specific structure, but checklists must be followed precisely. All the checkpoints are necessary not just for pilots convenience but also vital for the safety of the passengers and flight crew.

Reference

Lift Academy. (2021). Flows, checklists, and callouts with Ed. Web.

September 11 Incident

Increased Security

The September 11 terror incident in the USA led to an increase in security checks and measures across the entire airline industry. The need to combat terrorism has seen airports fitted with scanners for the main purpose of helping with the searching process. The US Senate then since passed the Securing Aircraft from Explosives Responsibility (S.A.F.E.R. A.I.R. Act), which allows the use of advanced imaging technology to create individuals visual images. The technology shows the skin surface of all travelers and reveals other body objects as applicable, such as explosives, weapon components, and narcotics.¹

Increased Regulation

The US President signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act into law in November 2001. The new regulation empowered the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to undertake the screening of passengers, the establishment of security policy, as well as performing other related security functions. Additionally, a new department, the Homeland Security, was created in 2002 with the purpose of strengthening national security. It combined TSA together with other 21 federal agencies, forming a single department devoted fully to national security.

In Canada, a new regulatory body, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) was created. The responsibilities of CATSA include screening travelers together with their baggage, among other security related roles.

Changes in Technology

Online Reservations

The airline industry has turned into self check-in services in line with the new technological advancements. Airlines are setting up automated services that allow travelers to receive services through a computer interface.² This applies mainly to booking reservations by customers where individuals log in to the airlines websites and choose the reservations that they wish to make. The traveler can download and print his or her ticket without physically visiting the booking offices once the bookings are made and payment made. This trend aims at increasing quality service delivery and save on the cost of operation.

Upselling

There is rising convergence between retail and airline industries. With the advancement of technology, particularly the Internet, airlines are presenting an opportunity for their travelers to do their shopping as well while in the comfort of their airport lounges.³ The availability of handheld browsing devices, including iPads, Smartphones, and laptops that are owned by almost every passenger has provided airlines with the opportunity to exploit a new business front. Customers can shop online and pick their goods or have the goods delivered to their physical locations. Airlines are seeking to explore on the convenience created by information technology to earn extra revenues on top of their primary travel business.⁴

Kiosks check-in

Airlines are rushing to establish check-in kiosks in strategic locations to encourage their customers to utilize self-service, instead of relying on face-to-face service encounters. The check-in kiosks provide several services, including automatic teller machines, to help with ticket servicing and bank withdrawals, among other services.⁵ The airline industry is capable of serving many customers at the same time, while boasting of certain appeal and enabling the airlines to standardize their service delivery. The industry is also cutting down on operating costs as a result of relying on check-in kiosks where there is no longer need to employ many service attendants to serve the clients. Instead, the automated machines offer these services effectively and efficiently.⁶

Social Media

The airline industry equally embraced social media to benefit from the advantages of its rising popularity. The power of interconnectivity in social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is immense and provides companies with the opportunity to reach a wider audience at a very limited cost. These social media platforms are easy to use and have been integrated in almost all versions of mobile phones. Airlines are using their convenience to pass information to their prospective and existing customers. Social medias ability to re-share details amongst friends makes them highly effective in their performance. Most airlines conduct their customer care services through Facebook and Twitter, in addition to other platforms where travelers can pose their questions or concerns directly. This has eased congestions on telephone lines because customers can still receive directions on their social media without necessarily using their phones.

Customer Demands for Innovation

Airlines are working towards turning their cabins into WiFi hotspots as they seek to increase comfort for their travelers. Advancement in information communication technology has provided an avenue for the innovations, especially within the cabin. Airlines are moving towards offering Internet connections during flight to allow their customers to enjoy instant messaging, as well as wireless email. While cell phone use during flight has traditionally been prohibited, the increasing customer demands to exploit the capabilities of ICT has forced the emergence of this new trend. Radio spectrum for mobile telephone use during flight has already been auctioned off and airlines are already moving towards forming partnerships with telecommunications service providers. Airlines in Europe, the Middle East, and America are already angling themselves to pursue this new practice to increase customer satisfaction.⁷

Marketing Strategies

Low cost vs. full service

Most airlines are adopting standalone, seat-only, short-haul, no-frills service as a way of cutting down on operating costs, while still offering full service. Increased competition in the industry, the ever-rising fuel prices, as well as the growing alliances between carriers are forcing airlines to consider low cost marketing strategies as the best way to maintain their operations.⁸ Airlines are transforming into hybrid service providers and abandoning their traditional niche marketing strategies. As the carriers seek to widen their profit margins, they are virtually focusing on the entire air travel business to bring on board a myriad of add-ons.⁹ Today, carriers operate a multiple of interline and codeshare agreements, including feeder arrangements.

Hub and Spoke vs. Point to Point

The deregulation of the airline industry in the 1970s has seen an emergence of a new method of planning flight routes referred to as a point-to-point transport network. This is opposed to the traditional transport network referred to as a hub and spoke. The new trend known as the hub and spoke involves carriers serving fewer numbers of routes, but maximizing on the frequencies of travel.¹⁰ During such flights, the airlines make maximum use of available cabin space to lower the costs of operations. Thus, the carriers may reduce the number of routes to only 5, but increase the frequency of travel in each route rather than have 10 different routes served by 2 planes with half capacity each week. The centralization of operations, which results from the hub and spoke mechanism, eventually achieves economies of scale for the carriers.¹¹ In other words, the transformation from point-to-point to hub and spoke mainly seeks to enable the airline firms lower their operation costs. The Delta Airlines, for instance, has established a hub at the Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport where it strategically serves all its routes without spending more on operations.

Costs Directly Passed On To Customers

Airlines are resorting to a new practice where passenger airfares only charge individual charges, excluding other additional services. Thus, airfares by most carriers reflect the least rates that are chargeable. This highlights their focus on building competitive advantages. However, travelers with baggage are charged an extra fare depending on the weight of their baggage. Additionally, travelers can choose the types of food they wish to be served during their journey or leave out on the option altogether. In other words, the carriers no longer charge a compound cost that includes foods served in the cabin during flights. This gives travelers an option of regulating the fare amounts to be charged.¹²

Operating Cost

The air travel industry has been grappling with high operating costs, especially after the September 11 attacks in the USA.¹³ Airline firms have been forced to spend more on security as terrorism concerns and related security threats have increased over the last decade. Carriers have invested in new technology equipment used to screen travelers and baggage. New national and international regulations have forced travel firms to spend more as they seek to adhere to the recommendations. Additionally, global fuel prices have also increased sharply over the last decade as demand for fossil fuel increases. Global politics pitting fuel producing countries, mainly under the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the West have further resulted in unsteady fuel prices.

Bankruptcies

The poor economic conditions, combined with other harsh macro environmental factors, have pushed several airline firms into bankruptcies.¹⁴ In particular, the last decade suffered from one of the worst global financial crises that saw the US economy, as well as several other European economies face shutdown threats. This harsh economic condition affected the airline industry the most owing to its overreliance on international travels. Coupled with rising market competition and unpredictable global oil prices, airline firms across the globe found themselves enduring a very tough situation. The less established firms went down owing to declining revenues and rising operation costs.

Consolidations

The airline industry has witnessed an increase in consolidation of operations between various firms as a way of tackling the poor economic conditions that have affected business for virtually all the carriers. Firms are signing agreements where they seek to pull their resources together to manage the tough business conditions easily. Consolidations in the airline industry are also occurring in the form of agreements on travel routes where individual firms allow their partners to serve certain routes without interfering with them in the form of giving them competition.¹⁵

Rise in Global Business and Travel

The contemporary business environment is sustained by the globalization phenomenon where physical boundaries have virtually been eliminated. Individuals are able to do business in other regions of the world because most governments encourage foreign investors in their territories. Equally, individuals travelling from one global location to another in search of quality education, jobs, or tourist sites have been on the increase over the years.¹⁶ This has seen airlines increase their travels as they seek to serve the increasing global travel demands. The carriers have been expanding their fleet as they anticipate market growth and performance.

Bibliography

Feeback: Is the Airline Industry Becoming Like Retail? Flightglobal. 2012. Web.

Gogo Joins with Allstate to Introduce In-flight Internet Access During Weekend Flights [Professional Services Close  Up]. TCM News. 2013.

Ball, Christopher. Rethinking Hub versus Point-to-Point Competition: A Simple Circular Airline Model. The Journal of Business and Economic Studies, 13, no. 1 (2007): 73-87.

Fenn, John William. Low-Cost Air Travel Set For Take-Off. Middle East, no. 341, p. 49-50.

Lu, Jin-Long, Hung-Yen Chou, and Pei-Chuan Ling. Investigating Passengers Intentions To Use Technology-Based Self Check-In Services. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 45, no. 2 (2009): 345356

Mironenko, Olga. Body Scanners Versus Privacy And Data Protection. Computer Law & Security Review, 27, no 3 (2011): 232 -244

Schumann, Jan H., Nancy V. Wünderlich, and Florian Wangenheim. Technology Mediation In Service Delivery: A New Typology And An Agenda For Managers And Academics. Technovation, 32, no. 2 (2012): 133143

Footnotes

1. Olga, Mironenko, Body Scanners Versus Privacy And Data Protection, Computer Law & Security Review, 27, no 3 (2011): 232
2. Jan, Schumann, H, Nancy V. Wünderlich, and Florian Wangenheim, Technology Mediation In Service Delivery: A New Typology And An Agenda For Managers And Academics, Technovation, 32, no. 2 (2012): 133
3. FeebacK: Is the Airline Industry Becoming Like Retail? Flightglobal.
4. Ibid., para 6
5. Jin-Long, Lu, Hung-Yen Chou, and Pei-Chuan Ling, Investigating Passengers Intentions To Use Technology-Based Self Check-In Services, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 45, no. 2 (2009): 34
6. Ibid.
7. Gogo Joins with Allstate to Introduce In-flight Internet Access During Weekend Flights [Professional Services Close  Up], TCM News.
8. William, Fenn John, Low-Cost Air Travel Set For Take-Off, Middle East, no. 341, p. 49
9. William, Fenn John, Low-Cost Air Travel Set For Take-Off, Middle East, no. 341, p. 49
10. Christopher, Ball, Rethinking Hub versus Point-to-Point Competition: A Simple Circular Airline Model, The Journal of Business and Economic Studies, 13, no. 1 (2007): 73.
11. Ibid.
12. Gogo Joins with Allstate to Introduce In-flight Internet Access During Weekend Flights [Professional Services Close  Up], TCM News.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Gogo Joins with Allstate to Introduce In-flight Internet Access During Weekend Flights [Professional Services Close  Up], TCM News.
16. Ibid.

Background

Safety is a core value in the aviation industry that involves considerable cost and effort in every operational process. The provision of air transportation services requires the cooperation of numerous stakeholders, such as airlines, airport operators, government authorities, and passengers. Airports and Air Navigation Services (ANS) play a pivotal role in aviation safety, sustainability, and efficiency (Boyd, 2017). In the contemporary world, the air transport industry is essential for every country to meet broader economic, environmental, and social objectives.

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has always prioritized safety in all aspects and processes involved in the air transportation sector. In particular, ICAO identifies and monitors three categories of its safety oversight index:

• operations;
• air navigation (aerodromes and ground aids (AGA) and ANS);
• support functions (GASP key concepts and metrics, no date, para. 12).

As can be seen, ground handling services, primarily executed on the ramp, and ANS are critical for efficient operations and aerodrome safety.

Purpose

This report explores the TAM Airlines Airbus A320 crash in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the context of airport safety. It has been determined that airport conditions played a significant role in the accident; however, an overview of various factors contributing to the disaster must be provided first. On July 17, 2007, the regularly-scheduled domestic flight JJ 3054 departed from Salgado Filho International Airport in Porto Alegre, Brazil (ASN aircraft accident Airbus A320-233 PR-MBK, 2007, para. 1). The Airbus A320 registered as PR-MBK was to land on runway 35L, notorious for difficult approach and short length (Sturcke, 2007, para. 1). The adverse weather along the route and in Sao Paulo complicated the situation. As the plane landed at Congonhas Airport, it overran the runway, crashed into a warehouse, and exploded in flames, killing 181 passengers and six crew members on board and 12 people on the ground (ASN aircraft,2007, para. 2). This report aims to analyze the Congonhas Airport safety conditions at the time of the accident and at present, provide a comparative analysis of the situation in 2007 and today, and propose measures for improving airport safety.

Analysis of the Airport Safety Conditions at the Time of the Accident

Sao Paulo Congonhas Airports safety conditions were identified as one of the possible operational aspects contributing to the accident. Apart from this factor, the crews insufficient training and experience on the A-320 aircraft type, cockpit coordination, management planning, perception error, and loss of situational awareness were determined as main contributors (ASN aircraft, 2007). Furthermore, headache reported by the pilot in command (PIC), crews application of the commands, flight indiscipline, environment influence, flight planning, and anxiety and stress in the pilots were reported as undetermined factors (ASN aircraft, 2007). It is evident that the contributing effects are cumulative, and the accident should be studied in a broad context; however, this report focuses primarily on the airport safety impact.

In 2007, Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport was regarded as the busiest airport in Brazil, operating international and domestic flights and providing aviation services. According to CENIPA (2009, p. 16), it had two asphalt landing-and-takeoff runways: the main runway (17R/35L), measures 1945 x 45 meters; and the auxiliary runway (17L/35R), measures 1435 x 45 meters. As presented in Figure 1, the airports location in a densely populated residential area resulted in high noise levels and exposure to possible accidents for citizens. Consequently, some of the residents demanded the closure of the facility since plane climbs and final approaches carried out over residential buildings implied safety risks. However, the location near business centers of the city was considered a key factor contributing to the high demand for flights.

In 2005, the report on airport inspection by the Civil Aviation Department (DAC) mentioned the non-conformity of conditions. The lack of Runway End Safety Area (RESA) in each end of the runways 17R/35L and 17L/35R was determined, and the deadline for corrective action was set to August 30, 2006 (CENIPA, 2009, p. 18). Nevertheless, by the time of the accident, no safety areas crucial to prevent the consequences of runway excursion were ensured. The runway 35L, where an Airbus A-320 operated by TAM Airlines landed, and the crash site are depicted in Figure 2. As per CENIPA (2009), even though the airport operated international flights and utilized aircraft with a capacity of over 60 passenger seats, it did not possess the Operational Certificate prescribed by the Brazilian Aeronautical Certification Regulation. The airport was not certified and lacked an approved Airport Operations Manual.

Another important factor considered in the investigation of the accident was the risk of aquaplaning. It occurs when tires grip on the roads surface is compromised by water buildup resulting from rainfall (Beljatynskij, Prentkovskis and Krivenko, 2010). Under such conditions, the aircraft requires a longer distance to stop, especially when exposed to cross-winds. Paired with a short length of the runway, heavy rains prevailing at the airport area over the previous 24 hours before the TAM Airbus arrival complicated the landing.

In this regard, airdrome safety measures for preventing incidents in different weather conditions should be studied. In 2005, the rugged pavement was placed on the main runway at Congonhas Airport as a result of continuous complaints from pilots in rainy periods (CENTIPA, 2009). Such a replacement aimed to improve the operational safety and ensure the desired levels of friction on critical segments. Even though the measurement of the new pavements characteristics showed acceptable values, friction issues began to occur several months after. Furthermore, the efficient water drainage during heavy rains was complicated by declivity problems (CENTIPA, 2009). According to the report by LADB Staff (2007, p. 1), the grooving of the runway was scheduled for after July 28 to ensure the settlement of the concrete. Thus, even though the airstrip had been recently resurfaced, the lack of grooves did not allow it to provide better braking under adverse weather conditions.

It is worth noting that TAMs PR-MBK aircraft was not the first victim of runway 35L. As stated by Sturcke (2007), two smaller planes skidded off the airstrip the day before the deadly accident. In particular, Pantanal Linhas Aéreas ATR 42-300 slipped off the runway; however, no one was injured (Flores, 2007). These incidents were regarded as critical since the runways operating conditions may have affected the crews performance from a psychological perspective, considering the state of anxiety & in the cockpit (ASN aircraft, 2007, para. 30). This aspect was considered undetermined in the report since the psychological influence was impossible to be confirmed in factual terms (ASN aircraft, 2007, para. 32). At the same time, Sandra Assali, the president of the Brazilian association of friends and relatives of air crash victims, called the TAMs horrible plane crash a tragedy foretold, an accident in waiting (Sturcke, 2007, para. 4). The combination of environmental factors, such as the runways short length and operating conditions and the lack of luminosity due to night time, appear to have played a fatal role in the accident.

Assessment of the Current Conditions and a Comparative Analysis

Current Conditions at Congonhas Airport

After the TAM plane crash in 2007, the number of operations at the airport was significantly reduced. In particular, all international flights, including connection, charter, and stopover flights, along with some private jet trips, were temporarily banned. Only direct connections to certain Brazilian cities continued to operate using an alternative runway. The airport reduced the landing slots aiming to increase safety margins (Congonhas Airport, 2010). Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3, the requirements for the actual landing distance differ for wet and dry runways and must be met to ensure airport safety.

Adjustments were made to runway 35L to better comply with safety requirements after the accident. It had been closed for about 45 days and reopened after undergoing an $8 million resurfacing and runway grooving programme (Flores, 2007, para.7). The ICAO guidelines emphasize the importance of the RESA; however, the lack of room to extend the runway did not allow such an implementation. As a result, the runway was reduced to accommodate a 230 m long RESA, as depicted in Figure 4 (Pacheco, Camargo, and Halawi, 2020, p. 4). Safety conditions required immediate measures to be taken after the 2007 deadly accident.

A discussion of the expansion of Sao Paulos two airports arose, and the possibility to construct a new one was mentioned. However, at the time, the enlargement of the existing Guarulhos Airport seemed to be a more feasible option (Congonhas Airport, 2010). Nowadays, the completion of a new airport at Caieiras, 40km north of the city is expected by 2024 with an annual capacity of 48 million passengers (New São Paulo International Airport, no date, para. 1). However, this report focuses on the Congonhas Airport conditions and possibilities for improvement.

Thirteen years after the deadliest accident in Brazil and the whole of South America, Congonhas Airport continues to operate flights. Having lost its passenger traffic primacy to Guarulhos International Airport, it is now regarded as the second busiest and one of the most dangerous airports in the world (McFadden, 2020). According to Visnevskyte (2020), Congonhas Airport transported approximately 21 million passengers in 2019. It lost its international status as a result of restrictions imposed to improve airport safety. At present, 30 operations per hour with narrow-body aircraft are permitted, with the majority of flights being domestic (Visnevskyte, 2020, para. 27). However, the accident demonstrated the need for RESAs to be established to decrease associated safety hazards.

Comparative Analysis of Safety Conditions

As discussed in the previous section of this report, there are several main issues associated with Congonhas Airport safety:

• no RESAs to prevent the consequences of runway overrun;
• the short length of the main (17R/35L) and auxiliary (17L/35R) runways;
• the airports location in a densely populated residential area;
• runway grooving issues.

The comparative analysis of the conditions at the time of the accident in 2007 and at present shows that while some issues were resolved, others remain relevant. Congonhas Airport is surrounded by residential buildings and, as a result, little space is available for extending its runways. RESAs were implicated following ICAOs safety protocols; however, the runway dimensions of 1940 x 45 meters for the main runway and 1435 x 45 for the auxiliary runway have hardly changed (SBSP Congonhas Airport, 2021). To address the location problem, airport operations were altered, and the number of landing slots, as well as maximum allowable aircraft gross weight, were reduced. Furthermore, operating times were restricted to 6:00 to 22:30 hours (CENIPA, 2009). Finally, aquaplaning risks were addressed by the airport authorities through runway resurfacing and grooving (Flores, 2007). Nevertheless, safety conditions can be improved further to eliminate the risk of accidents.

Proposals for Improvement

Based on the analysis of the current conditions and safety at Congonhas Airport, the following measures are recommended for implementation:

• to begin the certification process of the airport to ensure full compliance with safety requirements;
• to ensure consistent control of the friction measurement tests on the runways (ASN aircraft, 2007);
• to issue an approved Airport Operations Manual with established procedures and parameters for guaranteeing safety in case of adverse weather conditions;
• to inform the airlines operating at Congonhas Airport about risks associated with water buildup during landing and takeoff;
• to restrict the types of aircraft that imply risks and challenges for pilots during landing and takeoff, which can be aggravated by weather conditions;
• to ensure the appropriate illumination of the parking ramp (ASN aircraft, 2007).

The implementation of these measures can deliver improvement to Congonhas Airport safety since it addresses the risks that became fatal to TAMs Airbus A320 in 2007. Hence, the procedures suggest ensuring appropriate airport conditions and efficient communication between airport authorities and airlines, critical for a safe operational environment.

To summarize, ground handling services and appropriate airport design are critical to aerodrome safety and efficient operations. The environmental factors contributed to the tragic fate of TAM Airlines flight JJ 3054 and identified the need to meet the critical requirements and improve the airports services. As can be seen from this report, while some of the Congonhas Airport conditions have improved, others still pose challenges for the aircraft utilizing its runways and need to be addressed.

References

A320, São Paulo Congonhas Brazil, 2007 (2007). 

ASN aircraft accident Airbus A320-233 PR-MBK (2007).

Beljatynskij, A., Prentkovskis, O. and Krivenko, J. (2010) The experimental study of shallow flows of liquid on the airport runways and automobile roads, Transport, 25(4), pp.394-402.

Boyd, D.D. (2017) A review of general aviation safety (19842017), Aerospace medicine and human performance, 88(7), pp.657-664.

CENIPA (2009) Final report A  Nº 67/CENIPA/2009.

Congonhas Airport (2010).

Flores, J., Jr. (2007) TAM A320 crashes in Sao Paulo.

GASP key concepts and metrics (no date). Web.

LADB Staff. (2007) Worst air crash in Brazilian history severely aggravates aviation crisis. Web.

McFadden, C. (2020) Top 10+ scariest airports in the world.

New São Paulo International Airport (no date). Web.

Pacheco, G., Jr., Camargo, M. and Halawi, L. (2020) An evaluation of the operational restrictions imposed to Congonhas Airport by Civil Aviation Instruction 121-1013, International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace, 7(2). Web.

SBSP Congonhas Airport (2021).

Sturcke, J. (2007) Pilots wary of infamous Sao Paulo runway, The Guardian. 

Visnevskyte, E. (2020) Situation in South Americas busiest airports.