On August 2, 1985, the Lockheed L-1011 airplane with 152 passengers on board crashed at Fort Worth International Airport, resulting in 137 people being killed during the impact. 26 passengers have managed to survive, with two of them dying later due to injuries. It was the third large accident in the US in 10 years that have taken lives of more than a hundred people. The cause of this accident was a weather phenomenon that was not fully understood during that time a microburst.
The day the accident occurred was pretty standard for the last month of summer very hot and moisty, conditions that are very well suited for a thunderstorm. When the plane was reaching Dallas, a shower started to develop near the airport. Later on, the shower was getting stronger, and the captain of the plane noticed lightning in the cloud before him. However, the captain decided to proceed as the weather report still fit the restrictions for landing. A few moments later, the plane got caught in a thunderstorm. It was first accelerated because of being struck by strong winds; then, the plane began to lose speed and altitude. At that moment, the only thing the pilots could do to prevent a crash was to maximize the power in throttles. Unfortunately, it was too late; the plane crushed into a car on State Highway 144, killing the driver in the process. After that, the plane slammed into two water tanks and almost completely got engulfed by fire.
Delta Flight 191 was not the first case of a plane crush caused by wind shears. However, the problem was overlooked by airline officials, as no specific training in microburst avoidance was provided to pilots. Having learned from this terrible mistake, the officials have provided all susceptible airports with various radars and alert systems, as well reconsidered the training process of pilots in order to avoid further accidents caused by microbursts.
Factors Contributing to the Accident
The main cause of the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 airplane crash was a microburst, a downburst that was not quite understood at that time, but, still, was regarded as one of the main reasons for airplane accidents because of the wind shears that come along with it.
On August 2, 1985, the weather was extremely hot and moisty, providing perfect conditions for a possible thunderstorm. When the plane was reaching Dallas, a shower began to intensify near the airport. A few moments later, the plane encountered a heavy thunderstorm, receiving a couple a hits from strong winds from behind. Subsequently, the plane lost speed and altitude, resulting in a crash.
Based on various reports, it appears that the crew of the plane was also partially responsible for the accident. It was not a good decision by them to approach the cloud despite noticing the lightning around it. Also, the members of the crew lacked knowledge and training to deal with microbursts.
The strange part was that there was no training program related to dealing with microbursts before the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 accident, despite the fact that this was not the first crash caused by wind shears. Furthermore, another possible reason that contributed to the airplane crash was the lack of real-time wind shear hazard information.
Although there was a fault of disregarding the viewable lightning in the approaching cloud, the crew cannot be blamed for the fact they did not have the training required to deal with microbursts. Aviation officials were aware of the existent problem and the previous crashes caused by wind shears, but, strangely, did not implement the necessary training programs or technologies prior to this accident. Nevertheless, the crew did the only thing they could to save the jet pushing the throttles to maximum power.
Outcomes of the Accident and Lessons Learned
Despite their efforts, it was far too late. The plane lost control and slammed into a vehicle on Highway 114, then collided with two water towers, and, as a result, the fire spread all over the plane. This hard-learned lesson that costed lives of 137 people made airline officials to reconsider the views on the matter of microbursts. After a couple of years, Terminal Doppler Weather Radar units have been installed in airports that were susceptible to microbursts in the US and Puerto Rico. NASA has also provided pilots with a technology capable of detecting wind shears during the flight. Also, numerous wind shear alert systems have been introduced to provide a better notification of dangerous air flows.
A better communication between meteorologists and pilots was also required after the Delta Flight 191 accident. Naturally, the training of pilots also required a reconsideration. It was concluded that the pilot training at the time of the accident was flawed, as it tried to teach pilots to cope with wind shears instead of avoid them. The changes to the training program involved the inclusion of flight training and microburst escape maneuvers. Training simulators were specifically designed to teach pilots to quickly recognize the upcoming danger of microbursts, and, subsequently, to efficiently use the airplanes capability in order to escape them. These measures helped to vastly improve the ability to detect wind shears and react to them as quickly as possible. However, due to the hazardous nature of microbursts, Delta Flight 191 would not be the last one to fall because of them.
The Delta Airlines flight 191 clash is one of the most significant incidences in aviation history. It led to massive changes in how the airlines and the government addresses aviation safety. The concept of microbursts was novel at the time of the clash and the increased research efforts revealed how it affects aircraft and how it can be avoided. DFW and other airports learned critical lessons and used these lessons to implement improved detection system both on the ground and the planes.
Introduction
The aviation industry can be considered to be one of the riskiest industries in the world. There have been multiple accidents since the aircraft was first invented. Commercial flights today are the major concern when discussing the safety of air travel. This is because the incidents that have happened in the history of these businesses have resulted in massive losses of human life. Accidents such as the Delta Airlines flight 191, which occurred on August 2, 1985, killed over 137 people.
At the time it happened, it was the third accident in the United States since 1975 to involve a then-novel concept of microburst and to kill over 100 people. Such an extent also means heavy losses for the airlines illustrating the fact that aviation safety is of utmost interest to all the stakeholders. The Delta Airlines flight 191 clash is argued to have been one of the most significant incidences in the history of aviation safety as it led to a change in how airlines and governments approach aviation safety.
Background
The Delta Airlines flight 191 is one of those accidents to have been caused by a phenomenon known as a microburst. This is a weather condition involving an intense thunderstorm downdraft. The National Weather Service defines a microburst as a small downburst that has an outflow of below two and a half (2.5) miles or 4 kilometers for a horizontal diameter ( Thunderstorm hazards Damaging wind, n.d.). Additionally, it tends to last for between two and five minutes. Microbursts may be small in size but they can produce destructive winds reaching up to 168 miles per hour or equivalent to 270 kilometers per hour. They present dangerous conditions for pilots and have been responsible for multiple aviation accidents, including the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash.
The mechanisms and the effects of a microburst have been explained by the National Weather Service, including the sequence of events leading to an incident. Pilots descending into an airport follow an imagery line to the runway called a glide slope. When they enter a microburst the aircraft encounters a condition known as headwind which is an increase in the speed of the wind over an aircraft. The strength of the wind tends to create additional lift which causes the aircraft to rise above the imagery line. Pilots, in an attempt to return the aeroplane to the right position, lower the throttle to reduce the speed of the plane thus causing it to descend.
When the pilot successfully flies through to the other end of the microburst, the direction of the wind changes and becomes a tailwind because it is now behind the plane. The wind over the wind reduces causing the aircraft to sink below the glide slope. It is important to notice that applying full throttle fails to work because the tailwinds stay stronger and the result is crashing on the runway. These events are what happened at the side of the Delta Airlines flight 191. The weather changes from the Stephenville radar shows there must have been strong winds barreled through the north side of the DFW airport (Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.). This was an indication of a microburst and the primary cause of the crash.
In addition to the microburst, it is important to appreciate other aspects of the crash. The history of the aircraft involved in the crash, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, was labelled a plane too good to be true. The DC-10 was a tri-jet engine similar to the DC-8 but equipped with cost-saving features. The engineering features of the plane and what made it unique have been explained by Beresnevicius (2018), and some of them may have contributed to the crash. However, most attention has been turned to the role of the weather and maintenance mistakes.
Events
Timeline
The timeline for the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash has been documented through the Stephenville radar imagery. As mentioned earlier on, the microburst was the main reason for the accident meaning the radar imagery documents the weather changes up to the time of the incident. Around 5:00 PM, some convections were observed near the DFW airport which was considered to be remnants of dying thunderstorms in the area. However, the CDT echoes began to intensify and some newer echoes indicated that air was likely being rapidly forced upward along outflow boundaries ( Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.).
The Delta Airlines flight 191, at this time, continued its flight towards the airport way of the Blue Ridge VOR which was just east of Melissa, TX. By 5:48 PM, the secondary echoes intensified north of the runway 17-left. A black speck or hole in the southern-most cell indicated that the intensity had increased to the Strong or the VIP 3 category. The convective activity was visually observable by the Delta Airlines flight 191 crew.
At 6:00, just moments before the crash, the radar imagery indicated that there were two distinct cells adjacent to each other with each recording strong intensity. These cells were located between 2 and 7 miles north of the 17l runway which was Delta Airlines flight 191s intended target. The crash occurred at 6:05: as the aircraft landed just short of the runway and striking a vehicle on Texas State Highway 14 ( Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.). The plane was emerging from precipitation heavy enough to enshroud it. The eye witness accounts state that the plane struck the vehicle and rebounded and slammed into the ground. A large fireball consumed much of the aircraft with 137 passengers dying as a result.
Response
The emergency services responded to the crash after it took place. The details of the response are described in the 1986 Aircraft Accident Report by the National Transportation Safety Board (1986). All airport emergency and fire units were alerted within the first minute of the accident and, after 45 seconds, three fire trucks from station no. 3 arrived at the incident scene and started fighting the fire. More units were dispatched from stations No. 3 and No. 1 within the following five minutes. The firefighters managed to contain the fire within 10 minutes after the sounding of the alert despite experiencing heavy rains and wind gusts.
The other emergency response teams to be engaged were the medical units from the DPS department who arrived within five minutes of the alert. The emergency medical technicians (EMT) comprised of 16 responders while the paramedics invo0lved were 2. This is in addition to the DPS mobile intensive care unit and medical patrol vehicles. They immediately established triage stations and helped save lives that could have been lost. It was reported that without their efforts over half of those who survived could have succumbed to the accident. The majority of those who survived were those located in the rear smoking section which had broken free from the fuselage before the plane crashed onto the water tanks. These survivors were taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital for further treatment.
Also in response to the crash was the notification of the hospitals near the airport regarding the accident. At 6:25 PM, the operator of the DPS notified John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Controversially, there were other hospitals closer to the airport, including North East Community and Hurst-Euless-Bedford hospitals. However, they still received patients injured in the crash even though none of them was notified on the status of the victims or even their intended destinations.
This can be seen as a major problem because the hospitals could have used the information to increase their preparedness. Other failures in crisis response included that the Grapevine, Hurst, and Irvin community centers did not receive specific ambulance requests. Despite this, the ambulance company in Hurst heard the DFW radio crash alert and made a quick response after confirming the incident by telephone with the airport.it was only after the Grapevine fire chief met with fire chief at the airport that ambulances from Grapevine were requested and arrived at the scene at 6:40 PM.
With these response issues emerging, the accident report indicated that the DFW airport emergency plan comprised procedures for ambulance requests. However, the off-airport agencies could not clearly understand the nature of assistance being sought. The accident report also explains that the result of these communication problems included confusions such as fire trucks and units being dispatched when ambulances were expected. The report concludes that even though the response has issues, the airport emergency plan at DFW met the requirements of 14 CFR 139.55. Additionally, the DFW had an FAA certification inspection of the airport and the emergency plan on November 14 to 15 in 1984. The last emergency response drill was also conducted by the DFW in May 1979.
Aftermath
Emergency Response Protocol
Much of the aftermath details are concerned with how the DFW and other airports implemented shear detection systems to detect and avoid microbursts such as the one that caused the crash. Delta Airlines and all other commercial airlines, following the orders from the Federal Aviation Administration, implemented installed on-board wind shear detection systems (Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.). Additionally, many airports across the US installed ground-based wind shear detection and since then the number of incidents caused by microbursts has greatly reduced. There are scant details, however, of how the emergency response protocols changed after the crash. However, the available information indicates that DFW airport made several improvements in rescue efforts.
First, fire suits have been dramatically advanced to allow firefighters into burning structures safely. Second, the updated fire trucks had specialized tools, which could shoot lance-like probes into a burning aircraft. The probe is often called a Snoozle and it is attached to a hose to inject fire retardants into a fuselage. This has the effect of cooling the fuselage to allow rescue workers to save lives inside. Additionally, these trucks have infrared sensors, which are used to detect the hottest parts in a crash. Lastly, the crash notification systems at DFW were improved to include an automatic voice notification system. This new response mechanism helps to significantly reduce the notification times. Improved response times and other developments have been gradual and some have taken place after other major accidents such as the Delta Airlines Flight 1441.
ARFF Crews
There are also scant details regarding how the training if ARFF crew changes. However, there were efforts to increase the number of personnel in this department not just at the DFW but also across the world. The DFW may be considered as one of the busiest airports across the United States and, therefore, increasing the number of trained firefighting personnel is crucial. One of the available accounts of how the training was tweaked is given by fire chief brain McKinney who started training at DFW in 1986. After becoming fire chief in 2003, he changes to the ARFF training. His experiences with the DFWs fire response units may have helped him envision better response training. However, the details of immediate changes after the Delta Airlines flight 191 have not been included in his account.
One of the better indications of immediate changes is given in an interview with Christopher Gay who worked at the airport as a firefighter for about two decades. In his narration, the Delta Airlines flight 191 was soon followed by the Delta Airlines flight 1441 and these two incidences forced all senior management to become change drivers (Coarsey, 2020). Firstly, the training focused on improving the mental and physical capabilities of the firefighters. Muscle memory was enhanced through the use of visual and audio cues to help the trainees identify risks and rewards and to improve their capability to predict rapidly changing conditions.
The ARRF crew was training was intended to allow the members to operate in the worst possible conditions. Additionally, all response gaps were identified and integrated into the ARFF crew training. Further capabilities were developed, including sending teams being the airport fences. Training methods and techniques were also revolutionized to include tabletop drills, functional exercises, skill-based training, full-scale exercises, skill development, and lectures among others.
ATC Protocol
The disaster preparedness, as detailed in the accident report, was described by the Safety Board as experiencing communication and coordination problems during any large emergency response that involved multiple jurisdictions. At the time of the flight 191 crash, it was 6 years since the last full-scale exercise. These are some of the issues that highlighted the need to revolutionize the ATC Protocols at the DFW airport and in the region as a whole. ATC comprises tasks related to the assessment of weather impacts and managing air traffic sequences among other tasks. Regarding the weather assessment, the DFW increased the efforts to study the implications of microbursts. Before the accident, DFW was part of a Joint Airport Weather Studies (JAWS) that was studying microbursts.
The study had just concluded, but the downside was that it focused only on dry microbursts and not the wet microbursts that ultimately caused the crash. In 1986, a new study named MIcroburst and Severe Thunderstorm (MIST) was initiated to fill this gap in the previous study (Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.). The research from both MIST and JAWS revealed the true dynamics of microbursts which helped explain both the occurrence of the accidents and means of mitigating the disasters through improved detection. The new ATC protocols include the installation of the Terminal Doppler Weather Radars (TDWR) which are a type of radar system strategically placed at high-risk areas. While this may not be the airports jurisdiction, the regional ATC and other relevant bodies such as the NWS and DoD are responsible for their maintenance.
Additionally, the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) have been installed to offer meteorological support to airports and planes. The ITWS functions by combining the data from surface weather observation stations, TDWR, and other equipment both on the ground and on the aircraft.
Bad Weathers Influence on Crashed
The Delta Airlines flight 191 and similar crashes have helped to illustrate the influence of bad weather on aviation. According to Gultepe et al. (2019), multiple research explorations have revealed that weather can have severe impacts on both defense and commercial aviation operations. This knowledge has existed since the 1900s when it emerged that aviators would increasingly need the meteorologists to predict the fog and wind and to direct routes with fewer clouds.
The elements of weather that have been known to cause major accidents include carburetor icing, wind, high-density altitude, thunderstorms, thermal lift, shear, extreme temperature, downdrafts and updrafts, turbulence, visibility or veiling, precipitation, and storms. The Delta Airline flight 191 crash is the perfect example, in this case, to show how bad weather affects aircraft. Microburst at the time of the accident may have been a novel concept but its study has helped provide a great understanding of the basic weather patterns in both wet and dry conditions that are likely to affect airline operations.
In addition to causing accidents, weather can have also been responsible for several types of damages for both the aircraft and other airline equipment and facilities. In the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash, the damage of the incident extended to water tanks and the vehicle onto which the plane crashed. In strong winds, the aircraft may finally land without causing accidents but such conditions have been known to damage landing gears and other parts of a plane. There are also huge financial losses for aviation from accidents resulting from bad weather. For example, three-day freezing in the UK caused losses worth over USD 50 million for businesses (Gultepe, Sharman, Williams, & Zhou, 2019). Weather causes flight delays which in turn reduce the operational efficiency of businesses including those remotely related to aviation.
Conclusion
This paper supports the thesis that the Delta Airlines flight 191 clash it led to a change in how airlines and governments approach aviation safety. The incident killed over 137 people and was caused by a phenomenon called a microburst. This condition has been studied by the DFW jointly with other airports and has helped implement new ATC protocols and equipment intended to improve detection.
The timeline and response for the crash have been outlined alongside an account of the aftermath. In these sections, it has been established that the DFW may have adhered to aviation safety but some gaps needed to be addressed immediately. An account of how the training of the ARFF crew evolved ads to the observation that the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash is among those that significantly influenced how aviators approach aviation safety.
References
Beresnevicius, R. (2018). Lockheed L-1011. The plane that was too good to be true. Aerotime. Web.
Coarsey, C. (2020). Healing a memory. Family Assistance Foundation. Web.
Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport. (n.d.). Web.
On August 2, 1985, the Lockheed L-1011 airplane with 152 passengers on board crashed at Fort Worth International Airport, resulting in 137 people being killed during the impact. 26 passengers have managed to survive, with two of them dying later due to injuries. It was the third large accident in the US in 10 years that have taken lives of more than a hundred people. The cause of this accident was a weather phenomenon that was not fully understood during that time a microburst.
The day the accident occurred was pretty standard for the last month of summer very hot and moisty, conditions that are very well suited for a thunderstorm. When the plane was reaching Dallas, a shower started to develop near the airport. Later on, the shower was getting stronger, and the captain of the plane noticed lightning in the cloud before him. However, the captain decided to proceed as the weather report still fit the restrictions for landing. A few moments later, the plane got caught in a thunderstorm. It was first accelerated because of being struck by strong winds; then, the plane began to lose speed and altitude. At that moment, the only thing the pilots could do to prevent a crash was to maximize the power in throttles. Unfortunately, it was too late; the plane crushed into a car on State Highway 144, killing the driver in the process. After that, the plane slammed into two water tanks and almost completely got engulfed by fire.
Delta Flight 191 was not the first case of a plane crush caused by wind shears. However, the problem was overlooked by airline officials, as no specific training in microburst avoidance was provided to pilots. Having learned from this terrible mistake, the officials have provided all susceptible airports with various radars and alert systems, as well reconsidered the training process of pilots in order to avoid further accidents caused by microbursts.
Factors Contributing to the Accident
The main cause of the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 airplane crash was a microburst, a downburst that was not quite understood at that time, but, still, was regarded as one of the main reasons for airplane accidents because of the wind shears that come along with it.
On August 2, 1985, the weather was extremely hot and moisty, providing perfect conditions for a possible thunderstorm. When the plane was reaching Dallas, a shower began to intensify near the airport. A few moments later, the plane encountered a heavy thunderstorm, receiving a couple a hits from strong winds from behind. Subsequently, the plane lost speed and altitude, resulting in a crash.
Based on various reports, it appears that the crew of the plane was also partially responsible for the accident. It was not a good decision by them to approach the cloud despite noticing the lightning around it. Also, the members of the crew lacked knowledge and training to deal with microbursts.
The strange part was that there was no training program related to dealing with microbursts before the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 accident, despite the fact that this was not the first crash caused by wind shears. Furthermore, another possible reason that contributed to the airplane crash was the lack of real-time wind shear hazard information.
Although there was a fault of disregarding the viewable lightning in the approaching cloud, the crew cannot be blamed for the fact they did not have the training required to deal with microbursts. Aviation officials were aware of the existent problem and the previous crashes caused by wind shears, but, strangely, did not implement the necessary training programs or technologies prior to this accident. Nevertheless, the crew did the only thing they could to save the jet pushing the throttles to maximum power.
Outcomes of the Accident and Lessons Learned
Despite their efforts, it was far too late. The plane lost control and slammed into a vehicle on Highway 114, then collided with two water towers, and, as a result, the fire spread all over the plane. This hard-learned lesson that costed lives of 137 people made airline officials to reconsider the views on the matter of microbursts. After a couple of years, Terminal Doppler Weather Radar units have been installed in airports that were susceptible to microbursts in the US and Puerto Rico. NASA has also provided pilots with a technology capable of detecting wind shears during the flight. Also, numerous wind shear alert systems have been introduced to provide a better notification of dangerous air flows.
A better communication between meteorologists and pilots was also required after the Delta Flight 191 accident. Naturally, the training of pilots also required a reconsideration. It was concluded that the pilot training at the time of the accident was flawed, as it tried to teach pilots to cope with wind shears instead of avoid them. The changes to the training program involved the inclusion of flight training and microburst escape maneuvers. Training simulators were specifically designed to teach pilots to quickly recognize the upcoming danger of microbursts, and, subsequently, to efficiently use the airplanes capability in order to escape them. These measures helped to vastly improve the ability to detect wind shears and react to them as quickly as possible. However, due to the hazardous nature of microbursts, Delta Flight 191 would not be the last one to fall because of them.
Economic analysts viewed Delta Airlines resolution to acquire the Trainer refinery as a risky endeavor. The experts predicted that the airline would not succeed from the diversification measure. The refinery had closed business in September 2012 due to high operating costs. Delta decided to engage professionals in the airlines industry in order to realize its integration project.
The airline did not have prior experience in the energy industry. It had to conduct an empirical study in order to measure the worth of the diversification procedure. The company decided to change its operations strategy in 2012. It resolved to shift from the adoption of a business plan to a corporate one. The airline began to experience progress after the integration.
A corporate strategy involves diversification and integration mechanisms. These plans incorporate the organizations scope of activities. Delta Airlines decided to buy an oil refinery from ConocoPhillips at $150million. The diversification strategies seemed appropriate for the airlines in terms of helping it to gain competitive advantage in the industry. The company hoped to increase its profits through its diversification strategy. The airlines would manage its risks efficiently and expand its markets.
The organizations acquisition of the oil refinery would cater for future increments in the prices of jet fuel. The company envisioned that it would save $300million annually once it started running the refinery. Delta Airlines intended to meet its diversification costs in a cost effective manner. The business estimated that the costs of entry would be below the envisaged profits. The airlines would have to purchase 60 new narrow-bodied planes that would cost about $2.5billion. This aspect would reduce the costs of fuel for the airline company.
Delta Airlines contracted BP to supply it with crude oil. The airlines planned to exchange petroleum products from its newly acquired refinery for jet fuel. The company incorporated the idea into its vertical integration mechanisms. The concept of vertical integration refers to the purchase of a supply chain of a given company by another related group.
The two businesses must however produce similar products in order for them to achieve their business goals. The acquisition of the refinery would thus help Delta Airlines access cheap jet fuel. This paper evaluates the fuel costs of an airline company to be a third of its total operating expenses in a given fiscal period. Delta Airlines would gain a competitive advantage over its rivals by $40billion.
Delta Airlines may benefit from the vertical integration. The company may gain from the economies of scale due to the reduced costs of inputs and raw materials. The business may reduce its transaction costs of deals with small firms, taxes, regulations and specific investments. The vertical incorporation may help the company achieve monopoly of trade in the airlines industry. This aspect may be enhanced by the low fuel costs that the Delta Airlines may incur as opposed to its business rivals.
The fuel savings may be used by Delta Airlines for other productive investments. The airline may however incur certain costs due to static technology. The team may need to adopt new technologies in order to cope with the diversification project. New technologies may bring about different scales of operation at every stage of the integration process for Delta Airlines. The uncertainties of the integration procedure may bring about losses for the airlines due to unforeseen costs. The divergent scales of operation may create management issues like new departments to cater for the refinery challenges that may include costs and differentiations.
The adoption of diversification plans by Delta Airlines may enhance the spread of risk due to the creation of new operational and management objectives. The combination may cause inflexibility in coping with demand patterns and technological innovation. Delta Airlines may need to develop new software for its diversification venture. The organization may also create new plans to cope with increased numbers of customers.
Delta Airlines may face the risk of failure in its diversification initiative. The share value of the group may have increased by 11% in 2012 due to investors confidence in the integration. The refinery must be managed by experts. This approach may boost the success of the integration due to professionalism. Diversification strategies that involve acquisition of assets may at times reduce shareholders value of particular companies. The mechanisms may only satisfy the decision makers of the organization in the initial stages.
Investors appreciated Delta Airlines acquisition of the Trainers refinery. This aspect meant that the diversification plan increased shareholders value. The integration passed Porters three tests. It passed the aspect of entry test that stipulates that the cost of purchasing the refinery and the take-over for the Delta Airlines must be met by the airlines profits. The diversification passed the better-off test that dictates that the refinery achieve competitive advantage over other refineries in the market due to its association with Delta Airlines.
Deltas diversification decision will be appropriate. First, the Trainer refinery will obtain financial synergy in which the probability of failure of the refinery will be minimal. The sales of the plant will increase hence creating profits for the unit. Delta Airlines will gain a competitive edge over other airlines. The production of gasoline for exchange with jet fuel for Delta Airlines will boost the operation costs of the airlines.
Delta Airlines and the Trainer refinery will pay minimal taxes due to the integration effort. Their values will be merged and taxed as a single income. Delta Airlines will assume control of the market because it will dictate prices of air transport. The organization will also create stiff competition for all airlines. Other airlines will strive to control the industry. Delta Airlines and the Trainer refinery will benefit from shared human resource personnel, ideas and profits.
The companies will also gain from tangible resources like distribution channels, and data. Delta Airlines will benefit from substantial economies of scale like general management issues, purchase of primary inputs for the refinery and reduced transactions expenditure and access to data.
The airline may encounter administrative challenges that may derail its operations management. The difficulty may result from the harmonization of departments of the two organizations. The units may also adopt different strategies of profit maximization. The executive boards of the two companies may need to streamline their human resource and decision making processes.
The decision to acquire the Trainer refinery was an appropriate one for the Delta Airlines because the two companies would benefit from the integration process. The companies may resolve challenges that may arise from the diversification process at the level of the management of the two businesses. The airline may need to continue conducting research on ways of improving the business integration process.
The Delta Airlines flight 191 clash is one of the most significant incidences in aviation history. It led to massive changes in how the airlines and the government addresses aviation safety. The concept of microbursts was novel at the time of the clash and the increased research efforts revealed how it affects aircraft and how it can be avoided. DFW and other airports learned critical lessons and used these lessons to implement improved detection system both on the ground and the planes.
Introduction
The aviation industry can be considered to be one of the riskiest industries in the world. There have been multiple accidents since the aircraft was first invented. Commercial flights today are the major concern when discussing the safety of air travel. This is because the incidents that have happened in the history of these businesses have resulted in massive losses of human life. Accidents such as the Delta Airlines flight 191, which occurred on August 2, 1985, killed over 137 people.
At the time it happened, it was the third accident in the United States since 1975 to involve a then-novel concept of microburst and to kill over 100 people. Such an extent also means heavy losses for the airlines illustrating the fact that aviation safety is of utmost interest to all the stakeholders. The Delta Airlines flight 191 clash is argued to have been one of the most significant incidences in the history of aviation safety as it led to a change in how airlines and governments approach aviation safety.
Background
The Delta Airlines flight 191 is one of those accidents to have been caused by a phenomenon known as a microburst. This is a weather condition involving an intense thunderstorm downdraft. The National Weather Service defines a microburst as a small downburst that has an outflow of below two and a half (2.5) miles or 4 kilometers for a horizontal diameter (“Thunderstorm hazards – Damaging wind,” n.d.). Additionally, it tends to last for between two and five minutes. Microbursts may be small in size but they can produce destructive winds reaching up to 168 miles per hour or equivalent to 270 kilometers per hour. They present dangerous conditions for pilots and have been responsible for multiple aviation accidents, including the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash.
The mechanisms and the effects of a microburst have been explained by the National Weather Service, including the sequence of events leading to an incident. Pilots descending into an airport follow an imagery line to the runway called a glide slope. When they enter a microburst the aircraft encounters a condition known as headwind which is an increase in the speed of the wind over an aircraft. The strength of the wind tends to create additional lift which causes the aircraft to rise above the imagery line. Pilots, in an attempt to return the aeroplane to the right position, lower the throttle to reduce the speed of the plane thus causing it to descend.
When the pilot successfully flies through to the other end of the microburst, the direction of the wind changes and becomes a tailwind because it is now behind the plane. The wind over the wind reduces causing the aircraft to sink below the glide slope. It is important to notice that applying full throttle fails to work because the tailwinds stay stronger and the result is crashing on the runway. These events are what happened at the side of the Delta Airlines flight 191. The weather changes from the Stephenville radar shows there must have been strong winds barreled through the north side of the DFW airport (Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.). This was an indication of a microburst and the primary cause of the crash.
In addition to the microburst, it is important to appreciate other aspects of the crash. The history of the aircraft involved in the crash, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, was labelled a plane too good to be true. The DC-10 was a tri-jet engine similar to the DC-8 but equipped with cost-saving features. The engineering features of the plane and what made it unique have been explained by Beresnevicius (2018), and some of them may have contributed to the crash. However, most attention has been turned to the role of the weather and maintenance mistakes.
Events
Timeline
The timeline for the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash has been documented through the Stephenville radar imagery. As mentioned earlier on, the microburst was the main reason for the accident meaning the radar imagery documents the weather changes up to the time of the incident. Around 5:00 PM, some convections were observed near the DFW airport which was considered to be remnants of dying thunderstorms in the area. However, the CDT echoes began to intensify and some newer echoes indicated that air was likely being rapidly forced upward along outflow boundaries (“Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport,” n.d.).
The Delta Airlines flight 191, at this time, continued its flight towards the airport way of the Blue Ridge VOR which was just east of Melissa, TX. By 5:48 PM, the secondary echoes intensified north of the runway 17-left. A black speck or hole in the southern-most cell indicated that the intensity had increased to the “Strong” or the VIP 3 category. The convective activity was visually observable by the Delta Airlines flight 191 crew.
At 6:00, just moments before the crash, the radar imagery indicated that there were two distinct cells adjacent to each other with each recording “strong” intensity. These cells were located between 2 and 7 miles north of the 17l runway which was Delta Airlines flight 191’s intended target. The crash occurred at 6:05: as the aircraft landed just short of the runway and striking a vehicle on Texas State Highway 14 (“Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport,” n.d.). The plane was emerging from precipitation heavy enough to enshroud it. The eye witness accounts state that the plane struck the vehicle and rebounded and slammed into the ground. A large fireball consumed much of the aircraft with 137 passengers dying as a result.
Response
The emergency services responded to the crash after it took place. The details of the response are described in the 1986 Aircraft Accident Report by the National Transportation Safety Board (1986). All airport emergency and fire units were alerted within the first minute of the accident and, after 45 seconds, three fire trucks from station no. 3 arrived at the incident scene and started fighting the fire. More units were dispatched from stations No. 3 and No. 1 within the following five minutes. The firefighters managed to contain the fire within 10 minutes after the sounding of the alert despite experiencing heavy rains and wind gusts.
The other emergency response teams to be engaged were the medical units from the DPS department who arrived within five minutes of the alert. The emergency medical technicians (EMT) comprised of 16 responders while the paramedics invo0lved were 2. This is in addition to the DPS mobile intensive care unit and medical patrol vehicles. They immediately established triage stations and helped save lives that could have been lost. It was reported that without their efforts over half of those who survived could have succumbed to the accident. The majority of those who survived were those located in the rear smoking section which had broken free from the fuselage before the plane crashed onto the water tanks. These survivors were taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital for further treatment.
Also in response to the crash was the notification of the hospitals near the airport regarding the accident. At 6:25 PM, the operator of the DPS notified John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Controversially, there were other hospitals closer to the airport, including North East Community and Hurst-Euless-Bedford hospitals. However, they still received patients injured in the crash even though none of them was notified on the status of the victims or even their intended destinations.
This can be seen as a major problem because the hospitals could have used the information to increase their preparedness. Other failures in crisis response included that the Grapevine, Hurst, and Irvin community centers did not receive specific ambulance requests. Despite this, the ambulance company in Hurst heard the DFW radio crash alert and made a quick response after confirming the incident by telephone with the airport.it was only after the Grapevine fire chief met with fire chief at the airport that ambulances from Grapevine were requested and arrived at the scene at 6:40 PM.
With these response issues emerging, the accident report indicated that the DFW airport emergency plan comprised procedures for ambulance requests. However, the off-airport agencies could not clearly understand the nature of assistance being sought. The accident report also explains that the result of these communication problems included confusions such as fire trucks and units being dispatched when ambulances were expected. The report concludes that even though the response has issues, the airport emergency plan at DFW met the requirements of 14 CFR 139.55. Additionally, the DFW had an FAA certification inspection of the airport and the emergency plan on November 14 to 15 in 1984. The last emergency response drill was also conducted by the DFW in May 1979.
Aftermath
Emergency Response Protocol
Much of the aftermath details are concerned with how the DFW and other airports implemented shear detection systems to detect and avoid microbursts such as the one that caused the crash. Delta Airlines and all other commercial airlines, following the orders from the Federal Aviation Administration, implemented installed on-board wind shear detection systems (Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.). Additionally, many airports across the US installed ground-based wind shear detection and since then the number of incidents caused by microbursts has greatly reduced. There are scant details, however, of how the emergency response protocols changed after the crash. However, the available information indicates that DFW airport made several improvements in rescue efforts.
First, fire suits have been dramatically advanced to allow firefighters into burning structures safely. Second, the updated fire trucks had specialized tools, which could shoot lance-like probes into a burning aircraft. The probe is often called a Snoozle and it is attached to a hose to inject fire retardants into a fuselage. This has the effect of cooling the fuselage to allow rescue workers to save lives inside. Additionally, these trucks have infrared sensors, which are used to detect the hottest parts in a crash. Lastly, the crash notification systems at DFW were improved to include an automatic voice notification system. This new response mechanism helps to significantly reduce the notification times. Improved response times and other developments have been gradual and some have taken place after other major accidents such as the Delta Airlines Flight 1441.
ARFF Crews
There are also scant details regarding how the training if ARFF crew changes. However, there were efforts to increase the number of personnel in this department not just at the DFW but also across the world. The DFW may be considered as one of the busiest airports across the United States and, therefore, increasing the number of trained firefighting personnel is crucial. One of the available accounts of how the training was tweaked is given by fire chief brain McKinney who started training at DFW in 1986. After becoming fire chief in 2003, he changes to the ARFF training. His experiences with the DFW’s fire response units may have helped him envision better response training. However, the details of immediate changes after the Delta Airlines flight 191 have not been included in his account.
One of the better indications of immediate changes is given in an interview with Christopher Gay who worked at the airport as a firefighter for about two decades. In his narration, the Delta Airlines flight 191 was soon followed by the Delta Airlines flight 1441 and these two incidences forced all senior management to become change drivers (Coarsey, 2020). Firstly, the training focused on improving the mental and physical capabilities of the firefighters. Muscle memory was enhanced through the use of visual and audio cues to help the trainees identify risks and rewards and to improve their capability to predict rapidly changing conditions.
The ARRF crew was training was intended to allow the members to operate in the worst possible conditions. Additionally, all response gaps were identified and integrated into the ARFF crew training. Further capabilities were developed, including sending teams being the airport fences. Training methods and techniques were also revolutionized to include tabletop drills, functional exercises, skill-based training, full-scale exercises, skill development, and lectures among others.
ATC Protocol
The disaster preparedness, as detailed in the accident report, was described by the Safety Board as experiencing communication and coordination problems during any large emergency response that involved multiple jurisdictions. At the time of the flight 191 crash, it was 6 years since the last full-scale exercise. These are some of the issues that highlighted the need to revolutionize the ATC Protocols at the DFW airport and in the region as a whole. ATC comprises tasks related to the assessment of weather impacts and managing air traffic sequences among other tasks. Regarding the weather assessment, the DFW increased the efforts to study the implications of microbursts. Before the accident, DFW was part of a Joint Airport Weather Studies (JAWS) that was studying microbursts.
The study had just concluded, but the downside was that it focused only on dry microbursts and not the wet microbursts that ultimately caused the crash. In 1986, a new study named MIcroburst and Severe Thunderstorm (MIST) was initiated to fill this gap in the previous study (Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport, n.d.). The research from both MIST and JAWS revealed the true dynamics of microbursts which helped explain both the occurrence of the accidents and means of mitigating the disasters through improved detection. The new ATC protocols include the installation of the Terminal Doppler Weather Radars (TDWR) which are a type of radar system strategically placed at high-risk areas. While this may not be the airport’s jurisdiction, the regional ATC and other relevant bodies such as the NWS and DoD are responsible for their maintenance.
Additionally, the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) have been installed to offer meteorological support to airports and planes. The ITWS functions by combining the data from surface weather observation stations, TDWR, and other equipment both on the ground and on the aircraft.
Bad Weather’s Influence on Crashed
The Delta Airlines flight 191 and similar crashes have helped to illustrate the influence of bad weather on aviation. According to Gultepe et al. (2019), multiple research explorations have revealed that weather can have severe impacts on both defense and commercial aviation operations. This knowledge has existed since the 1900s when it emerged that aviators would increasingly need the meteorologists to predict the fog and wind and to direct routes with fewer clouds.
The elements of weather that have been known to cause major accidents include carburetor icing, wind, high-density altitude, thunderstorms, thermal lift, shear, extreme temperature, downdrafts and updrafts, turbulence, visibility or veiling, precipitation, and storms. The Delta Airline flight 191 crash is the perfect example, in this case, to show how bad weather affects aircraft. Microburst at the time of the accident may have been a novel concept but its study has helped provide a great understanding of the basic weather patterns in both wet and dry conditions that are likely to affect airline operations.
In addition to causing accidents, weather can have also been responsible for several types of damages for both the aircraft and other airline equipment and facilities. In the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash, the damage of the incident extended to water tanks and the vehicle onto which the plane crashed. In strong winds, the aircraft may finally land without causing accidents but such conditions have been known to damage landing gears and other parts of a plane. There are also huge financial losses for aviation from accidents resulting from bad weather. For example, three-day freezing in the UK caused losses worth over USD 50 million for businesses (Gultepe, Sharman, Williams, & Zhou, 2019). Weather causes flight delays which in turn reduce the operational efficiency of businesses including those remotely related to aviation.
Conclusion
This paper supports the thesis that the Delta Airlines flight 191 clash it led to a change in how airlines and governments approach aviation safety. The incident killed over 137 people and was caused by a phenomenon called a microburst. This condition has been studied by the DFW jointly with other airports and has helped implement new ATC protocols and equipment intended to improve detection.
The timeline and response for the crash have been outlined alongside an account of the aftermath. In these sections, it has been established that the DFW may have adhered to aviation safety but some gaps needed to be addressed immediately. An account of how the training of the ARFF crew evolved ads to the observation that the Delta Airlines flight 191 crash is among those that significantly influenced how aviators approach aviation safety.
References
Beresnevicius, R. (2018). Lockheed L-1011. The plane that was too good to be true. Aerotime. Web.
Coarsey, C. (2020). Healing a memory. Family Assistance Foundation. Web.
Delta Flight 191 Incident at DFW Airport. (n.d.). Web.
On August 2, 1985, the Lockheed L-1011 airplane with 152 passengers on board crashed at Fort Worth International Airport, resulting in 137 people being killed during the impact. 26 passengers have managed to survive, with two of them dying later due to injuries. It was the third large accident in the US in 10 years that have taken lives of more than a hundred people. The cause of this accident was a weather phenomenon that was not fully understood during that time – a microburst.
The day the accident occurred was pretty standard for the last month of summer – very hot and moisty, conditions that are very well suited for a thunderstorm. When the plane was reaching Dallas, a shower started to develop near the airport. Later on, the shower was getting stronger, and the captain of the plane noticed lightning in the cloud before him. However, the captain decided to proceed as the weather report still fit the restrictions for landing. A few moments later, the plane got caught in a thunderstorm. It was first accelerated because of being struck by strong winds; then, the plane began to lose speed and altitude. At that moment, the only thing the pilots could do to prevent a crash was to maximize the power in throttles. Unfortunately, it was too late; the plane crushed into a car on State Highway 144, killing the driver in the process. After that, the plane slammed into two water tanks and almost completely got engulfed by fire.
Delta Flight 191 was not the first case of a plane crush caused by wind shears. However, the problem was overlooked by airline officials, as no specific training in microburst avoidance was provided to pilots. Having learned from this terrible mistake, the officials have provided all susceptible airports with various radars and alert systems, as well reconsidered the training process of pilots in order to avoid further accidents caused by microbursts.
Factors Contributing to the Accident
The main cause of the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 airplane crash was a microburst, a downburst that was not quite understood at that time, but, still, was regarded as one of the main reasons for airplane accidents because of the wind shears that come along with it.
On August 2, 1985, the weather was extremely hot and moisty, providing perfect conditions for a possible thunderstorm. When the plane was reaching Dallas, a shower began to intensify near the airport. A few moments later, the plane encountered a heavy thunderstorm, receiving a couple a hits from strong winds from behind. Subsequently, the plane lost speed and altitude, resulting in a crash.
Based on various reports, it appears that the crew of the plane was also partially responsible for the accident. It was not a good decision by them to approach the cloud despite noticing the lightning around it. Also, the members of the crew lacked knowledge and training to deal with microbursts.
The strange part was that there was no training program related to dealing with microbursts before the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 accident, despite the fact that this was not the first crash caused by wind shears. Furthermore, another possible reason that contributed to the airplane crash was the lack of real-time wind shear hazard information.
Although there was a fault of disregarding the viewable lightning in the approaching cloud, the crew cannot be blamed for the fact they did not have the training required to deal with microbursts. Aviation officials were aware of the existent problem and the previous crashes caused by wind shears, but, strangely, did not implement the necessary training programs or technologies prior to this accident. Nevertheless, the crew did the only thing they could to save the jet – pushing the throttles to maximum power.
Outcomes of the Accident and Lessons Learned
Despite their efforts, it was far too late. The plane lost control and slammed into a vehicle on Highway 114, then collided with two water towers, and, as a result, the fire spread all over the plane. This hard-learned lesson that costed lives of 137 people made airline officials to reconsider the views on the matter of microbursts. After a couple of years, Terminal Doppler Weather Radar units have been installed in airports that were susceptible to microbursts in the US and Puerto Rico. NASA has also provided pilots with a technology capable of detecting wind shears during the flight. Also, numerous wind shear alert systems have been introduced to provide a better notification of dangerous air flows.
A better communication between meteorologists and pilots was also required after the Delta Flight 191 accident. Naturally, the training of pilots also required a reconsideration. It was concluded that the pilot training at the time of the accident was flawed, as it tried to teach pilots to cope with wind shears instead of avoid them. The changes to the training program involved the inclusion of flight training and microburst escape maneuvers. Training simulators were specifically designed to teach pilots to quickly recognize the upcoming danger of microbursts, and, subsequently, to efficiently use the airplane’s capability in order to escape them. These measures helped to vastly improve the ability to detect wind shears and react to them as quickly as possible. However, due to the hazardous nature of microbursts, Delta Flight 191 would not be the last one to fall because of them.
Human resources are the driving force of an organisation; they need to be well managed and preserved for the benefit of the company. Human resources management is a continuous process that starts with planning, recruiting, maintaining, motivating, knowledge-management and finally dismissal. Hilton is an international company in the hospitality industry where it operates chains of hotels.
The group of hotels has more than 130,000 team members distributed in more than 3,600 hotels in 81 countries/territories. Delta is an airline company that have more than 160 million customers every year and flies in more than 350 destinations in more than 70 countries. The success of the company is vested on effective human resources management.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd is a shipping company that offers a wide range of career opportunities in its land and on-board sections. This paper discusses the above three companies (Delta airlines, Hilton group of hotels and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd); it will use them to evaluate business strategies for internal customers.
Organization’s business strategies for internal customers
Hilton case
The company aims at offering a career growth to its employees who recruited from different part of the world. Different levels are filled using appropriate mechanisms. For example, high-level managers are recruited is centralised at the head office and then distributed to respective country’s branches. At branch level, they can employ other carder of employees. It does not discriminate employees in gender, sex, colour, race or nationality; its interest is the level of qualification that an employee has.
In the company’s mission statement, it recognises the needs of internal customers thus, it can be deduced that there is proper internal customer management. This is likely to be in areas of recruitment, selection of competent employees and developing an orchestrate team.
After recruiting, the company have appropriate motivational measures to ensure that they retain employees for the good of the company. Since its incorporation in 1919 in Cisco, Texas by Conrad Hilton, the hotel as grown to be an international five star because of its qualified management team who value their employees (Hilton group of hotels official website, 2010).
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd
The company have over 20 ships transporting people and cargo across the globe. Its staffs are either in the office for monitoring and others are aboard a ship as crewmembers. Shipping crews face different challenges alongside unique and adventurous experience they get from transport business in different parts of the world.
When recruiting crews, the company has a centralized office, situated in Miami, Florida. After successfully engaging an employee, depending with the particular employee experience, they offer different trainings and career development paths. They aim at offering conducive environment to their employees to facilitate innovation and inventions. Some of services offered aboard a ship include ice skating and surfing.
The company’s compensation package is among the best in the industry making the company a preferred employer by a large population. People who are particularly adventurers have seen the company to be a good employer since it offers a chance to visit different destinations in the world. Currently, the company has more than 40,000 employees (Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd official website, 2010).
Delta airlines
Globalisation and international trade has resulted to an increased demand of international transport; Delta airline is an international airline company with its head quarters in Atlanta in the United States. Due to the nature of its trade, the company have embraced a global diversity recruitment strategy where it has employees from different parts of the world. It is more concerned about culture and language of it team and ensures it has a combination that can improve the welfare and experience of their customers.
In the airline industry, the services that clients receive go a long way in determining the success of such a company. Realizing this, recruitment process of the company is robust and ensures that get well-qualified team. In line with its global diversity strategy, the company has joined a number of affinity groups.
The company has appropriate internal human resources management that retains expatriates and those employees who work for the good of the company. The team also fires those people who fail to work in line with the company’s objective.
The company has numerous benefits and allowances that include excellent benefits and worldwide travel privileges, in its efforts to create a good operating spirit in the team. The company has a well-framed medical, financial and lifestyle policies. This is in the efforts of ensuring that the company is the company of choice to its employees (Delta airlines official website, 2010).
The contrast between proactive (general marketing) and reactive (fill open positions) strategies.
Reactive recruitment is a policy whereby a company sits backs and waits for an opportunity or a post to be available in the organisation then recruit the next available applicant. It is not a good recruiting method since the company is kind of acting desperate.
In proactive recruitment process, a company has well elaborated recruitment process; under this process, past and current needs of employees are used to predict future needs of employees, then making appropriate measures to ensure that in future there will be adequate employees in terms of quality and quantity.
Hilton, Delta airlines and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, adopts a proactive recruitment method however; they appreciate that sometimes employees may leave an organisation unpredictably because of personal factors like retirements, death or change of employer. When such a situation occurs, the companies ensure that they have a strong delegation practice whereby in cases of need, a junior staff can take responsibility effectively.
Human resources department have encouraged healthy delegation among team members to ensure that in case there is sudden shortage of staff because of un-planned reason, then they can use junior staffs to stand in as they recruit staff that are more qualified. Sometimes this is seen as a chance to give well performing employees a chance to prove they are worth for future posts.
The advantage brought about by a proactive recruitment process is that a company has a well-planned mechanism to replace employees leaving the organisation for one reason or another. They have a plan that ensures that new comers replace retirees. Before newcomers are given full responsibility of a certain duty, they undergo an inauguration ceremony that is followed by a probation period. During probation, the employers get a chance to learn the potentials of different employees and give them roles according to their capabilities.
Conclusion
A company’s human resources department has the mandate of ensuring that adequate employees are available at all times. The success of Delta airlines, Hilton group of hotels and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd is based on effective human resources management; the department is undertakes planning, deploying, employing, training, retaining, and dismissal of employees.
References
Delta airlines official website.(2010). Web.
Hilton group of hotels official website. (2010). Web.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd official website. (2010). Web.
Although companies can represent the same industry and offer similar services, their development, growth, and strategies can differ dramatically from one another. This paper is aimed at discussing such companies as Delta Air Lines and Great Lakes Airlines. The first one operates at an international level, and it has a long history of acquisitions that enabled them to increase their profitability. In contrast, the operations of Great Lakes Airlines are limited only the United States and one can say that it is a regional carrier. It is vital to examine the work of these organizations and offer strategies that help them improve their performance. These are the main questions that should be discussed in this paper.
The strategy that led to the acquisition
First, it is necessary to look at the strategies of Delta Air Lines. It is possible to say that this company has long tried to increase its share in different markets and become the leading airline company in the United States and in the world. One should bear in mind that they continuously increased their fleet and the number of destinations that they could serve (Delta Air Lines, 2011, unpaged). It should be noted that in the past this organization formed many alliances with many companies such as Air France, AeroMexico, or Korean Air (Delta Air Lines, 2011, unpaged). These partnerships helped Delta Air Lines establish its presence in foreign markets.
This is one of the trends that can be identified. Currently, this organization operates in 247 destinations that are located in different countries, including the United States. Furthermore, the growth of this organization was partly achieved through the acquisition of other companies. For example, in 2008 Delta acquired Northwest Airlines Corporation (Delta Air Lines, 2011, unpaged). In the past Northwest Airlines Corporation was an important rival of Delta Air Lines. However, with time passing, Delta outgrew its competitor and purchased this corporation. This event is an important milestone in the history of this corporation. In this way, the leaders of this company intended to increase its share in the global airline industry.
Overall, this acquisition was quite justified because in this way Delta was able to get access to many Asian countries such as China, Japan, South Koria, Singapore, or Thailand (Zyla, 2009, p. 63). These are the countries with rapidly-growing populations and Delta can find many new customers in these regions and eventually increase their revenues (Zyla, 2009, p. 63). This is one of the goals of this acquisition. Currently, Delta is considered to be the largest airline company according to such criteria the passenger traffic or fleet size (Zyla, 2009, p. 63). Therefore, one can argue that the policies of this corporation are well-developed and they are important for the growth of this organization. By implementing this strategy in the future, Delta will be able to retain its leadership in the market.
Great Lakes Airlines and their possible merger
In contrast, the strategies of Great Lakes Airlines differ dramatically in several ways because this company operates only in the United States. Unlike Delta Airlines, Great Lakes cannot be viewed as an international corporation that targets customers in different countries. Moreover, this organization has never been involved in acquisitions or mergers (Great Lakes Airlines, 2012, unpaged). This is another distinction that should not be overlooked when discussing the work of this organization. Nevertheless, this company can establish partnership with another airline company. This strategy can help Great Lakes strengthen its positions in the U.S. market.
For instance, they can merge with such a company as Cape Air that also operates mostly in the United States. There are several reasons for this decision. First of all, these airline companies have different destinations. It should be noted that Great Lakes operate in Arizona, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. In contrast, the destinations of Cape Air include such part of the country as Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Illinois, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico. Provided that they join their efforts, different divisions of this newly-created company will not have to compete with one another. Additionally, these companies can target a greater number of clients if they merge with one another.
This is another benefit that they can derive. Certainly, this merger will not enable them to become a competitor for companies like Delta Air Lines because Great Lakes Airlines will not have sufficient resources for this competition. Nevertheless, they will have more opportunities for growth because they will be able to join their fleets, technologies, and personnel. Certainly, this process will be very time-consuming because organizations will have to align their HR practices, information technologies, and business strategies (Alkhafaji, 2003). Thus, one can say that this task can be challenging. However, in the long-term, this new company will be able to grow and increase their market share in the U.S. market. This is the main rationale for the merger between Great Lakes Airlines and Cape Air. The formation of this alliance can contribute the economic growth of these companies.
Corporate and business-level strategies of Delta Air Lines
It is vital to examine the business-level strategies that Delta Air Lines currently adopts. Overall, business-level strategy can be understood as a set of actions that a business takes in order to gain advantage in a certain industry or market (Alkhafaji, 2003). On the whole, it is possible to argue that business-level strategies of Delta Airlines are quite effective. For example, one can mention that this company adopts a flexible pricing policy so that their services could be afforded by people of various income levels (Zyla, 2009). This is why their services enjoy popularity in different countries. Apart from that, they try to improve the experiences of clients in order to distinguish their services among others.
This is why this company offers various on-flight amenities to their clients. For example, they enable customers to watch videos on demand (Zyla, 2009). Again, in this way, they try to gain the loyalty of clients. Moreover, one should note that the management of Delta strives to increase the number of destinations that the company can reach. They also try to increase their fleet and improve the quality of its aircrafts. This is another aspect that one should not overlook. To a great extent, the combination of these policies enabled them to become a leader in the airline industry. Furthermore, one should pay close attention to the corporate level strategies of corporation. Overall, corporate-level strategies can be described as the selection of industries or markets in which an organization should enter (Alkhafaji, 2003).
This organization has always positioned itself as a passenger carrier. However, this corporation continuously wanted to increase its presence in different countries or regions. Overall, they chose to serve a single need of a very wide audience. This is one of the aspects that should not overlook. It is possible to say that corporate and business-level strategies have enabled Delta Air Lines to become a leading player in the airline industry. Nevertheless, it is possible to make several recommendations to this corporation. In particular, the management should focus on the labor relations within this organization because currently the workers of this company do not have the opportunity to enter trade unions (Belobaba, 2009, p. 284). To some degree, this policy harms the reputation of Delta Air Lines. By enabling the employees to join the unions, the senior management of this company will make the workers more committed to the organizational goals of Delta. This recommendation is mostly related to business-level strategies. In contrast, the corporate-level strategies of this organization can remain unchanged.
Recommendations for Great Lakes Airlines
It is possible to argue that Great Lakes Airlines can also adopt some business and corporate strategies in order to achieve growth. First of all, this organization should increase their fleet. In particular, they should purchase fuel-efficient and capacious aircrafts that they do not currently have. This strategy has several rationales. First of all, it will enable the company to reach a greater number of destinations within the country. Secondly, they will be able to serve more customers and increase their profitability. This strategy can be implemented within the scope of ten years because the company will have to make significant investments into the infrastructure and technologies.
This objective can be better obtained if Great Lakes can join their efforts with another company such as Cape Air. This is another point that can be made. Additionally, one should focus on the corporate-level strategies of Great Lakes Airlines. First of all, this organization should not enter those markets in which it does not have sufficient experience or expertise. For instance, they should not enter cargo delivery services. Such a policy will not enable them to gain more revenues or increase their customer base because they will have to face significant competition from other firms. In contrast, they should focus on passenger transportation and increase the number of its destination within the United States. When they cope with this task, they will be able to enter international markets. So, the corporate-level strategies of Delta should be aimed at improving the main competences of this organization.
Conclusion
On the whole, this discussion shows that airline industry can be represented by companies with different strategies and policies. Furthermore, the objectives of these corporations do not always coincide with one another. Delta Air Lines can be viewed as an example of an international corporation that has always attempted to gain leadership in different countries and regions. In contrast, Great Lakes Airlines have not tried to become a global leader. The management of this business is content with the role of a regional passenger carrier. This comparison indicates that mergers and acquisitions are important for the growth of an organization. The strategies that have been recommended to these companies can help them retain leadership or achieve growth. On the whole, the success of these organizations depends on their relations with clients and ability to exploit their main strengths. Furthermore, they should operate only in those markets where they can best realize their core competencies. This is the main argument that can be put forward.
Reference List
Alkhafaji, A. (2003). Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control in a Dynamic Environment. London: Routledge.
Belobaba, P. (2009). The Global Airline Industry. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Delta Air Lines. (2011). Delta Air Lines: History. Web.
Great Lakes Airlines. (2012). History. Web.
Zyla, M. (2009). Fair Value Measurements: Practical Guidance and Implementation. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Delta Air Lines is one of the longest-running US airline carriers and world leaders in air travel. Customer satisfaction is an essential component of the company’s success. Thus, consumer behavior research plays a vital role in defining Delta’s strategic orientations. For this reason, this paper will focus on the overview of Crimson Hexagon’s marketing research report, analyzing industry-related social media conversations.
The report allows answering a number of customer- and consumer-related questions. What do consumers in the airline industry value most? What are their most frequent concerns and dissatisfactions? To which demographic group do they belong? Overall, it helps generate insight into such consumer and company variables as needs, preferences, costs of purchase, convenience, and communication effectiveness, as well as other data units that can be used by the company for designing a consumer-based strategy and improving its supply chain processes (Hamilton, 2016).
Crimson Hexagon approached these questions through a large-scale, comparative analysis of major competitors in the U.S. airline market. They used the principles of database marketing to identify major behavioral patterns and their fluctuations over time. Additionally, they implemented automated descriptive statistics tools to categorize and present numerical data along with the qualitative pieces of information, such as consumers’ posts from various social media platforms, which allow comprehending their brand-associated sentiments better.
Main Body
The data on consumer attitudes to the company’s competitors can be especially interesting for marketers. It gives a chance to conduct a comprehensive environmental analysis and identify major industry trends combined with related risks, opportunities, organizational weaknesses, and strengths. Overall, the Crimson Hexagon findings did not differ from my initial intuitions about the values that drive consumer behaviors in the airline industry.
The report just formally records the tacit knowledge about the importance of pricing and flight experiences for customers. It is possible to say that marketers use this type of information to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty to brands on a day-to-day basis. However, compared to traditional marketing research instruments, social data analysis gives a more detailed and deep picture of the issue.
For instance, Crimson Hexagon’s data library contains over a trillion public social posts, which one can process with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to develop nuanced insights and detect new meanings (Crimson Hexagon, 2018a). Such an analysis capacity is far beyond the reach of regular organizational database marketing activities that focus primarily on internal sources of information: surveys, sales records, consumer files, and others.
The report includes the Methodology section, which clearly explains data collection methods. Crimson Hexagon explored the data retrieved them from major English-language social media platforms and forums, including Twitter, Instagram, TripAdvisor, Reddit, and so forth. Some particular data analysis categories included consumer sentiments (both positive and negative), a brand-linked volume of social media conversation, and different customer preference and satisfaction variables (namely, perks, prices, destinations, and others). The analysis timeframe ranged from 2010 to 2016, whereas some performance and consumer behavior variables were studied by utilizing only the 2016 data (Crimson Hexagon, n.d.).
Although it is not mentioned in the report which particular instruments are administered to analyze these data, the statement on Crimson Hexagon’s website makes it clear that they implemented the automated AI, which is capable of natural language processing, image analytics, and neural networking (Crimson Hexagon, 2018b). The advantage of this technology is in rapid processing of big data sets and the ability to categorize information both statistically and thematically. In this way, AI combines the best aspects of quantitative and qualitative methods and minimizes the need for human involvement in the analysis process.
As for ethical implications of data collection and processing, Crimson Hexagon’s approach does not raise any significant concerns. The information used in the report is gathered only from public social media posts, and it is implied that, by posting something on public domains, users acknowledge all possible consequences associated with open sharing of information online. Just like in any other kind of research involving human subjects, marketers conducting an analysis should respect human rights and minimize any possibility for harming one’s identity, dignity, and integrity. However, it is valid to say that the use of publicly available information does not pose any of such risks.
Data in the reviewed report is not representative of all population groups. Although the female-male split was almost even in brand-associated social media conversations, the involvement of different age groups was disproportionate. One can see that consumers of 35 years old and above were by far the most active with at least 64% engagement, while the combined percentage of younger population groups equated slightly over 30% of the total number of respondents (Crimson Hexagon, n.d.).
Dissimilarities in age-defined social media behaviors may be a reason for such a disproportionate representation. Considering that different generations may have distinct values, the overrepresentation of one age group increases the risks of biasing the analysis findings.
Conclusion
Overall, Crimson Hexagon’s report helps generate a profound insight into consumer behaviors and current airline industry trends. However, it may fail to address some topics relevant to Delta Air Lines consumers. Notably, the company realizes a premium pricing strategy and, thus, it primarily targets a wealthier group of consumers. The reviewed report does not give information regarding such an important socio-demographic variable as the level of income, as well as a possible variance in values held by higher- and lower-income consumers.
To explore the interest and preferences of customers within the premium segment specifically, Delta may administer secondary research along with direct customer surveying. The latter method will allow obtaining a more precise answer although data processing, in this case, may require a longer time.
Crimson Hexagon. (n.d.). Who owns the sky on social? Analyzing the social media conversation around America’s five major airlines. Web.
Hamilton, R. (2016). Consumer-based strategy: Using multiple methods to generate consumer insights that inform strategy. Journal- Academy of Marketing Science, 44(3), 281-285.
Before determining if the product or service fits within the company’s capabilities, it will be vital to conduct a SWOT analysis. As a company’s strength, one should highlight its loyalty to customer service. This factor allowed the company to build a loyal customer fundament (Writer, 2022). However, as weaknesses, it is essential to stress the high operating cost of the industry in which Delta Airlines works. In the sphere of Airlines, many regulations determine aspects of the company’s actions and require increased operating costs to follow specific standards (Writer, 2022). As opportunities, Delta Airlines can collaborate with a significant amount of small and diverse suppliers who can provide unique and rare products (Writer, 2022). In addition, the threats of Delta Airlines assume some difficulties in terms of Its possible mismatch to new ecology standards in the context of global warming and climate change.
Considering all the above-mentioned SWOT analysis features, it is crucial to understand that the new amenity kits cover all of them. First, it will highlight the excellent quality of customer service. Second, it will reduce costs for amenity kits because of the collaboration with a small supplier (Writer, 2022). Third, the company will get a unique and rare product. Fourth, this product will align with new standards in ecology. Therefore, the new amenity kits fit the company’s capabilities and add to the portfolio of Delta Airlines by increasing the company’s reputation and creating a more sustainable base of customer loyalty.
Identification of the Target Segment
As target customers of the new amenity kits, one can stress that it could be all passengers of Delta Airlines. This conclusion was made by understanding the high-level education of passengers who use this airline, especially business and first class. Therefore, this category of customers will understand the importance of the new ecological amenity kits and how a company cares about the environment. These new ecology-standard amenity kits will create a new market segment patented by Delta Airlines in accordance with the blue ocean strategy (Delta). At the base of this strategy and the new market will be customers’ values which the company will comply with. The new market can be identified as a segment of sustainable products in Airlines. Moreover, the advantage of this strategy can be further increased in the implementation tendency of other ecology-friendly features and goods.
Speculation on Sales
To justify the product, it will be essential to consider a return on investment (ROI). As mentioned above, the project’s cost will not be high because of the collaboration with a small and diverse supplier, Someone Somewhere. The estimated cost of the project is &&&. According to the Delta Airlines Income Statement, the income profit of the company by the end of 2022 is 1,318 million US $, which tends to increase (Delta). Therefore, by calculation of these data, one can state that the ROI of the project will be &&&. The positiveness of the ROI identifies the projected revenue gain. As risks associated with projected sales, one should highlight the possibility of a lack of manufacturing power of Someone Somewhere company to meet the needs of all customers.
Speculation of Profitability
To project how the company’s profitability will be affected after the implication of the new amenity kits, it is vital to consider some points in Delta Airlines’s income report. It is essential to pay attention to changes such as net income, $1,318, cost of goods sold, $33,416, and revenue, $50,582 (Delta). These indicators, which are for 2022, are multiple higher compared with 2021, in which these indicators were $280. $22,495, and $29,899 accordingly (Delta). This factor means that the post-pandemic period begins, and consequently, the airline’s income will tend to increase and be profitable (Delta). As a potential competitor in the marketplace, one can consider Virgin Atlantic. As Rosen (2019) states, “dubbed “Goodie Bags,” the new Upper Class and premium-economy kits are constructed from recycled kraft paper…” (p. 1). The project will have an impact specifically on the marketing company’s functional area. It will be due to the need to explain to customers the features and benefits of new amenity kits.