First, free flight can be defined as “a concept for safe and efficient flight operating capability under IFR in which pilots have the freedom to select their own path and speed in real time” (Wells and Young, p.168). Free flight takes away control from the air traffic control center and allows the pilots to determine for themselves what path and rate of speed is best for their flight. The development of this process would include the transition from air traffic control into air traffic management. The development of air traffic management would included many concepts that differ from air traffic control such as “the increased extent of collaboration between users and air traffic managers, greater flexibility for users to make decisions to meet their unique operational goals, and the replacement of broad restrictions with user-determined limits and targeted restrictions only when required” (Wells and Young, p. 168). Free flight will also “shift more responsibility for flight path decisions to the pilot in command, with the ultimate goal of providing pilots with more flexibility to fly from city-to-city on user-preferred routes, instead of being restricted to fixed route” (Report, 2002, par. 6). Although pilots would have some flexibility in choosing their flight path, congestion on landing, blackouts and computer failures would still dictate an ATC being on duty at all times.
Developments in technology fully support the concept of free flights being implemented and are advancements that I support, but not without some serious reservations. With the news lately being inundated with reports of air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job or away from their control center, pilots do need to have more control over their destiny. In a perfect world the two concepts would work hand in hand to simplify overworked ATC towers and allow a cohesive bond between the pilots and the ATC centers. There should be a reasonable time frame in which this concept is fully tested and exposed to ATC managers in direct comparison with fixed routes long before it is fully converted. When an ATC employee is under trained, under paid and over worked errors tend to increase, the same applies to pilots. While technology can only go so far in some industries, I feel that this technology does help to increase security in the aviation field. With that said, safety is the main issue. What is going to keep the passengers, crew and people on the ground the safest?
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) owes its creation to many significant events in aviation history. One of them includes the creation of the Air Mail Act of 1925, which spearheaded the creation of commercial airlines that worked for a profit. (FAA, 2011) This act leads to rapid growth in the development of aircraft and of air traffic. The increasing volume of air traffic, lead to the early development of air traffic control, which was based on visual signals. (FAA, 2011)
...ne of training to a qualified airline pilot is $70,000. This would take a colossal sum of money directly out of the airline’s profits. Nevertheless, one’s safety surpasses the economical expenses. Travelers should not compromise the safety and integrity of flight for lower fares. If the airlines and flight departments of America had better standards for flight crew scheduling, they could have saved over
This paper evaluates the key financial challenges facing organizations in Risk Management, Managing International Acquisitions, and Managing Working Capital simulations. Secondly, an evaluation of Southwest Airlines (SWA) management of working capital and the optimal financial strategies employed is presented. Also evaluated are the potential improvements in financial performance along with long-term and short-term strategies. Lastly, considered in this paper is whether a merger or acquisition would affect SWA’s employed strategic outlook.
Spirit Airlines has long been considered an unorthodox airline. They, of course, address all four P’s in their marketing strategy; however, they focus a large amount of their effort on price and promotion. They focus on cutting price through “unbundling”. They focus on promotion through taking advantage of social issues and breaking news. Many advertisements and deals promoted by Spirit have given the public a definite shock-factor. Spirit has made two objectives very clear: they are furious at getting the customer the lowest fare possible by any means necessary, and they will similarly use any means necessary to get those potential customers to notice those fares. Such a blatant marketing strategy works. Even going up against some big competition, Spirit finds ways to be competitive and successful in flagrant fashion.
3. Fortunately, there are several opportunities in the airline industry of which companies will be able to take advantage. First, the airline industry is reviving and passenger levels are now returning to pre-9/11 status. Companies can offer high degrees of service and reduce costs through the use of the Internet, such as online ticket sales, flight seating charts, and plane infor...
Southwest Airlines strategy of focusing on short haul passenger and providing rates as low as one third of their competitors, they have seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Market share for top city pairs on Southwest's schedule has reached 80% to 85%. Maintaining the largest fleet of 737's in the world and utilizing point-to-point versus the hub-and-spoke method of connection philosophy allowed Southwest to provide their service to more people at a lower cost. By putting the employee first, Southwest has found the key to success in the airline business. A happy worker is a more productive one as well as a better service provider. Southwest will continue to reserve their growth in the future by entering select markets only after careful market research.
JetBlue Airways entered the market in 2000 from a position of financial strength, leadership capability and several rare advantage points uncommon to others in the industry: 1) David Neeleman, the founder, had several years of industry experience as a result of having successfully launched and sold an airline (Morris Air), bringing both explicit and tacit knowledge into the his new venture; 2) Neeleman was afforded the opportunity to work directly with his idol, Herb Kelleher, at Southwest Airlines (the king of the low-cost leaders) after Southwest purchased Morris Air from Neeleman; and 3) Substantial financial support from venture capitalists who had funded Neeleman's previous ventures and were more than willing to support and capitalize on his idea for a new low-cost passenger airline.
EasyJet EasyJet has become the European leader in a no frills frenzy for low cost, cheap air travel. This market however has since the mid nineties gone from strength to strength and we have witnessed the arrival of a number of low cost airline companies which cater for the no frills approach. In Europe the top two competitors in this market are EasyJet and Ryan Air which serve their customers from London Luton and Dublin respectively. They offer a differentiated product compared with the major traditional airlines and the key to their success has been to offer the lowest cost/fare structure possible and the differentiated “no frills” product is purely a consequence of the implementation of this rigorous low cost strategy.
Through taking this class, I have learned that moral life can be divided into two main areas, which are who we are as persons and our actions. In class, we watched the movie “Flight” with Denzel Washington in order to show us the true complexity of humans and their behavior as they try to lead a moral life. The movie follows the life of the main character, William “Whip” Whitaker, through many life-altering decisions and we watch him try to learn and understand how to cope with the consequences of those decisions. Through the entire movie, Whip is constantly trying to figure out who he is as a person, which I feel is why he made so many poor decisions in his life. At first, he seems to be a typical alcoholic and drug addict, but as the movie unfolded, so did his character. In my opinion, he is an extremely complicated and complex character, which is why it is so hard to understand his actions in the movie. Whip was majorly influenced by his past, which is why he allowed his drinking and drug problem to consume his life. He was influenced not only by his past, but also by the people whom he surrounded himself with. Overall, I feel that Whip’s confusion regarding who he is as a person finds expression in his actions, but in the end he proves that he is more complex than the sum of his behavior and redirects his life.
The 1930’s is considered the Golden Age of Flight due to the rapid advances in technology regarding the introduction of flight in World War I and an increase of mass production ability. As the first commercial flights began during the beginning of the decade, approximately only 6,000 passengers boarded a plane. By 1934, there were about 450,000 and in 1938 there were bout 1.2 million passengers (Air Transport). Improvements in air travel during the 1930’s made traveling for both leisure and vacation easier and faster, yet it remained a luxury mainly for the wealthy, politicians and celebrities.
In 1978, deregulation removed government control over fares and domestic routes. A slew of new entrants entered the market, but within 10 years, all but one airline (America West), had failed and ceased to exist. With long-term growth estimates of 4 percent for air travel, it's attractive for new firms to service the demand. It was as simple as having enough capital to lease a plane and passengers willing to pay for a seat on the plane. In recent news, the story about an 18-yr British...
The main opportunities that the scheduled air transportation will have in the next five years are the possible decrease of TSA agents at airports, technology increasing the safety and comfort of the flights for the passengers and ...
In 1958, the United States government created the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) because of increasing safety concerns due to aviation accidents. However, they were not the first government organization that regulated air transportation. Even in 1958, the FAA shared certain responsibilities with other organizations. The responsibilities of the FAA at the time were limited when compared to their functions today, but it was an important step to effectively create a safe air transportation environment. To truly understand why the FAA was created, one must first understand the government’s role within the country’s transportation system.
The basic concept of crew resource management (CRM) is to train crewmembers to use all available personnel, equipment, and experience to safely and effectively operate an aircraft. It is used in nearly every facet of aviation from the smallest regional airline, to the largest major carrier, to the various crew operated military aircraft. One aspect of aviation missing from the fold is the general aviation (GA) community, such as the private pilot. This has become a growing concern as many future air carrier pilots and military pilots begin as private pilots. The need for CRM training in this area is there, but the training seems excessive and useless to many in the field as most of these pilots operate single pilot aircraft. Perhaps this attitude comes from the term "crew" and is dismissed by the ...
A major opportunity for AirTran to drastically increase income would be to decrease their operating cost per available seat mile (ASM).