Relationship of Covid-19 Pandemic on Performance and Internal Operation of The Airline

Abstract. Air transport business is challenged to oversee their performance and operations to preserve their business presence within the COVID-19 widespread. It is fundamental to distinguish the suitable performance and operation and their relationship with the pandemic. In this way, we used the indicators to employ a systematic literature review and experts’ point of view to select and group suitable indicators to address the literature gap. Twenty performance and internal operations indicators are identified and redefined from the review. The Delphi method’s result suggests eight indicators categorized in airline performance indicators and seven indicators categorized in internal operation indicators. We investigate the relationship of COVID-19 pandemic on the selected indicators using SmartPLS based on fifty-two weeks performance, and operation report of one of full-service airline started from 08 March 2020 until 28 February 2021. It can be deduced that the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant and negative influence on the airline’s performance. This study fills the gap by synthesizing and creating suitable and comprehensive performance and operation indicators of air transport carriers in a pandemic situation and their relationships. Finally, this study provides an invaluable point for analyzing the air transport carrier industries in a pandemic to maximize performance through profitability and load factors indicators.Keywords:  Airline, Pandemic, Performance, Operatio

Weighted Time-Band Approximation Model for Flight Operations Recovery considering Simplex Group Cycle Approaches in China

The time-band approximation model for flight operations recovery following disruption (Bard, Yu, Arguello, IIE Transactions, 33, 931–947, 2001) is constructed by partitioning the recovery period into time bands and by approximating the delay costs associated with the possible flight connections. However, for disruptions occurring in a hub-and-spoke network, a large number of possible flight connections are constructed throughout the entire flight schedule, so as to obtain the approximate optimal. In this paper, we show the application of the simplex group cycle approach to hub-and-spoke airlines in China, along with the related weighted threshold necessary for controlling the computation time and the flight disruption scope and depth. Subsequently, we present the weighted time-band approximation model for flight operations recovery, which incorporates the simplex group cycle approach. Simple numerical experiments using actual data from Air China show that the weighted time-band approximation model is feasible, and the results of stochastic experiments using actual data from Sichuan Airlines show that the flight disruption and computation time are controlled by the airline operations control center, which aims to achieve a balance between the flight disruption scope and depth, computation time, and recovery value

Airline disruption management: dynamic aircraft scheduling with ant colony optimization

Disruption management is one of the main concerns of any airline company, as it can influence its annualrevenue by upwards of 3%. Most of medium to large airlines have specialized teams which focus onrecovering disrupted schedules with very little automation. This paper presents a new automated approachto solve both the Aircraft Assignment Problem (AAP) and the Aircraft Recovering Problem (ARP), wherethe solutions are responsive to unforeseen events. The developed algorithm, based on Ant ColonyOptimization, aims to minimize the operational costs involved and is designed to schedule and rescheduleflights dynamically by using a sliding window. Test results tend to indicate that this approach is feasible,both in terms of time and quality of the proposed solutions

Disruption Management - Impact assessment on the Operational Processes

Aquesta tesi vol identificar que és una alteració en les operacions de vol d'una companyia aèria i perquè la seva implementació és fonamental. S'han analitzat els processos més importants, ja que, gràcies a ells, indiferentment de la magnitud de la situació, l'aerolínia pot recuperar l'estabilitat en les operacions. Tenint en compte dues situacions de magnitud diferent, es vol cercar les opinions d'experts, en referència als processos operacionals i a les alteracions en la programació, per poder concloure així, si aplicant sempre els mateixos processos, indiferentment de la magnitud del esdeveniment, es pot aconseguir una estabilitat exitosa a la programacióEsta tesis pretende identificar qué es una alteración en las operaciones de vuelo de una compañía aérea y porque su implementación es primordial. Se han analizado los procedimientos más importantes, puesto que gracias a ellos, indiferentemente de la magnitud de un incidente, la aerolínea puede recuperar su estabilidad en la programación. Teniendo en cuenta dos situaciones de distinta magnitud, se ha querido averiguar las opiniones de diferentes expertos, tanto en procesos operacionales como en alteraciones en la programación. Para poder concluir así, si siempre aplicando los mismos procesos, indistintamente de la magnitud de la perturbación, se consigue un resultado exitoso.The aim of this thesis is to identify and understand what disruption management is and why in-place implementation strategies are important for airline operations. This is achieved by analysing the most important processes to ensure a successful operational recovery regardless of the scale of the scenario in place. Taking into consideration two different scale scenarios, the author inquires to a panel of experts their point of view about operational processes and disruption management, to be able to determine if the accuracy of those will make the disruption management process successful for the airline, regardless the dimension of it

Airport management strategies in recovery the air flight disruption: the case in the Lisbon Humberto Delgado airport

Airport disruption is a common situation and is expected to happen from time to time which can result from external and internal situations/factor. This dissertation aims to analyze the perception of passengers regarding disruption situations in the Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport and to propose strategies and actions undertaken by the airport and the airline companies to improve the passenger experience and customer/passenger satisfaction. If disruption is foreseen to happen, in certain situations/factors, it can be predicted and planned/corrected in advance to diminish its effects. Also, when a disruption situation arises, the management process that is developed to provide a high level of satisfaction for the passengers is quite complex and challenging for the airport operator. Even so, the airport operator only has partial control of all the processes that make up the final offered service or product. The main research questions guiding this study are: aren’t passengers expecting from the airport management mechanisms to prevent this kind of situations? How can the airport improve passengers experience and offer customer value at the same time in a situation of disruption? A combined qualitative (personal deep interview with the Lisbon Airport Deputy Director and the Lisbon Hub Manager from the Portuguese flag company – TAP) and quantitative methodology (survey addressed to the passengers that used the Airport LHD in the summer of 2018, where 471 questionnaires were accepted). By analysing the obtained results, it was possible to demonstrate that the causes of disruption affect the level of satisfaction of the passengers as well as the actions taken by the airport and the airline. The level of information (high or low) that the passengers receive causes their level of satisfaction or unsatisfaction to increase or decrease with the operators.A disrupção nos aeroportos é uma situação comum e expectável de tempos a tempos, tanto pode resultar de situações/factores internos e externos. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a percepção dos passageiros sobre situações de disrupção no Aeroporto de Lisboa Humberto Delgado e propor estratégias e acções empreendidas pelo Aeroporto e pelas companhias aéreas para melhorar a experiência do passageiro e a satisfação do cliente/passageiro. Se houver previsão que venha a ocorrer uma situação de disrupção, em determinadas situações/factores, esta pode ser prevista e planeada/corrigida com antecedência de modo a diminuir os seus efeitos. Além disso, quando surge uma situação de disrupção, o processo de gestão desenvolvido para proporcionar um elevado nível de satisfação aos passageiros é bastante complexo e desafiante para o gestor do aeroporto. Mesmo assim, o gestor do aeroporto tem controlo parcial de todos os processos que compõem o serviço ou produto final oferecido. As principais questões de pesquisa que guiaram este estudo foram: será que os passageiros não esperam mecanismos de gestão por parte do aeroporto para gerir este tipo de situações? Como pode o Aeroporto melhorar a experiência dos passageiros e ao mesmo tempo oferecer valor ao cliente numa situação de disrupção? Uma metodologia qualitativa (entrevista presencial com o director do Aeroporto de Lisboa e o director do Hub de Lisboa da companhia de bandeira Portuguesa – TAP) e quantitativa combinada (questionário dirigido a passageiros que utilizaram o Aeroporto LHD no verão de 2018, em que 471 questionários foram validados). Pela análise dos resultados obtidos, foi possível demonstrar que as causas de disrupção afectam o nível de satisfação dos passageiros assim como as acções tomadas pelo aeroporto e pela companhia aérea. O nível de informação (alta ou baixa) que os passageiros recebem faz com que a sua satisfação ou insatisfação aumente ou diminua com os operadores

A new approach for disruption management in airline operations control

As a sequel of a recent Ph.D. thesis at the University of Porto and LIACC research lab, a new book appeared at Springer, Series: Studies inComputational Intelligence, Vol. 562, 2014, XII, 242 p., entitledA New Approach for Disruption Management in Airline Operations Controlby Antonio J. M. Castro, Ana Paula Rocha, and Eugénio Oliveira.The relevance of this book is mainly to show how the multi-agent system paradigm can be used to solve a very relevant real life real size problem.The book introduces a new concept for disruption management in current Airline Operations Control Centers, taking into account their organization, tools, problems, methods and costs.Most of the research efforts dealing with airline scheduling have been done through off-line plan optimization methods. However, nowadays, with the increasingly complex and huge traffic at air ports, the real challenge is how to react to unexpected events that may cause plan disruptions,leading to flight delays.Moreover these disruptive events usually affect at least three different dimensions of the situation: the aircraft assigned to the flight, the crewassignment and, often forgotten, the passengers' journey and satisfaction

A New Approach for Disruption Management in Airline Operations Control

XXIV, 244 p. 39 illus., 7 illus. in color.online