Liberalization of China-US air transport market: assessing the impacts of the 2004 and 2007 protocols

This paper examines China's considerations in reaching the 2004 and 2007 Air Service Agreement Protocols with the United States (US) and the impacts of such policy on the China–US market from the perspective of China. Analysis shows that the 2004 and 2007 protocols have profound impacts on the China–US market. The two protocols have been associated with phenomenal traffic growth and intensified competition. Passengers also benefit from much more choice in terms of both airlines and routing. Over time, Chinese carriers' operating performance and financial performance have gradually improved after the liberalization expressed in the protocols. However, the industry's hub-building initiatives are still seriously challenged by competing hubs in Seoul and Tokyo which have diverted substantial number of passengers moving between the China and US markets. Such issues have to be addressed in order to create a win–win outcome for both countries

Up in the Air Without a Ticket: Interpretation and Revision of the Warsaw Convention

This Note will examine the validity of the Convention\u27s objective contract approach to defining international transportation. Although the Convention\u27s requirements will be discussed separately, the focus will be upon the regulated contract and the relationship between article 1 and article 3 of the Convention. The need for revising the Convention will be discussed and a proposal for a new definition of international transportation will be made

Measurement of performance using acceleration control and pulse control in simulated spacecraft docking operations

Nine commercial airline pilots served as test subjects in a study to compare acceleration control with pulse control in simulated spacecraft maneuvers. Simulated remote dockings of an orbital maneuvering vehicle (OMV) to a space station were initiated from 50, 100, and 150 meters along the station's -V-bar (minus velocity vector). All unsuccessful missions were reflown. Five way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) with one between factor, first mode, and four within factors (mode, bloch, range, and trial) were performed on the data. Recorded performance measures included mission duration and fuel consumption along each of the three coordinate axes. Mission duration was lower with pulse mode, while delta V (fuel consumption) was lower with acceleration mode. Subjects used more fuel to travel faster with pulse mode than with acceleration mode. Mission duration, delta V, X delta V, Y delta V., and Z delta V all increased with range. Subjects commanded the OMV to 'fly' at faster rates from further distances. These higher average velocities were paid for with increased fuel consumption. Asymmetrical transfer was found in that the mode transitions could not be predicted solely from the mission duration main effect. More testing is advised to understand the manual control aspects of spaceflight maneuvers better

Preparing Commercial Space For Safety Management System Implementation

In 2014 The commercial space company, Scaled Composites, suffered a catastrophic event during a test flight, killing one astronaut. Several recommendations for the Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Commercial Space Transportation emerged from the National Transportation Safety Board. One recommendation was the introduction of a safety management system (SMS) as a safety protocol and became the genesis of this research project. This study has two purposes. The first purpose is to investigate whether the attributes of safety management system theory (SMST) exist in commercial space organizations. The second purpose is to explore the characteristics of high reliability theory (HRT) to determine whether they occur in SMS organizations in the airline industry. The attributes of HRT exist in some high-risk organizations. An exploratory, sequential, mixed-method study was performed using grounded theory and the Delphi methodology. A survey, the Organizational Safety Attribute Awareness Survey, was developed, combining the SMS theory-based survey with the HRT questions used in this study. Two demographic questions were used to determine whether one’s role in the organization or the length of time in the industry impacted perceptions of SMS and HRT attributes. Structural modeling produced an acceptable SMS survey model. Independent t-test results between commercial space and airline participants show promising acceptance levels for three of the four SMST elements. Results showed that participants from the commercial space organization had higher mean values for the attributes of SMST. Further, results suggested similar outcomes with the characteristics of HRT in participants from the airline industry. The practical implications of this research are twofold. First, understanding the degree of organizational members’ awareness of SMS attributes will allow for the focused implementation of the program with resources targeted to areas that require more attention. Second, by highlighting the recognition of HRT in an SMS environment, current safety awareness may be enhanced and include additional safety tools aimed at increasing overall organizational safety

WP RR 17 - Industrial relations in the transport sector in the Netherlands

This research report constitutes the Dutch contribution to the international research project 'Industrial relations in the transportation industry: a European observatory', funded by the Italian employers' association Federetti. This research project was aimed at exploring current practices in industrial relations in the transport sector, with special emphasis on the aviation sector, air traffic management and the road transport sector. Federetti, an Italian employers' association active in the transport sector, commissioned this research project as it believed that benchmarking in industrial relations may represent an added value for its member firms. The project was co-ordinated by two Italian professors, Tiziano Treu and Marco Biagi. Cooperation of Aaron Johnston (student assistant) and Jelle Visser (scientific director of AIAS) is gratefully acknowledged. We express our gratitude to the persons in aviation and road haulage who have been so kind to share some of their scarce time allowing us to interview them by telephone or in direct conversations.