The Performance of European Full Service Airlines after Liberalisation: An Econometric Analysis

Deregulation in the airline industry has forced full service airlines to change their strategies in order to respond to increasing challenges. In this paper, an econometric analysis of the possible determinants of economic performance of full service airlines after liberalization has been carried out. A fixed effects model was used and the performance of ten European full service airlines has been analyzed over a period of 11 years. Variables considered in this analysis were the number and type of aircraft in the fleet, the number and type of destinations, investments, number of employees and alliances. The analysis suggests that full service airlines should adjust fleet composition and re-organize operations on their routes in order to react to the increasingly competitive environment

Configurable DC current leads, with Peltier elements

There is interest in decreasing the thermal load to the cryogenic environment from the current leads. The cryogenic load is challenging both at the design current, as well as at part load operation, when the current is reduced or zero. In this paper we explore the combination of a Peltier elements and a novel concept of configurable current lead. The use of Peltier element reduces the cryogenic load by about 25%. The configurable concept is based on the use of multiple heat exchangers that allows the optimization of current leads when operating at various currents. When used together, Peltier/configurable current lead allows the reduction of the cryogenic load by a factor of 4 in low current/idle conditions. We also explore the transient operation of the current leads, as well as overload capacity.

Coolant topology options for high temperature superconducting transmission and distribution systems

This paper investigates coolant topologies for High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) transmission and distribution cable systems. We explore options that allow for flexibility of operation, low temperature rise in the superconductor and low refrigerator power consumption. Topologies for cooling the cryostat and HTS in long-distance electric power transmission systems are explored. For transmission, the goal is to achieve long spans between cooling stations along the transmission line, and low power consumption. For HTS distribution systems, the issue is cooling the superconductor and the current leads and the goals are to minimize the power consumption and to prevent excessive heating of the superconductor. Means are explored to cool distribution systems where cryogenic loads are dominated by current lead loss. Use of multiple fluids or multiple coolant circuits of the same fluid to decrease the energy ingress in the low temperature environment is described. Potential alternative coolants are proposed. We show that it is possible to reduce electrical consumption by about a factor of 2, while also decreasing the temperature rise of the superconductor