The Role of Freighter Aircraft in a Full-Service Network Airline Air Freight Services: The Case of Qantas Freight

The dedicated all-cargo aircraft market is vital to the global economy. Freighter aircraft now carry around 56 per cent of world air cargo traffic. Using an in-depth case study research design, this study examined the Qantas Freight Boeing B747-400 and B767-300 freighter aircraft route network design during the 2017/2018 Northern Winter Flight schedule period, which was in effect from the 29th October 2017 to March 24th, 2018. The qualitative data were examined by document analysis. The study found that Qantas Freight deploy their leased B747-400 freighter aircraft on a route network that originates in Sydney and incorporates key markets in Thailand and China with major markets in the United States. The Boeing B767-300 freighter aircraft operated 5 services per week on a Sydney/Auckland/Christchurch/Sydney routing as a well as a weekly Sydney/Hong Kong/Sydney service. The Boeing B747-400 freighter services could generate 114,755,020 available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs) over the schedule period. The Boeing B767-300 freighter aircraft could generate 46,974,1440 AFTKs. The Qantas Freight route network and freighter fleet is underpinned by Australia’s liberalized freighter aircraft policy, the “Open Skies” agreement between Australia and China – which permits the onward carriage of cargo traffic across the trans-Pacific – and the liberalized “open skies” agreement with New Zealand

Utilizing advanced modelling approaches for forecasting air travel demand: a case study of Australia’s domestic low cost carriers

One of the most pervasive trends in the global airline industry over the past few three decades has been the rapid development of low cost carriers (LCCs). Australia has not been immune to this trend. Following deregulation of Australia’s domestic air travel market in the 1990s, a number of LCCs have entered the market, and these carriers have now captured around 31 per cent of the market. Australia’s LCCs require reliable and accurate passenger demand forecasts as part of their fleet, network, and commercial planning and for scaling investments in fleet and their associated infrastructure. Historically, the multiple linear regression (MLR) approach has been the most popular and recommended method for forecasting airline passenger demand. In more recent times, however, new advanced artificial intelligence-based forecasting approaches – artificial neural networks (ANNs), genetic algorithm (GA), and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) - have been applied in a broad range of disciplines. In light of the critical importance of passenger demand forecasts for airline management, as well as the recent developments in artificial intelligence-based forecasting methods, the key aim of this thesis was to specify and empirically examine three artificial intelligence-based approaches (ANNs, GA and ANFIS) as well as the MLR approach, in order to identify the optimum model for forecasting Australia’s domestic LCCs demand. This is the first time that such models – enplaned passengers (PAX) and revenue passenger kilometres performed (RPKs) – have been proposed and tested for forecasting Australia’s domestic LCCs demand. The results show that of the four modeling approaches used in this study that the new, and novel, ANFIS approach provides the most accurate, reliable, and highest predictive capability for forecasting Australia’s LCCs demand. A second aim of the thesis was to explore the principal determinants of Australia’s domestic LCCs demand in order to achieve a greater understanding of the factors which influence air travel demand. The results show that the primary determinants of Australia’s domestic LCCs demand are real best discount airfare, population, real GDP, real GDP per capita, unemployment, world jet fuel prices, real interest rates, and tourism attractiveness. Interestingly three determinants, unemployment, tourism attractiveness, and real interest rates, which have not been empirically examined in any previously reported study of Australia’s domestic LCCs demand, proved to be important predictor variables of Australia’s domestic LCCs demand. The thesis also found that Australia’s LCCs have increasingly embraced a hybrid business model over the past decade. This strategy is similar to LCCs based in other parts of the world. The core outcome of this research, the fact that modelling based on artificial intelligence approaches is far more effective than the traditional models prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), means that future work is essential to validate this. From an academic perspective, the modelling presented in this study offers considerable promise for future air travel demand forecasting. The results of this thesis provide new insights into LCCs passenger demand forecasting methods and can assist LCCs executives, airports, aviation consultants, and government agencies with a variety of future planning considerations

A forecasting Tool for Predicting Australia\u27s Domestic Airline Passenger Demand Using a Genetic Algorithm

This study has proposed and empirically tested for the first time genetic algorithm optimization models for modelling Australia’s domestic airline passenger demand, as measured by enplaned passengers (GAPAXDE model) and revenue passenger kilometres performed (GARPKSDE model). Data was divided into training and testing datasets; 74 training datasets were used to estimate the weighting factors of the genetic algorithm models and 13 out-of-sample datasets were used for testing the robustness of the genetic algorithm models. The genetic algorithm parameters used in this study comprised population size (n): 200; the generation number: 1,000; and mutation rate: 0.01. The modelling results have shown that both the quadratic GAPAXDE and GARPKSDE models are more accurate, reliable, and have greater predictive capability as compared to the linear models. The mean absolute percentage error in the out of sample testing dataset for the GAPAXDE and GARPKSDE quadratic models are 2.55 and 2.23%, respectively

Phenytoin Serum Concentrations and Related Determinants of Pharmacotherapeutic Efficacy in Traumatic Brain Injury

บทคัดย่อ วัตถุประสงค์: เฟนิโตอินเป็นยากันชักที่มีประสิทธิภาพในการลดความเสี่ยงของการเกิดอาการชักหลังสมองบาดเจ็บในระยะแรก การศึกษาวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาระดับยาของเฟนิโตอินและปัจจัยที่สัมพันธ์กับระดับยาเฟนิโตอินในการควบคุมอาการชักของผู้ป่วยที่มีการบาดเจ็บที่สมอง วิธีการศึกษา: รวบรวมข้อมูลผู้ป่วยที่มีการบาดเจ็บของสมองที่โรงพยาบาลสรรพสิทธิประสงค์ ประเทศไทยในช่วงเดือนพฤษภาคม 2555 – มกราคม 2556 จำนวน 122 คน วัดระดับยาเฟนิโตอินในช่วงวันที่ 3-7 ของการได้รับยาเฟนิโตอิน โดยผู้ป่วยได้รับยาเฟนิโตอิน 2 รูปแบบคือ 100 มก. ทุก 8 ชั่วโมง หรือ 300 มก. ทุก 24 ชั่วโมง โดยอาจได้รับยาขนาดเพิ่มหรือไม่ได้รับ เภสัชกรบันทึกข้อมูลของผู้ป่วยได้แก่ อายุ เพศ น้ำหนัก ส่วนสูง ประวัติความเจ็บป่วย ประวัติการใช้ยา การวินิจฉัย แบบแผนการใช้ยา ประวัติทางสังคม (การสูบุหรี่และการดื่มแอลกอฮอล์) การตรวจทางห้องปฏิบัติการ (ระดับแอลบูมินในเลือด ระดับครีเอตินีนในเลือด AST, ALT, BUN) ในแบบบันทึกข้อมูล วิเคราะห์ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างระดับยาในเลือดกับปัจจัยที่อาจมีผลต่อระดับยาในเลือดด้วยสถิติไค-สแควร์ ผลการศึกษา: ในผู้ป่วย 122 ราย มี 64 รายที่ระดับยาเฟนิโตอินรวมต่ำกว่าระดับการรักษา  (ร้อยละ 52.5) และ 52 รายอยู่ในช่วงการรักษา (ร้อยละ 42.9) และ 6 รายมีระดับเป็นพิษ (ร้อยละ 4.9) ทั้งนี้ ผู้ป่วย 11 ราย (ร้อยละ 9.0) ไม่สามารถควบคุมอาการอาการชักในช่วง 7 วันแรกของการรักษาได้ ในจำนวนนี้มีผู้ป่วยที่มีระดับยาต่ำกว่าระดับการรักษา และในระดับรักษาอย่างละ 5 ราย (ร้อยละ 45.5) และมีผู้ป่วย 1 ราย (ร้อยละ 9.1) ที่มีระดับเป็นพิษ ภาวะไข้มีความสัมพันธ์กับระดับยาในเลือดอย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติ (P = 0.001) ส่วนระดับแอลบูมินในเลือดและความรุนแรงของการบาดเจ็บที่สมองไม่พบความสัมพันธ์ (P > 0.05) สรุป: ผู้ป่วยมากกว่าร้อยละ 50 ที่ได้รับยาเฟนิโตอินในการป้องกันอาการชักมีระดับยาในเลือดต่ำกว่าระดับการรักษา การปรับขนาดยาเพื่อให้ได้ระดับยาในเลือดอย่างเหมาะสมจะมีประสิทธิภาพในการควบคุมอาการชัก และไข้สัมพันธ์กับระดับยาเฟนิโตอินในเลือด คำสำคัญ: เฟนิโตอิน การบาดเจ็บที่สมอง อาการชักหลังบาดเจ็บที่สมอง     Abstract Objectives: Phenytoin is an effective drug used for decreasing the risk of early post-traumatic seizures in patients with traumatic brain injury. This study investigated phenytoin serum concentrations and select factors related to seizure control in patients with traumatic brain injury. Methods: Data of 122 patients with traumatic brain injury were collected from Sumprasithiprasong Hospital, Thailand between May 2012 and January 2013. Phenytoin serum concentrations were collected on day 3 - 7 after starting phenytoin. Two regimens of phenytoin were employed; 100 mg q 8 hr or 300 mg q 24 hr with or without a loading dose. The data of patients such as age, gender, weight, height, illness history, medical history, diagnosis, dosage regimen, social history (smoking and alcohol drinking), blood chemistry laboratory (serum albumin, serum creatinine, AST, ALT, BUN) were  recorded by a research pharmacist in the data collection form. Chi-square test was used to test the association between phenytoin concentration levels and select factors. Results: Of the 122 patients, total phenytoin concentrations were in sub-therapeutic range in 64 patients (52.5%), therapeutic range for 52 patients (42.6%) and toxic range in six patients (4.9%). Eleven patients (9.0%) failed to achieve control of seizures during the first 7 days. Of these 11 patients, 5 of them (45.5%) had phenytoin concentrations in sub-therapeutic level, while another 5 (45.5%) were in therapeutic range, and one patient (9.1%) was in toxic level. Fever was correlated with phenytoin concentration (P = 0.001); while hypoalbuminemia and severity of brain injury were not (P > 0.05). Conclusion: More than half of the patients receiving phenytoin prophylactically had phenytoin sub-therapeutic level.  Phenytoin dosage should be adjusted appropriately to effectively control seizures. Fever was associated with phenytoin level. Keywords: phenytoin, traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic seizur

Adolescents’ Reproductive Health Status In Urban Slums In The Khon Kaen Municipality, Thailand

This descriptive study aimed to explain the reproductive health of urban slum adolescents in the Khon Kaen Municipality area of Khon Kaen, Thailand. A self-reported questionnaire that took about 20 minutes to complete was used for data collection. Multi-stage simple random sampling was adopted in the selection of five target communities to recruit 277 male and female adolescents aged 10–19 years in accordance with the proportion of male and female adolescents in the area. Frequencies, percentages, standard deviations, and means were used for the data analysis. The female and male participants had an average age of 14.62 ± 2.66 years and 14.58 ± 2.84 years, respectively. The average menarcheal age was 12.96 ± 1.58 years, while the age at which the first wet dream was experienced for boys was 14.12 ± 1.44 years. Most of the participants were in elementary school, while 5.7% of female and 2.4% of male adolescents did not attend school. Most girls and boys knew about contraceptive pills and condoms, but not other birth control methods. Contraceptive pills were used by 26.4% of female adolescents and condoms were used by 39.8% of male adolescents. However, it was reported that less than 10% of males and females regularly used condoms. The lowest age of the 36.5% of girls who had had a sexual experience was 10 years, whereas the lowest age of the 40.7% of sexually experienced boys was 11 years. The average age of the group of females who had started to have sexual intercourse was 14.81 ± 1.71 years, and the average age of the group of males who had had sexual intercourse was 15.23 ± 1.32 years. Most of the sample had had intercourse with their girlfriends or boyfriends. It was found that 1.3% of the girls and 1.8% of the boys were prostitutes and that 10.9% of the boys had visited brothels. Twenty-two percent of the girls admitted that they had masturbated, while 41.0% of the males did. About 17.8% of the female adolescents had been pregnant; 50% of those pregnancies ended in abortion and 50% of the females had been pregnant more than once.

The Air Cargo Carrying Potential of The Airbus A350-900XWB and Boeing 787-9 Aircraft on Their Ultra-Long-Haul Flights: A Case Study for Flights from San Francisco to Singapore

"jats:p"The introduction of the Airbus A350-900 (A359) and the Boeing B787-9 (B789) have enabled airlines to operate ultra-long-range services. Using a mixed methods research design, this study has examined the air cargo-carrying potential of Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB (A359) and United Airlines Boeing B787-9 (789) aircraft on their ultra-long-haul San Francisco to Singapore and the Singapore to San Francisco air routes. The qualitative data was analysed using document analysis, and the air cargo payload was modelled by simulation. The air cargo-carrying potential of the two aircraft types was significantly influenced by enroute weather. In the event of eastbound winds, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB air cargo payload was 16.9 tonnes and the United Airlines Boeing 787-9 was 11.5 tonnes, when these flights had a full passenger payload. In the case of westbound winds with a full passenger payload, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB air cargo payload was 13.1 tonnes and the United Airlines Boeing 787-9 was 7.9 tonnes. When there were no winds on the air routes, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB offered 15.0 tonnes and the United Airline Boeing 787-9 offered 9.7 tonnes of air cargo payload, respectively. Document type: Articl

The Strategic Deployment of the Airbus A350-900XWB Aircraft in a Full-Service Network Carrier Route Network: The Case of Singapore Airlines

In the global airline industry, an airline’s fleet routing affects its profitability, level of service and its competitive position. Using a qualitative research approach, this paper examines Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB fleet deployment and route network development for the period 2016 to 2018. The qualitative data was examined using document analysis. The study found that Singapore Airlines has deployed the Airbus A350-900XWB aircraft on new air routes from Singapore to Cape Town via Johannesburg, Düsseldorf and Stockholm via Moscow and return. The Airbus A350-900XWB aircraft are also replacing older, less efficient aircraft as part of the company’s fleet modernization strategy. Singapore Airlines is also acquiring the new ultra-long-range variant of the Airbus A350-900XWB for use on its proposed new non-stop services from Singapore to Los Angeles and Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey, USA. The longest flight stage length is the Singapore to San Francisco route which is 7339 nautical miles (13,594 km) in length. The shortest stage length is between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (160 nautical miles or 297 km). The new non-stop services from Singapore to Los Angeles and New York City will be the longest non-stop services operated by Singapore Airlines. The flight stage lengths between Singapore and Los Angeles and Singapore and Newark Liberty Airport are 7621 nautical miles (14,114 km) and 8285 nautical miles (15,344 km), respectively. The greatest number of available seat kilometers (ASKs) are generated on Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900 XWB service from Singapore to San Francisco (3.57 million ASKs). The smallest number of ASKs produced are on the short-haul service from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (75,141 ASKs)

The Air Cargo Carrying Potential of The Airbus A350-900XWB and Boeing 787-9 Aircraft on Their Ultra-Long-Haul Flights: A Case Study for Flights from San Francisco to Singapore

The introduction of the Airbus A350-900 (A359) and the Boeing B787-9 (B789) have enabled airlines to operate ultra-long-range services. Using a mixed methods research design, this study has examined the air cargo-carrying potential of Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB (A359) and United Airlines Boeing B787-9 (789) aircraft on their ultra-long-haul San Francisco to Singapore and the Singapore to San Francisco air routes. The qualitative data was analysed using document analysis, and the air cargo payload was modelled by simulation. The air cargo-carrying potential of the two aircraft types was significantly influenced by enroute weather. In the event of eastbound winds, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB air cargo payload was 16.9 tonnes and the United Airlines Boeing 787-9 was 11.5 tonnes, when these flights had a full passenger payload. In the case of westbound winds with a full passenger payload, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB air cargo payload was 13.1 tonnes and the United Airlines Boeing 787-9 was 7.9 tonnes. When there were no winds on the air routes, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB offered 15.0 tonnes and the United Airline Boeing 787-9 offered 9.7 tonnes of air cargo payload, respectively

An Assessment of Airport Sustainability, Part 2—Energy Management at Copenhagen Airport

Airports play a critical role in the air transport value chain. Each air transport value chain stakeholder requires energy to conduct their operations. Airports are extremely energy intensive. Greenhouse gases are a by-product from energy generation and usage. Consequently, airports are increasingly trying to sustainably manage their energy requirements as part of their environmental policies and strategies. This study used an exploratory qualitative and quantitative case study research approach to empirically examine Copenhagen Airport, Scandinavia’s major air traffic hub, sustainable airport energy management practices and energy-saving initiatives. For Copenhagen Airport, the most significant environmental impact factors occurring from energy usage are the CO2 emissions arising from both the air side and land side operations. Considering this, the airport has identified many ways to manage and mitigate the environmental impact from energy consumption on both the air and land side operations. Importantly, the application of technological solutions, systems and process enhancements and collaboration with key stakeholders has contributed to the airport’s success in mitigating the environmental impact from energy usage at the airport whilst at the same time achieving energy savings