Aviation

The Teensier Disaster is a well known event among the aviation industry for being the worst alarm accident in human history. A Dutch KILL 747 and an American Pan Am 747 crashed Into each other at a Spanish airport In the Canary Islands resulted In 583 death and a extensive media coverage on the Dutch, American and Spanish subjects.

The disaster was investigated and studied by the International Air Transport Association (DATA), the International Civil Aviation Organization CIAO and researchers as a model for human errors in the airplane system that proved vulnerable to crisis. The disaster was summarized as a combination of human and technical errors although the investigation pointed out communication inaccuracy as the sole cause for the tragedy.

Attention error, perception error, response communication error, poor decision making and an insufficient airport all contributed to the crash. This disaster has great impact directly and indirectly to the stakeholders such as two national airline companies, the cities and their families, the airport employees and the Spanish government, as the country where the accident took place. Therefore, this disaster Involves the aviation industry In three different countries, laws, languages and also local political Issues.

Right after the disaster, both airlines and Spanish government has to deal with several sensitive issues including the crash survivors and victim, body identification, releasing information to the public, sorting financial responsibility under the pressure of high level of media coverage and time limit. Since the event, international aviation organizations and Lorene business have worked hard to put together new regulations, crisis prevention and response plans that will stop salary events from happening. The Teensier crisis is marked as one of greatest change in aviation approach to crisis training.

It introduced anticipate crises thinking, personality and attitude test; on-board crisis plan, checklists, crisis drills and Crew Resource Management programs (CRM) as well as reinforced the strictest laws on international language and communication code used in the industry. The each stakeholder group (airline companies, passengers, Airport Air Traffic Control) to prepare for crisis. Advance communication systems. Anti-blocking device (BAD), effective safety demonstration and Rare-language are the main recommendation. The paper also discussed post-crisis restoration of the environment, infrastructure and services.

In addition, similar cases from Thailand that was created by similar errors like the political protest that Page | 1 closed down Sanitarium Airport in November 2008 and the 13TH that crashed at Tribunal international airport, Nepal in 1992. It can be concluded that the accident encouraged the aviation industry to finally address its vulnerability and flaws in ultimate areas of errors that can rise a series a contraction to a great tragedy. Accordingly to CIAO, Teensier Disaster became a required model of case study explored in present and future aviation training classes.

The Teensier disaster happened on March 27, 1977 at 17:06:56 local time at Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Teensier in the Canary Islands, Spain. On that day two of Boeing 747 crashed on each other, the disaster caused the highest number of fatalities of any single accident in aviation history. The two planes involved were the 47 airbuses of Pan American World Airways Flight 1736 (the Clipper Victor) under the control of Captain Victor Grubs, and KILL Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 4805 (the Iris) under the command of Captain Jacob Velveteen van Canteen.

Both were taking off on the only runway of the airport, the KILL flight crashed into the Pan Am aircraft taxiing in the opposite direction on the same runway. From the picture red line refers to KILL airline which trying to back taxi and take off. Pan am airline can be seen as blue line which was suppose to taxi in number 3 but it was continued until number 4. In fact both planes need to arrive in the Lass Palms Airport Spain. However, a terrorist bomb exploded in a florist’s shop on the Lass plasmas terminal.

Airport authorities had been warned so although the bomb damaged the inside of the terminal, suddenly the civil aviation authorities at Lass Palms closed the airport because the political terrorists might have a chance for setting out the second bomb. All the flights that were scheduled to land at Lass Palms need to be cancelled and diverted to the smaller surrounding airports. At Teensier, the airport consisted of one runway and one major taxiway parallel to it, as well as several small taxiways connecting them. The control tower staffs were also underage 3 qualified for their English skill.

Moreover, there are heavy fogs that prevent KILL to without permission from control tower due to serious timing rule of KILL airline, which the airline has to be on time. Therefore, KILL made a 1800 turn to take off while Pan Am 1736 was also following the KILL aircraft on the same runway. However, the pilot was not clear what the tower had said to them. Only a few minutes after KILL collided into Pan Am with catastrophic consequences. Other aviation disaster cases with the similar communication cause was 13TH case on 31 July 1992 when Airbus 10 from Thai airways was due to land at Tribunal international airport, Katmandu, Nepal.

There was misleading communications from language problem between pilot and traffic controller as well as the bad weather condition. The captain of TAG 311 asked for permission to turn left, but upon receiving no reply to his requests he”s announced that he was turning right and climbed the aircraft to flight level 200. The flight went through a 360-degree turn, passed over the airport, and crashed into a steep rock in a remote area of the Lang tang National Park at an altitude of 11,500 feet. To sum up the causes of both this and Teensier cases can be include as the communication breakdown and weather condition.

 What were the major communication problems issues with your chosen crisis? First of all, “communication” means the process of transmitting and receiving ideas, information, feeling and message. Communication”s barriers include language, psychological, physical, and general in this case the most communication problem occur in this crisis is no doubt human communication factor which include attention error, perceptual error and response error. From the accident it is clear that the breakdown in communication led to a critical mistake. Attention error was one of the causes that make the KILL pilot unable to pay attention to TACT tower as much as he can. Since KILL captain was seriously concern about punctuality because it matter to his career. Therefore, he pay attention to the timing more than safety this make KILL plane took off without being making the status clear and did not heard the air traffic controllers instruction to stand by for takeoff even he know that the Pan Am aircraft may still be taxiing.  Perception error The bad weather condition including heavy fog and clouds covering the field.

The perception was one of the barriers that to allow both 2 planes to see clear runway.  Response Communication error. Due to language and misunderstanding The KILL co-pilot told the TACT tower and stated they were “ready for takeoff’ and then also stated they were “waiting for our TACT clearance announce. ” However, the tower responded by telling the crew what route they were to take after takeoff and, from it, used the word “takeoff. ” They did not directly indicate that takeoff clearance had been given, but the use of the word seemed to confuse the KILL crew more.

KILL said, “ready to take off’ to mean that the plane was already starting forward and getting ready to take off. However, the tower mistaken it to mean the plane was stand by at the end of the runway awaiting clearance for takeoff. After that the pilot made a short statement of “we”re going. ” again, adding to the confusion that the plane was now cleared for takeoff. On the other hand, the Panama flight was taxiing back down the runway. They had passed the exit number 3 and were heading to outnumber 4 exit which in the wrong position.

When TACT call that third exit, Panama did not know it number three exit or in order of third exit. Panama”s captain heard that the KILL flight was getting ready to take off they try to tell to the tower to inform that they were still taxiing down the runway. However, it was at the same time the KILL captain indicated that they were “going. ” 2. Who were the major stakeholders which group had the most influence on communication to the stakeholders and what were the consequences of this influence?

The major stakeholders in this crisis include Panama airline, KILL airline, the passengers of both airline (both victims and survivors), relative of victims, crews, TACT tower and Spain government. The airlines would be considered as the major takeover that was affected from the disaster the most because after the crisis cost the lives of 583 people the airline have to face with infamy situation from the public. According to the investigations from black box, the conversations between pilot and TACT tower found out that the cause of the accident was consider to be pilot error.

It shows that captain has under-qualified in terms of accuracy and safety. This is the direct effect to both airline companies. First of all, after the accident the airline and government should provide the details to victim”s relatives such as who were among the survivors and victims. Later, the airlines should show that they”re concern and ready to take responsibility of the accident. From this crisis, both airlines, firstly need to revise their safety policy. Aviation is the service that should consider safety above all else.

The airline company should revisit all the policies for the cockpit crews to make sure that the rule is efficiency enough. They should study the disaster in detail and remarked that it would not happen again. In addition, Airline should be honest to communicate with stakeholders especially relative of passengers and survivors. The companies should show the responsibility such as care treatment and mutation. Post-crisis, the airlines should provide necessary information that needs to be made known to the stakeholders.

For example the cause of the accident, number of victims, aids from the company, the plan for avoids accidents in the future. The important things are to be honest by telling the truth. Nevertheless, one of stakeholders in this crisis that should take action to communicate with survivors and their victims relatives is Spain government. They should take responsibility for the crisis since the cause of this accident was originally came from the bombing from he freedom-fighter movement for independence set the bomb of the Canaries  Archipelago at Grand Canadian airport.

In summary, the major stakeholder that had the most influence on communication are the airline companies. The airline companies stakeholders, the key idea that they need to keep in mind is to be honest and give clear information. Otherwise the crisis situation may have gotten worse and hard to handle. Discuss the political issues facing the stakeholders and what problems these may cause. Different Nationality Airlines; KILL and Panama American are different commonality airlines, KILL is from Netherlands and Panama American is from the United States. It evidently shows that none of the companies want to take the blame for this disaster.

However, the result from this crisis is due to the fact that both of them used noon-standard phrases. Third-Country Airport; Spain was in the condition of an under-standard airport location because the country was facing with civil war problems and many reckless political issues therefore, the service and the safety of the airports should be taken as one of the top priorities when compared to another safety issues.Local Political Crisis. The political issue that stakeholder in Teensier crisis faced was due to the effect from the bomb exploding at Grand Canadian airport.

This better-facilitated airport supposed to be the landing airport for Panama American and KILL airlines. The movement for independence set the bomb and autonomy of the Canaries archipelago had set off the bomb. However the bomb did not killed anyone at Grand Canadian airport but it was the beginning of the disaster that cost more than 580 of innocent passengers” lives. No one could imagine the political chain-effects it had on that day. It is no doubt that political issue has a powerful effect on the country. The political issues seem to be the part of many crises.

There are many times that politic up-heaving is related to the aviation. Let me give you one of the closest example in Thailand when yellow shirt (People’s Alliance for Democracy) Protest at Submachine International Airport. On the November 2008, the yellow shirt members dressed in yellow blocked the two ends of the road in front of the terminal building of Submachine international airport, in order to prevent the landing of the prime minister’s flight. As a result, this event affected all the travelers in the airport as well as the inbound and age  7 outbound flight.

In that situation there were explosions outside of the passenger terminal several people were injured. In conclusion, the political protest and violence issues do not only affect the politicians and people in the country but also many innocent people who is consider as one group of stakeholder from the crisis as well. Moreover, the conflict can lead to the large and terrible accident as Teensier disaster. Government should be able to control all situations. Especially, when the crisis involves or takes place in international presences such as airport locations.

Since, for any countries, tourism areas such as airports are the crucial point of country”s image, economic and reputation of the country. Discuss the victim groups and comment on the impact of the crisis on these groups. This crisis are

• the passengers
• the airline staffs 3
• the two airline companies and their reputation
• the Teensier (Spanish) Airport.

Let”s begin with the passengers and the airline staffs. Out of the two airplane crashes, more than 560 people were killed and only 63 survived from the Pan Am airplane.

None of the passengers from KILL flight lived. The result is due two main factors, firstly because he KILL plane was at the point of taking off at full speed. After it collided into Panama, the impact caused the KILL to burst up in flames in midair. The chance for survival was low for both the airplane crews and the passengers. Secondly, Panama plane was only taxi-ins on the runway and their captain had made a quick and instinctively decision to turn the plane out off the way as soon as they saw KILL flight heading towards them.

While the decision did help save the lives the pilots and some of passengers, more than half of the people on the American plane were killed. After he crisis, several teams were working together to assist Page | 8 these victim group. On the Spanish part, due to the dense fog, their airport fire department was prevented from seeing the clear vision of accident and spent the crucial moments of the time taking out the fire on KILL plane before they noticed the Panama. As the news reached the mainland, the Spanish military was later flown in to help sort the American and Dutch passenger bodies as well.

However, this was an unprepared situation for a small airport like Teensier and had caused delay in rescuing the victims. For example, the airport only has two fire engine trucks, unfinished construction sites, and other forms of incomplete facilities to support the time of crisis. Feedbacks and new updates between the passengers and their families in their countries also took quite a lot of time to communicate as well since the incident took place in 1977 and the communication technology was”t advance enough.

On the other hand, once the news reached KILL headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands worked immediately to prepare an empty Boeing 747 and members of The Dutch Emergency Identification Staff (RITE) to pick the survivors and identify the burned bodies at Teensier Airport. They reached the location in four hours and were able to be grand permission to enter the disaster scene and identify their Dutch victims. The next day, the company sent in 4 dentists from Amsterdam to help identify the hardly recognizable bodies by teeth examination.

The Dutch company and their team were able to accomplish the difficult task of identifying and separating all the Dutch victims from the American and placed them into coffins within the timeshare of the Spanish law. The law at time stated that the body of any foreigner must be secured in the closed container by 48 hours of accident. Therefore, after the first-step procedure, the bodies of the victims were flown back to Amsterdam where over hundred medical researchers and staff worked on to uncover further details.

As all of the victims were burnt, the staffs must work against the time before the dead bodies reaches an “ante mortem” phrase, which make them harder to identify. In the end, the company was able to recognize all 248 victims. This swift action and extensive care the company took with this group of victims and their family later helped KILL restored their reputation with their own stakeholders. 58,000 to $600,000 US. Dollars. Without it, KILL reputation may have worsen as when the event unfold, Captain Jacob Velveteen van Canteen of KILL was the main person responsible for this worst disaster in aviation history.

The Panama Company team was less successful in their handling of the accident. Because the American medical team arrived much later at Teensier, they din”t received permission to identify the victims at the scene of the accident, so many important information were lost along the way of returning the bodies back to the United States. Out of the 335  American victims, they only managed to identify 65 percent of the victims. As a result mom of the passengers” families din”t receive closure to the investigation they need. However, the company”s pilots were not the cause of the tragedy.

As for the Teensier Airport of the Canary Islands, the crisis caused a huge pressure on the control tower and its staffs in for the management of the crowded airport. After the crisis, investigations point to the non-standard phrases the control tower used with both of the aircraft as well as the ineffective radio transmission between all parties as well. Further investigation pointed out that the Spanish control tower crews have been listening to a football match on the radio. However, the claim was never confirmed back by the airport.

From our secondary sources research, there was no clear information and news update to how the Spanish airport and authorities directly handled the post-crisis negative impact on them. Communication Strategies: . Was there a crisis management plan in place and if so, how was it communicated to the stakeholders? Before and after the crisis. It is evident that crisis can occur at any time in any industry. Therefore, most major international companies and organizations usually have either a crisis prevention plan or a crisis response plan at hand.

Crisis management is also very important to the airline business because while scientifically stated that air travel is the safest way to travel, Airplane disasters received enormous media attention and often result in long period of negativity toward the particular airline involved. Therefore, in the subjects of aviation safety, the industry has developed two main organizations like The International Air Transport Association (DATA) and The International Civil Aviation Organization (CIAO) that deal with providing an international standard on air travel safety, air transportation regulations and laws.

DATA, founded in 1945 in Havana, Cuba, is an international industry trade group of is an international industry trade group of airlines which has its headquarter in Montreal, Canada. The same goes for CIAO. However, their executive offices are located in Switzerland at Geneva Airport. For DATA, the association has more than 240 airlines  members around the world. DATA schedules and manages these members international air traffic over 150 countries around the world.

In terms of crisis prevention and response, DATA has set an international standard and assigned “three-letter” and “two-letter code” to airports and airlines to prevent location countersigning. DATA also created “DATA Dangerous Goods Regulations” which is studied and exercised by all the airline and airport employees to recognize and deal disasters for example, terrorist bombs, hi-Jacking, weapons on boards and other unforeseen dangers from occurring. CIAO, is an organization founded by the United Nations in 1947.

The CIAO Council develops safety practices which are adopted by airline and airport staffs when faced with a crisis or an in-flight emergency. They also standardize “air navigation, infrastructure, flight inspection, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation”. Moreover, CIAO established the protocols for air accident investigations and air transport safety. Therefore since the sass aviation industry has been developing and standardizing crisis management plans for their airline and airport members.

Pilots, cabin crews, control tower and ground staffs from different nationality, background and different languages work together towards the same procedure which gives the air passengers a confirmation on air security and safety. However, these regulations are concentrated on preventing technical errors and remonstration errors. Before the Teensier Airport disaster, the communication codes and aviation technical language between each sector of the industry were not the focus.

Regulations and practices that will minimize and eliminate communication and human errors became the top priority for DATA and CIAO only after this horrifying accident occurred in 1977. B. What were the communication errors, before, during and after the crisis? What would you have done differently? The Teensier disaster happened mainly because of the communication errors and misunderstanding between three touch points; 1KILL cockpit, Panama cockpit and  the Teensier control tower.

The communication error occurred during the length of approximately 8 minutes accordingly to the investigation”s transcript of the two cockpit”s communications with the Teensier control tower. On March 27, 1977, the KILL and Panama airplanes are both ordered to divert from the main Grand Canadian Airport in Spain due to the Page | 11 terrorist bomb explosion. They both landed on Teensier and is faced with an over- crowd airport as many airlines were also being diverted there. The weather condition was bad with heavy fog which prevented any plane from taking off and blinded the Sino from the control tower and cockpit as well.

In 1977, with no advance aviation technology identification of the location and name of the aircrafts are solely done by radio transmission. After waiting for the fog is lift up enough for departure, the KILL and Panama were both taxiing down the runway to turn around for takeoff. A non- standardize communication phrase from the control tower staff told Panama to leave the runway by saying “third to your left” without using the correct route name like “CO or Charlie Three”. Due the different English accent, in the beginning the Panama cockpit crews were even confused whether the control staff said “first or third”.

Panama ended up missing their actual exit from the runway and continued down the path to exit CO route as KILL was preparing to takeoff from the opposite direction. Neither of the three touch points knew where the other planes are located because Meanwhile in the KILL cockpit, without the official TACT clearance from the control tower, the KILL captain was preparing to take off and began to gain life-off speed down the runway. The last minutes before the crash, communication errors occurred in all three touch points.

The control told the KILL to “stand by for takeoff I will call you when runway is clear”, while the KILL captain may only heard “takeoff, runway is clear” through the radio. At the same time, the tower told the Panama “Papa Alpha 1736 report runway clear” which din”t mean the Panama already exited the runway.

When the KILL did see the Panama, he tried to force the plane off ground, causing the aircraft”s tail to drag across the runway and caught fire. The Panama also tried to take a sharp turn off the runway into the grass but it was too late for both aircraft. The crash cause huge impact sound and fire explosion, however, according to the Spanish local reporters there were no ground witnesses when the accident occur due to the dense fog. While the Panama cockpit crew and few passengers survived, BACK exploded in midair with no survivors.

From the situation, we can see that communication errors due mainly to the non-standardize aviation language is the cause to this tragedy, especially from the control tower “K” and the KILL cockpit “We”re at takeoff’ as well as the decision to take off by KILL Captain Velveteen van Canteen’s without confirming the tower. Moreover, if earlier language confusion between Panama and the tower din”t happen, Panama would have exited the runway at CO route and won”t collide into KILL flight at all.  Report on the following; Risk Assessment and planning, pre/post crisis.

In the sass, air travel has already developed and taken steps of precautions to prevent disasters form happening. Technical problem analysis, engineering pre-flight checkups and pre-post flight cockpit technical checklists to ensure the safety of the aircraft is up to the standard. However, the risk planning/ crisis planning put less attention on team-work communication and human related errors such as attention errors and perceptive errors. Moreover, in the ass, the captain of the aircraft was giving commands.

Seniority played a big role in the cockpit and captains” decision-making were not often challenged by the co-pilot or second officers. This series of human related errors contribute to the Teensier accident in 1977. Once the accident took place, it was clear that cockpit and control tower and decision making still have many loopholes that cannot be left unattended. The attention on human error, language barrier and inefficient aviation language became in main focus for international aviation organizations to step in and adjust their approach in these areas for the highest standard of safety.

The post Teensier crisis has marked as one of greatest change in aviation training, crisis preparation and prevention. The improvements are made mainly in the areas of intensive airline staff training. The details are as follows: Crisis Training Anticipate Crises; every pilot and cabin crews are now required to study from the worst case scenarios and earning from experience case-studies. They must complete the international protocol required hours before they received permission to train in the aircraft.

As a result, in training to anticipate the worst that could happen, airline crews are aware and alert of crises during all time of their operation. Communication Training; standardize terminology and codes are taught and the crews must undergo a number of examinations and test before they are qualified to fly. They also studies Communication Patterns, Cue Recognition, Context Facility, and Cultural Intelligence s part of the international standard training as well. Moreover, the language of teamwork is heavily stressed on.

Captains are no longer the seniority figure in the cockpit but work together with the first officer and controller tower for good decision making. “Cross-checking” communication are exercise regularly throughout the industry for the most effective information exchange and reassurance Personality Test and Physical Test; the airline crews are required to take personality test and physical test that would determine whether they would be appropriate for their session to handle mental and physical pressure.

This Crisis training among all staffs keeps the industry and its employees on alert that everyone needs to look out and prepare the unthinkable that can happen. Not only does it  helps to stress the importance of safety and the role of each airline staff but also prepare them to react according to the crisis response plan. The case studies also helps the staff to see how even the smallest decision making can create an impact on a large scale. 2) On-Board Crisis Plan Step-by-Step checklist; in the present day, each aircraft and control tower is equipped with checklist that is personalized for every crew position on the aircraft.

The crews must go over the list and crosscheck the items with their copilots, the cabin crews and confirm status with the control tower before the airplane leaves the terminal and taxi to the runway. The crews are also train and given standard procedure to follow when faced with unforeseen emergency. In addition, for the airline stakeholders, in-flight safety demonstration and directions are provided for the passengers.

The purpose of this report is to provide a strategic analysis of Qantas change process in order to survive in both global and domestic airline industry. There are some external factors can be affected to Qantas changes. They are the downturn of the international market due to the global financial crisis and the changes in the nature of the international market. To have a good analysis on the affect of these factors, the report would be based on the some financial information of Qantas and other useful resources.

This report also provides the change model and change indicator analysis which will be analysed how the Qantas executive board improve their quality of management during its organizational change process. The Kotter’s model was the ideal model Qantas have used. By using effectively this model, Qantas have been improved their development strategies to survive during the business downturn era. In addition, some of the changes Qantas executive board have made include sacking employees including top managers of the company as they want to reduce costs as well as restructuring their management programs.

Critically, these changes was seems to be harsh but they have helped to improve the performance of the whole company. In the Australian aviation industry history, Qantas is the oldest and largest airlines and it is the second oldest in the international market. According to the Skytrax (2011), Qantas has ranked the 8th position in top ten airline companies around the world. In addition, it still remains as the best and dominant airlines in Australia aviation industry. It is an achievement despite experiencing a difficult period and having intensified competition in the global aviation industry.

Qantas was founded and established in November 1920 by Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness and Fergus McMaster in the Queensland outback as the Queensland and Northern territory Aerial Service (QANTAS) Limited (Qantas, 2011). Qantas was a former government owned business and in 1993 a 25% stake of it was sold to British Airways. Qantas was privatised in 1995 and had adopted new management practices to overcome its former difficulties in order to make a best success for the company in the future (Qantas, 2011). Presently, Qantas Group is the undisputable market leader in the domestic airline industry.

The flying businesses are grouped under two major brands. They are Qantas and Jetstar. Both of brands has a wide operating network, as well as several competencies in the other related businesses they are operating, such as freight, travel ; tour, flight catering, defence services, and engineering ; maintenance services (Qantas, 2011)Facing with more challenges for competitive advantages in current aviation businesses in both international and domestic markets, the Qantas managers should make some changes in their management strategies in order to survive and achieve their objectives.

As Waddell, Cummings, and Worley (2007, p. 318) stated that ‘organisation transformations can occur in response to, or in anticipation of, major changes in the organisation’s environment or technology. In addition, these changes are often associated with significant alterations in the firm’s business strategy which, in turn, may require modifying corporate culture as well as the internal structures and processes in order to support the new direction.

‘ Therefore, this report would analyse the key organisational change and change strategies Qantas executive board implemented to differentiate from competitors and remain competitive in the volatile aviation industry. In addition, this report will also analyse the background of Qantas and its environment, the change indicators that had been undertaken and the likely impact on the Qantas change processes. The international and Australian aviation industry has been under the downturn era caused by the current troubles from swine influenza and global financial crisis.

During these causes, all of the economic activities within Australia and throughout the world had been under a strong impact on all kinds of business. Obviously, the economic downturn has made a disadvantage affect to the operations of Qantas Ltd. and its profitability. According to Alan Joyce in his announcement in 2008, five months after he became the CEO of Qantas Ltd. , he emphasized that the company could not obtain its objective profits for the year. Qantas was significantly impacted upon by the downturn in the international aviation industry as a result of missing the profit target by over 60% to 80% (Mathieson, 2009).

At first the objective profit was to be $500 million, but it was been to a deep cut between $100 and $200 million due to the effects of the global downturn. The company had already reported profits worth $288 million for the first six months implying that the company would have reported losses during the other half of the year if the original target would not be revised. In addition, the global aviation business has been strongly impacted with the decrease of customer demands, price pressures and extensive sales being encountered by discount carriers who have cut down their costs by over 50%.

For example, most of the premium classes of the airlines have been experienced a slump. The reason is that most of the customers are preferring to choose the economic class instead of the first and the business classes. It has forced the airlines to lower its target profits in the international market and also make changes in order to survive the downturn. The international aviation industry has been turning to the new era of globalisation. It caused by the rapid development of new technologies on a consistent level of the international market.

At the current situation, the competition of groups of international airlines in the global market has been increasing strongly. Most of international airlines were trying to lower their costs and increasing their capacity in order to grapple a large share of the international market and Qantas is one of them (Sydney Morning Herald, 2009). It has affected to the demand of the airline’s services, the profitability and the market share. In the 2010 annual report, Qantas (2010) stated that the international market share of the company has fallen from 42% to 23%.

This is the strongest fall of it since 1993. In the international market, Qantas has faced with the bad result of dropping demands on the overseas routes due to the strong development of low fare airlines. Otherwise, Qantas is now facing a greater competition from international competitors such as Tiger Airways and Virgin Blue. The company has been trying to lower its flying rates in the international market as well as the domestic and eliminating the business class in its flights in a bid to remain competitive in the market and survive through the competition.

It has also been renewing its fleets and reducing the long terms costs as well as forming strong alliances with investors and other partners in the market to spread the risks and the market opportunities. Other measures that the company needs to adopt include improving the satisfaction levels of its customers and its services in order to improve the revenue levels and face off with the competition. Strong promotional campaigns can also help to develop the image of the company and the airline in the eyes of the customers and the public.

Jet Blue Airways

Jet Blue Airways Corporation is a business organization that offers a passenger air transportation services to the public in the United States. The main office of the company is located at Queens Boulevard Forest Hills, New York City (“Jet Blue Airways Corporation”, 2008, p. 1). The company was founded in the year 1998 and has 9, 398 current full time employees (“Jet Blue Airways Corporation”, 2008, p. 1). The subsidiary of Jet Blue Airways Corporation named Live TV and LLC are the resources in order to provide an in-flight entertainment programs and systems (“Jet Blue Airways Corporation”, 2008, p. 1). The key executives of the company include Mr. David Barger as the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Russell Chew as the President and Chief Operating Officer, and Mr. Edward Barnes who worked as the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer and Executive Vice President (“Jet Blue Airways Corporation”, 2008, p. 1). The airline carrier is considered low-cost and low-fare that serves up to 47 destinations at present time (“Press Release”). Hence, it can be said that Jet Blue Airways provide services with style and value.

The company’s mission and vision is just simple, to bring humanity back to air travel (“Jet Blue Airways Elects Virginia Gambale to its Board of Directors”, 2006, p. 1). The reason why the company offers strategic and innovative services to its customers like offering wholesome entertainment, food and drinks on flight is to attract more travelers through its affordable airline passes. The company is simply customer-centric such that its first priority is the comfort and fun for its clients. Aside from that, Jet Blue Airways Corporation also reaches out to the public by being active into community service. Essentially, Jet Blue is committed to enriching the lives of children and supporting the communities they serve through their core values of caring, fun and passion (“Press Releases”). In connection, one of the best community services offered by the company is giving books to children of not wealthy parents in one of the cities in the United States.

The unwritten mission statement of Jet Blue Airways Corporation is reflected in its core values and principles created and set by the company. In lieu of mission statement, a strategic set of core values is being presented by Jet Blue Airways Corporation. These core values include safety, caring attitude, integrity, fun and passion (Meingast, 2003, p. 1). The company commits to safety as the first priority in all business operations. In order to do so, the company adheres to rules and regulations implemented by regulatory agencies whenever is needed. Maintaining high standards in a consistent manner is the primary goal of the company when it comes to safety matters. Thus, the company never compromises safety of its crewmembers and customers during and after flights. The company also takes social responsibility for the benefit of the people in general and strives to be a role model in the business community. The company cares for its employees and the customers in one way or another.

In addition, Jet Blue Airways Corporation strives to establish a reputation as a business organization with integrity. The company’s leaders, employees specifically crewmembers demonstrate mutual respect, honesty and trust for an orderly and harmonious working relationship (Meingast, 2003, p. 1). The commitment to self-improvement that is imbued in the hearts of Jet Blue Airways’ employees is the road to dedicated service and success in the airline industry. Basically, the company values fun during and after flights such that creating a friendly environment is a common gesture of its crewmembers. Finally, it is the passion of the company’s employees to deliver first class and superior performance at all times.

References

Meingast, P. Galt Global Review. (22 April 2003). Profitable Airline Say. Retrieved January 14, 2008, from http://www.galtglobalreview.com/business/

profitableairlines_say.html.

Investor Jet Blue. (15 November 2006). Press Releases. Retrieved January 14, 2008, from http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-news

Article_Print&ID=931736&highlight= .

Investor Jet Blue. (9 May 2006). Jet Blue Airways Elects Virginia Gambale to its Board of Directors. Retrieved January 14, 2008, from http://investor.jetblue.com/

Phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=853923&highlight=.

Yahoo Finance Website. (2008). Jet Blue Airways Corporation. Retrieved January 14, 2008, from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=JBLU.

Civil aviation is one of the most dynamic segments of the world economy. The international industry has become an interesting amalgam of established network and regional carriers, with a slew of new low cost operators. Jet Blue Airways Corporation (Jet Blue hereafter) is a relatively new entrant in the U. S. regional air travel market. This NASDAQ listed company has made a quick mark in a mature market with a highly competitive environment. Jet Blue has made significant investments to double its seat capacity in the next 5 years.

This document examines facets of the company’s strategy and its functional operations, with conclusions about its future prospects. External Environment The major opportunity which Jet Blue seeks to exploit in its external environment relates to unfulfilled passenger needs in some under-served destinations, as well as metro areas which command relatively high fares (Form 10 K, 2005). Deregulation of civil aviation (Delfmann, 2005) has spawned the emergence of low cost carriers such as Jet Blue.

The low cost carrier segment growth (Delfmann, 2005) is an important niche opportunity, which continues to take shares away from traditional network carriers. However, these new entrants such as Jet Blue need to excel in labor cost management in order to succeed (Delfmann, 2005). All airlines remain vulnerable to escalations in fuel costs, so it is important to raise general seat prices in concert in order to remain viable in financial terms. It is a major challenge for companies such as Jet Blue to hold on to the cost edge, because the external environment for civil aviation in the United States is highly competitive (Form 10 K, 2005).

Powerful alliances between large and established competitors can take back market shares that carriers such as Jet Blue may forge. The business is highly vulnerable to high fuel prices (Form 10 K, 2005). Congestion in airports threatens on-time performance and the critical aircraft utilization factor (Form 10 K, 2005). Overall, the external environment does present a distinct opportunity for low cost carriers such as Jet Blue, but leaves them vulnerable to competitive pressures, input costs and infrastructure threats as well.

Successful companies have to be highly flexible and professional managed to exploit opportunities, while avoiding serious risks at the same time. The Jet Blue market entry has come at a time when a number of established competitors have become financially unviable. Objectives and Company Mission Jet Blue has a concerted and well devised approach in response to the environment in which it operates. The company management has carved a creative niche within the overall market place.

The Mission is “To bring humanity back to air travel (About Jet Blue, 2007). This aim sets it apart from other low cost carriers. The company seeks to fill gaps in high fare metros, underserved areas, and the space between low cost fares and full service airlines (Form 10 K, 2005). The management has done its homework well to locate new potentials in a market which appears to be overly competitive at first glance. Jet Blue has also adopted an objective of controlled growth with focus on point to point services between destinations (Form 10 K, 2005).

This approach should serve to protect the fledgling airline against the perils of uncontrolled expansion. However, the company also has ambitious long term plans and has invested to double capacity by 2011 (Form 10 K, 2005). It has ordered new aircraft in such a manner than pilot training and maintenance costs will be held down. Internal Analysis Resources and capabilities determine the analysis of the internal environment (Hitt, Duane Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2005).

Jet Blue has made a loss in 2005 after a profit in 2004 (Form 10 K, 2005); this has happened even after 86% capacity utilization. The inability of the airline to generate cash even with such high capacity utilization makes it highly vulnerable. Coming at a juncture when the company is heavily leveraged in new capacity, there is a possibility of it becoming bankrupt. Jet Blue has failed to generate financial resources in proportion to its objectives, and seems to lack core competencies to survive in dense competition.

Which developments in the global airline industry made possible the creation of strategic alliances?

Airlines started to develop strong strategic alliances right at the same time as the deregulation of the industry was implemented. The European Commission put third Package into effect in 1993. The trend followed the preceding one that occurred several decades ago in the US (signature of the us airline deregulation act in 1978). This meant a total market opening and the dismantling of the protectionist framework operating since the 1940’s.

Another major reason was the approbation of code sharing agreements by the US DOT, that allowed airlines to expand their route networks and to offer their passenger routes under coordinated times in certain markets. As demand for air travel is inextricably linked to the strength of the economy, global events occurring in the 1990’s had a huge impact in airlines’ strategies. Perhaps the biggest reason for the airlines getting into alliances was the Gulf War in 1991-1992, where airlines in general saw slump in air traffic and sales.

The other one was the economic recession that hit not only Europe, but also the world. People had less money, therefore flew less and seats in the airplanes were empty. The industry recovered very quickly, though, after this and even went to the highest sale in mid 1992. After that traffic went down again and was always on a downhill ride especially after 9/11. “Two things matter to airlines – the amount of empty seats on their planes, and the cost of getting those planes into the air. Reducing these two factors leads to profits, and in recent years, the industry has been struggling,” enunciated Lord Marshall, Chairman of British Airways in 2002.

People are afraid to fly, more than that, they fear flying with the companies that were flown into the World Trade Center, such as American Airlines or United Airlines. The attacks led to a worldwide recession, as well as to bankruptcy of several famous airlines such as Swissair or Sabena. Now that the fear of flying again is mostly gone out of the people’s heads, and where numbers in air traffic are rising again another threat, probably the biggest, to the “normal” airlines is emerging: Low-cost carriers.

What were the strategic objectives of S.A.? Were they met? Is the Alliance’s overall strategy successful?

All airlines had different reasons for joining the alliance but the common thread that linked them all was the desire to expand their geographic network in the most efficient way. Star Alliance members agreed on this commonality and virtually overnight increased the range of their services. One of the reasons that the range of services or the ability to cover every corner of the world was so important was that a customer can fly to any major city with the same airline company. Therefore the customer can become a “Frequent Flyer” and be loyal to the company.

Code-share arrangements also allowed for flexibility in terms of route decision making. By having such a close arrangement and understanding of partner schedules, airlines were able to depend on partner airlines to cover various routes that were a more logical fit both logistically and financially. Alliances were also a great way to force carriers’ local strengths to build up the entire network’s market presence.

The structure also presented flexibility to alliance members. Such flexibility could be seen in their opportunities to negotiate a broad range of agreements with non-alliance members. An example of one of these agreements was the ability to share mileage points across both frequent flyer programs. The concept of alliances logically sounds like a great idea. It creates many more options and opportunities from the customer perspective. Alliances seem to be established in this industries culture that it would almost be a useless effort for new comers to be on their own. The potential overhead reductions and the ability to rapidly increase service offerings make it very interesting both financially and logistically speaking.

Why do companies such as Ryan Air or Easyjet survive without being part of an alliance? Which type of airlines needs to join an alliance?

The emergence of the low cost airlines has modified the traditional market. They created new markets, new strategies, and new competition conditions. Ryan Air and Easy Jet are the two most successful of them. They succeeded to enter a very competitive market and to steal market shares to the major companies. Operating on a different business model, they offer no frills during the flight and use a point-to-point transit system. They created their own routes and links that major carrier haven’t already gone or abandoned because of cost reduction. The low cost revolution had a big impact on the consumer’s habits. They are now major actors in the Flight market.

All of those are the reason of their success so why give it all up. Today alliances are reserved to major long haul airlines struggling and low-cost companies that did not succeed to established itself on the market and capture enough market share. Their business model is based on reducing cost the most possible. Getting into an alliance implies sharing some of your profits. For those reduction cost driven companies it is not possible as their whole business is based on strict management that can’t be changed one bit.

With much ceremony, Qatar Airways became the first of the large Sulfated c aeries to enter a global airline alliance by joining Enroll, led by American Airlines and British Main. Ways. Sign up now “Becoming a member Of Enroll is one of the most significant landmarks in Qatar Airways’ history,” declared Kafka AH Baker, the airline’s chief executive. This move highlights how the fastenings, steamrollered Gulf carriers – E emirates Airlines, Edited Airways and Qatar Airways – are no longer viewed with universal hostility by western airlines.

First is our new essential daily email briefing of the best stories from across the web But Emirates and Edited are unlikely to be joining one Of the three global aril en alliances – Enroll, Steam and Star Alliance – in the near future. These two carriers, based in D baa and ABA Dhabi, respectively, are pursuing their own partnerships – actions that are destabilize Eng the alliances and could play an influential role in reducing the importance of these groups.

The alliances were established in the 1 9905 because foreign ownership rules often prohibited carriers room combining via crossbred mergers. Even the biggest carriers knew they could not fly to all big cities, so airlines formed alliances that in effect bolted their networks together to offer destinations worldwide – notably to business travelers. These alliances were supposed to be clubs that looked after their respective interests, but last year Santa – a founding member of Enroll -? sent showplaces through the industry by agreeing to form a fare aching partnership with Emirates.

Founded in 1985 and now flying to more than 130 destinations with the world s largest fleet of wideband passenger jets, Emirates has inflicted financial pain on longhand carriers in the US, Europe and Asia – include inning Santa. But the Australian carrier is hoping the collaboration with Emirates will play a key role in restoring its international pop orations to profit. At the heart of the partnership is a icosahedra that gives Santa passengers a much greater choice of routes between Australia and Europe, the Middle East and Africa because they can fly on Emirates’ jets.

The mischance happened the morning of Dec. 8, 2014. The examination by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reasoned that the reasonable justification was “the pilot’s direct of a methodology in basic icing conditions without turning on the plane’s wing and flat stabilizer deice framework, prompting ice amassing on those surfaces, and without utilizing the suitable landing execution speeds for the climate conditions and plane weight,” (National Transportation Safety Board 2014). In light of the discoveries of the examination, the NTSB required the improvement of hardware for single-pilot flies that cautions the pilots when the ice-insurance frameworks ought to be actuated.

The security load up likewise suggested the advancement of preparing past what is presently required to pass a sort rating check ride in such planes. The pilot, 66 years of age, was a doctor and CEO of a clinical think-tank. He held a carrier transport pilot authentication and an EMB-500 compose rating, which he had gotten around seven months previously the mischance.

As it flew through Northern Virginia and into Maryland, different pilots were announcing ice endeavoring to shape on their wings as they flew through mists between 4,000 feet and 5,500 feet height. Mr Rosenberg, the pilot turned on the plane’s de-icing framework for over two minutes as it achieved its 23,000-foot cruising elevation, yet then he flicked if off again for the rest of the flight. It stayed off as he plummeted toward Gaithersburg, in spite of flying through mists once more.

The NTSB said that may have been a lethal oversight: “That puts the plane in noticeable dampness, a basic component for ice, for around 15 minutes. Mr Rosenberg was a very qualified pilot, with 4,500 hours signed responsible for a flying machine. He was guaranteed as a business pilot and as a flight educator. He likewise was appraised to fly the Phenom, a refined six-traveler stream that costs more than $4 million and can fly more than 400 mph.

In any case, the 2014 occurrence was the second time that Rosenberg slammed while endeavoring to arrive at the Gaithersburg airplane terminal”, (NTSB 2014). Four years sooner, slow down admonitions sounded as he contacted a solitary motor turboprop plane down on the runway. “At the point when the plane floated to one side of the 75 broad runway, Mr Rosenberg endeavored to lift off again to circle the airplane terminal for a second arrival endeavor. Rather, the plane went around 100 feet to one side and collided with trees. He got away with minor damage. The NTSB inferred that the reason was pilot blunder”, (NTSB 2014)

In excess of 1,000 little planes crash in the United States each year, and many those accidents result in fatalities, yet few accomplish the unpleasant qualification of what occurred in Gaithersburg on the Monday morning of Dec. 8, 2014.

Discoveries from National Transportation Safety Board are as per the following:

1. ” The plane was appropriately certificated and furnished as per government controls”, (NTSB 2014).
2. “Examination of the plane destruction uncovered no preimpact breakdowns or disappointments that would have blocked typical activity of the plane”, (NTSB 2014).
3. “The pilot’s activities previously departure for the mishap flight were reliable with resistance
   with standard working techniques”, (NTSB 2014).
4.  “In spite of the fact that the pilot’s utilization of off base tenant and freight weights had no impact on the plane staying inside EMB-500 Airplane Flight Manual weight and parity constraints, it influenced the arrival speeds he chose in anticipation of the way to deal with Montgomery District Airpark, which were slower than those that compared to the plane’s real
   landing weight”, (NTSB 2014).
5. “The pilot’s utilization of the slower landing rates in anticipation of the way to deal with Montgomery Region Airpark is reliable with his referencing the Normal (non-icing) agenda, which does not require the initiation of the wing and flat stabilizer deice framework, and
   brought about band signs on the velocity show that did not suitably demonstrate the
   slow down speed”, (NTSB 2014).
6. “For something like 15 minutes amid the plummet and way to deal with Montgomery County Airpark, the pilot was working in a domain helpful for auxiliary icing without either plane ice insurance framework actuated”, (NTSB 2014).
7. “Not utilizing the plane’s ice insurance frameworks amid the way to deal with Montgomery County Airpark was in opposition to the pilot’s preparation and distributed standard working methodology and was conflicting with the pilot’s past conduct amid the mishap flight”, (NTSB 2014).
8. “The pilot’s inability to utilize the wing and level stabilizer deice framework amid the methodology to Montgomery County Airpark prompted ice collection, a streamlined slow down at a higher velocity than would happen without ice aggregation, and the event of the slow down previously the aural slow down notice sounded or the stick pusher actuated. Once the plane slowed down, its height was too low to recuperate”, (NTSB 2014).
9. ” Providing pilots of turbofan planes that require a sort rating and are confirmed for single-pilot tasks and trip in icing conditions with programmed alarming about the need to actuate ice assurance frameworks would strengthen this basic strategy while working in potential icing conditions—particularly in single-pilot tasks”, (NTSB 2014).

National Transportation Safety Board proposals as pursues. To the Federal Aviation Administration:
“Work with the General Aviation Manufacturers Association to build up a framework
that can naturally alarm pilots when the ice insurance frameworks ought to be actuated on turbofan planes that require a sort rating and are ensured for single-pilot tasks and trip in icing conditions”, (NTSB 2014/A-16-12).

To the General Aviation Manufacturers Association:

“Work with the Federal Aviation Administration to build up a framework that can consequently ready pilots when the ice security frameworks ought to be initiated on turbofan planes that require a sort rating and are confirmed for single-pilot tasks and trip in icing conditions”, (NTSB 2014/A-16-13).

To the National Business Aviation Association:

“Work with your individuals that are makers and preparing suppliers of turbofan planes that require a sort rating and are confirmed for single-pilot activities and trip in icing conditions to create improved pilot preparing rules relating to chance administration in winter climate activities, including the utilization of ice assurance frameworks and adherence to agendas, with uncommon accentuation given to insufficiencies in pilot execution recognized in this mischance, and attempt accessible to the network of pilots who fly these planes”. (NTSB 2014/A-16-14).

The synapsis of this whole incident was determined by National Transportation Safety Board that, “the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s conduct of an approach in structural icing conditions without turning on the airplane’s wing and horizontal stabilizer deice system, leading to ice accumulation on those surfaces, and without using the appropriate landing performance speeds for the weather conditions and airplane weight, as indicated in the airplane’s standard operating procedures, which together resulted in an aerodynamic stall at an altitude at which a recovery was not possible,” (NTSB 2014).