Aviation Industry

The demand shocks have for a long time punctuated the cyclical nature of the aviation market due to the reining impact traffics and investments (Shaw 2016, p. 2). However, as the globe emerges from a recession, which has been sustained in over 80 years, the indicators in the market reveal a turning point with a fall in the fuel prices, the return of traffic, and the effects of new business models and technological advancements that aid profitability. The contemporary dogma, however, has been the inconsistency of its patterns of growth. Even so, emerging markets primarily in the Middle East and Asia are strong while Europe’s recovery has been patchy and weak. The growth inconsistency can be shown in figure 1 below.

Figure 1: The Annual growth of the global air traffic demand from 2005 to 2018 (Source: Statista, 2018)

For profitable growth to be achieved, airlines must develop new networks by improved connectivity and control the costs (Statista, 2018). Thus, new routes can be developed and connect new cities in the world, particularly in Asia, Africa, among other markets. However, the airports face different sets of growth challenges since the expansion of their capacities like unlike airlines require many resources ranging from operations and long lead times. For instance, the 15 years discussion in the UK concerning the primary London Airports (Blain, 2017). Also, the slow development of the economy hinders the aviation growth. Innovative business models have been employed in airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet that have revolutionised the business. The increased number of passengers in American Airlines, United Emirates Airlines, among other continental airlines also determine the growth due to high profitability (Statista, 2018). Other emerging air traffic includes Atlanta Airports (ATL), Beijing’s PEK, and Dubai’s DXB.

Key Definitions

Aviation

Aviation is also referred to as the air transport and the surrounding activities of mechanical flights within the aircraft industry (Shaw 2016, p. 1). Aircraft types can be rotary-wing, fixed-wing, wing-less, morphable wings, and crafts lighter than air like airships and balloons. Aviation was first developed in the 18th

century by the innovation of hot air balloons that had capabilities to displace the atmosphere by buoyancy. The advancement of aviation technology was, however, due to the development of the 1896 Otto Lilienthal’s controlled flight followed by a first aeroplane being powered in the early 1900s with several technological revolutions since then (Graham 2013, p. 4).

Airline

An organisation which provides services in the air transport for the passengers travelling and the goods is known as an airline (Graham 2013, p. 2). These use aircraft to necessitate the provision of the services and can form alliances or partnerships. The companies are recognised with a certificate or license to operate in the air that is issued by a government’s institution and vary in sizes ranging from domestic airlines to international airlines. Therefore, their services are categorised by the servicing region or charter that include domestic, intercontinental, and international. For example, the American Airlines Group, which is currently the largest airline.

Airport

An airport contains facilities that aid air transport and is the location where aircraft are stored, maintained, controlled, and consists of open space for landing, as well as runways for takeoffs (Graham 2013, p. 1). Additionally, airports include utility buildings that are adjacent to them, helipads, terminals, lounges, restaurants, and air traffic centres among others. Smaller airports are called airstrips. International airports, therefore, have additional facilities to control passports and customs and incorporates all the facilities above.

References

Blain, A. N. J., 2017. Pilots and management: Industrial relations in the UK Airlines. London: Routledge.

Graham, A., 2013. Managing Airports: An international perspective. 4th ed. London : Routledge.

Shaw, S., 2016. Airline marketing and management. 7th ed. London: Routledge.

Statista, 2018. Global air traffic - annual growth of passenger demand 2005-2018. [Online]

Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/193533/growth-of-global-air-traffic-passenger-demand/

[Accessed 11 October 2018].