US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2006.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Strina François
Other Authors: Peter P. Belobaba.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35562
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author Strina François
author2 Peter P. Belobaba.
author_facet Peter P. Belobaba.
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description Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2006.
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spelling mit-1721.1/355622019-04-11T10:45:21Z US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data United States airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data Strina François Peter P. Belobaba. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Aeronautics and Astronautics. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2006. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-116). Since 2001, the US airline industry has faced an unprecedented set of challenges. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the airline industry reported tremendous losses and several of the largest US airlines went into bankruptcy. To recover from this situation and try to remain financially viable, many measures have been taken by airlines. As a result, the airline industry has been a very dynamic industry over the last few years. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the changes that occurred in this industry between 1999 and 2004. Only the performance of a subset of airlines, namely the 12 main passenger Majors, is examined. These 12 airlines are categorized into two subsets, the Legacies and the Lowfares, whose results are compared throughout this thesis. The analyses, that focus both on financial and operating conditions of the airlines, are mainly based on data from the Form 41 reports. This study shows that in 2004, the traffic carried by the 12 Majors was almost back to 2000 levels, with a higher portion carried by the Lowfares though. It also shows that on average, the Majors flew their aircraft further and that, because the capacity was more closely adjusted to the demand, these aircraft were operated with a higher load factor in 2004 than in 1999. (cont.) As regards the costs, this work reveals that, in spite of an overall increase in productivity - in labor, aircraft and fuel - the average unit cost increased for the Majors. In addition, the gap in unit cost between the Legacies and the Lowfares actually widened between 1999 and 2004, even though a significant part of this trend is due to a transfer of capacity to the regional airlines. Concerning the revenues, an overall decline of the yield is observed in this thesis, as well as a convergence of the yield of the two subsets of Majors. This analysis finally highlights the fact that, whereas Legacies have reported tremendous losses since 2001, most lowfare airlines were able to break-even or even make money in operations. by François Strina. S.M. 2007-01-10T16:39:06Z 2007-01-10T16:39:06Z 2006 2006 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35562 73827201 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 116 p. 7675872 bytes 8086084 bytes application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Strina François
US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data
title US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data
title_full US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data
title_fullStr US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data
title_full_unstemmed US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data
title_short US airline industry trends and performance 1999-2004 : analysis of Form 41 data
title_sort us airline industry trends and performance 1999 2004 analysis of form 41 data
topic Aeronautics and Astronautics.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35562
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