STUDY REGARDING COMPANIES PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT THROUGH NON-FINANCIAL INDICATORS – THE CASE OF AIRLINE INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radu-Dan TURCU

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The fact that financial information alone is insufficient in assessing a company’s performance is more and more debated. . The present paper aims to analyze the relation between the changes in companies’ market value and selected financial and non-financial indicators for the airline industry. The main aim of this study is to analyze the value relevance of non-financial information in assessing a company’s performance by reference to the airline industry. The results reveal that non-financial indicators “load factor”, “available seat kilometers” and the financial measures “pretax return on assets”,“curent ratio”, ”debt-to-equity ratio” and ”sales growth” are valuable in explaining the stock price evolution.

Impact of environmental constraints and aircraft technology on airline fleet composition

Science.gov (United States)

Moolchandani, Kushal A.

maximum CO2 emissions that the airline can cause, taxes on airlines for excess emissions, and the use of biofuels. The results obtained indicate that implementation of very strict policies that place a heavy penalty on airlines for environmental inefficiency would lead to a drastic decline in market demand served as well as airline profits. For example, to achieve a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050 from the 2005 levels, the airlines would need to leave as much as 45% of predicted market demand unmet, thereby significantly reducing their profits. Taxing airlines for excess emissions would lead them to use large aircraft for short distance operations to reduce CO2 produced per seat mile, decreasing the total number of flights. Since taxation provides an economic motive for airlines to seek low emissions operations procedures, it can be an effective means of achieving emissions reduction goals. Finally the use of biofuels, under some assumption of biofuel availability and cost, helps reduce emissions without compromising market demand or airline profits.

Airline Quality Rating 2003

OpenAIRE

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

2003-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline quality on combined multiple performance criteria. This current report, the Airline Quality Rating 2003, reflects monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 2002. AQR scores for the calendar year 2002 are based on 15 elements that focus on airline performance areas important to air travel consumers. The Airline Quality Rating 2003 is a summary of month-by-month qualit...

Airline Quality Rating 2013

OpenAIRE

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

2013-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method for assessing airline quality on combined multiple performance criteria. This current report, the Airline Quality Rating 2013, reflects monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for calendar year 2012. AQR scores for 2013 are based on 15 elements in four major areas that focus on airline performance aspects important to air travel consumers over the calendar year of 2012. The Airline Quality...

Airline Quality Rating 2001

OpenAIRE

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

2001-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline quality on combined multiple performance criteria. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 2001, reflects monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 2000. AQR scores for the calendar year 2000 are based on 15 elements that focus on airline performance areas important to air travel consumers. The Airline Quality Rating 2001 is a summary of month-by-month quality ra...

The Effects of Applying Revenue Management on Customer Satisfaction in Airline Industry: An Experimental Study in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rambat Lupiyoadi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This research mainly discusses about the effects of applying revenue management, specifically in the contexts of inventory control (variation in ticket prices for the same flight and class and denied boarding (permissibility of reservations exceeding carrying capacity as a hedging practice over the possibility of tickets cancellation on the customers’ satisfaction toward airlines in Indonesia. Ex- perimental method was applied on the research, involving students from University of Indonesia as participants. The results showed that inventory control policy partly affected customer satisfaction, while the denied boarding policy fully affected their satisfaction. These research findings can con- tribute to further studies on consumers’ behaviour in dynamic airlines industry, mainly in emerging markets such as Indonesia.

Airline Passengers

OpenAIRE

Wittmer, Andreas; Hinnen, Gieri

2016-01-01

Airlines create value for employees, investors, governments, customers and consumers. This chapter focuses on the customers and consumers of the airline product. Airline customers, who include passengers and corporate travel providers, exert considerable market power in the air transport industry through their purchasing decisions and travel behaviour. As a purchaser of a commercial aviation product, customers are responsible for stimulating product and service innovation and their behaviour ...

Persistence of airline accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Barros, Carlos Pestana; Faria, Joao Ricardo; Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko

2010-10-01

This paper expands on air travel accident research by examining the relationship between air travel accidents and airline traffic or volume in the period from 1927-2006. The theoretical model is based on a representative airline company that aims to maximise its profits, and it utilises a fractional integration approach in order to determine whether there is a persistent pattern over time with respect to air accidents and air traffic. Furthermore, the paper analyses how airline accidents are related to traffic using a fractional cointegration approach. It finds that airline accidents are persistent and that a (non-stationary) fractional cointegration relationship exists between total airline accidents and airline passengers, airline miles and airline revenues, with shocks that affect the long-run equilibrium disappearing in the very long term. Moreover, this relation is negative, which might be due to the fact that air travel is becoming safer and there is greater competition in the airline industry. Policy implications are derived for countering accident events, based on competition and regulation. © 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2010.

Airline Quality Rating 1996

OpenAIRE

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

1996-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 1996, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scor...

Key drivers of airline loyalty.

Science.gov (United States)

Dolnicar, Sara; Grabler, Klaus; Grün, Bettina; Kulnig, Anna

2011-10-01

This study investigates drivers of airline loyalty. It contributes to the body of knowledge in the area by investigating loyalty for a number of a priori market segments identified by airline management and by using a method which accounts for the multi-step nature of the airline choice process. The study is based on responses from 687 passengers. Results indicate that, at aggregate level, frequent flyer membership, price, the status of being a national carrier and the reputation of the airline as perceived by friends are the variables which best discriminate between travellers loyal to the airline and those who are not. Differences in drivers of airline loyalty for a number of segments were identified. For example, loyalty programs play a key role for business travellers whereas airline loyalty of leisure travellers is difficult to trace back to single factors. For none of the calculated models satisfaction emerged as a key driver of airline loyalty.

Airline Crew Training

Science.gov (United States)

1989-01-01

The discovery that human error has caused many more airline crashes than mechanical malfunctions led to an increased emphasis on teamwork and coordination in airline flight training programs. Human factors research at Ames Research Center has produced two crew training programs directed toward more effective operations. Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) defines areas like decision making, workload distribution, communication skills, etc. as essential in addressing human error problems. In 1979, a workshop led to the implementation of the CRM program by United Airlines, and later other airlines. In Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT), crews fly missions in realistic simulators while instructors induce emergency situations requiring crew coordination. This is followed by a self critique. Ames Research Center continues its involvement with these programs.

Airlines 2.0

OpenAIRE

Hvass, Kristian A.; Munar, Ana María

2014-01-01

Over the years online marketing has grown in importance in the airline industry. This media space offers airlines numerous marketing tools, one of the most recent being social media. Social media allows airlines to interact directly with customers via various Internet platforms, and monitor customer opinions and evaluations of services. This exploratory paper studies airlines’ use of social media on Facebook and Twitter for a defined period of time. The paper analyses the content of social me...

Research on Multi-leg Inventory Control Based on Passenger Choice

OpenAIRE

Fan, Wei; Su, Qiubo; Ip, Wai Hung

2014-01-01

To remedy the lack of mathematical programming and the Expected Marginal Seat Revenue (EMSR) model for multi-leg seat inventory control, this paper proposes a method based on passenger choice. Except for data about which seats passengers decide to opt for, there is no need to obtain distributions of passengers’ demands or other “a priori” information. The proposed method can discover the real factors that affect passengers’ choices, and then estimate the probabilities of seat choices and the ...

The Office of Airline Information.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

The Office of Airline Information (OAI) mandate is to collect, validate, compile and disseminate data on airline traffic, performance, finances, and fares. Each quarter, BTS Office of Airline Information (OAI) processes more than 3,800 filings sub...

Building Airline Passenger Loyalty Through an Understanding of Customer Value: A Relationship Segmentation of Airline Passengers

OpenAIRE

Leick, Ryan

2007-01-01

This thesis explores means of restoring profitability to the airline industry by cultivating intrinsically motivated brand loyalty between passengers and airlines in today’s fragile environment. The air transport industry is caught up in traditional transaction-based strategies. Airlines rely on archaic frequent flyer programs (FFPs) to maintain loyalty which deter customers from choosing alternative airlines by increasing the cost associated with switching. In contrast, oth...

Esindusteenuseid pakub Airline Management

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2007-01-01

Lennufirmadele ja teistele turismivaldkonna ettevõtetele esindusteenuseid pakkuvast firmast Airline Management OÜ. Firma poolt Eestis esindatud lennufirmade Air Namibia, SN Brussels Airlines ja Flynordic ning hotelligrupi Wyndham lühitutvustus

Operating cost model for local service airlines

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, J. L.; Andrastek, D. A.

1976-01-01

Several mathematical models now exist which determine the operating economics for a United States trunk airline. These models are valuable in assessing the impact of new aircraft into an airline's fleet. The use of a trunk airline cost model for the local service airline does not result in representative operating costs. A new model is presented which is representative of the operating conditions and resultant costs for the local service airline. The calculated annual direct and indirect operating costs for two multiequipment airlines are compared with their actual operating experience.

Fatalities above 30,000 feet: characterizing pediatric deaths on commercial airline flights worldwide.

Science.gov (United States)

Rotta, Alexandre T; Alves, Paulo M; Mason, Katherine E; Nerwich, Neil; Speicher, Richard H; Allareddy, Veerasathpurush; Allareddy, Veerajalandhar

2014-10-01

We conducted this study to characterize in-flight pediatric fatalities onboard commercial airline flights worldwide and identify patterns that would have been unnoticed through single case analysis of these relative rare events. Retrospective cohort study of pediatric in-flight medical emergencies resulting in fatalities between January 2010 and June 2013. A ground-based medical support center providing remote medical support to commercial airlines worldwide. Children (age 0-18 yr) who experienced a medical emergency resulting in death during a commercial airline flight. None. There were a total of 7,573 in-flight medical emergencies involving children reported to the ground-based medical support center, resulting in 10 deaths (0.13% of all pediatric in-flight emergencies). The median subject age was 3.5 months with 90% being younger than 2 years, the age until which children are allowed to travel sharing a seat with an adult passenger, also known as lap infants. Six patients had no previous medical history, with one suffering cardiorespiratory arrest after developing acute respiratory distress during flight and five found asystolic (including four lap infants). Four subjects had preflight medical conditions, including two children traveling for the purpose of accessing advanced medical care. Pediatric in-flight fatalities are rare, but death occurs most commonly in infants and in subjects with a preexisting medical condition. The number of fatalities involving seemingly previously healthy children under the age of 2 years (lap infants) is intriguing and could indicate a vulnerable population at increased risk of death related to in-flight environmental factors, sleeping arrangements, or yet another unrecognized factor.

Robustness of airline route networks

Science.gov (United States)

Lordan, Oriol; Sallan, Jose M.; Escorihuela, Nuria; Gonzalez-Prieto, David

2016-03-01

Airlines shape their route network by defining their routes through supply and demand considerations, paying little attention to network performance indicators, such as network robustness. However, the collapse of an airline network can produce high financial costs for the airline and all its geographical area of influence. The aim of this study is to analyze the topology and robustness of the network route of airlines following Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) and Full Service Carriers (FSCs) business models. Results show that FSC hubs are more central than LCC bases in their route network. As a result, LCC route networks are more robust than FSC networks.

Justice Department Airline Merger Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Farmer, D. A.

1972-01-01

Justice Department airline merger policy is developed within the context of the Federal Aviation Act, in which there is an unusually explicit reliance on competition as a means of fulfilling statutory goals. The economics of the airline industry appear to indicate that low concentration and vigorous competition are particularly viable and desirable. Several factors, including existing regulatory policy, create incentives for airlines to merge whether or not an individual merger promotes or conflicts with the public interest. Specific benefits to the public should be identified and shown to clearly outweight the detriments, including adverse competitive impact, in order for airline mergers to be approved.

Airline Deregulation and Public Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Steven A.; Winston, Clifford

1989-08-01

An assessment of the effects of airline deregulation on travelers and carriers indicates that deregulation has provided travelers and carriers with 14.9 billion of annual benefits (1988 dollars). Airport congestion, airline safety, airline bankruptcy, and mergers are also analyzed and found in most cases to have reduced benefits. But, these costs should not be attributed to deregulation per se, but to failures by the government to pursue appropriate policies in these areas. Pursuit of policies that promote airline competition and efficient use of airport capacity would significantly increase the benefits from deregulation and would provide valuable guidance for other industries undergoing the transition to deregulation.

Airline network structure in competitive market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Babić Danica D.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Airline's network is the key element of its business strategy and selected network structure will not have influence only on the airline's costs but could gain some advantage in revenues, too. Network designing implies that an airline has to make decisions about markets that it will serve and how to serve those markets. Network choice raises the following questions for an airline: a what markets to serve, b how to serve selected markets, c what level of service to offer, d what are the benefits/cost of the that decisions and e what is the influence of the competition. We analyzed the existing airline business models and corresponding network structure. The paper highlights the relationship between the network structures and the airline business strategies. Using a simple model we examine the relationship between the network structure and service quality in deregulated market.

Identifying Strategic Factors of the Implantation CSR in the Airline Industry: The Case of Asia-Pacific Airlines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong-Shang Chang

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development has always been the objective of many fields, including the tourism and transportation sector. However, a major part of this sector, the airline industry, deals with many negative impacts, such as air pollution, noise, CO2 emission, and labor practice. Corporate social responsibility (CSR is a strategic business activity that can enhance the sustainability of the airline industry. The results of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI reveal that airlines of Western countries exhibit a more remarkable CSR performance than Asia-Pacific airlines, suggesting that the CSR programs of Asia-Pacific airlines need improvement. By constructing an evaluation hierarchy and applying the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL method, this study found that the key strategic factors in the airline industry’s implementation of CSR include corporate governance, risk and crisis management, brand management, and product responsibility (safety.

Environmental charges in airline markets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlsson, Fredrik [Goeteborg Univ., Dept. of Economics, Goeteborg (Sweden)

2002-07-01

Over the last two decades many airline markets have been deregulated, resulting in increased competition and use of different types of networks. At the same time there has been an intense discussion on environmental taxation of airline traffic. It is likely that an optimal environmental charge and the effects of a charge differ between different types of aviation markets. In this paper, we derive optimal flight (environmental) charges for different types of airline markets. The first type of market is a multiproduct monopoly airline operating either a point-to-point network or a hub-and-spoke network. The optimal charge is shown to be similar in construction to an optimal charge for a monopolist. We also compare the environmental impact of the two types of networks. Given no differences in marginal damages between airports we find that an airline will always choose the network with the highest environmental damages. The second type of market we investigate is a multiproduct duopoly, where two airlines compete in both passengers and flights. The formulation of the optimal charge is similar to the optimal charge of a single product oligopoly. However, we also show that it is, because of strategic effects, difficult to determine the effects of the charge on the number of flights. (Author)

Airline view of LH2 as a fuel for commercial aircraft

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilkinson, K.G.

1983-01-01

Fuel for air transport is a particularly important matter, because it is an energy-intensive form of transport. Price and energy density are therefore correspondingly critical. Airlines views tend to be short term because there is no future if they do not survive tomorrow. Thus, although petroleum supply and price has been unstable since 1973, airlines' primary concern has been with economizing the use of fuel and specifying more fuel economic equipment for the future, rather than serious pursuit of more radical solutions. LH2 gives promise of being a serious candidate for the longer term, but there is not yet convincing proof that cheaper seat mile costs could be produced in today's circumstances. The situation could be changed by the realization of laminar flow by surface cooling at subsonic speeds. There is a strong case for a modest programme of carefully aimed research on an international basis to fill the most important gaps in our knowledge on the design of LH2 fueled aircraft. Future crises in energy supplies may well raise questions of transport fuel strategy which will heed this background for wise decision-making. Particular significance attaches to the place of nuclear power in world energy policy since this dominates the question of LH2 availability and price. 2 references, 2 figures.

A Correlational Study of How Airline Customer Service and Consumer Perception of Airline Customer Service Affect the Air Rage Phenomenon

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Joyce A.

2007-01-01

Between 1995 and 2000, customer service declined throughout the airline industry, as reported in February 2001 by the U.S. Department of Transportation (2001). One of the biggest problems today within the airline industry is the constant complaining from customers regarding the deterioraton of service (McCollough, Berry, & Yadav, 2000). Since 1995, unfortunately no airline has been immune from service deterioration, as reported by the Airline Quality Rating, an annual report by two airline industry experts who analyzed Department of Transportation statistics (Harrison & Kleinsasser, 1999). The airline' refusal to recognize the issue of customer service has perpetuated an environment that has become dangerous and detrimental to the traveling public as well as to airline employees, which in turn has fueled a new phenomenon, now referred to as "air rage".

airline revenue management

OpenAIRE

Pak, K.; Piersma, Nanda

2002-01-01

textabstractWith the increasing interest in decision support systems and the continuous advance of computer science, revenue management is a discipline which has received a great deal of interest in recent years. Although revenue management has seen many new applications throughout the years, the main focus of research continues to be the airline industry. Ever since Littlewood (1972) first proposed a solution method for the airline revenue management problem, a variety of solution methods ha...

Dietary Advice for Airline Travel.

Science.gov (United States)

Leggat; Nowak

1997-03-01

In addition to their regular meal service, most of the major domestic and international airlines offer special meals. It should be noted that regular meal services on international flights often give a choice of meals, even in economy class, and often include a salad and or fruit dish, which could be consumed by most people. More airlines also seem to be moving towards having at least one more culturally appropriate meal on the menu, particularly for relevant flight sectors. However, these meals may be inappropriate for some passengers, and there is a need for this special meals service. Meals services on airlines have improved greatly in recent years, particularly with the employment of consultant dietitians to the catering staff of airlines and advances in chef training. Special meal services are designed to cater to the most common variations of meals required by most passengers for medical, religious, or other reasons. The special requirements for these meals are described elsewhere.1 It is important to realize that the meals are designed and the ingredients interpreted by that airline, and may not necessarily reflect what the traveler might eat at home. So it is important to advise travelers not to have high expectations of this special meal service. This paper aims to provide some basic practical advice for selection of special diets for airline travelers.

Airline Disruption Management - Perspectives, Experiences and Outlook

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kohl, Niklas; Larsen, Allan; Larsen, Jesper

2004-01-01

Over the past decade, airlines have become more concerned with developing an optimal flight schedule, with very little slack left to accommodate for any form of variation from the optimal solution. During operation the planned schedules often have to be revised due to disruptions caused...... report on experiences from a large research and development project on airline disruption management. Within the project the first prototype of a multiple resource decision support system at the operations control center in a major airline, has been implemented....... by for example severe weather, technical problems and crew sickness. Thus, the field of Airline Disruption Management has emerged within the past few years. The increased focus on cutting cost at the major airlines has intensified the interest in the development of new and cost e cient methods to handle airline...

Managing airlines: the cost of complexity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trapote-Barreira, C.; Deutschmann, A.; Robuste, F.

2016-07-01

This paper is dedicated to the structure of airline networks as a sink of efficient airline operations. Parameters of complexity were derived and mirrored on level of service as well as efficiency parameters. Airlines usually considerers an operational overhead to predict the total flight operation cost. This parameter includes the expected cost for disruptions and delays. When an airline has to mobilize an aircraft in a base for recovering the service or for breaking an emergent dynamic, then it is running extra costs. The cost of managing complexity in the airline industry has a direct impact on profit and loss account. Therefore, this paper presents an integrated approach to evaluate this cost, based on padding and aircrafts dedicated to recover disruptions. Finally, some additional indicators are derived to evaluate reliability improvement as part of complex performance. (Author)

Food irradiation and airline catering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preston, F.S.

1988-01-01

Food poisoning from contaminated airline food can produce serious consequences for airline crew and passengers and can hazard flight. While irradiation of certain foodstuffs has been practised in a number of countries for some years, application of the process has not been made to complete meals. This paper considers the advantages, technical considerations, costs and possible application to airline meals. In addition, the need to educate the public in the advantages of the process in the wake of incidents such as Chernobyl is discussed

Food irradiation and airline catering.

Science.gov (United States)

Preston, F S

1988-04-01

Food poisoning from contaminated airline food can produce serious consequences for airline crew and passengers and can hazard flight. While irradiation of certain foodstuffs has been practised in a number of countries for some years, application of the process has not been made to complete meals. This paper considers the advantages, technical considerations, costs and possible application to airline meals. In addition, the need to educate the public in the advantages of the process in the wake of incidents such as Chernobyl is discussed.

Food irradiation and airline catering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Preston, F.S.

1988-04-01

Food poisoning from contaminated airline food can produce serious consequences for airline crew and passengers and can hazard flight. While irradiation of certain foodstuffs has been practised in a number of countries for some years, application of the process has not been made to complete meals. This paper considers the advantages, technical considerations, costs and possible application to airline meals. In addition, the need to educate the public in the advantages of the process in the wake of incidents such as Chernobyl is discussed.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Airline Pilots.

Science.gov (United States)

Lord, Dana; Conlon, Helen Acree

2018-02-01

The health of an airline pilot is imperative to the safe travels of millions of people worldwide. Medical providers evaluate the cardiovascular risks for airline pilots and the medical requirements to obtain and maintain licensure as an airline pilot. It is the role of the occupational health nurse practitioner to evaluate and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in this population.

Car Seat Safety

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Car Seat Safety KidsHealth / For Parents / Car Seat Safety ... certified child passenger safety technician.) Guidelines for Choosing Car Seats Choose a seat with a label that ...

An Analysis of Airline Costs. Lecture Notes for MIT Courses. 16.73 Airline Management and Marketing

Science.gov (United States)

Simpson, R. W.

1972-01-01

The cost analyst must understand the operations of the airline and how the activities of the airline are measured, as well as how the costs are incurred and recorded. The data source is usually a cost accounting process. This provides data on the cumulated expenses in various categories over a time period like a quarter, or year, and must be correlated by the analyst with cumulated measures of airline activity which seem to be causing this expense.

Has airline efficiency affected by the inclusion of aviation into European Union Emission Trading Scheme? Evidences from 22 airlines during 2008–2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Ye; Wang, Yan-zhang; Cui, Qiang

2016-01-01

We investigate the impacts of including aviation into European Union Emission Trading Scheme on airline efficiency since 2008. Airline efficiency is divided into three stages: Operations Stage, Services Stage and Sales Stage, and Greenhouse Gases Emission is treated as an undesirable output of Services Stage. Two models, Network Slacks-Based Measure with weak disposability and Network Slacks-Based Measure with strong disposability, are established to evaluate the efficiencies of 22 international airlines from 2008 to 2012. The results show that: (1) Most airlines' efficiencies have increased in the period. (2) The average efficiency of European airlines is much higher than that of non-European airlines. (3) The model with weak disposability is more reasonable in distinguishing the airline efficiency while strong disposability is a more reasonable way in treating undesirable outputs. - Highlights: • A new theoretical model of airlines efficiency is built. • Network Slacks-Based Measure models with weak disposability and strong disposability are proposed. • The efficiencies of 22 airlines from 2008 to 2012 are evaluated. • The impacts of including airlines into European Union Emission Trading Scheme are analyzed.

A survey of protective cushion usage in individuals with spinal cord injury while traveling in a motor vehicle and on a commercial airliner.

Science.gov (United States)

McClure, Isa A; Nieves, Jeremiah D; Kirshblum, Steven C

2014-11-01

While there are specific recommendations for pressure relieving cushions when seated in a wheelchair, there is a paucity of information regarding prescribed wheelchair cushions for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) when traveling and not in their wheelchair seat. A questionnaire was designed to ascertain if individuals with SCI who are primarily wheelchair users utilize a prescribed wheelchair cushion when traveling in a motor vehicle (MV) or on a commercial airliner, as not utilizing one may be a causative factor in developing pressure ulcers. Survey design in an outpatient SCI rehabilitation setting. Full-time wheelchair users, with chronic (>1 year) SCI. Forty-two participants completed the survey, with a mean age of 39 years old and time post-injury of 10.4 years. All subjects used a prescribed wheelchair cushion when seated in their wheelchair. Twenty-seven subjects reported transferring to a MV seat (59.5% of sample), with 25 (92.6%) reporting not using a prescribed wheelchair cushion when sitting directly on the MV seat. For subjects who traveled on an airplane (n = 23-54.8%), 19 (82.6%) reported that they do not sit on a prescribed specialty cushion. Persons with chronic SCI, who are primary wheelchair users, utilize prescribed wheelchair cushions when sitting in their wheelchair, but most do not utilize a prescribed wheelchair cushion when seated in a MV (if they transfer out of their chair) or on a airplane seat. Studies to determine the pressures over the bony prominences on their travel surfaces may need to be undertaken to see whether the pressures are appropriate, as they may be a source of skin breakdown.

Airline company management: 'Defining of necessary number of employees in airline by using artificial intelligence tools'

OpenAIRE

Petrović, Dragan M.; Puharic, Mirjana A.; Jovanović, Tomislav Ž.

2015-01-01

In this paper the model for preliminary estimation of number of employees in airline by using of artificial intelligence tools. It is assumed that the tools of artificial intelligence can be applied even for complex tasks such as defining the number of employees in the airline. The results obtained can be used for planning the number of employees, ie. planning the necessary financial investments in human resources, and may also be useful for a preliminary analysis of the airlines that choose ...

Location-Price Competition in Airline Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Gao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses location-then-price competition in airline market as a two-stage game of n players on the graph. Passenger’s demand distribution is described by multinomial logit model. Equilibrium in price game is computed through best response dynamics. We solve location game using backward induction, knowing that airlines will choose prices from equilibrium for the second-stage game. Some numerical results for airline market under consideration are presented.

Seat belt reminders.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2008-01-01

Seat belts are an effective way of reducing the number or road deaths and severe road injuries in crashes. Seat belt reminders warn car drivers and passengers if the seat belt is not fastened. This can be done by a visual signal or an acoustic signal or by a combination of the two. Seat belt

Airline Disruption Management - Perspectives, Experiences and Outlook

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kohl, Niklas; Larsen, Allan; Larsen, Jesper

2007-01-01

Over the past decade, airlines have become more concerned with developing an optimal flight schedule, with very little slack left to accommodate for any form of variation from the optimal solution. During operation the planned schedules often have to be revised due to disruptions caused...... part we report on experiences from a large research and development project on airline disruption management. Within the project the first prototype of a multiple resource decision support system at the operations control center in a major airline, has been implemented....... by for example severe weather, technical problems and crew sickness. Thus, the field of Airline Disruption Management has emerged within the past few years. The increased focus on cutting cost at the major airlines has intensified the interest in the development of new and cost efficient methods to handle...

A conceptual framework for measuring airline business model convergence

OpenAIRE

Daft, Jost; Albers, Sascha

2012-01-01

This paper develops a measurement framework that synthesizes the airline and strategy literature to identify relevant dimensions and elements of airline business models. The applicability of this framework for describing airline strategies and structures and, based on this conceptualization, for assessing the potential convergence of airline business models over time is then illustrated using a small sample of five German passenger airlines. For this sample, the perception of a rapprochement ...

Factors of Airline Marketing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Mišetić

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses several marketing related notions associatedwith airline strategic planning and positioning. Besideexamining the distinctions between network operator and nicheplayer, this paper treats the state of Croatia Airlines within thereported AEA benchmarking of the specific elements of airlinebusiness. It also studies certain aspects of the air market that influencepricing and demand elasticity, such as the impact oflow cost carriers and the practice of network hubbing.

Airline Applications of Business Intelligence Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihai ANDRONIE

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Airline industry is characterized by large quantities of complex, unstructured and rapid changing data that can be categorized as big data, requiring specialized analysis tools to explore it with the purpose of obtaining useful knowledge as decision support for companies that need to fundament their activities and improve the processes they are carrying on. In this context, business intelligence tools are valuable instruments that can optimally process airline related data so that the activities that are conducted can be optimized to maximize profits, while meeting customer requirements. An airline company that has access to large volumes of data (stored into conventional or big data repositories has two options to extract useful decision support information: processing data by using general-purpose business intelligence systems or processing data by using industry specific business intelligence systems. Each of these two options has both advantages and disadvantages for the airline companies that intend to use them. The present paper presents a comparative study of a number of general-purpose and airline industry specific business intelligence systems, together with their main advantages and disadvantages.

Business Model Innovation in Airlines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno Alencar Pereira

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The business models innovation in airlines can contribute to the creation of value, competitive advantage and profitability with new possibilities of action. The proposed paper aimed to identify the business models adopted by airlines and identify how the innovation occurs at these organizations. The methodology adopted is characterized as empirical, exploratory and descriptive research by multiple case study with three major Brazilian airlines. The results demonstrate that the search for paradigm breaks, related to the dichotomic traditional models of low-cost and full-service, toward hybrid business models occur linearly, as examples highlighted by companies, in which internal changes in business models are considered major organizational innovations.

An Economic Model of U.S. Airline Operating Expenses

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Franklin D.

2005-01-01

This report presents a new economic model of operating expenses for 67 airlines. The model is based on data that the airlines reported to the United States Department of Transportation in 1999. The model incorporates expense-estimating equations that capture direct and indirect expenses of both passenger and cargo airlines. The variables and business factors included in the equations are detailed enough to calculate expenses at the flight equipment reporting level. Total operating expenses for a given airline are then obtained by summation over all aircraft operated by the airline. The model's accuracy is demonstrated by correlation with the DOT Form 41 data from which it was derived. Passenger airlines are more accurately modeled than cargo airlines. An appendix presents a concise summary of the expense estimating equations with explanatory notes. The equations include many operational and aircraft variables, which accommodate any changes that airline and aircraft manufacturers might make to lower expenses in the future. In 1999, total operating expenses of the 67 airlines included in this study amounted to slightly over $100.5 billion. The economic model reported herein estimates $109.3 billion.

The UNO Aviation Monograph Series: The Airline Quality Rating 1998

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

1998-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating 1991 issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 1998, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1997. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Airline Quality Rating 1998 is a summary of month-by-month quality ratings for the ten major U.S. airlines operating during 1997. Using the Airline Quality Rating system and monthly performance data for each airline for the calendar year of 1997, individual and comparative ratings are reported. This research monograph contains a brief summary of the AQR methodology, detailed data and charts that track comparative quality for major airlines domestic operations for the 12 month period of 1997, and industry average results. Also, comparative Airline Quality Rating data for 1991 through 1996 are included to provide a longer term view of quality in the industry.

Discretionary salt use in airline meal service.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, S; Wellman, N S; Dierkes, K E; Johnson, P M

1987-02-01

Salt use in airline meal service was studied through observation of returned meal trays of 932 passengers. Observation and weighing of salt packets on returned trays revealed that 64% of passengers did not salt their airline dinner, while 6% used the entire salt packet, 0.92 gm NaCl (362 mg Na). Average discretionary salt use among the 234 passengers (25%) who added salt was 0.57 gm NaCl (232 mg Na). Estimates of total sodium in the four airline dinners averaged 2.0 gm NaCl (786 mg Na). Laboratory assays of menu items produced by the airline foodservice differed 3% to 19% from estimated values. Sodium content of the four airline dinner menus was similar and did not affect salt use. Discretionary salt use was related to the total amount of entrée consumed but was not affected by the amount of salad consumed. It is postulated that salt use in the "captive" airline situation is predicated on consistent, habitual practices. Lowering sodium consumption in this setting may require alteration in both food preparation methods and quantity of salt presented in the packets.

The UNO Aviation Monograph Series: The Airline Quality Rating 1997

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

1997-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating 1991 issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Rating 1997, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1996. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) 1997 is a summary of a month-by-month quality ratings for the nine major domestic U.S. airlines operating during 1996. Using the Airline Quality Rating system and monthly performance data for each airline for the calendar year of 1996, individual and comparative ratings are reported. This research monograph contains a brief summary of the AQR methodology, detailed data and charts that track comparative quality for major domestic airlines across the 12 month period of 1996, and industry average results. Also comparative Airline Quality Rating data for 1991 through 1995 are included to provide a longer term view of quality in the industry.

Service Quality in the U.S. Airline Industry: Variations in Performance Within Airlines and Between Airlines and the Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Rhoades, Dawna L.; Waguespack, Blaise, Jr.

2000-01-01

This study examined the service quality of 25 U.S. airlines (1987-1996) using data from the Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report. After a total quality and total complaint rate was calculated for these airlines, a 95 percent confidence interval was placed around the yearly and company means calculated to examine those cases that were significantly different from the mean. Results indicate that while the major carriers are converging toward a higher level of quality, there continues to be significant yearly variation. The service quality of regional carriers was much lower than major carriers and showed much greater variation.

The Evolution of U.S. Airline Competition

OpenAIRE

Severin Borenstein

1992-01-01

The next section reviews the evolution of the domestic airline industry since the late 1970s, when it was abruptly freed from most regulatory constraints on pricing, entry, and exit. (International air travel is considered here only as it relates to competition in the domestic industry.) The following sections will examine structure issues and strategic developments in airline competition and discuss public policy options in dealing with the airline industry.

Literature review of the passenger airline business models : Full service carrier, low-cost carrier and charter airlines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carmona Benitez, R.B.; Lodewijks, G.

2008-01-01

The deregulation and liberalization of the air transportation industry have developed three main passenger business models: full service carriers, low-cost carriers, and charter airlines. Deregulation removed regulated fares and routes increasing competition and yields. Airlines business models main

The dynamic response of human subjects while seated in car seats.

Science.gov (United States)

Pope, M H; Magnusson, M; Broman, N H; Hasson, T

1998-01-01

A pendulum impact method was used to establish the dynamic response of the seated subject. Threaded K wires were placed in the L3 spinous process. The gain and phase angle between the platform and the vertebra were established. The response of the subject was observed while seated on a platform and a variety of other seats. The seats were found to be very important in the attenuation of the impulse, leading to a higher transmissibility. Clinical Relevance Skeletal impact through the lower extremity is quite common in many occupations. The importance of posture and seat design in attenuation of impulses has been established.

The Design of a Large Scale Airline Network

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carmona Benitez, R.B.

2012-01-01

Airlines invest a lot of money before opening new pax transportation services, for this reason, airlines have to analyze if their profits will overcome the amount of money they have to invest to open new services. The design and analysis of the feasibility of airlines networks can be done by using

Airline company management: 'Defining of necessary number of employees in airline by using artificial intelligence tools'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrović Dragan M.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper the model for preliminary estimation of number of employees in airline by using of artificial intelligence tools. It is assumed that the tools of artificial intelligence can be applied even for complex tasks such as defining the number of employees in the airline. The results obtained can be used for planning the number of employees, ie. planning the necessary financial investments in human resources, and may also be useful for a preliminary analysis of the airlines that choose to do restructuring or plan to increase/decrease the number of operations. Results were compared with those obtained by regression analysis.

Jet fuels of higher volatility: An airline view

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trimble, M.H.

1982-05-01

Use of jet fuels of higher volatility is reviewed by some airlines periodically on a routine basis. Most often, however, airlines become concerned when aviation kerosine supply problems are encountered or anticipated. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the known principles of fuel selection and how they influence airline consideration.

The Operational Performance of UK Airlines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Assaf, A. Georg; Josiassen, Alexander

2011-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the efficiency of UK airlines in light of all the recent industry challenges. Design/methodology/approach – The study measured the technical efficiency of airlines through the innovative data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrap methodology. Findi...

An analysis of the proposed Airline Competition Enhancement Act

OpenAIRE

Smith, Janice S.

1990-01-01

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited This analysis examines problem issues in the passenger airline industry and determines how the proposed Airline Competition Enhancement Act would impact these issues. A summarization of the history of airline deregulation is followed by an assessment of the factors that are contributing to the call for re-regulation. From this assessment, recommendations for changes to the proposed Airline Competition Enhancement Act are made. Lieut...

Aviation Accidents: CRM to Maintaining the Share of Airlines. Case Study on Accidents Airlines in China

Science.gov (United States)

Alnuaimi, Qussay A. B.

2015-01-01

We present Aviation Cost Risk management (CRM) methodology designed for Airlines Company, who needs to run projects beyond their normal. These airlines are critical to the survival of these organizations, such as the development and performance. The Aviation crisis can have considerable impact upon the value of the firm. Risk managers must focus…

75 FR 45562 - Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-03

...This action extends the comment period for an NPRM on enhancing airline passenger protections that was published in the Federal Register on June 8, 2010. The Department of Transportation is extending the period for interested persons to submit comments on this rulemaking from August 9, 2010, to September 23, 2010. This extension is a result of requests from a number of airline associations, one airport association, and two airlines to extend the comment period for the proposal.

Attribute Perception Mapping Services Domestic Airlines Using Correspondence Analysis (59-67

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reni Heviandri Riandarini

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Positioning analysis provides a better understanding of the position based on the perception of passenger flights to service these attributes attached to each airline. This study aims to perform positioning of the domestic airline services based attributes, which characterize the airline based on the perception of consumers. Correspondence Analysis (CA is used to determine the positioning of the six commercial airlines in Indonesia. The results of correspondence analysis showed that the airline Garuda, Lion Air, Citilink and Air Asia already has its own characteristics inherent in the minds of consumers, while the two other airlines, namely Batik Air and Sriwijaya Air has not had a special identifier.Keywords: Positioning, Correspondence Analysis, Full Service Airline (FSA, Low Fare Airline (LFA

Airline business continuity and IT disaster recovery sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Haji, Jassim

2016-01-01

Business continuity is defined as the capability of the organisation to continue delivery of products or services at acceptable predefined levels following a disruptive incident. Business continuity is fast evolving to become a critical and strategic decision for any organisation. Transportation in general, and airlines in particular, is a unique sector with a specialised set of requirements, challenges and opportunities. Business continuity in the airline sector is a concept that is generally overlooked by the airline managements. This paper reviews different risks related to airline processes and will also propose solutions to these risks based on experiences and good industry practices.

The dynamic response of human subjects while seated in car seats.

OpenAIRE

Pope, M. H.; Magnusson, M.; Broman, N. H.; Hasson, T.

1998-01-01

A pendulum impact method was used to establish the dynamic response of the seated subject. Threaded K wires were placed in the L3 spinous process. The gain and phase angle between the platform and the vertebra were established. The response of the subject was observed while seated on a platform and a variety of other seats. The seats were found to be very important in the attenuation of the impulse, leading to a higher transmissibility. Clinical Relevance Skeletal impact through the lower ext...

Take your seats: Leftward asymmetry in classroom seating choice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria Lynn Harms

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Despite an overall body symmetry, human behaviour is full of examples of asymmetry, from writing or gesturing to kissing and cradling. Prior research has revealed that theatre patrons show a bias towards sitting on the right side of a movie theatre. Two competing theories have attempted to explain this seating asymmetry: one posits that expectation of processing demand drives the bias; the other posits that basic motor asymmetries drive the bias. To test these theories we assessed the real-world classroom seating choices of university students using photographs. A bias for students to choose seats on the left side of the classroom was observed, in contrast to the right side bias observed in theatre seating studies. These results provide evidence in support of a processing-expectation bias.

Outsourcing as an Airline Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Rutner, Stephen M.; Brown, John H.

1999-01-01

Since the deregulation of the airline industry, carriers have searched for any method to improve their competitive position. At the same time, there has been a growth in the use of Third Party Logistics throughout corporate America. This paper presents an overview of the Third Party Logistics system of outsourcing and insourcing within the airline industry. This discussion generated a number of propositions, possible future scenarios and opportunities for empirical testing.

Strategic management of a family-owned airline

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boyd, Britta; Hollensen, Svend

2012-01-01

The concept of absorptive capacity (ACAP) observing a firm’s ability to value, assimilate and utilize new external knowledge is applied in this paper. This case study analysis focuses on strategic management processes and competitiveness of the Cimber Sterling airline. The aim is to discover...... external factors and the strategic management of other selected low-cost airlines. The analysis shows to what extent Cimber Sterling Group A/S as a Danish family business copes with increasing competition and critical situations, such as the volcanic ash cloud and financial crisis. Identifying...... resources and capabilities leading to competitive advantages within the aviation industry. From an ACAP perspective Cimber Sterling Group A/S was analyzed by interviewing selected owners, managers and employees of the airline. A comparison within the airline industry is part of the ACAP concept regarding...

AsMA Medical Guidelines for Air Travel: Airline Special Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Thibeault, Claude; Evans, Anthony D

2015-07-01

Medical Guidelines for Airline Travel provide information that enables healthcare providers to properly advise patients who plan to travel by air. Treating physicians should advise patients in need of special services to contact the airline well before travel to find out if the required services will be available. Ensuring the required services are available throughout a journey can be challenging, especially when different airlines and aircraft types are involved. For example, airlines carry a limited supply of oxygen for use in the event of an unexpected in-flight emergency; however, this supply is not intended for use by passengers needing supplemental oxygen. Arrangements must be made in advance with the airline. Therefore, early contact with the airline is helpful.

Airline Careers. Aviation Careers Series. Revised.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaharevitz, Walter

This booklet, one in a series on aviation careers, outlines the variety of careers available in airlines. The first part of the booklet provides general information about careers in the airline industry, including salaries, working conditions, job requirements, and projected job opportunities. In the main part of the booklet, the following 22 job…

Assessing flight safety differences between the United States regional and major airlines

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, Broderick H.

During 2008, the U.S. domestic airline departures exceeded 28,000 flights per day. Thirty-nine or less than 0.2 of 1% of these flights resulted in operational incidents or accidents. However, even a low percentage of airline accidents and incidents continue to cause human suffering and property loss. The charge of this study was the comparison of U.S. major and regional airline safety histories. The study spans safety events from January 1982 through December 2008. In this quantitative analysis, domestic major and regional airlines were statistically tested for their flight safety differences. Four major airlines and thirty-seven regional airlines qualified for the safety study which compared the airline groups' fatal accidents, incidents, non-fatal accidents, pilot errors, and the remaining six safety event probable cause types. The six other probable cause types are mechanical failure, weather, air traffic control, maintenance, other, and unknown causes. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated each airline safety event, and assigned a probable cause to each event. A sample of 500 events was randomly selected from the 1,391 airlines' accident and incident population. The airline groups' safety event probabilities were estimated using the least squares linear regression. A probability significance level of 5% was chosen to conclude the appropriate research question hypothesis. The airline fatal accidents and incidents probability levels were 1.2% and 0.05% respectively. These two research questions did not reach the 5% significance level threshold. Therefore, the airline groups' fatal accidents and non-destructive incidents probabilities favored the airline groups' safety differences hypothesis. The linear progression estimates for the remaining three research questions were 71.5% for non-fatal accidents, 21.8% for the pilot errors, and 7.4% significance level for the six probable causes. These research questions' linear regressions are greater than

Solving the Airline Crew Pairing Problem using Subsequence Generation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Matias Sevel; Lusby, Richard Martin; Ryan, David M.

2010-01-01

Good and fast solutions to the airline crew pairing problem are highly interesting for the airline industry, as crew costs are the biggest expenditure after fuel for an airline. The crew pairing problem is typically modelled as a set partitioning problem and solved by column generation. However, ...

Solving the Airline Crew Pairing Problem using Subsequence Generation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Matias Sevel; Ryan, David; Lusby, Richard Martin

2009-01-01

Good and fast solutions to the airline crew pairing problem are highly interesting for the airline industry, as crew costs are the biggest expenditure after fuel for an airline. The crew pairing problem is typically modelled as a set partitioning problem and solved by column generation. However, ...

Blast resistant vehicle seat

Science.gov (United States)

Ripley, Edward B

2013-02-12

Disclosed are various seats for vehicles particularly military vehicles that are susceptible to attack by road-bed explosive devices such as land mines or improvised explosive devices. The seats often have rigid seat shells and may include rigid bracing for rigidly securing the seat to the chassis of the vehicle. Typically embodiments include channels and particulate media such as sand disposed in the channels. A gas distribution system is generally employed to pump a gas through the channels and in some embodiments the gas is provided at a pressure sufficient to fluidize the particulate media when an occupant is sitting on the seat.

Error Prevention as Developed in Airlines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Logan, Timothy J.

2008-01-01

The airline industry is a high-risk endeavor. Tens of thousands of flights depart each day carrying millions of passengers with the potential for catastrophic consequences. To manage and mitigate this risk, airline operators, labor unions, and the Federal Aviation Administration have developed a partnership approach to improving safety. This partnership includes cooperative programs such as the Aviation Safety Action Partnership and the Flight Operational Quality Assurance. It also involves concentrating on the key aspects of aircraft maintenance reliability and employee training. This report discusses recent enhancements within the airline industry in the areas of proactive safety programs and the move toward safety management systems that will drive improvements in the future

Consumer Marketing and the Airline Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, W. R.

1972-01-01

The fundamentals of consumer marketing as applied to the airline industry are considered. An attempt is made to boil down the mystique and jargon which frequently surround the subject of marketing. Topics covered include: (1) The marketing concept; (2) consumer expectations from airlines; (3) planning of marketing strategy; and (4) the roles of advertising, sales, and middlemen.

The Hybrid Airline Model. Generating Quality for Passengers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdan AVRAM

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This research aims to investigate the different strategies adopted by the airline companies in adapting to the ongoing changes while developing products and services for passengers in order to increase their yield, load factor and passenger satisfaction. Finding a balance between costs and services quality in the airline industry is a crucial task for every airline wanting to gain a competitive advantage on the market. Also, the rise of the hybrid business operating model has brought up many challenges for airlines as the line between legacy carriers and low-cost carriers is getting thinner in terms of costs and innovative ideas to create a superior product for the passengers.

A field-based approach for examining bicycle seat design effects on seat pressure and perceived stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Bressel, Eadric; Bliss, Shantelle; Cronin, John

2009-05-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of various bicycle seat designs on seat pressure and perceived stability in male and female cyclists using a unique field-based methodology. Thirty participants, comprising male and female cyclists, pedaled a bicycle at 118W over a 350m flat course under three different seat conditions: standard seat, a seat with a partial anterior cutout, and a seat with a complete anterior cutout. The pressure between the bicycle seat and perineum of the cyclist was collected with a remote pressure-sensing mat, and perceived stability was assessed using a continuous visual analogue scale. Anterior seat pressure and stability values for the complete cutout seat were significantly lower (p<0.05; 62-101%) than values for the standard and partial cutout designs. These findings were consistent between males and females. Our results would support the contention that the choice of saddle design should not be dictated by interface pressure alone since optimal anterior seat pressure and perceived seat stability appear to be inversely related.

Misuse of car safety seats.

Science.gov (United States)

Bull, M J; Stroup, K B; Gerhart, S

1988-01-01

Correct use of car seats for small children is essential to prevent serious injuries and death from automotive accidents. Failure to use a car seat properly can contribute to serious injury or death of a child. A case study in which misuse of a car seat occurred is reported. The infant died of hemorrhage and shock secondary to liver laceration which resulted from excessive pressure over the abdomen sustained on impact. Surveys of car seat use for small children prior to and following a child restraint law are also reported. Observers noted types of car seats and specific forms of misuse. Survey results suggest that parents are more likely to misuse car seats for infants than toddlers. Medical professionals can reinforce the importance of proper car seat use by incorporating specific car seat use questions into the patient interview and by providing educational materials.

Optimization in the airline industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barnhart, C.

1994-12-31

In this paper, we discuss applications of operations research techniques in the airline industry. Specifically, we present models and solution procedures for crew scheduling, fleet assignment and service design. The crew scheduling problem involves the assignment of crews to scheduled flights, and the fleet assignment problem involves the assignment of aircraft to flights. Service design requires the determination of both the flight schedule and the fleet assignment. We summarize our computational experiences in solving various problems for large domestic and international airlines.

Environmental and psychosocial factors affecting seat belt use among Turkish front-seat occupants in Ankara: two observation studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Simşekoğlu, Ozlem; Lajunen, Timo

2008-01-01

Low seat belt use rate among car occupants is one of the main problems contributing to low driver and passenger safety in Turkey, where injury and fatality rates of car occupants are very high in traffic crashes. The present article consists of two observation studies, which were conducted in Ankara. The first study aimed at investigating environmental factors and occupant characteristics affecting seat belt use among front-seat occupants, and the objective of the second study was to investigate the relationship between driver and front-seat passenger seat belt use. In the first study, 4, 227 front-seat occupants (drivers or front seat passengers) were observed on four different road sides and, in the second study 1, 398 front seat occupants were observed in car parks of five different shopping centers in Ankara. In both observations, front-seat occupants' seat bet use (yes, no), sex (male, female), and age ( 50 years) were recorded. The data were analyzed using chi-square statistics and binary logistic regression techniques. Results of the first study showed that seat belt use proportion among observed front seat occupants was very low (25%). Being female and traveling on intercity roads were two main factors positively related to use a seat belt among front-seat occupants. High correlations between seat belt use of the drivers and front-seat passengers were found in the second study. Overall, low seat belt use rate (25%) among the front-seat occupants should be increased urgently for an improved driver and passenger safety in Turkey. Seat belt campaigns especially tailored for male front-seat occupants and for the front-seat occupants traveling on city roads are needed to increase seat belt use rates among them. Also, both drivers and passengers may have an important role in enforcing seat belt use among themselves.

Airline meteorological requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Chandler, C. L.; Pappas, J.

1985-01-01

A brief review of airline meteorological/flight planning is presented. The effects of variations in meteorological parameters upon flight and operational costs are reviewed. Flight path planning through the use of meteorological information is briefly discussed.

European airlines enter the biofuels market. Business Project Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van den Heuvel, E.

2011-06-15

Biofuels might offer opportunities for achieving improved balance of power to the European airlines in their market environment. The aviation sector in Europe is a high competitive market. It faces high rivalry and increasing fuel costs due to rising oil prices. Moreover, from 2012 the sector will be subject to stringent rules with respect to maximum allowed carbon emissions. Investigating the competitive forces in the aviation sector and executing a strategic group analysis maps the competitors and the major players in the supply chain and the options they have for using alternative fuels for low carbon performance. Both the market and non-market strategies of several European airlines have been studied. It appears that airlines are aiming at first mover advantage by moving upstream in the biofuel value chain. They search for collaboration with other stakeholders to change government regulation to their benefit and influence public opinion and research agendas. Airlines are late entrants in the biofuels market. This research has shown that biofuels can improve the market power balance for European airlines. Biofuels are key to improve the carbon performance of airlines. However, this implies that airlines take position at the resource side of the value chain for biojetfuels. This has the advantage of controlling the security of supply and managing biofuels production complying to ruling sustainability criteria.

Fuel conservation integrated into airline economics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferguson, D.R.

1981-01-01

Fuel conservation efforts at most major airlines involve close scrutiny and intensive analysis in all areas - flight, maintenance and ground handling. Yet, despite the concern and attention devoted, the fundamental question of fuel saving versus time trade-offs remains unanswered. This paper introduces and defines the concept ''The value of an airplane to an airline is that airplane's earning power.

NASA Airline Operations Research Center

Science.gov (United States)

Mogford, Richard H.

2016-01-01

This is a PowerPoint presentation NASA airline operations center (AOC) research. It includes information on using IBM Watson in the AOC. It also reviews a dispatcher decision support tool call the Flight Awareness Collaboration Tool (FACT). FACT gathers information about winter weather onto one screen and includes predictive abilities. It should prove to be useful for airline dispatchers and airport personnel when they manage winter storms and their effect on air traffic. This material is very similar to other previously approved presentations with the same title.

Cooperative Game Study of Airlines Based on Flight Frequency Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wanming Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available By applying the game theory, the relationship between airline ticket price and optimal flight frequency is analyzed. The paper establishes the payoff matrix of the flight frequency in noncooperation scenario and flight frequency optimization model in cooperation scenario. The airline alliance profit distribution is converted into profit distribution game based on the cooperation game theory. The profit distribution game is proved to be convex, and there exists an optimal distribution strategy. The results show that joining the airline alliance can increase airline whole profit, the change of negotiated prices and cost is beneficial to profit distribution of large airlines, and the distribution result is in accordance with aviation development.

Southwest Airlines: lessons in loyalty.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Aurizio, Patricia

2008-01-01

Southwest Airlines continues to garner accolades in the areas of customer service, workforce management, and profitability. Since both the health care and airlines industries deal with a service rather than a product, the customer experience depends on the people who deliver that experience. Employees' commitment or "loyalty" to their customers, their employer, and their work translates into millions of dollars of revenue. What employee wants to work for "the worst employer in town?" Nine loyalty lessons from Southwest can be carried over to the health care setting for the benefit of employees and patients.

Adaptation strategies of airline travel agencies to the dynamics of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The role of airline travel agencies in a changing operational environment depends on their ability to adapt and survive in the airline travel industry. This paper examines the adaptation strategies airline travel agencies adopt to remain in business. Data for this paper was obtained through multi-stage sampling system that ...

Hybrid” airlines – Generating value between low-cost and traditional

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stoenescu Cristina

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Over the last years, the rise of low-cost airlines has determined significant changes in the airline industry and has shaped the evolution of the existing business models. Low-cost airlines started by offering basic services at very low prices; traditional airlines responded by equally cutting costs and reinventing the services offered, with an orientation towards braking down the fare and implementing add-ons, in order to become cost-efficient. As traditional airlines developed strategies to become competitive in this new environment, low-cost airlines started focusing on new ways of enhancing passenger experience and attracting new market segments. As a result, the fragmentation of the market segments addressed by low cost carriers and traditional airlines became less obvious and the characteristics of both business models started to blend at all levels (airline operation, distribution channels, loyalty programs, fleet selection. Thus, this new competition became the foundation of the development of a new „hybrid” carrier, between the low-cost and the traditional models. This article investigates the characteristics of the newly created business model, both from a theoretical perspective and by analysing several case studies. A particular attention will be granted to the evolution of the Romanian carrier Blue Air towards the “hybrid” model. The article focuses on determining the position of the “hybrid” airline in a market with carriers situated along both sides of this business model: lower cost vs. “better” experience and raises the question on how value can be generated in this context. Another aspect tackled is the understanding of the new segmentation of the market, as a consequence of the development of the new business model. In order to achieve this purpose, a survey has been conducted, aiming to mark out the travel preferences of the passengers travelling through the Henri Coandă International Airport.

How Do Airlines Perceive That Strategic Alliances Affect Their Individual Branding?

Science.gov (United States)

Kalligiannis, Konstantinos; Iatrou, Kostas; Mason, Keith

2006-01-01

Much research has been carried out to evaluate the impact of strategic alliance membership on the performance of airlines. However it would be of interest to identify how airlines perceive this impact in terms of branding by each of the three global alliance groupings. It is the purpose of this paper to gather the opinion of airlines, belonging to the three strategic alliance groups, on the impact that the strategic alliance brands have had on their individual brands and how do they perceive that this impact will change in the future. To achieve this, a comprehensive survey of the alliance management and marketing departments of airlines participating in the three global strategic alliances was required. The results from this survey give an indication whether the strategic airline alliances, which are often referred to as marketing agreements, enhance, damage or have no impact on the individual airline brands.

New physical model calculates airline crews' radiation exposure

Science.gov (United States)

Schultz, Colin

2013-12-01

Airline pilots and crews, who spend hundreds of hours each year flying at high altitude, are exposed to increased doses of radiation from galactic cosmic rays and solar energy particles, enough that airline crew members are actually considered radiation workers by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

Energy management in the Canadian airline industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1982-09-01

The purpose of this report was to outline the current status of the Canadian airline industry's energy performance and to outline energy management programs undertaken within the industry. The study also provides an aviation energy management information base developed through a comprehensive computer bibliographical review. A survey of the industry was undertaken, the results of which are incorporated in this report. The Canadian airline industry has recognized the importance of energy management and considerable measures have been introduced to become more energy efficient. The largest single contributor to improved productivity is the acquisition of energy efficient aircraft. Larger airlines in particular have implemented a number of conservation techniques to reduce fuel consumption. However, both large and small airlines would further benefit through incorporating techniques and programs described in the annotated bibliography in this study. Rising fuel prices and economic uncertainties will be contributing factors to a smaller average annual growth in fuel consumption during the 1980s. The lower consumption levels will also be a result of continuing energy conservation awareness, new technology improvements, and improvements in air traffic control. 98 refs., 4 figs., 6 tabs.

Planning and Scheduling of Airline Operations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

İlkay ORHAN

2010-02-01

Full Text Available The Turkish Civil Aviation sector has grown at a rate of 53 % between the years 2002-2008 owing to countrywide economical developments and some removed restrictions in the aviation field. Successful international companies in the sector use advanced computer-supported solution methods for their planning and scheduling problems. These methods have been providing significant competitive advantages to those companies. There are four major scheduling and planning problems in the airline sector: flight scheduling, aircraft scheduling, crew scheduling and disruptions management. These aforementioned scheduling and planning problems faced by all airline companies in the airline sector were examined in detail. Studies reveal that companies using the advanced methods might gain significant cost reductions. However, even then, the time required for solving large scale problems may not satisfy the decision quality desired by decision makers. In such cases, using modern decision methods integrated with advanced technologies offer companies an opportunity for significant cost-advantages.

Stock Investors’ Confidence on Low-Cost and Traditional Airlines in Asia During Financial Crisis 2007-2009 : Evidence from Air Asia and Singapore Airlines

OpenAIRE

Goh, Chin Fei; Tay, Karen

2010-01-01

The birth of low-cost carriers (LCC) in recent years, have added a new dimension to the aviation business, especially in Asia. There have been several success stories of these LCCs, compared with conventional full-serviced carriers. Two renowned airlines in Asia, Air Asia and Singapore Airlines have been chosen as our sample companies for the purpose of this research paper. Air Asia will represent the LCC segment, while Singapore Airlines is the proxy for traditional carriers. These two class...

Application of Core Theory to the Airline Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Raghavan, Sunder

2003-01-01

Competition in the airline industry has been fierce since the industry was deregulated in 1978. The proponents of deregulation believed that more competition would improve efficiency and reduce prices and bring overall benefits to the consumer. In this paper, a case is made based on core theory that under certain demand and cost conditions more competition can actually lead to harmful consequences for industries like the airline industry or cause an empty core problem. Practices like monopolies, cartels, price discrimination, which is considered inefficient allocation of resources in many other industries, can actually be beneficial in the case of the airline industry in bringing about an efficient equilibrium.

15 CFR 806.9 - Airlines and ship operators.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Airlines and ship operators. 806.9 Section 806.9 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE DIRECT INVESTMENT SURVEYS § 806.9 Airlines and ship...

Validation of the Automation Attitude Questionnaire for Airline Pilots ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AAQ), which assesses airline pilots' perceptions about operating advanced commercial aircraft. A total of 262 airline pilots from a large South African carrier participated in the validation of the instrument. A five-factor measurement model was ...

Market Potential Study for Standing Cabin Concept for Domestic Low-Cost Commercial Airlines in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Romli, Fairuz I.; Dasuki, Norhafizah; Yazdi Harmin, Mohammad

2016-02-01

An affordable air transportation has become the operational aim of many airlines these days. This is to cater the growing air travel demands from people of different social and economic status. One of the revolutionary proposals to reduce the operational costs, hence the flight ticket price, is by introducing the so-called standing cabin concept. This concept involves transporting passengers during the entire flight in their standing position with a proper support of a vertical seat. As can be expected with many new inventions, despite its clear advantages, the concept has been met with mixed reactions from the public. This study intends to establish whether the standing cabin concept has a market potential to be implemented for domestic flights in Malaysia. The public perception is determined from collected data through a survey done at two major local low-cost airport terminals. It can be concluded from the results that the concept has a good market potential for application on flights with duration of less than two hours.

The Role of Budget Airlines in the Air Transport Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panasiuk Irina P.

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The contemporary air transport market has been considered and analyzed, key aspects of the emergence of budget airlines (low-cost in the air transport market have been highlighted. The main factors of influence on their functioning and international distribution have been allocated. On exploring the air transport market, it can be argued that low-cost airlines are gaining speed and spreading all around the world. This system was developed specifically for budget tourists and is particularly popular among students. Budget airlines are a profitable alternative to expensive airfares. As a rule, low-cost airlines refuse most traditional services to reduce the cost of transporting passengers, and hence the prices of flights. In the current phase of operation of the budget airlines, it is particularly necessary to study the reasons for such charity and the efficiency factor in providing cheap airfares. In spite of the tempting offer, there are some nuances that are subject of research.

Industry Consolidation and Future Airline Network Structures in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Dennis, Nigel

2003-01-01

In the current downturn in demand for air travel, major airlines are revising and rationalizing their networks in an attempt to improve financial performance and strengthen their defences against both new entrants and traditional rivals. Expansion of commercial agreements or alliances with other airlines has become a key reaction to the increasingly competitive marketplace. In the absence, for regulatory reasons, of cross-border mergers these are the principal means by which the industry can consolidate internationally. This paper analyzes the developments which have been taking place and attempts to itentify the implications for airline network structures and the function of different hub airports. The range of services available to passengers in long-haul markets to/from Europe is evaluated before and after recent industry reorganization. Hubs are crucial to interlink the route networks of parmers in an alliance. However, duplication between nearby hub airports that find themselves within the same airline alliance can lead to loss of service at the weaker locations. The extent to which the alliance hubs in Europe duplicate or complement each other in terms of network coverage is assessed and this methodology also enables the optimal partnerships for "unattached" airlines to be identified. The future role of the various European hubs is considered under different scenarios of global alliance development. The paper concludes by considering possible longer-term developments. In an environment where the low-cost carriers will provide a major element of customer choice, it is suggested that the traditional airlines will retrench around their hubs, surrendering many secondary cities to the low-cost sector. Further reduction in the number of alliances could threaten more of the European hubs. For both regulatory and commercial reasons, the end result may be just one airline alliance - so recreating in the deregulated market the historic rule of IATA.

The Study of Airline Merger and Acquisition in the Great China Area

Science.gov (United States)

Shon, Zhengyi

2003-01-01

The Asian financial crisis in the late 20 th century has some long lasting effect on the air transportation industry in Asia, especially in the Great China Area. Starting from 1998, airlines in both China and Taiwan suffered some serious financial losses due to the diminishing travel demand caused by the economic recession. Airlines were forced to cut price to attract passengers and hence crashed the market discipline. A number of airline mergers and acquisitions were then driven by the markets and the governments. After China and Taiwan have both entered the World Trade Organization, some mega-merging cases were finalized in late 2002 for better fitting the world's aviation competitions. This paper reviews the nine merging and acquiring cases in the Great China Area in the past 5 years. Almost all the airlines in the area were involved. The new groups of airlines and the survival airlines are introduced. Market response to the airline mergers will also be examined. A general look over the performance of the new airlines will be discussed. And the future of the market will also be analyzed. Finally, the practices and the impacts of current inter-state mergers in the Great China Area will be examined. The study has expected a highly concentrated domestic market in both China and Taiwan. Each of the market will be dominated by three major airline groups of their own. Cross-holding equity within these 6 leading aviation groups would also be possible after further deregulations.

Behaviors, movements, and transmission of droplet-mediated respiratory diseases during transcontinental airline flights

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Howard; Elon, Lisa; Si, Wenpei; Norris, Sharon L.

2018-01-01

With over 3 billion airline passengers annually, the inflight transmission of infectious diseases is an important global health concern. Over a dozen cases of inflight transmission of serious infections have been documented, and air travel can serve as a conduit for the rapid spread of newly emerging infections and pandemics. Despite sensational media stories and anecdotes, the risks of transmission of respiratory viruses in an airplane cabin are unknown. Movements of passengers and crew may facilitate disease transmission. On 10 transcontinental US flights, we chronicled behaviors and movements of individuals in the economy cabin on single-aisle aircraft. We simulated transmission during flight based on these data. Our results indicate there is low probability of direct transmission to passengers not seated in close proximity to an infectious passenger. This data-driven, dynamic network transmission model of droplet-mediated respiratory disease is unique. To measure the true pathogen burden, our team collected 229 environmental samples during the flights. Although eight flights were during Influenza season, all qPCR assays for 18 common respiratory viruses were negative. PMID:29555754

Applications of Mechatronics in Seating Furniture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hynek Maňák

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Mechatronics is gradually being used in different fields of the production process and final products. In the field of home seating furniture, it has not been formally declared as such yet. The purpose of further development of seating furniture is to improve its ergonomic parameters, to improve user comfort in controlling and using seating furniture or to provide new additional functions of seating furniture. Application of mechatronic principles can be presumed within the framework of this development. An analysis of the current state of reclining seating furniture, which uses mechanical and electromechanical positioning mechanisms, is conducted in order to formulate possible fields of applying mechatronics. The analysis defines individual ergonomic parameters which are influenced in reclining of seating furniture. This analysis is used as a basis for formulating a hypothesis describing potential development fields of applying mechatronics in home seating furniture.

An analytical model for the assessment of airline expansion strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauricio Emboaba Moreira

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this article is to develop an analytical model to assess airline expansion strategies by combining generic business strategy models with airline business models. Methodology and approach: A number of airline business models are examined, as are Porter’s (1983 industry five forces that drive competition, complemented by Nalebuff/ Brandenburger’s  (1996 sixth force, and the basic elements of the general environment in which the expansion process takes place.  A system of points and weights is developed to create a score among the 904,736 possible combinations considered. The model’s outputs are generic expansion strategies with quantitative assessments for each specific combination of elements inputted. Originality and value: The analytical model developed is original because it combines for the first time and explicitly elements of the general environment, industry environment, airline business models and the generic expansion strategy types. Besides it creates a system of scores that may be used to drive the decision process toward the choice of a specific strategic expansion path. Research implications: The analytical model may be adapted to other industries apart from the airline industry by substituting the element “airline business model” by other industries corresponding elements related to the different specific business models.

Bankruptcy and Product-Market Competition: Evidence from the Airline Industry

OpenAIRE

Ciliberto, Federico; Schenone, Carola

2010-01-01

We investigate the effects of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings on product market competition using data from the US airline industry. We find that bankrupt airlines permanently downsize their national route structure, their airport-specific networks, and their route-specific flight frequency and capacity. We also find that bankrupt airlines lower their route-specific prices while under bankruptcy protection, and increase them after emerging. We do not find robust evidence of significant changes ...

Using the Electronics Development Advantage in Creating a Buzz for the Airline Passengers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdan AVRAM

2013-12-01

Full Text Available More and more airlines are trying to show their customers their ability to understand their needs, the market trends and the importance of technology in their lives. In response to the rapid development of the consumer electronics, the airline companies focus their attention on offering their customers the possibility to book a flight or check-in using a smartphone, spend time watching movies or be connected to the internet during the flight. Customers search for airlines who are more ”tech-geek” and opened to new technologies, which allows them to rate the airline companies through apps or connect more often with the airline through social-media. Technology has become an important part in developing and marketing the airline services for a better quality, more customer-focused and for better flight experience which ultimately makes the difference when choosing to fly an airline company.

Outsourcing in air transportation industry: the case of Turkish Airlines

OpenAIRE

Durmaz, Vildan; Adiller, Leyla

2010-01-01

Air transportation industry, in all over the world, is developing and changing day by day in a very competitive environment. Airline companies have to adopt themselves using different strategies to give more efficient and effective services to survive in that market. Outsourcing is one of these strategies to be able to reach the sustainability of airline companies. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of outsourcing for the airline companies. For this reason, first outso...

AIRLINE COMPETITION: Barriers to Entry Continue in Some Domestic Markets

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1998-01-01

.... Airline deregulation has led to lower fares and better service for most air travelers largely because of increased competition spurred by the entry of new airlines into the industry and established...

AAP Updates Recommendations on Car Seats

Science.gov (United States)

... Size Email Print Share AAP Updates Recommendations on Car Seats Page Content Article Body Children should ride ... of approved car safety seats. Healthy Children Radio: Car Seat Safety Dennis Durbin, MD, FAAP, lead author ...

AirAsia In The Malaysian Domestic Airline Market: Empirical Analysis Of Strategy

OpenAIRE

Mok Kim Man; Jainurin Bin Justine

2011-01-01

This paper will examine the results of the strategic actions of AirAsia in the Malaysian domestic airline market. Firstly, the paper will provide a general background of the airline industry, in particular the Malaysian domestic airline market and a summary of an analysis of the industry using Michael Porters Five Forces Analysis. Secondly, the paper will provide a brief background of AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines. Thirdly, the paper will analyse the results of AirAsias strategy vis--vis oper...

Airline Maintenance Manpower Optimization from the De Novo Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Liou, James J. H.; Tzeng, Gwo-Hshiung

Human resource management (HRM) is an important issue for today’s competitive airline marketing. In this paper, we discuss a multi-objective model designed from the De Novo perspective to help airlines optimize their maintenance manpower portfolio. The effectiveness of the model and solution algorithm is demonstrated in an empirical study of the optimization of the human resources needed for airline line maintenance. Both De Novo and traditional multiple objective programming (MOP) methods are analyzed. A comparison of the results with those of traditional MOP indicates that the proposed model and solution algorithm does provide better performance and an improved human resource portfolio.

Strategic Classification and Examination of the Development of Current Airline Alliance Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhi H.; Evans, Michael

2002-01-01

Previous research argues that despite the fact that strategic alliances have become an important feature of the world airline industry, little rigorous analysis has been done on the effects of these alliances. This is partially because there is a lack of precise definitions to specify different types of airline alliances in the literature. This research identifies several categories of airline alliances through a strategic classification of the current alliance activities involving the major airlines for the period 1989 to 1999. The classification enables this research to examine how strategic alliance activities are evolving, particularly to compare how airlines in North America, the European Union and the Asia Pacific region have committed to different alliances. Findings show that there is a significant difference between the number and scope of alliances adopted in the three aviation markets. These findings facilitate research to further analyse the impact of market liberalization on various formations of strategic airline alliances.

The occurrence of Salmonella in airline meals.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatakka, M; Asplund, K

1993-01-01

The occurrence of Salmonella in airline meals was studied in 1989-1992. Samples were collected from flight kitchens in 29 countries. The material consisted of 400 cold dishes and 1,288 hot dishes as well as salads, cheese plates and deserts. Total number of samples was 2211. Salmonella spp. were isolated from 6 samples; 1 contaminated sample was a cold dish prepared in Bangkok, 1 was a hot dish prepared in Mombasa and the remaining 4 contaminated samples were hot dishes prepared within one week in Beijing. The isolated serotypes were S. ohio, S. manchester and S. braenderup. The contaminated cold dish prepared by a flight kitchen in Bangkok was found to be connected with a Salmonella outbreak which occurred in Finland in 1990. Cold airline dishes containing food of animal origin seems to be more risky as a source of Salmonella infections among airline passengers.

Baseline energy forecasts and analysis of alternative strategies for airline fuel conservation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1976-01-01

The objectives of this study were to identify measures to reduce airline fuel consumption and to evaluate the impact of these alternatives on fuel consumption through 1990. To evaluate the impact of fuel conservation strategies, baseline forecasts of airline activity and energy consumption to 1990 were developed. Alternative policy options to reduce fuel consumption were identified and analyzed for three baseline levels of aviation activity within the framework of an aviation activity/energy consumption model. By combining the identified policy options, a strategy was developed to provide incentives for airline fuel conservation. Strategies and policy options were evaluated in terms of their impact on airline fuel conservation and the functioning of the airline industry as well as the associated social, environmental, and economic costs. The need for strategies to conserve airline fuel is based on air transportation's dependence upon petroleum; the current lack of alternative energy sources; the potential for disruption of air service due to crises in fuel availability such as experienced during the OPEC oil embargo; and the overall national goal of energy independence through energy conservation in all consuming sectors. The transition from the current situation to that described by strategies and policy options may require difficult adjustments by the airline industry in the short term. In the long term, however, conservation strategies can enhance the health of the airline industry as well as its fuel efficiency.

Financial Analysis Report: Malaysia Airlines 2007 - 2011

OpenAIRE

Gilbert O'Neil Mushure

2014-01-01

This work is an analysis of the annual reports of Malaysia Airlines Berhad from 2007 to 2011. Profitability analysis was done on the financial statements of the company from 2007 to 2011. Cash and working capital management analysis were done on the financial statements of 2010 and 2011. It was found that Malaysia Airlines Berhad was constantly suffering from high costs of operations which resulted in consecutive negative gross profit over the years.Net profit remained positive only as a resu...

Enhancing Global Competitiveness: Benchmarking Airline Operational Performance in Highly Regulated Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.; Kane, Karisa D.

1998-01-01

Enhancing competitiveness in the global airline industry is at the forefront of attention with airlines, government, and the flying public. The seemingly unchecked growth of major airline alliances is heralded as an enhancement to global competition. However, like many mega-conglomerates, mega-airlines will face complications driven by size regardless of the many recitations of enhanced efficiency. Outlined herein is a conceptual model to serve as a decision tool for policy-makers, managers, and consumers of airline services. This model is developed using public data for the United States (U.S.) major airline industry available from the U/S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and other public and private sector sources. Data points include number of accidents, pilot deviations, operational performance indicators, flight problems, and other factors. Data from these sources provide opportunity to develop a model based on a complex dot product equation of two vectors. A row vector is weighted for importance by a key informant panel of government, industry, and consumer experts, while a column vector is established with the factor value. The resulting equation, known as the national Airline Quality Rating (AQR), where Q is quality, C is weight, and V is the value of the variables, is stated Q=C[i1-19] x V[i1-19]. Looking at historical patterns of AQR results provides the basis for establishment of an industry benchmark for the purpose of enhancing airline operational performance. A 7 year average of overall operational performance provides the resulting benchmark indicator. Applications from this example can be applied to the many competitive environments of the global industry and assist policy-makers faced with rapidly changing regulatory challenges.

Prevalence of fatigue in a group of airline pilots.

Science.gov (United States)

Reis, Cátia; Mestre, Catarina; Canhão, Helena

2013-08-01

Fatigue is a common phenomenon in airline pilots that can impair alertness and ability of crewmembers to safely operate an aircraft and perform safety related tasks. Fatigue can increase the risk of an incident or even an accident. This study provides the first prevalence values for clinically significant fatigue in Portuguese airline pilots. The hypothesis that medium/short-haul pilots may currently present different levels of fatigue than long-haul pilots was also tested. A survey was conducted by requesting Portuguese airline pilots to complete questionnaires placed in the pilots' personal lockers from 1 April until 15 May 2012. The questionnaire included the self-response Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) to measure subjective fatigue and some additional questions concerning perception of fatigue by pilots. The prevalence values for total and mental fatigue achieved in the Portuguese airline pilots were: 89.3% (FSS > or = 4) and 94.1% (FSS > or = 4) when splitting the sample in two subsamples, long- and medium/short-haul pilots. Levels of total and mental fatigue were higher for medium/short-haul pilots. The analysis of fatigue levels in each type of aviator showed that medium/short-haul pilots presented the highest levels of total and mental fatigue. This study produced the first prevalence values of total and mental fatigue among Portuguese airline pilots, which represents a great step to understanding and addressing this critical phenomenon.

Public Relations in enhancing brand values: case study Virgin Atlantic and Vietnam Airlines

OpenAIRE

Tran Viet, Thang

2014-01-01

The ultimate purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate the Public Relations (PR) activities of Vietnam Airlines and give the airline some recommendations to improve its PR performance. In order to achieve this purpose, there are three issues needed to be solved: 1) how PR helps to enhance brand personality and brand values 2) the differences in PR activities between Vietnam Airlines and Virgin Atlantic and 3) what approaches Vietnam Airlines should implement to improve its PR performance. ...

Strategic Management of a Family-Owned Airline

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boyd, Britta; Hollensen, Svend

2011-01-01

The concept of absorptive capacity (ACAP) observing a firm’s ability to value, assimilate and utilize new external knowledge is applied in this paper. This comparative study focuses on strategic management processes and competitiveness of different airlines. The aim is to discover differences...... in resources and capabilities leading to competitive advantages within the aviation industry. From a competence and ACAP perspective family and non-family airlines are analysed by interviewing the owners, managers and selected employees of the businesses. The analysis shows how Cimber Sterling Group A...

Fire resistant aircraft seat materials

Science.gov (United States)

Trabold, E. L.

1978-01-01

The establishment of a technical data base for individual seat materials in order to facilitate materials selections is reviewed. The thermal response of multi-layer constructions representative of the basic functional layers of a typical future seat is examined. These functional layers include: (1) decorative fabric cover; (2) slip sheet (topper); (3) fire blocking layer; (4) cushion reinforcement; and (5) cushioning layer. The implications for material selection for full-scale seats are discussed.

Dynamic Oligopoly Pricing: Evidence from the Airline Industry

OpenAIRE

Siegert, Caspar; Ulbricht, Robert

2014-01-01

We explore how pricing dynamics in the European airline industry vary with the competitive environment. Our results highlight substantial variations in pricing dynamics that are consistent with a theory of intertemporal price discrimination. First, the rate at which prices increase towards the scheduled travel date is decreasing in competition, supporting the idea that competition restrains the ability of airlines to price-discriminate. Second, the sensitivity to competition is substantially ...

Baseline energy forecasts and analysis of alternative strategies for airline fuel conservation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1976-07-01

To evaluate the impact of fuel conservation strategies, baseline forecasts of airline activity and energy consumption to 1990 were developed. Alternative policy options to reduce fuel consumption were identified and analyzed for three baseline levels of aviation activity within the framework of an aviation activity/energy consumption model. By combining the identified policy options, a strategy was developed to provide incentives for airline fuel conservation. Strategies and policy options were evaluated in terms of their impact on airline fuel conservation and the functioning of the airline industry as well as the associated social, environmental, and economic costs. (GRA)

Marketing implications of loyalty programs on customer relationship management within the airline industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karamata Ema

2017-01-01

Full Text Available One of the most remarkable tendencies on the market of airline services is that nowadays almost every airline company strive to build long-term relationships with customers/users of airline services through loyalty programs. The subject of the paper is to explore the role of Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs in the scope of customer relationship management in airline industry and to determine whether affiliation to FFPs affects customers to buy tickets from the same airline carrier. For this purpose, an empirical analysis was conducted based on the data obtained from the survey conducted at the Belgrade airport Nikola Tesla, in September 2015. Hypothesis is formed in accordance with the stated aim of the work and was tested by using descriptive and graphical presentation as well as Chi-square statistical test. The results have shown that loyalty programs influence customers when choosing airlines, meaning that Frequent Flyer members tend to use air transportation services of airline carriers which are part of Frequent Flyer Program they belong to, whenever price and timing suit them. Furthermore, the chance of choosing the airline whose Frequent Flyer Program one is member of, increases proportionally to the length of membership and, more importantly, the number of flights that one has realized so far. Based on the tested hypothesis and observed preferences of the travelers, possible marketing implications of the results are pointed out in this article, as well as the analysis of the status and rating of our national airline according to surveyed passengers.

Marginal revenue transformation in airline seat inventory control with two fare families and two markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kallehauge, Brian

to not offering any lower classes for sale. Furthermore, let Q(S) denote the total probability of purchase of set S and R(S) the total expected revenue from offering set S. The application of the MR transformation to the scenario with two fare families and two markets can be described in three overall principles....... 1) MR transformation from fare families to fare classes The first principle is that given a specific market the adjusted fare defined by the MR transformation is calculated for the subsets of fare classes on the efficient frontier of the set of points {Q(S),R(S)}, for all S. In the case of two fare...... families the sets on the efficient frontier does not necessarily represent nested policies. 2) Nesting of fare family policies The second principle is that given a specific market the subsets on the efficient frontier are forced to be nested. The primary purpose of this principle is that it enables...

Building customer relationships as retention strategy in the South African domestic passenger airline industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre Mostert

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Organisations are increasingly focusing on building long-term relationships with customers, thereby increasing their probability for success by offering customers higher levels of satisfaction, increasing customer loyalty, and ultimately retaining customers. Airlines in particular can benefit from retaining customers as the airline industry is characterised by fierce competition and many airlines are finding it difficult to survive against the backdrop of enormous challenges in the past decade, including the significant decline in demand for air travel together with rising costs and the worldwide economic downturn. This study investigates the effect which a strategy by airlines of building relationships with customers has on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately customer retention. The effect of service failures on customers' relationships with airlines are also considered as a negative experience could results in customers defecting to competitors. A questionnaire, comprising six sections, was specifically compiled to determine customer retention in the South African domestic passenger airline industry. Data were collected by trained fieldworkers from OR Tambo International Airport by means of a non-probability convenience sampling method from 324 passengers flying with the various domestic airlines. Findings indicate that most respondents were satisfied with the airlines' overall service; respondents who formed relationships with domestic airlines were more loyal toward the airlines; and the relationships of respondents who were satisfied with airlines' service recovery efforts were either strengthened or unchanged. The findings from this study support findings from international studies by providing a unique South African perspective on the effect of a strategy of building relationships with customers on their satisfaction, loyalty and ultimately retention. It can therefore be recommended that the organisations competing in the South

航线飞行特质人格和航线飞行工作情境人格对飞行员心理健康的影响%Study on the Influences of Airline Fight Trait Personality and Airline Flight Working Situation Personality on the Mental Health of Airline Pilots

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

戴琨

2012-01-01

目的 考察航线飞行特质人格和航线飞行工作情境人格对航线飞行员心理健康的影响. 方法 采用自编量表“航线飞行员人格量表”和临床症状自评量表(SCL-90)对南方航空公司及其分公司的286名男性飞行员进行心理测量研究. 结果 心理健康的各个因子均值在1.36～1.64之间,心理健康总评分也在2分以下.另外,阳性项目数平均值为25.57,远远小于40的异常标准,并且无明显峰值出现.总体健康水平和航线飞行特质人格的相关系数(-0.75)显著高于和航线飞行工作情境人格的相关系数(-0.17);航线飞行特质人格和航线飞行工作情境人格均单独对心理健康有直接影响作用;另外,航线飞行特质人格还可通过影响航线飞行工作情境人格进而影响心理健康. 结论 航线飞行员整体心理健康状况良好;两种人格对心理健康均有预测作用,其中航线飞行特质人格显示了较强的预测作用,航线飞行工作情境人格在航线飞行特质人格对心理健康的影响中发挥着部分中介作用.%Objective To investigate the influences of Airline Flight Trait Personality and Airline Flight Working Situation Personality on the mental health of airline pilots. Methods The self - developed Personality Scale for Airline Pilots and SCL - 90 were used to conduct psychometric researches on 286 male airline pilots from the China Southern Airlines and its branch offices. Results The mean values of all the factors for mental health ranged from 1.36 to 1.64. The total score of mental health was below 2. The mean of positive items was 25.57, which was far below the abnormal standard 40. Moreover, the obvious peak value did not appear. The correlation coefficient between general health level and Airline Flight Trait Personality (-0.75) was significantly higher than that between general health level and Airline Flight Working Situation Personality ( - 0.17). Both Airline Flight Trait

An international foodborne outbreak of shigellosis associated with a commercial airline.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedberg, C W; Levine, W C; White, K E; Carlson, R H; Winsor, D K; Cameron, D N; MacDonald, K L; Osterholm, M T

1992-12-09

To determine the source of an international outbreak of shigellosis associated with consumption of food served by a Minnesota-based airline. Cohort studies of players and staff of a Minnesota-based professional football team and passengers on flights with a confirmed case of outbreak-associated Shigella sonnei infection. Community- and industry-based studies conducted from October through November 1988. Sixty-five football team players and staff, and 725 airline passengers in the cohort studies. Twenty-one (32%) of 65 football players and staff developed shigellosis that was associated with consumption of cold sandwiches prepared at the airline flight kitchen (relative risk [RR], 17.1; 95% confidence interval [Cl], 2.4 to 120; P airline passengers, and flight attendants. Thirty (4.1%) of 725 passengers on 13 flights with confirmed cases had confirmed or probable shigellosis. Illness was associated with consumption of cold food items served on the flights and prepared by hand at the airline flight kitchen (RR, 5.7; 95% Cl, 1.4 to 23.5; P food items or elimination of these items from menus.

Airline Safety Improvement Through Experience with Near-Misses: A Cautionary Tale.

Science.gov (United States)

Madsen, Peter; Dillon, Robin L; Tinsley, Catherine H

2016-05-01

In recent years, the U.S. commercial airline industry has achieved unprecedented levels of safety, with the statistical risk associated with U.S. commercial aviation falling to 0.003 fatalities per 100 million passengers. But decades of research on organizational learning show that success often breeds complacency and failure inspires improvement. With accidents as rare events, can the airline industry continue safety advancements? This question is complicated by the complex system in which the industry operates where chance combinations of multiple factors contribute to what are largely probabilistic (rather than deterministic) outcomes. Thus, some apparent successes are realized because of good fortune rather than good processes, and this research intends to bring attention to these events, the near-misses. The processes that create these near-misses could pose a threat if multiple contributing factors combine in adverse ways without the intervention of good fortune. Yet, near-misses (if recognized as such) can, theoretically, offer a mechanism for continuing safety improvements, above and beyond learning gleaned from observable failure. We test whether or not this learning is apparent in the airline industry. Using data from 1990 to 2007, fixed effects Poisson regressions show that airlines learn from accidents (their own and others), and from one category of near-misses-those where the possible dangers are salient. Unfortunately, airlines do not improve following near-miss incidents when the focal event has no clear warnings of significant danger. Therefore, while airlines need to and can learn from certain near-misses, we conclude with recommendations for improving airline learning from all near-misses. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Drivers' attitudes toward front or rear child passenger belt use and seat belt reminders at these seating positions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, David G; McCartt, Anne T

2014-01-01

Passengers, especially those in rear seating positions, use seat belts less frequently than drivers. In-vehicle technology can inform drivers when their passengers are unbuckled and encourage passengers to use belts. The current study collected information about drivers' attitudes toward passenger belt use and belt reminders for front passengers and children in back seats. A national telephone survey of 1218 people 18 and older was conducted, of which 477 respondents were drivers who transport a front seat passenger at least once a week and 254 were drivers who transport an 8- to 15-year-old child in the back seat. Respondents were asked about their attitudes toward belt use by their front passengers or rear child passengers and preferences for different passenger belt reminder features. Ninety percent of drivers who regularly transport front seat passengers said that the passengers always use seat belts. Reported belt use was even higher among 8- to 15-year-old children in the back seat (97%). Among the drivers whose children do not always buckle up, about half said their child unbuckled the belt during the trip. Almost every full-time belt use driver (96%) would encourage front passengers to buckle up if not belted, compared to 57 percent of part-time belt users and nonusers. In contrast, nearly every driver who transports children in the back seat would encourage their belt use, regardless of the driver's belt use habits. Most drivers who transport front passengers wanted passenger belt reminders to encourage passengers to buckle up. Most of these drivers wanted a chime/buzzer or warning light or text display and wanted the reminder to last indefinitely. Most drivers who transport child passengers in the rear seat wanted the vehicle to indicate whether child passengers are unbuckled. A large majority of these drivers wanted notifications via a visual diagram of seating positions and belt use, a chime/buzzer, and a warning light or text display. These drivers

An assessment of the expansion strategy followed by Avianca Airlines: Period 2008-2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauricio Emboaba Moreira

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This article aims to apply to the case of Avianca Airlines the Analytical Model for the Assessment of Airline Expansion Strategies developed by Moreira (2014 in order to explain the rationale of the expansion strategy followed by this airline and indicate other possible expansion strategies.  Design/methodology/approach: This article is a case study in the sense that it aims to arrive to broad generalizations based on the collected evidences, focusing on one of the most traditional airlines in the world. This article is a positivist case study, based in the positivist understanding; because it is supported by objective facts of the situation which are informed by the researcher’s interpretive understanding according to it is recommended for this type of study. Findings: The application of the Analytical Model for the Assessment of Airline Expansion Strategies above referred was successful, considering that the model was able to explain a wide range of complex aspects of the Avianca’s development. Thus, being one of the oldest airlines in continued operation in the world, the expansion process of this airline is connected to many political, sociological and economic facets - ie., its general environment - of its mother country, Colombia. The analytical model offered the opportunity to explore these issues in a detailed manner, adding a broader comprehension of this airline that goes beyond its operating and economic analysis. Originality/value: They reside on the fact that this is the first time that this analytical model is applied to study extensively an actual situation. Besides, airlines in Latin America have not been widely covered by the academia and this is an opportunity to begin to fill this gap. Furthermore, the referred analytical model is applicable to organizations or firms that operate in other industries if the proper adjustments are made. Implications: The implications for the academic research are to understand that

Oil Shocks and Stock Prices of Airlines - An East Asia Perspective

OpenAIRE

Lee, Pau Boon

2005-01-01

The aim of this dissertation is to study and analyse the impact of oil price shock on the share prices of airline companies in East Asia, in particular international air carriers from Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia by looking at how the companies‘ share prices respond to the news of oil shocks. The companies involved in this study were Japan Airlines ("JAL"), All Nippon Airways ("ANA"), Cathay Pacific Airways ("Cathay"), Korean Air ("KAL"), Malaysian Airlines ("MAS") an...

Proposing a framework for airline service quality evaluation using Type-2 Fuzzy TOPSIS and non-parametric analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Navid Haghighat

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on evaluating airline service quality from the perspective of passengers' view. Until now a lot of researches has been performed in airline service quality evaluation in the world but a little research has been conducted in Iran, yet. In this study, a framework for measuring airline service quality in Iran is proposed. After reviewing airline service quality criteria, SSQAI model was selected because of its comprehensiveness in covering airline service quality dimensions. SSQAI questionnaire items were redesigned to adopt with Iranian airlines requirements and environmental circumstances in the Iran's economic and cultural context. This study includes fuzzy decision-making theory, considering the possible fuzzy subjective judgment of the evaluators during airline service quality evaluation. Fuzzy TOPSIS have been applied for ranking airlines service quality performances. Three major Iranian airlines which have the most passenger transfer volumes in domestic and foreign flights were chosen for evaluation in this research. Results demonstrated Mahan airline has got the best service quality performance rank in gaining passengers' satisfaction with delivery of high-quality services to its passengers, among the three major Iranian airlines. IranAir and Aseman airlines placed in the second and third rank, respectively, according to passenger's evaluation. Statistical analysis has been used in analyzing passenger responses. Due to the abnormality of data, Non-parametric tests were applied. To demonstrate airline ranks in every criterion separately, Friedman test was performed. Variance analysis and Tukey test were applied to study the influence of increasing in age and educational level of passengers on degree of their satisfaction from airline's service quality. Results showed that age has no significant relation to passenger satisfaction of airlines, however, increasing in educational level demonstrated a negative impact on

Solving a manpower scheduling problem for airline catering using metaheuristics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ho, Sin C.; Leung, Janny M. Y.

2010-01-01

We study a manpower scheduling problem with job time-windows and job-skills compatibility constraints. This problem is motivated by airline catering operations, whereby airline meals and other supplies are delivered to aircrafts on the tarmac just before the flights take-off.  Jobs (flights) must...

Behaviors, movements, and transmission of droplet-mediated respiratory diseases during transcontinental airline flights.

Science.gov (United States)

Hertzberg, Vicki Stover; Weiss, Howard; Elon, Lisa; Si, Wenpei; Norris, Sharon L

2018-04-03

With over 3 billion airline passengers annually, the inflight transmission of infectious diseases is an important global health concern. Over a dozen cases of inflight transmission of serious infections have been documented, and air travel can serve as a conduit for the rapid spread of newly emerging infections and pandemics. Despite sensational media stories and anecdotes, the risks of transmission of respiratory viruses in an airplane cabin are unknown. Movements of passengers and crew may facilitate disease transmission. On 10 transcontinental US flights, we chronicled behaviors and movements of individuals in the economy cabin on single-aisle aircraft. We simulated transmission during flight based on these data. Our results indicate there is low probability of direct transmission to passengers not seated in close proximity to an infectious passenger. This data-driven, dynamic network transmission model of droplet-mediated respiratory disease is unique. To measure the true pathogen burden, our team collected 229 environmental samples during the flights. Although eight flights were during Influenza season, all qPCR assays for 18 common respiratory viruses were negative. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Evaluating energy efficiency for airlines: An application of Virtual Frontier Dynamic Slacks Based Measure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cui, Qiang; Li, Ye; Yu, Chen-lu; Wei, Yi-Ming

2016-01-01

The fast growing Revenue Passenger Kilometers and the relatively lagged energy supply of aviation industry impels the airlines to improve energy efficiency. In this paper, we focus on evaluating and analyzing influencing factors for airline energy efficiency. Number of employees and aviation kerosene are chosen as the inputs. Revenue Ton Kilometers, Revenue Passenger Kilometers and total business income are the outputs. Capital stock is selected as the dynamic factor. A new model, Virtual Frontier Dynamic Slacks Based Measure, is proposed to calculate the energy efficiencies of 21 airlines from 2008 to 2012. We verify two important properties to manifest the advantages of the new model. Then a regression is run to analyze the influencing factors of airline energy efficiency. The main findings are: 1. The overall energy efficiency of Malaysia Airlines is the highest during 2008–2012.2. Per capita Gross Domestic Product, the average service age of fleet size and average haul distance have significant impacts on the efficiency score. 3. The difference between full-service carriers and low-cost carriers has no significant effects on airline energy efficiency. - Highlights: • A Virtual Frontier Dynamic Slacks Based Measure is developed. • 21 airlines' energy efficiencies are evaluated. • Malaysia Airlines has the highest overall energy efficiency. • Three explanatory variables have significant impacts.

The Impact of Seating Location and Seating Type on Student Performance

OpenAIRE

Meeks, Michael; Knotts, Tami; James, Karen; Williams, Felice; Vassar, John; Wren, Amy

2013-01-01

While an extensive body of research exists regarding the delivery of course knowledge and material, much less attention has been paid to the performance effect of seating position within a classroom. Research findings are mixed as to whether students in the front row of a classroom outperform students in the back row. Another issue that has not been fully examined in higher education is the effect of environmental factors, specifically seating type, on student performance. This study examines...

B2B E-marketplaces in the Airline Industry: Process Drivers and Performance indicators

OpenAIRE

Wagner, Claudia-Maria; Huber, Bernd; Sweeney, Edward; Smyth, Austin

2005-01-01

Competitive pressures are increasing within and between different strategically oriented groups of airlines. This paper focuses on the level of efficiency improvements gained by using e-Marketplaces in the procurement process. Findings from a survey among 88 international airlines reveal that the use of Business-to-Business (B2B) e-Marketplaces does play different roles across the various airline groupings. Airlines that are involved in strategic alliances show higher joint procurement activi...

Calculating load factors for the transatlantic airline market using supply and demand data: a note on the identification of gaps in the available airline statistics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Devriendt, L.; Burghouwt, G.; Derudder, B.; de Wit, J.; Witlox, F.

2009-01-01

This paper takes a critical view of the verification of load factors for the direct transatlantic airline market by combining supply and demand-data. The supply-related data originate from the Official Airline Guide, a well-known data source that contains information on scheduled flights. The

Approaches to construction of systems of safety management in airlines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents three approaches of building a safety management system (SMS in airlines in the framework of implementation of ICAO SARPs that apply methods of risk assessment based on use of operational activity of airline taking into account existing and implementing "protections" or "safety barriers".

Drive alive: teen seat belt survey program.

Science.gov (United States)

Burkett, Katie M; Davidson, Steve; Cotton, Carol; Barlament, James; Loftin, Laurel; Stephens, James; Dunbar, Martin; Butterfield, Ryan

2010-08-01

To increase teen seat belt use among drivers at a rural high school by implementing the Drive Alive Pilot Program (DAPP), a theory-driven intervention built on highway safety best practices. The first component of the program was 20 observational teen seat belt surveys conducted by volunteer students in a high school parking lot over a 38-month period before and after the month-long intervention. The survey results were published in the newspaper. The second component was the use of incentives, such as gift cards, to promote teen seat belt use. The third component involved disincentives, such as increased police patrol and school policies. The fourth component was a programmatic intervention that focused on education and media coverage of the DAPP program. Eleven pre-intervention surveys and nine post-intervention surveys were conducted before and after the intervention. The pre- and post-intervention seat belt usage showed significant differences (p<0.0001). The average pre-intervention seat belt usage rate was 51.2%, while the average post-intervention rate was 74.5%. This represents a percentage point increase of 23.3 in seat belt use after the DAPP intervention. Based on seat belt observational surveys, the DAPP was effective in increasing seat belt use among rural high school teenagers. Utilizing a theory-based program that builds on existing best practices can increase the observed seat belt usage among rural high school students.

THE EVALUATION OF WORKING CAPITAL IN AIRLINE COMPANIES WHICH PROCEED IN BIST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Selcuk Kendirli

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The working capital like cash and liquid assets runs the facilities and supports daily activities of firms. This kind of capital is essential to continuity of activities, increase of volume, maintain credibility, reduce impacts of risks and to overcome with extraordinary situation. The working capital management is very important for making profits from activities, especially for dynamic sectors like aviation. The aviation industry which airline companies operate is a very dynamic sector. In this sector working capital has to be managed very professionally and carefully by airline companies. This study aims to assess the airline companies’ working capital in terms of effectiveness. Airline companies which shares traded on BIST will be sample of this study.

Vaccines and Airline Travel: A Federal Role to Protect the Public Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Christopher T

2016-05-01

This Article explores two ways in which airline travel is an important vector for the spread of infectious disease, and argues that airlines have market-based and liability-based reasons to require that passengers be vaccinated. Going further, the Article explores whether the federal government has the legal and constitutional authority-especially under the Commerce Clause-to encourage or mandate that airlines implement such a vaccine screen. By disrupting the spread of disease at key network nodes where individuals interact and then connect with other geographic regions, and by creating another incentive for adult vaccination, an airline vaccine screen could be an effective and legally viable tool for the protection of public health.

Fire resistant aircraft seat program

Science.gov (United States)

Fewell, L. A.

1979-01-01

Foams, textiles, and thermoformable plastics were tested to determine which materials were fire retardant, and safe for aircraft passenger seats. Seat components investigated were the decorative fabric cover, slip covers, fire blocking layer, cushion reinforcement, and the cushioning layer.

Allergic reactions to peanuts, tree nuts, and seeds aboard commercial airliners.

Science.gov (United States)

Comstock, Sarah S; DeMera, Rich; Vega, Laura C; Boren, Eric J; Deane, Sean; Haapanen, Lori A D; Teuber, Suzanne S

2008-07-01

Minimal data exist on the prevalence and characteristics of in-flight reactions to foods. To characterize reactions to foods experienced by passengers aboard commercial airplanes and to examine information about flying with a food allergy available from airlines. Telephone questionnaires were administered to individuals in a peanut, tree nut, and seed allergy database who self-reported reactions aboard aircraft. Airlines were contacted to obtain information on food allergy policies. Forty-one of 471 individuals reported allergic reactions to food while on airplanes, including 4 reporting more than 1 reaction. Peanuts accounted for most of the reactions. Twenty-one individuals (51%) treated their reactions during flight. Only 12 individuals (29%) reported the reaction to a flight attendant. Six individuals went to an emergency department after landing, including 1 after a flight diversion. Airline personnel were notified of only 3 of these severe reactions. Comparison of information given to 3 different investigators by airline customer service representatives showed that inconsistencies regarding important information occurred, such as whether the airline regularly serves peanuts. In this group of mainly adults with severe nut/seed allergy, approximately 9% reported experiencing an allergic reaction to food while on board an airplane. Some reactions were serious and potentially life-threatening. Individuals commonly did not inform airline personnel about their experiences. In addition, the quality of information about flying with food allergies available from customer service departments is highly variable and, in some cases, incomplete or inaccurate.

Solving a robust airline crew pairing problem with column generation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Muter, I.; Birbil, S.I.; Bülbül, K.; Sahin, G.; Yenigün, H.; Tas, D.; Tüzün, D.

2013-01-01

In this study, we solve a robust version of the airline crew pairing problem. Our concept of robustness was partially shaped during our discussions with small local airlines in Turkey which may have to add a set of extra flights into their schedule at short notice during operation. Thus, robustness

Validation of seat-off and seat-on in repeated sit-to-stand movements using a single-body-fixed sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Lummel, R C; Ainsworth, E; Hausdorff, J M; Lindemann, U; Beek, P J; Van Dieën, J H

2012-01-01

The identification of chair rise phases is a prerequisite for quantifying sit-to-stand movements. The aim of this study is to validate seat-off and seat-on detection using a single-body-fixed sensor against detection based on chair switches. A single sensor system with three accelerometers and three gyroscopes was fixed around the waist. Synchronized on–off switches were placed under the chair. Thirteen older adults were recruited from a residential care home and fifteen young adults were recruited among college students. Subjects were asked to complete two sets of five trials each. Six features of the trunk movement during seat-off and seat-on were calculated automatically, and a model was developed to predict the moment of seat-off and seat-on transitions. The predictions were validated with leave-one-out cross-validation. Feature extraction failed in two trials (0.7%). For the optimal combination of seat-off predictors, cross-validation yielded a mean error of 0 ms and a mean absolute error of 51 ms. For the best seat-on predictor, cross-validation yielded a mean error of –3 ms and a mean absolute error of 127 ms. The results of this study demonstrate that seat-off and seat-on in repeated sit-to-stand movements can be detected semi-automatically in young and older adults using a one-body-fixed sensor system with an accuracy of 51 and 127 ms, respectively. The use of the ambulatory instrumentation is feasible for non-technically trained personnel. This is an important step in the development of an automated method for the quantification of sit-to-stand movements in clinical practice. (paper)

Rear-facing car seat (image)

Science.gov (United States)

A rear-facing car seat position is recommended for a child who is very young. Extreme injury can occur in an accident because ... child. In a frontal crash a rear-facing car seat is best, because it cradles the head, ...

NASA Standards Inform Comfortable Car Seats

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

NASA developed standards, which included the neutral body posture (NBP), to specify ways to design flight systems that support human health and safety. Nissan Motor Company, with US offices in Franklin, Tennessee, turned to NASA's NBP research for the development of a new driver's seat. The 2013 Altima now features the new seat, and the company plans to incorporate the seats in upcoming vehicles.

The importance of choice attributes and the positions of the airlines ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1Consumers base their purchase decisions and behaviour on their own ... product, price, place and promotion – should be designed to add up to the .... airline industry, few studies have looked at the attributes affecting domestic airline choice ...

Drive Alive: Teen Seat Belt Survey Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loftin, Laurel

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Objective: To increase teen seat belt use among drivers at a rural high school by implementing the Drive Alive Pilot Program (DAPP, a theory-driven intervention built on highway safety best practices.Methods: The first component of the program was 20 observational teen seat belt surveys conducted by volunteer students in a high school parking lot over a 38-month period before and after the month-long intervention. The survey results were published in the newspaper. The second component was the use of incentives, such as gift cards, to promote teen seat belt use. The third component involved disincentives, such as increased police patrol and school policies. The fourth component was a programmatic intervention that focused on education and media coverage of the DAPP program.Results: Eleven pre-intervention surveys and nine post-intervention surveys were conducted before and after the intervention. The pre- and post-intervention seat belt usage showed significant differences (p<0.0001. The average pre-intervention seat belt usage rate was 51.2%, while the average post-intervention rate was 74.5%. This represents a percentage point increase of 23.3 in seat belt use after the DAPP intervention.Conclusion: Based on seat belt observational surveys, the DAPP was effective in increasing seat belt use among rural high school teenagers. Utilizing a theory-based program that builds on existing best practices can increase the observed seat belt usage among rural high school students. [West J Emerg Med. 2010; 11(3: 280-283.

Spatio-temporal growth pattern and patronage level of airline travel ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study assesses the growth pattern of airline travel agencies over a period of forty years across locations in Nigeria as well as the patronage level of agency business. The need for the study arises because of the technological marketing of airline tickets through direct online ticket sales that aims at reducing cost by ...

Recognition of large scale deep-seated landslides in vegetated areas of Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, C. W.; Tarolli, P.; Tseng, C. M.; Tseng, Y. H.

2012-04-01

In August 2009, Typhoon Morakot triggered thousands of landslides and debris flows, and according to government reports, 619 people were dead and 76 missing and the economic loss was estimated at hundreds million of USD. In particular, the large deep-seated landslides are critical and deserve attention, since they can be affected by a reactivation during intense events, that usually can evolve in destructive failures. These are also difficult to recognize in the field, especially under dense forest areas. A detailed and constantly updated inventory map of such phenomena, and the recognition of their topographic signatures really represents a key tool for landslide risk mitigation, and mapping. The aim of this work is to test the performance of a new developed method for the automatic extraction of geomorphic features related to landslide crowns developed by Tarolli et al. (2010), in support to field surveys in order to develop a detailed and accurate inventory map of such phenomena. The methodology is based on the detection of thresholds derived by the statistical analysis of variability of landform curvature from high resolution LiDAR derived topography. The analysis suggested that the method allowed a good performance in localization and extraction, respect to field analysis, of features related to deep-seated landslides. Thanks to LiDAR capabilty to detect the bare ground elevation data also in forested areas, it was possible to recognize in detail landslide features also in remote regions difficult to access. Reference Tarolli, P., Sofia, G., Dalla Fontana, G. (2010). Geomorphic features extraction from high-resolution topography: landslide crowns and bank erosion, Natural Hazards, doi:10.1007/s11069-010-9695-2

Measuring service quality and a comparative analysis in airline industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Mehdi Izadi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Quality of services in airline industry plays an important role in market penetration and customer retention. In this paper, we present a factor analysis to find important factors in Iranian Airline industry. The study designs a questionnaire consist of 35 questions and distribute it among 200 customers who regularly use services from 16 different airlines and they are investigated based on the implementation of factor analysis. The results of our survey determines seven important factors including physical features of the environment, Kettering, Pre-flight passenger services, Ability to respond, Reliability, Passenger service flight and Virtual Passenger Services. The paper discusses that improving these seven factors can significantly improve service quality in this sector.

“A PERSISTENT EXCEPTION TO TEXTBOOK ECONOMICS”: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erik Benson

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The recent centennial of the Wright Brothers' flight stimulated study of the history of aviation in general and this historical overview of international airlines in particular. International airlines are commercial enterprises, but their history suggests that the economics behind their development was often overridden lypolitical, diplomatic, strategic, imperial, cultural, and emotional pressures. International airlines have not always been economically rational enterprises.

Solving a manpower scheduling problem for airline catering using tabu search

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ho, Sin C.; Leung, Janny M. Y.

We study a manpower scheduling problem with job time-windows and job-skills compatibility constraints. This problem is motivated by airline catering operations, whereby airline meals and other supplies are delivered to aircrafts on the tarmac just before the flights take off. Jobs (flights) must...

Airline price discrimination : a practice of yield management or customer profiling?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Constantinides, Efthymios; Diercks, Rasha H.J.

2014-01-01

Airline ticket prices frequently change, which is usually caused by yield management as price discrimination practice. Recently, buyers of online airline tickets tend to complain about price discrimination based on customer profiling, e.g. by means of cookie data. As cookie data and other directly

Effectiveness of media and enforcement campaigns in increasing seat belt usage rates in a state with a secondary seat belt law.

Science.gov (United States)

Vasudevan, Vinod; Nambisan, Shashi S; Singh, Ashok K; Pearl, Traci

2009-08-01

In 2005, in terms of seat belt usage rates, Nevada ranked third nationally and first among states with secondary seat belt use enforcement laws in the United States. An effective combination of a media-based education and enforcement campaign helped in this regard. The objective of this article is to document the effectiveness of enforcement and media-based education and outreach campaigns on the seat belt usage rates in Nevada, a state with a secondary seat belt usage law. Observational data on seat belt usage and passenger fatality data are used to evaluate the effectiveness of enforcement campaigns and media-based education and outreach campaigns. Data based on observations of about 40,000 vehicles in each of the years 2003 to 2005 were analyzed. Statistical analyses show that a significant increase in seat belt usage rates among both drivers and passengers for both genders resulted from the accompanying the media and enforcement campaigns. The results from this study indicate that effective and well-planned media/enforcement campaigns can have a significant impact on seat belt usage rates even in a state where the enforcement of seat belt laws can only be as a secondary violation. They validate and expand on findings from other efforts documented in the literature. These results demonstrate that, if coordinated properly, media and enforcement campaigns work very effectively in increasing seat belt usage rates even in states with secondary seat belt laws.

Lightweight, fire-retardant, crashworthy aircraft seat cushioning

Science.gov (United States)

Haslim, Leonard A.; Mcdonough, Paul T.

1991-01-01

A two page discussion of non-aerospace seating applications and the design of NASA's safety seat cushioning (SSC) is presented. The SSC was designed for both safety and comfort in order to replace polyurethane cushioning which is flammable and produces lethal fumes upon combustion. The SSC is composed of advanced fabric reinforced composites and is lightweight, fire-retardent, and crashworthy. The seat design consists of central elliptical tubular spring supports made of fire-resistant and fatigue-durable composites surrounded by a fire-blocking sheath. The cushioning is made crashworthy by incorporating energy-absorbing, viscoelastic layers between the nested, elliptical-hoop springs. The design is intended to provide comfortable seating that meets aircraft-loading requirements without using the conventional polyurethane materials. The designs of an aircraft seat and structural components of the SSC are also presented.

Lifestyle factors, direct and indirect costs for a Brazilian airline company

NARCIS (Netherlands)

F.M. Rabacow (Fabiana Maluf); O. Do Carmo Luiz (Olinda); A.M. Malik (Ana Maria); A. Burdorf (Alex)

2014-01-01

textabstractObjective: To analyze lifestyle risk factors related to direct healthcare costs and the indirect costs due to sick leave among workers of an airline company in Brazil. Methods: In this longitudinal 12-month study of 2,201 employees of a Brazilian airline company, the costs of sick leave

Assessing the Structure of Non-Routine Decision Processes in Airline Operations Control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Richters, Floor; Schraagen, Johannes Martinus Cornelis; Heerkens, Johannes M.G.

2015-01-01

Unfamiliar severe disruptions challenge airline operations control professionals most, as their expertise is stretched to its limits. This study has elicited the structure of airline operations control professionals’ decision process during unfamiliar disruptions by mapping three macrocognitive

Assessing the structure of non-routine decision processes in Airline Operations Control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Richters, F.; Schraagen, J.M.C.; Heerkens, H.

2015-01-01

Unfamiliar severe disruptions challenge Airline Operations Control professionals most, as their expertise is stretched to its limits. This study has elicited the structure of Airline Operations Control professionals’ decision process during unfamiliar disruptions by mapping three macrocognitive

Infant bath seats, drowning and near-drowning.

Science.gov (United States)

Byard, R W; Donald, T

2004-01-01

To investigate the possible role of infant bathtub seats in drowning and near-drowning episodes in infants. A review was conducted of the files of the Forensic Science Centre and Child Protection Unit, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, for significant immersion incidents in infants involving bathtub seats from January 1998 to December 2003. A total of six cases of drowning occurred over the 6-year period of the study in children under 2 years of age, including two infants. One of these cases, a 7-month-old boy, had been left unattended for some time in an adult bath in a bathtub seat. He was found drowned, having submerged after slipping down and becoming trapped in the seat. Three near-drowning episodes occurred in children under the age of 2 years, including two boys aged 7 and 8 months, both of whom had been left for some time in adult baths in bath seats. Both were successfully resuscitated and treated in hospital. These cases demonstrate the vulnerability of infants to immersion incidents when left unattended in bathtubs. Bathtubs are particularly dangerous for infants as the slippery and smooth surfaces predispose to loss of balance and make escape from water difficult. Infant bathtub seats may give parents and child carers a false sense of security leading to infants being left unattended. Unfortunately, however, infants may fall out of, or slip and become trapped in, such seats. Infants and young children cannot be left unsupervised in water, and devices used as bathing aids such as bathtub seats may contribute to immersion incidents.

European vs. U.S. Airlines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Assaf, A. Georg; Josiassen, Alexander

2012-01-01

This study measures and compares the efficiency and productivity of European and U.S. airlines, over the period from 2001 to 2008. We measure efficiency by estimating a Bayesian distance frontier model subject to regularity constraints. Productivity estimates are also derived parametrically, based...... growth and related market discussions are also provided....

Pregnancy: Should I Use a Seat Belt?

Science.gov (United States)

... passenger has not been shown to affect the safety of an unborn baby in a crash. Injuries from car crashes tend to be less serious in people who are sitting in the back seat. If you are not driving, you may want to sit in the back seat. It is still important to wear a seat belt, no matter where ...

The study of customer relationship management in Thai airline industry: A case of Thai travelers in Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colin Law

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This paper offer marketing strategy suggestion to the airlines operating within the Thai aviation market. It identifies the recommended motivational factors that influence the airline customers’ decision to their airline choices. Airlines use different customer relationship management programs to attract returning customers.  This paper suggested the most attractive motivation factors for Thailand's air travel market. Design/methodology/approach: This research paper is an attempt to study and identify the factors, including loyalty program, distribution channel, customer services, promotions and other influence causes that affected the customer preference in the airline ticket purchasing behavior in Thailand. A questionnaire survey was conducted with the sample identified through unrestricted non probability sampling technique at four major airports in Thailand. The data collected are analyzed to identify the favorable drivers that lead to customer decision on airline choice. Findings: The result from the study has demonstrated that price, and promotion has a significant impact on customer preference and positively leads to repurchase intention for their future travel. Moreover, flight schedules are also a main factor influencing the travelers’ final decision on airline choice. However, when the promotional strategies and schedule are comparable between airlines, customers are attracted by the airline amenities and services. Loyalty program (frequent-flier program flier program is showing a less attractive motivator while distribution channel demonstrates the least important affecting the travelers’ choice of airline. Originality/value: The paper begins with an overview of previous research in the area of airlines customer relationship management and then moves on to what is currently being implemented by the airlines. The authors then propose several customer relationship strategies and identify the most attractive one that

@doesyourairlinetweet? An empirical examination of the use of twitter by 50 international airlines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucy Budd

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To provide empirical evidence of the extent to which 50 of the world’s largest passenger airlines use the social media site twitter.Design/methodology/approach: Original empirical data on the presence and usage of 50 airlines’ official twitter accounts was accessed.Research limitations/implications: Research demonstrates the extent to which airlines are using twitter as a communications tool and suggests that some airline are not currently utilising twitter to its full extent.Practical implications: The research provides information on current twitter use and penetration, thus enabling airlines to benchmark their performance in this social media channel.Originality/value: The paper provides an original empirical insight into a growing phenomenon which is currently underreported in academic literatures.

Estimation of Airline Benefits from Avionics Upgrade under Preferential Merge Re-sequence Scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Kotegawa, Tatsuya; Cayabyab, Charlene Anne; Almog, Noam

2013-01-01

Modernization of the airline fleet avionics is essential to fully enable future technologies and procedures for increasing national airspace system capacity. However in the current national airspace system, system-wide benefits gained by avionics upgrade are not fully directed to aircraft/airlines that upgrade, resulting in slow fleet modernization rate. Preferential merge re-sequence scheduling is a best-equipped-best-served concept designed to incentivize avionics upgrade among airlines by allowing aircraft with new avionics (high-equipped) to be re-sequenced ahead of aircraft without the upgrades (low-equipped) at enroute merge waypoints. The goal of this study is to investigate the potential benefits gained or lost by airlines under a high or low-equipped fleet scenario if preferential merge resequence scheduling is implemented.

Sustainable business models for the state-owned African airlines

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ssamula, B

2009-07-01

Full Text Available , state-owned airlines, African airlines 1. INTRODUCTION In recent years the civil aviation industry has witnessed rapid corporate, structural and operational changes enabling it to be described as one of the fastest changing sectors within...%), publicly held (19.97%), Port Louis Fund (6.32%), the State Investment Corporation (4.72%), government of Mauritius (4.53%), Rogers and Company (4.28%), British Airways (3.84%), Air France (2.78%) and Air India (2.56%) Morrocco Royal Air Maroc 95...

Model for the growth of the world airline network

Science.gov (United States)

Verma, T.; Araújo, N. A. M.; Nagler, J.; Andrade, J. S.; Herrmann, H. J.

2016-06-01

We propose a probabilistic growth model for transport networks which employs a balance between popularity of nodes and the physical distance between nodes. By comparing the degree of each node in the model network and the World Airline Network (WAN), we observe that the difference between the two is minimized for α≈2. Interestingly, this is the value obtained for the node-node correlation function in the WAN. This suggests that our model explains quite well the growth of airline networks.

A study of the financial history of the U.S. scheduled airlines and the improvement of airline profitability through technology

Science.gov (United States)

Wilcox, D. E.

1975-01-01

The financial history of the U.S. scheduled airline industry was investigated to determine the causes of the erratic profit performance of the industry and to evaluate potential economic gains from technology advances of recent years. Operational and economic factors affecting past and future profitability of the industry are discussed, although no attempt was made to examine the profitability of individual carriers. The results of the study indicate that the profit erosion of the late 1960's and early 1970's was due more to excess capacity than to inadequate fare levels, but airline problems were severely compounded by the rapid fuel price escalation in 1974 and 1975. Near-term solutions to the airline financial problems depend upon the course of action by the industry and the CAB and the general economic health of the nation. For the longer term, the only acceptable alternative to continued fare increases is a reduction in unit operating costs through technological advance. The next generation of transports is expected to incorporate technologies developed under Government sponsorship in the 1960's and 1970's with significant improvements in fuel consumption and operating costs.

A study of the financial history of the U. S. scheduled airlines and the improvement of airline profitability through technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilcox, D.E.

1975-07-01

The financial history of the U.S. scheduled airline industry was investigated to determine the causes of the erratic profit performance of the industry and to evaluate potential economic gains from technology advances of recent years. Operational and economic factors affecting past and future profitability of the industry are discussed, although no attempt was made to examine the profitability of individual carriers. The results of the study indicate that the profit erosion of the late 1960's and early 1970's was due more to excess capacity than to inadequate fare levels, but airline problems were severely compounded by the rapid fuel price escalation in 1974 and 1975. Near-term solutions to the airline financial problems depend upon the course of action by the industry and the CAB and the general economic health of the nation. For the longer term, the only acceptable alternative to continued fare increases is a reduction in unit operating costs through technological advance. The next generation of transports is expected to incorporate technologies developed under Government sponsorship in the 1960's and 1970's with significant improvements in fuel consumption and operating costs. (GRA)

Reaching new altitudes in e-commerce : Assessing the performance of airline websites

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harison, Elad; Boonstra, Albert

Many established airlines are attempting to stimulate customers to shift from traditional distribution channels to online channels. To keep improving the quality this important distribution channel is essential for these airlines to have instruments to assess the performance of their websites. This

Modeling the impact of improved aircraft operations technologies on the environment and airline behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Foley, Ryan Patrick

The overall goal of this thesis is to determine if improved operations technologies are economically viable for US airlines, and to determine the level of environmental benefits available from such technologies. Though these operational changes are being implemented primarily with the reduction of delay and improvement of throughput in mind, economic factors will drive the rate of airline adoption. In addition, the increased awareness of environmental impacts makes these effects an important aspect of decision-making. Understanding this relationship may help policymakers make decisions regarding implementation of these advanced technologies at airports, and help airlines determine appropriate levels of support to provide for these new technologies. In order to do so, the author models the behavior of a large, profit-seeking airline in response to the introduction of advanced equipage allowing improved operations procedures. The airline response included changes in deployed fleet, assignment of aircraft to routes, and acquisition of new aircraft. From these responses, changes in total fleet-level CO2 emissions and airline profit were tallied. As awareness of the environmental impact of aircraft emissions has grown, several agencies (ICAO, NASA) have moved to place goals for emissions reduction. NASA, in particular, has set goals for emissions reduction through several areas of aircraft technology. Among these are "Operational Improvements," technologies available in the short-term through avionics and airport system upgrades. The studies in this thesis make use of the Fleet-Level Environmental Evaluation Tool (FLEET), a simulation tool developed by Purdue University in support of a NASA-sponsored research effort. This tool models the behavior of a large, profit-seeking airline through an allocation problem. The problem is contained within a systems dynamics type approach that allows feedback between passenger demand, ticket price, and the airline fleet composition

14 CFR 135.113 - Passenger occupancy of pilot seat.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Passenger occupancy of pilot seat. 135.113... Operations § 135.113 Passenger occupancy of pilot seat. No certificate holder may operate an aircraft type certificated after October 15, 1971, that has a passenger seating configuration, excluding any pilot seat, of...

Financial Comparisons across Different Business Models in the Canadian Airline Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Flouris, Triant; Walker, Thomas

2007-01-01

This paper examines the accounting and stock price performance of two Canadian airlines, WestJet and Air Canada, over a five year period, taking into account the aftermath of the systemic shock to the airline industry produced by the September 11, 2001 (9-11), terrorist attacks and subsequent events such as the 2002 SARS outbreak, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the accompanying rise in jet fuel prices. Our study focuses on the viability of low-cost versus conventional-cost business models in Canada under the current business environment and the ability of airlines to withstand and effectively respond to catastrophic industry events. Furthermore, we link the effectiveness of the airlines responses to these events to specific elements of their respective business models. We test our hypothesis through a case study. We focus on WestJet as a typical low-cost airline and compare its accounting and stock performance to Air Canada, a legacy carrier and rival in several business sectors. We find WestJet to be much less affected by catastrophic industry events. By decomposing each airline s return volatility, we observe that WestJet s systematic and unsystematic risk increased only slightly during the industry's post-9-11 turmoil when compared to Air Canada. In addition, we find that both WestJet s accounting and stock performance have been highly superior to those of Air Canada. We argue that WestJet s business model provides the firm with significantly more financial and operational flexibility than its legacy rival, Air Canada. WestJet's lower operating costs, high consumer trust, product offering, corporate structure, workforce and work practices, as well as operational procedures are all factors that appear to contribute to its relative success.

The Effects of Microgravity on Seated Height (Spinal Elongation)

Science.gov (United States)

Young, K. S.; Rajulu, S.

2011-01-01

ABSTRACT Many physiological factors, such as spinal elongation, fluid shifts, bone atrophy, and muscle loss, occur during an exposure to a microgravity environment. Spinal elongation is just one of the factors that can also affect the safety and performance of a crewmember while in space. Spinal elongation occurs due to the lack of gravity/compression on the spinal column. This allows for the straightening of the natural spinal curve. There is a possible fluid shift in the inter-vertebral disks that may also result in changes in height. This study aims at collecting the overall change in seated height for crewmembers exposed to a microgravity environment. During previous Programs, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) and Skylab, spinal elongation data was collected from a small number of subjects in a standing posture but were limited in scope. Data from these studies indicated a quick increase in stature during the first few days of weightlessness, after which stature growth reached a plateau resulting in up to a 3% increase of the original measurement [1-5]. However, this data was collected only for crewmembers in standing posture and not in a seated posture. Seated height may have a different effect than standing height due to a change in posture as well as due to a compounded effect of wearing restraints and a potential compression of the gluteal area. Seated height was deemed as a critical measurement in the design of the Constellation Program s (CxP) Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), called Orion which is now the point-of-departure vehicle for the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Program; therefore a better understanding of the effects of microgravity on seated height is necessary. Potential changes in seated height that may not have impacted crew accommodation in previous Programs will have significant effects on crew accommodation due to the layout of seats in the Orion.. The current and existing configuration is such that the four crewmembers are stacked two by

Airline energy conservation options : summary options

Science.gov (United States)

1973-07-27

In late May, 1973 the task of determining and evaluating measures for conserving fuel consumed by the airline industry was undertaken. This task was a part of the larger effort conducted by the Transportation Systems Center to determine measures that...

Compliance with Seat Belt Use in Makurdi, Nigeria: An ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Seat belts are designed to reduce injuries due to road crash among vehicle occupants. Aims: This study aims to determine the availability of seat belt in vehicles and compliance with seat belt use among vehicle occupants. Materials and methods: This was a 24‑h direct observational study of seat belt usage ...

19 CFR 122.135 - When airline has in-bond liquor storeroom.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false When airline has in-bond liquor storeroom. 122.135 Section 122.135 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY AIR COMMERCE REGULATIONS Aircraft Liquor Kits § 122.135 When airline has in-bond liquor storeroom. (a) Restocking. Liquor...

Development of electrostatic charging evaluation equipment for automobile seat; Jidoshayo seat no taidensei shiken hyoka sochi no kaihatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maeda, K [Mazda Motor Corp., Hiroshima (Japan)

1997-10-01

When passengers get out of vehicle, electrostatics is generated by separation of seat cloth and passenger cloth, and then charged to passenger`s body. It has been impossible for us to simulate this induction charging phenomenon with current evaluation equipments. We developed a new seat cloth evaluation equipments using induction charging plate, which enables us to simulate the phenomenon. This paper describes this new electrostatic charging evaluation method for automobile seat cloth. 5 refs., 6 figs.

Children's and Adults' Comfort Experience of Extra Seat Belts When Riding in the Rear Seat of a Passenger Car.

Science.gov (United States)

Osvalder, Anna-Lisa; Hansson, Ida; Bohman, Katarina

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to explore passengers' comfort experience of extra seat belts during on-road driving in the rear seat of a passenger car and to investigate how the use of extra belts affects children's and adults' attitudes to the product. Two different seat belt systems were tested, criss-cross (CC) and backpack (BP), consisting of the standard 3-point belt together with an additional 2-point belt. In total, 32 participants (15 children aged 6-10, 6 youths aged 11-15, and 11 adults aged 20-79, who differed considerably in size, shape, and proportions) traveled for one hour with each system, including city traffic and highway driving. Four video cameras monitored the test subject during the drive. Subjective data regarding emotions and perceived discomfort were collected in questionnaires every 20 min. A semistructured interview was held afterwards. All participant groups accepted the new products and especially the increased feeling of safety (P car. CC was appreciated for its symmetry, comfort, and the perceived feeling of safety. Some participants found CC unpleasant because the belts tended to slip close to the neck, described as a strangling feeling. BP was simpler to use and did not cause annoyance to the neck in the way CC did. Instead, it felt asymmetric and to some extent less safe than CC. Body size and shape affected seat belt fit to a great extent, which in turn affected the experience of comfort, both initially and over time. Perceived safety benefit and experienced comfort were the most determinant factors for the attitude toward the extra seat belts. The extra seat belts were perceived as being better than the participants had expected before the test, and they became more used to them over time. This exploratory study provided valuable knowledge from a user perspective for further development of new seat belt systems in cars. In addition to an increased feeling of safety, seat belt fit and comfort are supplementary influencing

Understanding Consumer Preference Between Low Cost Airlines and Full Service Carriers : A Study on Consumer Choice and Decisions

OpenAIRE

Lee, Alex Hoong Onn

2008-01-01

The emergence of low cost or no frills airlines in last decade or so have posed considerable threat to the businesses of traditional full service airlines. The competition between the different type of airlines have changed the landscape of the airline industry tremendously and have provided air travelers with options which are unprecedented. The aim of this study is to understand consumer preference between low cost and full service airlines and to determine what are the motivations or facto...

Determinants of Profitability in the Airline Industry: A Comparison with Turkish Airlines

OpenAIRE

Alahyari, Amirhassan

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT: In order to be competitive, the profitability of a firm plays an undeniable role. Therefore, investigation of the factors determining profitability of a firm would provide useful insights for firms in the process of decision making and strategic planning. The airline industry of Turkey has been known as a prominent sector because of its significant contribution to economic development and growth of employment over time. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate the det...

A non-Gaussian generalisation of the Airline model for robust Seasonal Adjustment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aston, J.; Koopman, S.J.

2006-01-01

In their seminal book Time Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control, Box and Jenkins (1976) introduce the Airline model, which is still routinely used for the modelling of economic seasonal time series. The Airline model is for a differenced time series (in levels and seasons) and constitutes a

Performance evaluation of websites using entropy and grey relational analysis methods: The case of airline companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kemal Vatansever

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The revolutionary alterations and conversions occurring in information and communication technologies, have triggered an increase in the electronic commerce applications. Airline tickets are one of the most popular items purchased on the internet. The airline websites have become a big distribution channel for the companies to sustain their competitiveness. At this moment, the competition is increasing as airlines try to acquire and retain customers in the airline industry. To acquire and retain customers in such a highly competitive market, it is important for airlines to understand their relative levels of quality in terms of critical elements affecting their competitive advantages. In this study, an integrated two-stage multi-criteria decision-making techniques were used for the measurement of the performance of the airline websites using the Entropy Weight Method and the Grey Relational Analysis approach. The performance of 11 airline companies’ websites operating in Turkey was evaluated in terms of seven criteria. The data of quality website from airlines websites were taken more than 30 trails on various occasions on different periods of times. The data has been taken from 1 December 2016 to 31 December 2016. The weights of the attributes were calculated by Entropy Weight Method, the evaluation of the alternatives using the Grey Relational Analysis method were given ranking of websites.

A Comparative Facebook Content Analysis between Romanian and Western European Airline Carriers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdan AVRAM

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This research aims to investigate the different social media strategies adopted by the airline companies from two European regions. In the attempt to land more customers on their social media runway, drive more sales from social media content, increase customer satisfaction through a high response rate or increase their brand awareness, the airlines combine creativity and high-quality ideas to better promote their products and services to customers all around the globe. The paper analyses the content (number of fans, posts, number of likes, the dynamics of comments, response rate on the Facebook pages of Tarom, Blue Air, Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, KLM International and Air Europa on a one week period (10th February – 18th February 2014 and successful practices on social media. The paper also aims to provide solutions for airlines to better connect with their passengers and effectively use the social media environment to increase sales and customer satisfaction.

SEAT CHOICE AND DISTANCE JUDGMENT IN PUBLIC SPACES (1).

Science.gov (United States)

Neto, Olavo Avalone; Munakata, Jun

2015-10-01

This research assessed whether public space users will adopt a least-effort approach and choose a less suitable seat nearby or seek the most suitable seat, even if it is farther away from them when the decision is made. How distance assessment affects seat choice was investigated through an observational survey, which allowed the identification of behavioral patterns. Those behavioral patterns were then tested in a paired comparison experiment with 40 participants. The results showed that the effect of distance on seat choice is related to the difference in distance between the options and that a sufficient difference can cause trade-offs between distance and seat properties. The necessary difference in distance is conditioned by the activity and the seat properties.

Examining the Relationship Between Passenger Airline Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing and Aircraft Safety

Science.gov (United States)

Monaghan, Kari L.

The problem addressed was the concern for aircraft safety rates as they relate to the rate of maintenance outsourcing. Data gathered from 14 passenger airlines: AirTran, Alaska, America West, American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, United, and USAir covered the years 1996 through 2008. A quantitative correlational design, utilizing Pearson's correlation coefficient, and the coefficient of determination were used in the present study to measure the correlation between variables. Elements of passenger airline aircraft maintenance outsourcing and aircraft accidents, incidents, and pilot deviations within domestic passenger airline operations were analyzed, examined, and evaluated. Rates of maintenance outsourcing were analyzed to determine the association with accident, incident, and pilot deviation rates. Maintenance outsourcing rates used in the evaluation were the yearly dollar expenditure of passenger airlines for aircraft maintenance outsourcing as they relate to the total airline aircraft maintenance expenditures. Aircraft accident, incident, and pilot deviation rates used in the evaluation were the yearly number of accidents, incidents, and pilot deviations per miles flown. The Pearson r-values were calculated to measure the linear relationship strength between the variables. There were no statistically significant correlation findings for accidents, r(174)=0.065, p=0.393, and incidents, r(174)=0.020, p=0.793. However, there was a statistically significant correlation for pilot deviation rates, r(174)=0.204, p=0.007 thus indicating a statistically significant correlation between maintenance outsourcing rates and pilot deviation rates. The calculated R square value of 0.042 represents the variance that can be accounted for in aircraft pilot deviation rates by examining the variance in aircraft maintenance outsourcing rates; accordingly, 95.8% of the variance is unexplained. Suggestions for future research include

The effectiveness of airline pilot training for abnormal events.

Science.gov (United States)

Casner, Stephen M; Geven, Richard W; Williams, Kent T

2013-06-01

To evaluate the effectiveness of airline pilot training for abnormal in-flight events. Numerous accident reports describe situations in which pilots responded to abnormal events in ways that were different from what they had practiced many times before. One explanation for these missteps is that training and testing for these skills have become a highly predictable routine for pilots who arrive to the training environment well aware of what to expect. Under these circumstances, pilots get plentiful practice in responding to abnormal events but may get little practice in recognizing them and deciding which responses to offer. We presented 18 airline pilots with three abnormal events that are required during periodic training and testing. Pilots were presented with each event under the familiar circumstances used during training and also under less predictable circumstances as they might occur during flight. When presented in the routine ways seen during training, pilots gave appropriate responses and showed little variability. However, when the abnormal events were presented unexpectedly, pilots' responses were less appropriate and showed great variability from pilot to pilot. The results suggest that the training and testing practices used in airline training may result in rote-memorized skills that are specific to the training situation and that offer modest generalizability to other situations. We recommend a more complete treatment of abnormal events that allows pilots to practice recognizing the event and choosing and recalling the appropriate response. The results will aid the improvement of existing airline training practices.

75 FR 36062 - Availability of Conservation Seat and Diving Operations Seat for the Flower Garden Banks National...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-24

... Conservation Seat and Diving Operations Seat for the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Advisory... Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council: Conservation and Diving Operations... Jennifer Morgan, NOAA--Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, 4700 Avenue U, Bldg. 216, Galveston...

The impact of Southwest Airline's contribution to atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide totals

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkerson, Cody L.

Over the last century, aviation has grown to become an economical juggernaut. The industry creates innovation, connects people, and maintains a safety goal unlike any other field. However, as the world becomes more populated with technology and individuals, a general curiosity as to how human activity effects the planet is becoming of greater interest. This study presents what one domestic airline in the United States, Southwest Airlines, contributes to the atmospheric make-up of the planet. Utilizing various sources of quantifiable data, an outcome was reached that shows the amount of Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide produced by Southwest Airlines from 2002 to 2013. This topic was chosen due to the fact that there are no real quantifiable values of emission statistics from airlines available to the public. Further investigation allowed for Southwest Airlines to be compared to the overall Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide contributions of the United States for the year 2011. The results showed that with the absence of any set standard on emissions, it is vital that one should be established. The data showed that the current ICAO standard emission values showed a higher level of emissions than when Southwest Airline's fleet was analyzed using their actual fleet mix.

• New guidelines for national airline caterers.

Science.gov (United States)

1989-06-24

The Government is to issue new guidelines to prevent food poisoning from airline meals. The proposed action comes in response to recent survey evidence which found contaminated meals served up to passengers.

Risk Analysis for Unintentional Slide Deployment During Airline Operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayra, Eduardo S; Insua, David Ríos; Castellanos, María Eugenia; Larbi, Lydia

2015-09-01

We present a risk analysis undertaken to mitigate problems in relation to the unintended deployment of slides under normal operations within a commercial airline. This type of incident entails relevant costs for the airline industry. After assessing the likelihood and severity of its consequences, we conclude that such risks need to be managed. We then evaluate the effectiveness of various countermeasures, describing and justifying the chosen ones. We also discuss several issues faced when implementing and communicating the proposed measures, thus fully illustrating the risk analysis process. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

RELEVANCE OF PROCESS RISK ASSESSMENT IN AIRLINES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oksana G. Feoktistova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The notion of “the concept on assumed risk” that took over from the outdated concept of absolute security is analyzed, the increasing significance of operating risk assessment at the present stage is noted. Some basic risk assessment techniques are considered. Matrix technique of risk assessment is considered more thoroughly, and it may be used in risk assessment of airlines in the context of labour protection management system.The ability to correctly assess risks and develop appropriate precautionary measures will allow airlines to avoid incidents leading to drastic consequences for staff, as well as to direct and indirect costs for the enterprise among which there could be singled out both direct property damage and loss of profit and expenses connected to incident investigation, penalty and compensation payment, loss of business reputation and so on. To reduce the rate of accidents and to develop safe activities skills for airlines staff a risk assessment chart is supposed to be implemented, which will be an efficient accidents prevention involving the staff in the process and making them follow safe working conditions.Process risk assessment is an integral part of assessment of the whole enterprise activity and work efficiency of a department and particular workers evaluation system. Labour protection activity should be based on risk identification and its control. Risk assessment is a keystone of labour protection activity planning.

Measuring Strategic Firm Interaction in Product-Quality Choices: The Case of Airline Flight Frequency

OpenAIRE

Jan K. Brueckner; Dan Luo

2013-01-01

This paper investigates strategic interaction among airlines in product-quality choices. Using an instrumental variables approach, the paper estimates flight-frequency reaction functions, which relate an airline’s frequency on a route to its own characteristics and to the frequencies of competing airlines. A positive reaction function slope is found in some cases, indicating the presence of strategic interaction in the choice of frequencies. The paper also asks whether multimarket contact g...

An Airline-Based Multilevel Analysis of Airfare Elasticity for Passenger Demand

Science.gov (United States)

Castelli, Lorenzo; Ukovich, Walter; Pesenti, Raffaele

2003-01-01

Price elasticity of passenger demand for a specific airline is estimated. The main drivers affecting passenger demand for air transportation are identified. First, an Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis is performed. Then, a multilevel analysis-based methodology to investigate the pattern of variation of price elasticity of demand among the various routes of the airline under study is proposed. The experienced daily passenger demands on each fare-class are grouped for each considered route. 9 routes were studied for the months of February and May in years from 1999 to 2002, and two fare-classes were defined (business and economy). The analysis has revealed that the airfare elasticity of passenger demand significantly varies among the different routes of the airline.

41 CFR 301-10.121 - What classes of airline accommodations are available?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... higher than coach and lower than first-class, in both cost and amenities. This class of accommodation is...-class. The basic class of accommodation by airlines that is normally the lowest fare offered regardless of airline terminology used. For reference purposes only, coach-class may also be referred to by...

Exploring the design of a lightweight, sustainable and comfortable aircraft seat.

Science.gov (United States)

Kokorikou, A; Vink, P; de Pauw, I C; Braca, A

2016-07-19

Making a lightweight seat that is also comfortable can be contradictory because usually comfort improvement means adding a feature (e.g. headrest, adjustable lumbar support, movable armrests, integrated massage systems, etc.), which makes seats heavier. This paper explores the design of an economy class aircraft seat that aims to be lightweight, comfortable and sustainable. Theory about comfort in seats, ergonomics, lightweight design, Biomimicry and Cradle to cradle was studied and resulted in a list of requirements that the new seat should satisfy. The design process resulted in a new seat that is 36% lighter than the reference seat, which showed that a significant weight reduction can be achieved. This was completed by re-designing the backrest and seat pan and integrating their functions into a reduced number of parts. Apart from the weight reduction that helps in reducing the airplane's environmental impact, the seat also satisfies most of the other sustainability requirements such as the use of recyclable materials, design for disassembly, easy to repair. A user test compared the new seat with a premium economy class aircraft seat and the level of comfort was similar. Strong points of the new design were identified such as the lumbar support and the cushioning material, as well as shortcomings on which the seat needs to be improved, like the seat pan length and the first impression. Long term comfort tests are still needed as the seat is meant for long-haul flights.

77 FR 41371 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Foreign Airline Operators' Revenues and...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-13

... policy questions related to foreign airline operators' revenues and expenses in the United States. There... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Economic Analysis Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Foreign Airline Operators' Revenues and Expenses in the United States ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY...

Deep-seated sarcomas of the penis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto A. Antunes

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Mesenchymal neoplasias represent 5% of tumors affecting the penis. Due to the rarity of such tumors, there is no agreement concerning the best method for staging and managing these patients. Sarcomas of the penis can be classified as deep-seated if they derive from the structures forming the spongy body and the cavernous bodies. Superficial lesions are usually low-grade and show a small tendency towards distant metastasis. In contrast, deep-seated lesions usually show behavior that is more aggressive and have poorer prognosis. The authors report 3 cases of deep-seated primary sarcomas of the penis and review the literature on this rare and aggressive neoplasia.

Support force measures of midsized men in seated positions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Tamara Reid; Hubbard, Robert P

2007-02-01

Two areas not well researched in the field of seating mechanics are the distribution of normal and shear forces, and how those forces change with seat position. The availability of these data would be beneficial for the design and development of office, automotive and medical seats. To increase our knowledge in the area of seating mechanics, this study sought to measure the normal and shear loads applied to segmental supports in 12 seated positions, utilizing three inclination angles and four levels of seat back articulation that were associated with automotive driving positions. Force data from six regions, including the thorax, sacral region, buttocks, thighs, feet, and hand support were gathered using multi-axis load cells. The sample contained 23 midsized subjects with an average weight of 76.7 kg and a standard deviation of 4.2 kg, and an average height of 1745 mm with a standard deviation of 19 mm. Results were examined in terms of seat back inclination and in terms of torso articulation for relationships between seat positions and support forces. Using a repeated measures analysis, significant differences (p<0.05) were identified for normal forces relative to all inclination angles except for forces occurring at the hand support. Other significant differences were observed between normal forces behind the buttocks, pelvis, and feet for torso articulations. Significant differences in the shear forces occurred under the buttocks and posterior pelvis during changes in seat back inclination. Significant differences in shear forces were also identified for torso articulations. These data suggest that as seat back inclination or torso articulation change, significant shifts in force distribution occur.

Airline experience with reliability-centered maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matteson, T.D.

1985-01-01

Reliability-Centered Maintenance is a process for developing preventive maintenance programs. Its concepts evolved from the post WWII experience of the airline community. Its genesis was in a paper by F. Stanley Nowlan and Thomas D. Matteson of United Airlines for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1967. Its first application was to the Boeing 747. It has subsequently been adopted by the FAA and the Department of Defense and applied to many new transport and military aircraft. Its objective is applicable and effective preventive maintenance and it has proven to be a highly effective replacement for the prior intuitive processes for selective preventive maintenance tasks. It focuses on system functions, functional failures, then dominant failure modes and effects. It then uses a decision tree to classify failure criticality and identify applicable and effective tasks. The result is a program focused on maintaining inherent safety and reliability at minimum cost. (orig.)

Airline experience with reliability-centered maintenance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matteson, T.D.

1985-11-01

Reliability-Centered Maintenance is a process for developing preventive maintenance programs. Its concepts evolved from the post WWII experience of the airline community. Its genesis was in a paper by F. Stanley Nowlan and Thomas D. Matteson of United Airlines for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1967. Its first application was to the Boeing 747. It has subsequently been adopted by the FAA and the Department of Defense and applied to many new transport and military aircraft. Its objective is applicable and effective preventive maintenance and it has proven to be a highly effective replacement for the prior intuitive processes for selective preventive maintenance tasks. It focuses on system functions, functional failures, then dominant failure modes and effects. It then uses a decision tree to classify failure criticality and identify applicable and effective tasks. The result is a program focused on maintaining inherent safety and reliability at minimum cost. (orig.).

Airline Safety: A Comparative Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

1987-01-01

shrinking FAA inspector force handling a rapidly growing number of air carriers. These studies have always shown an improvement in airline safety in the...EhCLhEmohhhhhhhEoo EhhshhEEmhhhhE EhhEohhEshhhhE EhhhEEEohEohEE EohEEEmhshEmhE IEEE...mmmo 1-2. jI. Mi6 NEW - secuRily CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (When De

A Mathematical model to predict the US Airlines operation costs and airports charges per route per passenger

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carmona Benitez, R.B.; Lodewijiks, G.

2010-01-01

A mathematical model to estimate the average airlines operational costs and airports charges per route is important for airlines companies trying to open new routes and for data generation for other purpose such as transport modeling, simulation modeling, investment analyses for airlines and

The effect of airline deregulation on automobile fatalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Bylow, L F; Savage, I

1991-10-01

This paper attempts to quantify the effects of airline deregulation in the United States on intercity automobile travel and consequently on the number of highway fatalities. A demand model is constructed for auto travel, which includes variables representing the price and availability of air service. A reduced form model of the airline market is then estimated. Finding that deregulation has decreased airfares and increased flights, it is estimated that auto travel has been reduced by 2.2% per year on average. Given assumptions on the characteristics of drivers switching modes and the types of roads they drove on, the number of automobile fatalities averted since 1978 is estimated to be in the range 200-300 per year.

Building clusters for CRM strategies by mining airlines customer data

OpenAIRE

Miranda, Helena Sofia Guerreiro de

2013-01-01

Trabalho de Projeto apresentado como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação As airlines strive to gain market share and sustain profitability in today’s economically challenging environment, they should develop new ways to optimize their frequent flyer programs while increase revenues. Aware of the challenges, airlines want to implement a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy based on customer analytics and data mining ...

Disruption management in the airline industry-Concepts, models and methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Jens; Larsen, Allan; Larsen, Jesper

2010-01-01

This paper provides a thorough review of the current state-of-the-art within airline disruption management of resources, including aircraft, crew, passenger and integrated recovery. An overview of model formulations of the aircraft and crew scheduling problems is presented in order to emphasize...... similarities between solution approaches applied to the planning and recovery problems. A brief overview of research within schedule robustness in airline scheduling is included in the review, since this proactive measure is a natural complement to disruption management....

Specifications and test procedures for airline-type supplied-air suits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Revoir, W.H.; Pritchard, J.A.; Davis, T.O.; Richards, C.P.; Wheat, L.D.

1975-05-01

Procedures and requirements have been established to permit airline-type supplied-air suits needed by contractors of the Energy Research and Development Administration to be tested for performance by the Respirator Research and Development Section, Industrial Hygiene Group, of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, and to have the adequacy of the performance of these devices evaluated by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Respirator Advisory Committee. Test equipment, test methods, and performance criteria for airline-type supplied-air suits are prescribed. (U.S.)

Civil aircraft side-facing seat research summary.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-01

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has standards and regulations that are intended to protect aircraft : occupants in the event of a crash. However, side-facing seats were not specifically addressed when aircraft seat : dynamic test standards ...

PESTE Analysis of the Romanian National Passenger Airline

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pauna Dan

2011-08-01

Full Text Available A PESTE analysis is a view over the external environment of a company, business or an economical sector, and it plays an important part in the resource management and in a future decision making process. PESTE analysis places emphasis on the impact of each factor. At international level, different structures, from the governmental ones to well-known companies and not only, choose to analyze the important factors that disturb the good functioning of these entities. In the sector of passengers and freight air transport, the majority of airline operators have chosen to investigate the external environment in which they operate by using analytical methods. For instance, we can mention SWOT and PESTE analysis of the leading low-cost Air Asia, Malaysia's second carrier, that wishes to enter the Australian aviation market, PESTE analysis of Air Arabia - a new company in the Gulf that intends to corner the market of well-known companies such as Emirates Airlines, Gulf Air and Air China. Air Arabia, in order to implement TMQ (Total Management Qualities, has used a PESTE study. In this respect, the approach to monitor the external environment of Tarom national airline is essential in the world economic crisis and globalization activities in the passengers transport, under the conditions of deregulation of the airspace.

Evaluating airline energy efficiency: An integrated approach with Network Epsilon-based Measure and Network Slacks-based Measure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Xin; Cui, Qiang

2017-01-01

This paper focuses on evaluating airline energy efficiency, which is firstly divided into four stages: Operations Stage, Fleet Maintenance Stage, Services Stage and Sales Stage. The new four-stage network structure of airline energy efficiency is a modification of existing models. A new approach, integrated with Network Epsilon-based Measure and Network Slacks-based Measure, is applied to assess the overall energy efficiency and divisional efficiency of 19 international airlines from 2008 to 2014. The influencing factors of airline energy efficiency are analyzed through the regression analysis. The results indicate the followings: 1. The integrated model can identify the benchmarking airlines in the overall system and stages. 2. Most airlines' energy efficiencies keep steady during the period, except for some sharply fluctuations. The efficiency decreases mainly centralized in the year 2008–2011, affected by the financial crisis in the USA. 3. The average age of fleet is positively correlated with the overall energy efficiency, and each divisional efficiency has different significant influencing factors. - Highlights: • An integrated approach with Network Epsilon-based Measure and Network Slacks-based Measure is developed. • 19 airlines' energy efficiencies are evaluated. • Garuda Indonesia has the highest overall energy efficiency.

78 FR 67918 - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel; Accessibility of Aircraft and Stowage...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-12

... individual consumers submitted comments. The Department has carefully reviewed and considered the comments... would allow airlines to offer lower fares for consumers. According to these commenters, seat-strapping... the last row of seats, rather than the first, which could cause it to be the last item off the plane...

Drivers of airline loyalty : evidence from the business travelers in China.

OpenAIRE

Vlachos, I.; Lin, Z.

2014-01-01

This paper examines the key factors that determine business traveler loyalty toward full-service airlines in China. Based on literature review and panel interview, ten airline attributes under three categories were derived: (a) operational factors: safety, punctuality, and aircraft; (b) competitive factors: frequency of flights, schedule, frequent flyer program, ticket price, and reputation; and (c) attractive factors: in flight food & drinks and in flight staff service. We surveyed 2000 Chin...

Technical note: Spine loading in automotive seating

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zenk, R.; Franz, M.; Bubb, H.; Vink, P.

2012-01-01

For car manufacturers, seat comfort is becoming more important in distinguishing themselves from their competitors. Therefore, many studies on participative seat comfort are carried out. In this paper, an objective assessment approach is reported which evaluates the concept of "optimal load

77 FR 33808 - Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review: Airline Service Quality Performance...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-07

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Research & Innovative Technology Administration [Docket ID Number RITA 2008-0002] Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review: Airline Service Quality.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OMB Approval No. 2138-0041 Title: Airline Service Quality Performance -Part 234. Form...

American Consumer’s Attitudes towards Different Airline Companies Channels: A Comparison of transaction Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Talha Harcar

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Consumers are increasingly challenging better performance from companies, and these demands are being met through improvements in technology and flexibility of services. As a result of recent progresses and developments in electronic marketing, the physical locations of brick and mortar businesses have become less significant since transactions can now be accomplished in cyberspace. In this paper, consumer attitudes towards online transactions for the airline industry are examined. Despite the growing acceptance of alternative delivery channels, the travel agencies remain an essential part of the customer-airline company. It can be argued that the travel agencies not only represent an opportunity for implementing costumer relationship, but they also remain an important point of contact for sales, service, and consultative interactions. Data has been analyzed using factor analysis technique. The study presents a broad picture of the level of preference of airline customers among the available distribution channels and sheds light on how airline companies should allocate resources among the different channels. The empirical study findings indicate that online transactions for the airline industry will gain in importance and its use will accelerate at a faster rate in the coming years.

49 CFR 571.207 - Standard No. 207; Seating systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... standard establishes requirements for seats, their attachment assemblies, and their installation to....2. General performance requirements. When tested in accordance with S5, each occupant seat shall... than a school bus; a passenger seat on a school bus with a GVWR greater than 4,536 kilograms (10,000...

Manpower Projections, Recruitment Needs and Training Requirements for Commercial Airline Pilots in the United States 1968-1979.

Science.gov (United States)

Simons, Robert Marchand

This study evaluated the reported airline pilot shortage in relation to certified air carriers; recruitment needs for qualified applicants; training requirements as recommended by air carriers, airline captains, and flight officers; and airline pilot supply and demand during 1968-79. A literature review on foreign and domestic pilot shortages was…

Active Suspension of Truck Seat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masaaki Kawana

1998-01-01

Full Text Available The driver’s seat of a heavy duty truck is usually mounted on a spring–damper assembly anchored to the cab floor. To improve riding comfort, this study investigated the effects of mounting a computer-controlled actuator in parallel with the traditional spring–damper assembly. A dynamic model of the seat is represented by a two degree-of-freedom system, including a cushion. In this paper, a control system is designed, using optimal control theory, which minimizes rms vertical acceleration at a point representing the driver’s hip point. In this system, accelerations of the hip point, the seat frame and the cab floor are picked up and integrated to obtain the state variables to be fed back and fed forward to the actuator through a digital computer. The actuator is constructed with electric servo-motor and ball-screw mechanism. The experimental study was carried out on a shaker, which simulates the vibrations of the cab floor in actual service. Results were obtained for both a dummy and a real human body. The vibration test produced rms accelerations of the seat and the hip point of about 1.0 m/s2 without the actuator, while the rms accelerations were suppressed to about 0.5 m/s2 at a rms input voltage to the servo-motor of 1.0 V.

Defense.gov Special Report: Search For Malaysian Airline

Science.gov (United States)

Search Navy Ships, Aircraft Enter Fifth Day of Airliner Search U.S. Ships, Planes Join Search for Missing About DOD Leaders Biographies Organization Mission History Frequently Asked Questions Available jobs

Dynamic Airline Scheduling: An Analysis of the Potentials of Refleeting and Retiming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Warburg, Valdemar; Hansen, Troels G.; Larsen, Allan

2008-01-01

We present a Dynamic Airline Scheduling (DAS) technique which is able to change departure times and reassign aircraft types during the booking process to meet fluctuating passenger demands. The procedure is tested on several different days before departure, resulting in a significant profit...... increase for a major European airline. The results also indicate that applying DAS close to departure yields the largest potential....

Dynamic Airline Scheduling: An Analysis of the Potentials of Refleeting and Retiming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Warburg, Valdemar; Hansen, Troels G.; Larsen, Allan

We present a Dynamic Airline Scheduling (DAS) technique which is able to change departure times and reassign aircraft types during the booking process to meet fluctuating passenger demands. The procedure is tested on several different days before departure, resulting in a significant profit...... increase for a major European airline. The results also indicate that applying DAS close to departure yields the largest potential....

Molecular bacterial diversity and bioburden of commercial airliner cabin air

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

La Duc, M.T.; Stuecker, T.; Venkateswaran, K. [California Inst. of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group

2007-11-15

Microorganisms that exist in aircraft air systems are considered to be the primary source of microbial contamination that can lead to illness shortly after flying. More than 600 million passengers board commercial airline flights annually in the United States alone. In this study, culture-independent, biomarker-targeted bacterial enumeration and identification strategies were used to estimate total bacterial burden and diversity within the cabin air of commercial airliners. Air-impingement was used to collect samples of microorganisms from 4 flights on 2 commercial carriers. The total viable microbial population ranged from below detection limits to 4.1 x 10{sup 6} cells/m{sup 3} of air. Microbes were found to gradually accumulate from the time of passenger boarding through mid-flight. A sharp decline in bacterial abundance was then observed. Representatives of the {alpha}, {beta} and {gamma} Proteobacteria, as well as Gram-positive bacteria, were isolated in varying abundance. Airline A had large abundances of Neisseria meningitidis rRNA gene sequences and Streptococcus oralis/mitis sequences. Airline B was dominated by pseudomonas synxantha sequences as well as N. meningitidis and S. oralis/mitis. The cabin air samples housed low bacterial diversity and were typically dominated by a particular subset of bacteria, notably opportunistic pathogenic inhabitants of the human respiratory tract and oral cavity. The microbes were found largely around the ventilation ducts and gasper conduits that supply cabin air. 45 refs., 4 tabs., 3 figs.

ASPECTS OF MARKETING APPLICATION WITHIN AIRLINE TRAVELLING COMPANIES. THE CASE OF ALBANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Areti STRINGA

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The objectives of the research were defined through the following tasks: 1. To synthesise the features of daily marketing activities of the airlines operating on the Albanian market and establish their strengths and weaknesses. 2. To analyse and establish if there are marked differences in marketing activities of the airlines operating on the Albanian market. Different sources of primary and secondary data were used in analysis of services marketing of airlines operating on the Albanian market. The nature of the research was exploratory. Primary data were mostly gathered from expert opinion by means of personal interviews. The depth interviews took place in offices of the respondents.

75 FR 41920 - Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review; Airline Service Quality Performance...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-19

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Research & Innovative Technology Administration [Docket ID Number RITA 2008-0002] Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review; Airline Service Quality...: Airline Service Quality Performance--Part 234. Form No.: BTS Form 234. Type Of Review: Re-instatement of...

Business-IT Alignment Maturity: The Correlation of Performance Indicators and Alignment Maturity within the Commercial Airline Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Timothy K.

2010-01-01

During the period from 1978 to 2009, more than 200 commercial airlines were forced to merge, cease operations, or file for bankruptcy protection. The purpose of this quantitative study is to evaluate the global commercial airline industry from an IT-business alignment perspective and correlate the alignment maturity level of each airline with…

An integrated marketing approach for a medium-sized South African airline in a deregulated market

OpenAIRE

2012-01-01

M.Comm. The overall goal of this study is to provide a medium-sized South African airline with the theoretical framework and necessary research and analyses, in developing an integrated marketing approach in a deregulated environment. The objectives of the study are : to analyse the macro and market variables that could impact on the marketing efforts of a medium-sized South African airline. to assess a medium-sized South African airline's marketing efforts (in response to external variabl...

Formulation and demonstration of a robust mean variance optimization approach for concurrent airline network and aircraft design

Science.gov (United States)

Davendralingam, Navindran

Conceptual design of aircraft and the airline network (routes) on which aircraft fly on are inextricably linked to passenger driven demand. Many factors influence passenger demand for various Origin-Destination (O-D) city pairs including demographics, geographic location, seasonality, socio-economic factors and naturally, the operations of directly competing airlines. The expansion of airline operations involves the identificaion of appropriate aircraft to meet projected future demand. The decisions made in incorporating and subsequently allocating these new aircraft to serve air travel demand affects the inherent risk and profit potential as predicted through the airline revenue management systems. Competition between airlines then translates to latent passenger observations of the routes served between OD pairs and ticket pricing---this in effect reflexively drives future states of demand. This thesis addresses the integrated nature of aircraft design, airline operations and passenger demand, in order to maximize future expected profits as new aircraft are brought into service. The goal of this research is to develop an approach that utilizes aircraft design, airline network design and passenger demand as a unified framework to provide better integrated design solutions in order to maximize expexted profits of an airline. This is investigated through two approaches. The first is a static model that poses the concurrent engineering paradigm above as an investment portfolio problem. Modern financial portfolio optimization techniques are used to leverage risk of serving future projected demand using a 'yet to be introduced' aircraft against potentially generated future profits. Robust optimization methodologies are incorporated to mitigate model sensitivity and address estimation risks associated with such optimization techniques. The second extends the portfolio approach to include dynamic effects of an airline's operations. A dynamic programming approach is

A target fibre study on seats in public houses.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, E; Griffin, R M

1998-01-01

A target fibre survey was conducted to assess the random occurrence of a blue wool fibre on seats in public houses throughout the United Kingdom. Fibre tape lifts were taken from 80 seats. Four seats yielded matching fibres and five of these were found on one seat. A total of 292 fibres were identified; nine fibres proved indistinguishable from the target after comparison microscopy, microspectro-photometry and attempts at thin layer chromatography, and two of these fibres were still apparently indistinguishable after TLC analysis although only one dye component was visible.

The Role of Consumer Experiences in Building the image of brands: A Study in Airlines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Iris Tomás Vasconcelos

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Studies on brand and consumer experience gained emphasis from the twentieth century, however the relationship between these themes still has gaps. Therefore, this study examines the role of consumer experiences in building the brand image through the identification of thoughts, feelings and actions arising from consumer experiences with airlines, and the types of associations that the consumer makes such marks. Therefore, a variation of qualitative critical incident technique was used, considering those remembered experiences that have excelled in consumer perception, interviewing ten users of air services, based on a two parts semi-structured form: description of experiences with airlines and information about the image of the brands of airlines. The analyzed data have revealed that thoughts, feelings and actions arising from consumer experiences become important elements in shaping the perception of brands of airlines. Through the consumption experience, consumers mainly use the service attributes to build their perception of the marks of the airlines. These attributes are used either directly as to support other types of associations such as those related to company size.

The Study of Fabric Performance for Car Seats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonin Havelka

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the investigation of the performance of car seat fabrics in terms of physiological comfort of sitting, specifi cally their water vapour resistance and air permeability. The current work presents an alternative approach to increasing the effectiveness of car seat fabrics through a combination of newly designed middle layer with forced convection achieved by a supplementary suction ventilation device. The supplementary device was designed to measure water vapour permeability by means of the sweating guarded hot plate (SGHP system. It consists of two parts: a frame to grip a tested sample for measurements within the SGHP system and two suction ventilators which are arranged at one end of the mentioned frame in order to provide suction into the tested fabric plane during the SGHP test. The results of this investigation show that water vapour transport is increased by approximately 20% compared to the standard way of measurement by means of SGHP because of forced air flow in the plane of ribbed – channelled structure of the car seat middle layer. The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice. The combination of a car seat cover with channelled structure and forced air fl ow improves physiological comfort of sitting which is a key issue for both drivers and manufacturers. The suggested device for forced air flow convection in the plane of a car seat fabric has not yet been part of an actual car seat, however it is possible to use its principles in a smart car seat prototype.

Seat belt injuries and sigmoid colon trauma.

OpenAIRE

Eltahir, E M; Hamilton, D

1997-01-01

Colonic seat belt injuries are rare but carry higher mortality rates than small bowel injuries. The case of a 44 year old man is described who had severe sigmoid colon compression injury from his seat belt a few days after a road traffic accident.

Economic and Environmental Effects of Airline Deregulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schipper, Youdi; Rietveld, Piet

1997-01-01

This paper deals with the issue of regulatory reform in the airline industry, in connection with environmental externalities. Deregulation has led to shorter routes, higher frequencies, probably larger aircraft sizes and more intense peak traffic at airports. In addition, deregulation has led to

Perceptions of Service Quality: An Empirical Assessment of Modified SERVQUAL Model among Domestic Airline Carriers in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ganiyu Rahim A.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Literature is replete with a large number of theories related to service quality measurement and dimensions in an airline context. To date, there is no consensus of opinion on the generic model and of the number of dimensions most appropriate to evaluate service quality in airline industry. This study investigates service quality dimensions in the Nigerian airline industry. The cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. Convenience sampling was used to select 800 respondents among departing air travellers in Lagos State. A structured questionnaire containing 28 items was developed to evaluate the perceived service quality of domestic airlines. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and one-sample t-test. The dimensionality of perceived service quality in Nigeria’s airline industry was explored using exploratory factor analysis. From the analysis carried out, it was established that the modified SERVQUAL model provided a satisfactory level of overall reliability in Nigeria’s airline context, which implies that all the items were cohesive in forming the SERVQUAL dimensions. According to the findings of this study, all service quality dimensions are positively and significantly interrelated. The perceived service quality of domestic airlines across these dimensions was found to be poor. The most dissatisfied dimensions in order of ranking were: flight pattern, reliability, facilities, assurance, responsiveness, employee, and customization. On the basis of the aforementioned findings, this study concludes that airline operators should redefine their service standards to one that is customer-focused by identifying the dimension of service quality most preferred by the passengers and continuously strive to improve service delivery. The study recommends that airline operators should recognize the changing needs and expectations of air travellers and customize their range of services

Using haptic feedback to increase seat belt use : traffic tech.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-01

The legacy of research on increasing seat belt use has : focused on enactment of seat belt legislation, public education, : high-visibility police enforcement, and seat belt : reminder systems. Several behavioral programs have : produced large, susta...

Prevalence of neck pain among cabin crew of Saudi Airlines.

Science.gov (United States)

Ezzat, Hesham M; Al-Sultan, Alanood; Al-Shammari, Anwar; Alyousef, Dana; Al-Hamidi, Hager; Al-Dossary, Nafla; Al-Zahrani, Nuha; Al-Abdulqader, Wala

2015-01-01

Neck pain is considered to be a major health problem in modern societies. Many previous studies found that certain occupations are related to this problem or are associated with the risk of developing it in future. Although the pain is caused by mechanical factors, it may progress to a serious problem and give rise to other abnormal symptoms such as vertigo, headache, or migraine. To investigate the prevalence of neck pain among the cabin crew of Saudi Airlines. A cross-sectional study was carried out on the available Saudi Airlines cabin crews in King Fahad Airport during our visits, using questionnaires and measurements of several parameters. Neck Pain Questionnaires were distributed to the cabin crews on Saudi Airlines and assessment sheets were completed by all participants of the study to evaluate the prevalence and distribution of neck pain. Physical therapy examination of neck motions in different directions and specific tests were performed by all the participants to identify any symptoms. Using these data the prevalence of neck pain among the cabin crews was calculated. Collected data were analyzed statistically using SPSS software calculating the mean, median, and score of the questionnaire. According to the scoring system of the study, 31 (30.09%) of 105 cabin crew staff of Saudi Airlines had neck pain. Our study confirmed a positive correlation between this occupation and neck pain, and in fact found that according to the results of logistic regression analysis, this occupation is the only significant factor that affects the positive compression test. The prevalence of neck pain among the cabin crews of Saudi Airlines was emphasized. The results show a high prevalence of neck pain in the participants of the study, with most cases appearing to run a chronic - episodic course. Further research is needed to help us understand more about the long-term course of neck pain and its broader outcomes and impacts.

Radiotystnad resulterar i fullt kaos : En studie om Malaysia Airlines kriskommunikation

OpenAIRE

Molander, Agnes; Nässlin Eidenert, Kim

2014-01-01

The purpose of this thesis is to study how Malaysia Airlines communicated during the two largest crises of 2014. Key questions to be answered are: Did organizational hypocrisy occur? If yes, in what way? Which communication strategies were used? Did the company mediate an unequivocal message and how was the information framed? Did any aggravating factors, which worsened the organization’s reputation, appear? How did Malaysia Airlines manage possible rumours? Was the word contact used as a key...

Working hours associated with unintentional sleep at work among airline pilots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elaine Cristina Marqueze

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE Tto identify factors associated with unintentional sleep at work of airline pilots. METHODS This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted with 1,235 Brazilian airline pilots, who work national or international flights. Data collection has been performed online. We carried out a bivariate and multiple logistic regression analysis, having as dependent variable unintentional sleep at work. The independent variables were related to biodemographic data, characteristics of the work, lifestyle, and aspects of sleep. RESULTS The prevalence of unintentional sleep while flying the airplane was 57.8%. The factors associated with unintentional sleep at work were: flying for more than 65 hours a month, frequent technical delays, greater need for recovery after work, work ability below optimal, insufficient sleep, and excessive sleepiness. CONCLUSIONS The occurrence of unintentional sleep at work of airline pilots is associated with factors related to the organization of the work and health.

Fuzzy-VIKOR analysis for customer performance index of civil domestic airline industry in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suman Saket

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the factor influencing on an airline carrier based on operations of an airport on the routes flown out of that airport. This study deals with evaluation of the Customer Performance index (CPI of distinct domestic civil airlines in India. CPI consists of various parameters; among them many disembodied parameters, which are difficult to measure. In this context, initially we identified the prime factors that are crucial for evaluation of performances provided by various airlines in India. Thereafter, in order to determine the hierarchy among these factors; modified digital logic (MDL approach is employed and cost is found to be the most important criteria. Furthermore, CPI is calculated using fuzzy-VIKOR approach. Such approaches can help the airlines in re-evaluating their current policies and then formulate comparatively more efficient market strategies to improve performance quality and to gain customers’ loyalty.

Seat and seatbelt accommodation in fire apparatus: Anthropometric aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, Hongwei; Whitestone, Jennifer; Wilbur, Michael; Lackore, J Roger; Routley, J Gordon

2015-11-01

This study developed anthropometric information on U.S. firefighters to guide fire-apparatus seat and seatbelt designs and future standards development. A stratified sample of 863 male and 88 female firefighters across the U.S. participated in the study. The study results suggested 498 mm in width, 404 mm in depth, and 365-476 mm in height for seat pans; 429-522 mm in width and 542 mm in height for seat back; 871 mm in height for head support; a seat space of 733 mm at shoulder and 678 mm at hip; and a knee/leg clearance of 909 mm in fire truck cab. Also, 1520 mm of lap belt web effective length and 2828 mm of lap-and-shoulder belt web effective length were suggested. These data for fire-truck seats and seatbelts provide a foundation for fire apparatus manufacturers and standards committees to improve firefighter seat designs and seatbelt usage compliance. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Interplay between air passengers' service quality, satisfaction, loyalty and loyalty programmes in South African owned airlines

OpenAIRE

Mantey, Nicholas O.; Naidoo, Vannie

2017-01-01

Orientation: Delivering service quality is crucial for the continuous operation and sustainability of South African owned airlines. The term ‘South African owned airlines’ refers to six South African owned registered airlines, and is used for purpose of anonymity and confidentiality. Research purpose: The main aim of this study was to examine the interplay between service quality delivery, satisfaction, loyalty programmes and passengers’ loyalty to South African owned airlines. Motivati...

Optimization of Aircraft Seat Cushion Fire Blocking Layers.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-03-01

function of cost and weight, and the costs of labor involved in assembling a ccmposite seat cushion. The same classes of high char yield polymers that are...SEAT LATER DESIGN REPORT NRBBNBsg$$$$$$NN$$R$$$$$ SEAT DESIGN NUMBER: 009 LAYER NAME CODE NO. S MANUFACTURER 5 COST FACTORS . LABOR ...72621, 9096.. 7SS43. 73757. 77147. DELTA COSTS 0. 8340. 2922. 1136. 4327. ACOSOS in Iho..aS Of dollars. COST SUIRNY REPORT Re ....... VONR3 MORFA

Seat Belt Use Intention among Brazilian Undergraduate Students

OpenAIRE

TORQUATO, RENATA; FRANCO, CLÁUDIO M. A; BIANCHI, ALESSANDRA

2012-01-01

The objectives of this study were to explore self-reported seat belt use and group differences in different scenarios in a Brazilian sample and research the variables related to it. 120 college students answered a questionnaire with variables from the theory of planned behavior in order to evaluate the intention of seat belt use among car occupants. Results indicated that attitude and intention were the variables that most contributed to explaining seat belt use. Intention was highly correlat...

Airline service quality evaluation: A review on concepts and models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Navid Haghighat

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews different major service quality concept and models which led to great developments in evaluating service quality with focusing on improvement process of the models through discussing criticisms of each model. Criticisms against these models are discussed to clarify development steps of newer models which led to the improvement of airline service quality models. The precise and accurate evaluation of service quality needs utilizing a reliable concept with comprehensive criteria and effective measurement techniques as the fundamentals of a valuable framework. In this paper, service quality models improvement is described based on three major service quality concepts, the disconfirmation, performance and hierarchical concepts which are developed subsequently. Reviewing various criteria and different measurement techniques such a statistical analysis and multi-criteria decision making assist researchers to have a clear understanding of the development of the evaluation framework in the airline industry. This study aims at promoting reliable frameworks for evaluating airline service quality in different countries and societies due to economic, cultural and social aspects of each society.

Tips for Airline Travelers with Sjogren's Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

... sjogrens.org for more information on Sjögren’s syndrome. New airline rules can have a profound effect on those with Sjögren’s syndrome. The Sjögren’s Syndrome Foundation continues to work closely with the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to ...

Study to develop improved fire resistant aircraft passenger seat materials

Science.gov (United States)

Duskin, F. E.; Schutter, K. J.; Sieth, H. H.; Trabold, E. L.

1980-01-01

The Phase 3 study of the NASA 'Improved Fire Resistant Aircraft Seat Materials' involved fire tests of improved materials in multilayered combinations representative of cushion configurations. Tests were conducted to determine their thermal, smoke, and fire resistance characteristics. Additionally, a 'Design Guideline' for Fire Resistant Passenger Seats was written outlining general seat design considerations. Finally, a three-abreast 'Tourist Class' passenger seat assembly fabricated from the most advanced fire-resistant materials was delivered.

Tinjauan Terhadap Penanganan Bagasi Penumpang Pada Maskapai Malaysia Airlines Di Bandara Internasional Kualanamu

OpenAIRE

Atmaja, Wahyu Darma

2016-01-01

132204042 Transportasi memiliki posisi yang penting dan strategis dalam pembangunan bangsa untuk mencapai pembangunan nasional. Malaysia Airlines adalah salah satu perusahaan penerbangan yang bergerak dibidang usaha transportasi udara, berupaya untuk meningkatkan jumlah penumpang dengan meningkatkan mutu penanganan bagasi kepada penumpang baik penerbangan domestik maupun penerbangan internasional. Malaysia Airlines memiliki fasilitas bagasi yang disediakan kepada penumpang agar penumpang l...

EXPLORING THE ROLE OF ALLIANCES, AGREEMENTS AND PARTNERSHIPS IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY; THE CASE OF APG NETWORK WITHIN THE ROMANIAN MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CAMELIA MONICA GHEORGHE

2017-08-01

Full Text Available During the last years, the airline industry had a dynamic evolution, due to significant changes such as: the liberalization of air traffic with two important consequences, the development of the hub and spoke model, as well as the emergence of low-cost companies; the commercialization and privatization of airports; the evolution of technology. In order to be competitive in this new context, taking part of an alliance or network, creating a partnership or an agreement became a key strategy for airlines and as well as other stakeholders involved. This article examines the different partnerships in the airline industry, starting from code-share agreements between airlines or the emergence of airline alliances as a consequence of the hub and spoke system up to the more recent airline-airports partnerships, code-share agreements involving low-cost companies or airline representation agreements for several (new markets. The case study of APG Network will be examined, in order to emphasize the role of GSAs (General Sales Agents in the development strategy of airlines. Moreover, a questionnaire was distributed among travel agencies and airlines operating in Romania, to identify their perception on APG and its impact on the Romanian market.

AIRLINE LOGISTICS AS A PREFERRED GLOBAL LOGISTICS SUPPLY CHAIN WITH REFERENCE TO EXPORTERS IN COIMBATORE DISTRICT

OpenAIRE

P. Mani Mekalai; Dr. I. Parvinbanu

2018-01-01

Forecast of Airline volume for India made in the report suggests that the domestic and international Airline throughput is expected to grow by eight to ten times the present level in the next twenty years. Catering to the growth of this magnitude would involve expansion of infrastructure facilities, simplification of procedures and adoption of Information Technology/ Automation besides development of Human Resources in the sector. Out of the competitive analysis made on airline logistics serv...

75 FR 32318 - Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-08

... if submitted on behalf of an association, a business, a labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's... businesses, and local government entities, that rulemaking is occurring in areas of interest to them; (2... complaints received through social networking mediums such as Facebook or Twitter. Do airlines currently...

A Comprehensive Assessment of Biologicals Contained Within Commercial Airliner Cabin Air

Science.gov (United States)

LaDuc, Myron T.; Osman, Shariff; Dekas, Anne; Stuecker, Tara; Newcombe, Dave; Piceno, Yvette; Fuhrman, J.; Andersen, Gary; Venkateswaran, Kasthuri; Bearman, Greg

2006-01-01

Both culture-based and culture-independent, biomarker-targeted microbial enumeration and identification technologies were employed to estimate total microbial and viral burden and diversity within the cabin air of commercial airliners. Samples from each of twenty flights spanning three commercial carriers were collected via air-impingement. When the total viable microbial population was estimated by assaying relative concentrations of the universal energy carrier ATP, values ranged from below detection limits (BDL) to 4.1 x 106 cells/cubic m of air. The total viable microbial population was extremely low in both of Airline A (approximately 10% samples) and C (approximately 18% samples) compared to the samples collected aboard flights on Airline A and B (approximately 70% samples). When samples were collected as a function of time over the course of flights, a gradual accumulation of microbes was observed from the time of passenger boarding through mid-flight, followed by a sharp decline in microbial abundance and viability from the initiation of descent through landing. It is concluded in this study that only 10% of the viable microbes of the cabin air were cultivable and suggested a need to employ state-of-the art molecular assay that measures both cultivable and viable-but-non-cultivable microbes. Among the cultivable bacteria, colonies of Acinetobacter sp. were by far the most profuse in Phase I, and Gram-positive bacteria of the genera Staphylococcus and Bacillus were the most abundant during Phase II. The isolation of the human pathogens Acinetobacter johnsonii, A. calcoaceticus, Janibacter melonis, Microbacterium trichotecenolyticum, Massilia timonae, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Corynebacterium lipophiloflavum is concerning, as these bacteria can cause meningitis, septicemia, and a handful of sometimes fatal diseases and infections. Molecular microbial community analyses exhibited presence of the alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta- proteobacteria, as well as

Salmonella outbreak among railway and airline passengers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatakka, M

1992-01-01

A widespread outbreak by Salmonella infantis, infecting a total of 226 people, occurred in Finland at the beginning of August 1986. Of those infected, 107 were railway passengers, 91 were airline passengers and 28 were employed in a food processing establishment. The outbreak among the railway passengers was caused by egg sandwiches, the airline passengers were infected by a meal served on board and the catering employees by the breakfast served in the establishment. The outbreak was caused by food prepared in the establishment's kitchen. The employees' breakfasts had probably been contaminated by an employee who was a symptom-free Salmonella infantis carrier, and a number of the employees subsequently became infected, leading to widespread contamination of the food prepared in the establishment. The spread of the outbreak was further influenced by a heatwave at the time and by shortcomings in the cold storage facilities. The kitchen's hygiene supervision and the quality control of its output were reorganized after the outbreak.

Perceived Service Quality and Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Effect of Passenger Satisfaction in the Nigerian Airline Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahim A. Ganiyu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The long-term survival and competiveness of the airline business is strongly connected to the quality of service offered by airline operators and their ability to satisfy and build long-term relationships with customers. This study investigates the relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in the Nigerian airline industry. The cross-sectional survey research design was chosen in order to collect the primary data, using a structured questionnaire. Convenience sampling was adopted to draw a sample of 800 respondents. The data collected were analysed using correlation and multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study largely support the hypothesized relationships proposed in the conceptual framework. The results specifically reveal that perceived service quality is positively related to both passengers’ satisfaction and loyalty. The relationship between passenger satisfaction and loyalty towards the airlines was also found to be positive. The mediating effect of customer satisfaction between perceived service quality and customer loyalty is also found to be positive and partially supported. On the basis of the findings of this study, we conclude that perceived service quality does influence passenger satisfaction, and by extension, loyalty to the airlines. Thus, improvement of service quality is an adjuvant factor to sustainable differentiation and competitiveness in the airline industry. We therefore, recommend that airline operators develop and implement market-oriented service strategies to identify customers’ needs and expectations in order to serve them better. Additionally, airline operators should measure service quality regularly to assure that they are keep meeting passengers’ expectations, and consider customizing their products and services (as needed to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Kineto-dynamic design optimisation for vehicle-specific seat-suspension systems

Science.gov (United States)

Shangguan, Wen-Bin; Shui, Yijie; Rakheja, Subhash

2017-11-01

Designs and analyses of seat-suspension systems are invariably performed considering effective vertical spring rate and damping properties, while neglecting important contributions due to kinematics of the widely used cross-linkage mechanism. In this study, a kineto-dynamic model of a seat-suspension is formulated to obtain relations for effective vertical suspension stiffness and damping characteristics as functions of those of the air spring and the hydraulic damper, respectively. The proposed relations are verified through simulations of the multi-body dynamic model of the cross-linkage seat-suspension in the ADAMS platform. The validity of the kineto-dynamic model is also demonstrated through comparisons of its vibration transmission response with the experimental data. The model is used to identify optimal air spring coordinates to attain nearly constant natural frequency of the suspension, irrespective of the seated body mass and seated height. A methodology is further proposed to identify optimal damping requirements for vehicle-specific suspension designs to achieve minimal seat effective amplitude transmissibility (SEAT) and vibration dose value (VDV) considering vibration spectra of different classes of earthmoving vehicles. The shock and vibration isolation performance potentials of the optimal designs are evaluated under selected vehicle vibration superimposed with shock motions. Results show that the vehicle-specific optimal designs could provide substantial reductions in the SEAT and VDV values for the vehicle classes considered.

75 FR 21716 - Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review; Airline Service Quality Performance...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-26

... RITA 2008-0002] Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review; Airline Service Quality... Reports'' pursuant to 14 CFR 234.4 and 234.6. These reports are used to monitor the quality of air service.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OMB Approval No. 2138-0041. Title: Airline Service Quality Performance--Part 234...

77 FR 18306 - Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review; Airline Service Quality Performance

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-27

... 2008-0002] Agency Information Collection; Activity Under OMB Review; Airline Service Quality...'' pursuant to 14 CFR 234.4 and 234.6. These reports are used to monitor the quality of air service that... INFORMATION: OMB Approval No. 2138-0041. Title: Airline Service Quality Performance Reports--Part 234. Form No...

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) Perspective: The Operator Experience and Views

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oksanen, P.J.

1999-01-01

The EU Council has adopted a Directive laying down the basic safety standards for the protection of aircrew exposed to cosmic radiation. As a result, carriers must determine which operations are likely to result in exposures exceeding 1 mSv, how to estimate the effective doses for individual crew members, inform the flight crews of possible health risks involved and ensure that the dose received by the foetus will not exceed 1 mSv following declaration of pregnancy. Members of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) welcome this initiative but emphasise the need for an harmonised approach. Over the years many AEA carriers have been involved in work on cosmic radiation in cooperation with the scientific community. They have measured and estimated doses on their network, made educational materials available to crew members, participated in epidemiological studies and collaborated with other interested parties. At present, AEA carriers are in the process of harmonising the advice given to all crew members together with the additional more specific information necessary for women. Many airlines are also participating in a major European epidemiological study. Finally, AEA airlines continue to be extensively involved in the measurement and estimation of cosmic radiation levels. The AEA airlines believe the EURATOM Directive may best be implemented by route dose estimation using a common mathematical model. This would have the advantage that modelling is accepted worldwide as a credible and practical method of dose estimates and overcomes the logistic problems, the likelihood of equipment failure and error inherent in direct measurement. In addition, it allows for consistency of route dose estimates among various airlines and finally offers the opportunity for independent scrutiny and audit as required. (author)

Airline Operations Aid

Science.gov (United States)

1993-01-01

C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS), a NASA-developed expert systems program, is used by American Airlines for three purposes: as a rapid prototyping tool; to develop production prototypes; and to develop production application. An example of the latter is CLIPS' use in "Hub S1AAshing," a knowledge based system that recommends contingency plans when severe schedule reductions must be made. Hub S1AAshing has replaced a manual, labor intensive process. It saves time and allows Operations Control Coordinators to handle more difficult situations. Because the system assimilates much of the information necessary to facilitate educated decision making, it minimizes negative impact in situations where it is impossible to operate all flights.

Classroom Seating Considerations for 21st Century Students and Faculty

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Eugene J.; Kenyon, Melaine C.

2013-01-01

This quantitative, cross-sectional research study explored students' perceptions of five different seating styles within typical classrooms in an urban public higher education institution. The five seating styles included: modern mobile chairs, tablet arm chairs, fixed tiered seating with tablet arms, rectangle tables with standard chairs, and…

MACRO MODEL OF SEAT BELT USE BY CAR DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazimierz JAMROZ

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents some problems of seat belt use by car drivers and passengers. It looks in particular at seat belt use and effectiveness in selected countries. Next, factors of seat belt use are presented and methodology of model development. A macro model of seat belt use is presented based on data from around fifty countries from different continents.

19 CFR 122.134 - When airline does not have in-bond liquor storeroom.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false When airline does not have in-bond liquor storeroom. 122.134 Section 122.134 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY AIR COMMERCE REGULATIONS Aircraft Liquor Kits § 122.134 When airline does not have in-bond liquor storeroom. (a...

SEAT BELT USE AMONG CAR USERS IN MALAYSIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. KULANTHAYAN

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The car is the second (40% most common mode of transportation in Malaysia. In terms of fatal road accidents, car drivers constitute about 9.0% and passengers 13.6% of fatalities. The major cause of car occupants' fatality in such accidents is head injuries, which consist of more than half (56.4% of the fatalities. Thus restraining the head and body, the initial position is the most important injury control strategy for car users. The use of seat belts was deemed one of the most effective ways to reduce road accident fatalities in Malaysia and consequently the mandatory seat belt law was enforced in the early seventies. Therefore, a study on factors influencing the compliance behaviour of seat belt use among cars is needed as to date no such research has been undertaken in Malaysia. A questionnaire study was carried out in Selangor, Malaysia on the compliance behaviour of car occupants in relation to seat belt use. A total of 237 respondents were interviewed and the data analysed using logistic regression method. Six variables were found to be significant at 5 percent level (p<0.05: seating position, location of travel, education level, speeding, night-time driving and enforcement. Compliance with the seat belt law was higher among drivers, educated car users, in the presence of enforcement activities, travelling in city-center areas and car users with a positive attitude towards the risks of speeding and night driving.

International survey of seat belt use exemptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, H; Sirin, H; Levine, J A; Sauber, E

2006-08-01

Substantial evidence of seatbelt efficacy has been shown by several studies, and it is widely recommended that motor vehicle occupants use properly fitted seat belts. However, some (but a heretofore unknown number of) countries with national seat belt laws permit various exemptions which may lower use rates. The aim of this study was to survey the variety of exemptions to national seat belt laws. This investigation relied on identifying respondents from national traffic safety agencies, other governmental and non-governmental organizations, Internet searches, personal contacts, and other sources. Questionnaires were deployed through a web based survey supplemented by email and postal versions. Responses were received from 30 countries of which 28 (93.7%) had a national seat belt law. About two thirds (63.7%) of the 28 national laws applied to both front and back seat passengers. The leading exemption types included vehicles made before a certain year (n = 13), antique vehicles (n = 12), military vehicles (n = 11), buses (n = 9), and emergency vehicles (n = 8). Most responding countries reported one or more specific categories of individuals as exempt including those with medical exemptions (n = 20), taxi drivers (n = 11), police (n = 9), emergency medical personnel (n = 8), physically disabled people (n = 6), and pregnant women (n = 6). Out of 26 responses to the question regarding current level of enforcement, 42.3% felt enforcement was "very good or good" and 57.7% characterized it as "fair or poor". This study represents one of the largest international traffic law surveys reported. Most national seatbelt laws offer perilous exemptions to a broad array of vehicle types and road user groups. These findings, coupled with concern over the level of enforcement in the majority of countries surveyed, suggest that international road safety efforts have a long way to go to improve coverage and enforcement of national seat belt laws.

[Hygiene in airline catering. I. Microbiologic study of meals distributed on aircrafts].

Science.gov (United States)

Castellani, P; Frugoni, G

1983-08-25

A preliminary microbiological survey, conducted in the Italian national airlines Catering Department is reported. Precooked,, frozen meals reheated on medium and long distance flights were examined. The results indicate that hygiene standards are satisfactorily maintained. The presence of staphylococcus aureus in some samples highlights the importance of preventive and prophylactic measures in healthy carriers. In view of the growing concern about Salmonella poisoning in airline passengers the absence of this bacterium is extremely satisfying.

The effects of seat belt legislation on road traffic injuries.

Science.gov (United States)

Trinca, G W; Dooley, B J

1977-04-01

The compulsory wearing of seat belts, first introduced in the world in Victoria in 1970, has effectively reduced the number of deaths and injuries by approximately one-third for car occupants involved in motor vehicle crashes. Initially, the legislation did not apply to children under the age of eight years, but in 1975 a further law was introduced banning children from the front seat of any vehicle unless properly harnessed. Seat belts offer the best protection for front seat drivers and passengers involved in frontal impacts, but offer less protection to the recipient of a side impact. Ten per cent of car occupants admitted to hospital after a frontal impact show injuries, mostly minor, directly attibutable to the wearing of seat belts.

Reflecting on the Germanwings Disaster: A Systematic Review of Depression and Suicide in Commercial Airline Pilots.

Science.gov (United States)

Pasha, Terouz; Stokes, Paul R A

2018-01-01

The 2015 Germanwings Flight 9525 disaster, in which 150 people were killed after the co-pilot may have intentionally crashed the plane in a suicide attempt, highlights the importance of better understanding the mental health of commercial airline pilots. However, there have been few systematic reviews investigating the topic of mental health in commercial aviation. This systematic review aims to identify the types and prevalence of mental health disorders that commercial airline pilots experience with a focus on mood disorders and suicide risk. A systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycINFO databases. Eligible studies were assessed and data was extracted and analyzed. 20 studies were identified. The prevalence of depression experienced by commercial airline pilots in this review ranged from 1.9% to 12.6%. Factors that negatively impacted the mental health of pilots included substance abuse, experiencing verbal or sexual abuse, disruption in sleep circadian rhythms and fatigue. This systematic review identifies that commercial airline pilots may experience depression at least as frequently as the general population. Commercial airline pilots experience occupational stressors, such as disrupted circadian rhythms and fatigue which may increase risks of developing mood disorders. Most studies identified in this review were cross-sectional in nature with substantial limitations. There is a clear need for further higher quality longitudinal studies to better understand the mental health of commercial airline pilots.

Journal of Air Transportation, Volume 9, No. 2. Volume 9, No. 2

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Brent (Editor); Kabashkin, Igor (Editor); Gudmundsson, Sveinn Vidar (Editor); Scarpellini, Nanette (Editor)

2004-01-01

The following articles from the "Journal of Air Transportation" were processed: Future Requirements and Concepts for Cabins of Blended Wing Body Configurations:A Scenario Approach; Future Scenarios for the European Airline Industry: A Marketing-Based Perspective; An Application of the Methodology for Assessment of the Sustainability of the Air Transport System; Modeling the Effect of Enlarged Seating Room on Passenger Preferences of Domestic Airlines in Taiwan; Developing a Fleet Standardization Index for Airline Pricing; and Future Airport Capacity Utilization in Germany: Peaked Congestion and/or Idle Capacity).

Thermal comfort of seats as visualized by infrared thermography.

Science.gov (United States)

Sales, Rosemary Bom Conselho; Pereira, Romeu Rodrigues; Aguilar, Maria Teresa Paulino; Cardoso, Antônio Valadão

2017-07-01

Published studies that deal with the question of how the temperature of chair seats influences human activities are few, but the studies considering such a factor, a function of the type of material, could contribute to improvements in the design of chairs. This study evaluates seat temperatures of 8 types of chairs made of different materials. The parts of the furniture that people come into contact with, and the thermal response of the material to heating and cooling have been evaluated. Infrared thermography was used for this, as it is a non-contact technique that does not present any type of risk in the measurement of temperatures. Seats made of synthetic leather (leatherette), wood and polyester fabric were found to have the highest temperatures, and the plywood seat showed the lowest. The study has also revealed that thermography can contribute to studies of thermal comfort of chair seats in addition to determining the most suitable material. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 43564 - TA-W-71,483, Continental Airlines, Inc., Reservations Division, Houston, TX; TA-W-71,483A...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-26

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration TA-W-71,483, Continental Airlines, Inc., Reservations Division, Houston, TX; TA-W-71,483A, Continental Airlines, Inc., Reservations Division, Tampa, FL; TA-W-71,483B, Continental Airlines, Inc., Reservations Division, Salt Lake City, UT; Notice of...

Integration of 4D Airline Operation Control Systems into NextGen and the NAS, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — WxOps patent pending OpsTablet(TM) software and 4D geospatial data are used by Hawaiian Airlines to achieve unprecedented Airline Operation Control (AOC) in a...

Sentimental Analysis for Airline Twitter data

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta Das, Deb; Sharma, Sharan; Natani, Shubham; Khare, Neelu; Singh, Brijendra

2017-11-01

Social Media has taken the world by surprise at a swift and commendable pace. With the advent of any kind of circumstances may it be related to social, political or current affairs the sentiments of people throughout the world are expressed through their help, making them suitable candidates for sentiment mining. Sentimental analysis becomes highly resourceful for any organization who wants to analyse and enhance their products and services. In the airline industries it is much easier to get feedback from astute data source such as Twitter, for conducting a sentiment analysis on their respective customers. The beneficial factors relating to twitter sentiment analysis cannot be impeded by the consumers who want to know the who’s who and what’s what in everyday life. In this paper we are classifying sentiment of Twitter messages by exhibiting results of a machine learning algorithm using R and Rapid Miner. The tweets are extracted and pre-processed and then categorizing them in neutral, negative and positive sentiments finally summarising the results as a whole. The Naive Bayes algorithm has been used for classifying the sentiments of recent tweets done on the different airlines.

Aortic ruptures in seat belt wearers.

Science.gov (United States)

Arajärvi, E; Santavirta, S; Tolonen, J

1989-09-01

Several investigations have indicated that rupture of the thoracic aorta is one of the leading causes of immediate death in victims of road traffic accidents. In Finland in 1983, 92% of front-seat passengers were seat belt wearers on highways and 82% in build-up areas. The mechanisms of rupture of the aorta have been intensively investigated, but the relationship between seat belt wearing and injury mechanisms leading to aortic rupture is still largely unknown. This study comprises 4169 fatally injured victims investigated by the Boards of Traffic Accident Investigation of Insurance Companies during the period 1972 to 1985. Chest injuries were recorded as the main cause of death in 1121 (26.9%) victims, 207 (5.0%) of those victims having worn a seat belt. Aortic ruptures were found at autopsy in 98 victims and the exact information of the location of the aortic tears was available in 68. For a control group, we analyzed 72 randomly chosen unbelted victims who had a fatal aortic rupture in similar accidents. The location of the aortic rupture in unbelted victims was more often in the ascending aorta, especially in drivers, whereas in seat belt wearers the distal descending aorta was statistically more often ruptured, especially in right-front passengers (p less than 0.05). The steering wheel predominated statistically as the part of the car estimated to have caused the injury in unbelted victims (37/72), and some interior part of the car was the most common cause of fatal thoracic impacts in seat belt wearers (48/68) (p less than 0.001). The mechanism of rupture of the aorta in the classic site just distal to the subclavian artery seems to be rapid deceleration, although complex body movements are also responsible in side impact collisions. The main mechanism leading to rupture of the ascending aorta seems to be severe blow to the bony thorax. This also often causes associated thoracic injuries, such as heart rupture and sternal fracture. Injuries in the ascending

Development of the Mathematical Model of Integrated Management System for an Airline

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdane Ruta

2016-12-01

Full Text Available At the present stage of airline development the most effective way to increase safety is to introduce a systematic approach to the management of the organization. The creation of a single integrated management system including the combination of resources will make it possible to maintain the necessary level of quality of aviation services with safety as a key indicator. The article offers a model of such an integrated management system for medium level airlines.

22 CFR 102.9 - Arranging for entry and travel of investigating and airline representatives.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Arranging for entry and travel of investigating and airline representatives. 102.9 Section 102.9 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE ECONOMIC AND OTHER FUNCTIONS CIVIL AVIATION United States Aircraft Accidents Abroad § 102.9 Arranging for entry and travel of investigating and airline...

Car safety seat usage and selection among families attending University Hospital Limerick

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Scully, P

2016-05-01

The safest way for children to travel within a car is by provision of a weight-appropriate safety-seat. To investigate this, we conducted a cross-sectional study of adult parents who had children under 12 years, and collected information related to: car use, safety-seat legislation, and type of safety-seat employed. Data were reviewed on 120 children from 60 respondents. Ninety-eight (81.7%) children were transported daily by car. Forty-eight (81.4%) respondents were aware that current safety-seat legislation is based on the weight of the child. One hundred and seven (89.9%) children were restrained during travel using a car safety-seat. One hundred and two (96.2%) safety seats were newly purchased, installed in 82.3% (88) cases by family members with installation instructions fully read in 58 (55.2%) cases. Ninety-nine (83.2%) children were restrained using an appropriate safety-seat for their weight. The results show that four out of five families are employing the most appropriate safety-seat for their child, so providing an effective mechanism to reduce car-related injury. However, the majority of safety-seats are installed by family members, which may have child safety consequences.

The career cost: does it pay for a military pilot to leave the service for the airlines?

OpenAIRE

Hodges, Jeffrey A.

2015-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited The military is experiencing a pilot retention problem that is getting worse. The government spends millions of dollars training pilots in the most advanced aircraft in the world, only to watch them leave for the commercial airline industry at the first opportunity. As airline pilot hiring continues to improve, military pilots will depart the services for the assumed increase in financial compensation of the airlines. This thesis compa...

Space weather effects and commerical airlines

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, J.; Bentley, R.; Hunter, R.; Taylor, G.; Thomas, D.

Space Weather (SW) phenomena can effect many areas of commercial airline operations including avionics, communications and GPS navigation systems. Of particular importance at present is the recently introduced EU legislation requiring the monitoring of aircrew radiation exposure, including any variations at aircraft altitudes due to solar activity. The Mullard Space Science Laboratory is collaborating with Virgin Atlantic Airways, the Civil Aviation Authority and the National Physical Laboratory on a 3- year project to monitor the levels of cosmic radiation on long-haul flights. The study will determine whether computer models currently used to predict radiation exposure of aircrew are adequate. It also aims to determine whether solar or geomagnetic activity can cause significant modifications to the doses. This presentation will begin by showing some of the preliminary results obtained so far. As an example, we present a comparison of flight doses measured following the 14t h July 2000 X - class flare that was accompanied by a major Solar Particle Event (SPE). The results highlight the importance of a range of external factors that can strongly influence how SPEs may effect the measured dose at aircraft altitudes. At present, any SPE contributions in the airlines' dose records can only be poorly estimated retrospectively. Ideally, it would be better to try to avoid operating during these possibly significant radiation - enhancing events by utilising SW information (alerts, warnings, etc.). However, doing so poses many difficult operational problems for such a heavily regulated international industry, in terms of safety, security and procedures. Therefore, the use of timely SW information, which is still very unreliable, in a similar manner to terrestrial weather will require agreement from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) to Air Traffic Control and Aviation Regulatory Authority's. This

Assessment of Rail Seat Abrasion Patterns and Environment

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-01

Rail seat abrasion (RSA) of concrete ties is manifested by the loss of material under the rail seat area and, in extreme cases, results in loss of rail clip holding power, reverse rail cant, and gauge widening. RSA was measured in several curves on t...

Seat-belt message and the law?

Science.gov (United States)

Sengupta, S K; Patil, N G; Law, G

1989-09-01

This paper attempts to draw together available information on the use of seat belts, one of the most important safety devices for a person in a car. Considering the high rate of mortality and morbidity due to road traffic accidents in Papua New Guinea the authors strongly feel that seat-belt usage should be made compulsory. When one looks at the history of the implementation of such a successful countermeasure in other countries it seems that legislation is the only answer.

Costs and Benefits of Stopping the Clock. How Airlines Profit from Changes in the EU ETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelissen, D.; Faber, J.

2012-12-15

All flights arriving at or departing from EU airports have been included in the EU ETS from the beginning of 2012. Airlines have to surrender allowances for emissions on flights to and from EU airports. A share of the allowances has been issued to the airlines for free, the remainder needs to be acquired at an auction or from the market. In November 2012, the European Commission proposed to exempt intercontinental flights from the EU ETS for 2012, an initiative branded as 'Stopping the Clock'. As a result of this change, airlines on intercontinental routes are likely to experience additional windfall profit, since they have probably anticipated ETS-related expenditures on these routes, which they will now not incur. In addition, all airlines have a windfall profit since they are likely to pass on the value of the free allowances, as has been demonstrated to happen in all other sectors that have received free allowances. This note estimates the windfall profits. The report distinguishes two types of windfall profits: (1) Profits that occur because the opportunity costs of free allowances received for intercontinental flights have been passed on. These windfall profits would also have occurred without the 'stop the clock' exemption. We call them ETS Windfall. (2) Profits that occur because airlines have raised their revenues on intercontinental flights, but will not need to buy allowances either at the auction or from other actors because of the exemption. We call them Stopping the Clock Windfall. Depending on the cost pass through, the total windfall profits range from euro 679 million to euro 1,358 million. About a third of these windfall profits arise from the exemption of intercontinental flights. EU airlines are expected to reap the largest share of the windfall due to the change in regulation (55%), followed by US airlines (13%).

76 FR 41726 - Reporting Ancillary Airline Passenger Revenues

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-15

...., third checked bag or more) Overweight/Oversized Baggage/Sports Equipment Carry-On Baggage 4. In-Flight Medical Equipment 5. In-Flight Entertainment/Internet Access 6. Sleep Sets 7. In-Flight Food/Non Alcoholic... baggage performance is outdated. Airline passengers would [[Page 41728

Vibration control of an energy regenerative seat suspension with variable external resistance

Science.gov (United States)

Ning, Donghong; Sun, Shuaishuai; Du, Haiping; Li, Weihua; Zhang, Nong

2018-06-01

In this paper, an energy regenerative seat suspension with a variable external resistance is proposed and built, and a semi-active controller for its vibration control is also designed and validated. The energy regenerative seat suspension is built with a three-phase generator and a gear reducer, which are installed in the scissors structure centre of the seat suspension, and the vibration energy is directly harvested from the rotary movement of suspension's scissors structure. The electromagnetic torque of the semi-active seat suspension actuator is controlled by an external variable resistor. An integrated model including the seat suspension's kinematics and the generator is built and proven to match the test result very well. A simplified experimental phenomenon model is also built based on the test results for the controller design. A state feedback H∞ controller is proposed for the regenerative seat suspension's semi-active vibration control. The proposed regenerative seat suspension and its controller are validated with both simulations and experiments. A well-tuned passive seat suspension is applied to evaluate the regenerative seat's performance. Based on ISO 2631-1, the frequency-weighted root mean square (FW-RMS) acceleration of the proposed seat suspension has a 22.84% reduction when compared with the passive one, which indicates the improvement of ride comfort. At the same time, the generated RMS power is 1.21 W. The proposed regenerative seat suspension can greatly improve the driver's ride comfort and has the potential to be developed to a self-powered semi-active system.

High Level Rule Modeling Language for Airline Crew Pairing

Science.gov (United States)

Mutlu, Erdal; Birbil, Ş. Ilker; Bülbül, Kerem; Yenigün, Hüsnü

2011-09-01

The crew pairing problem is an airline optimization problem where a set of least costly pairings (consecutive flights to be flown by a single crew) that covers every flight in a given flight network is sought. A pairing is defined by using a very complex set of feasibility rules imposed by international and national regulatory agencies, and also by the airline itself. The cost of a pairing is also defined by using complicated rules. When an optimization engine generates a sequence of flights from a given flight network, it has to check all these feasibility rules to ensure whether the sequence forms a valid pairing. Likewise, the engine needs to calculate the cost of the pairing by using certain rules. However, the rules used for checking the feasibility and calculating the costs are usually not static. Furthermore, the airline companies carry out what-if-type analyses through testing several alternate scenarios in each planning period. Therefore, embedding the implementation of feasibility checking and cost calculation rules into the source code of the optimization engine is not a practical approach. In this work, a high level language called ARUS is introduced for describing the feasibility and cost calculation rules. A compiler for ARUS is also implemented in this work to generate a dynamic link library to be used by crew pairing optimization engines.

Experimental study on occupant evacuation in narrow seat aisle

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Shenshi; Lu, Shouxiang; Lo, Siuming; Li, Changhai; Guo, Yafei

2018-07-01

Narrow seat aisle is an important area in the train car interior due to the large passenger population, however evacuation therein has not gained enough concerns. In this experimental study, the occupant evacuation of the narrow seat aisle area is investigated, with the aisle width of 0.4-0.6 m and the evacuation direction of forward and backward. The evacuation behaviors are analyzed based on the video record, and the discussion is carried out in the aspect of evacuation time, crowdedness, evacuation order, and aisle conflicts. The result shows that with the increasing aisle width, total evacuation time and the average specific evacuation rate decrease. The aisle is crowded for some time, with a large linear occupant densities. The evacuation order of each occupant is mainly related to the seat position. Moreover, it is found that the aisle conflicts can be well described by Burstedde's model. This study gives a useful benchmark for evacuation simulation of narrow seat aisle, and provides reference to safety design of seat area in train cars.

76 FR 4733 - Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a Subsidiary of Skywest, Inc., Airport Customer Service Division...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-26

... Airlines, a Subsidiary of Skywest, Inc., Airport Customer Service Division, Fort Smith, AR; Notice of... Customer Service Division v. United States Secretary of Labor (Court No. 09- 00522). On September 28, 2009... 35. Workers at the subject firm (subject worker group) provided airline customer services. AR 4,8,14...

Perceptions of Service Quality: An Empirical Assessment of Modified SERVQUAL Model among Domestic Airline Carriers in Nigeria

OpenAIRE

Ganiyu Rahim A.

2016-01-01

Literature is replete with a large number of theories related to service quality measurement and dimensions in an airline context. To date, there is no consensus of opinion on the generic model and of the number of dimensions most appropriate to evaluate service quality in airline industry. This study investigates service quality dimensions in the Nigerian airline industry. The cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. Convenience sampling was used to select 800 respondents among de...

The association between airline flight and sinonasal symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Shargorodsky, Josef; Zheng, Laura; Stillman, Frances; Soong, Andrea; Navas-Acien, Ana; Reh, Douglas

2016-04-01

Airplane cabin supply air has been shown to contain multiple possible respiratory irritants. In addition, changes in barometric pressure in flight may contribute to specific respiratory conditions. Therefore, there may be an association between commercial airline flight and sinus disease. Participants of the Secondhand-Smoke, Air Quality and Respiratory Health Among Flight Attendants Study were administered an online questionnaire pertaining to their flight experience and respiratory health. Working years, working days per month, and number of trips per month were quantified, as well as smoking exposure and self-reported physician diagnoses of sinusitis, asthma, and rhinitis. The sinonasal outcomes were quantified using a Respiratory Questionnaire Survey (RQS) score. Multivariable analyses were performed to evaluate the associations between flight time and sinus disease. A total of 579 participants met the inclusion criteria for this study, with cohort prevalence of sinusitis, asthma, and rhinitis of 25.3%, 14.4%, and 20.5%, respectively. Tertiles 2 and 3 of working days per month were associated with higher RQS scores compared to tertile 1 (p for trend <0.01). Individual symptoms significantly associated with increasing number of working days per month included "need to blow nose," "sneezing," and "thick nasal discharge," and the number of international trips per month was significantly associated with "coughing" and "facial pain and pressure," among other symptoms. This is the largest study to analyze the relations between airline flight time and sinonasal disease. The results suggest a possible association between sinusitis diagnosis, symptom scores, and specific sinonasal symptoms, and airline flight time. © 2016 ARS-AAOA, LLC.

An Examination of How Ratings of Airlines are Effected by Different Types of Information: A Mediation Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ozyurek, Abdullah Selim

Many dynamics directly or indirectly influence the decision-making process. An individual's demographic features, such as gender, country of origin, and emotions are some of the dynamics. In the aviation domain, air passengers purchase their air travel tickets under those dynamics. The purpose of this study was to determine if the airline type, gender of participants, and participants' country of origin had an effect on ratings of an individual's perception of safety and willingness to fly, and which emotions had a mediating effect on this relationship. The study included Lufthansa Airlines and Turkish Airlines from Europe. The affect was the participants' feeling outcomes of presented airline information. The feelings were Ekman and Friesen's (1971) universal emotions that include happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, and sadness. The results of the study indicated that airline type, gender, and country of origin had a statistically significant effect and significant interaction on safety perception and willingness to fly. Also, emotions were found significant mediators on the mediation paths. Particularly happiness, fear, anger, and disgust emotions had a significant influence on participants' decision outcomes.

The relationship between sitting posture and seated-related upper quadrant musculoskeletal pain in computing South African adolescents: A prospective study.

Science.gov (United States)

Brink, Yolandi; Louw, Quinette; Grimmer, Karen; Jordaan, Esmè

2015-12-01

There is evidence that consistent sitting for prolonged periods is associated with upper quadrant musculoskeletal pain (UQMP). It is unclear whether postural alignment is a significant risk factor. The aim of the prospective study (2010-2011) was to ascertain if three-dimensional sitting postural angles, measured in a real-life school computer classroom setting, predict seated-related UQMP. Asymptomatic Grade 10 high-school students, aged 15-17 years, undertaking Computer Application Technology, were eligible to participate. Using the 3D Posture Analysis Tool, sitting posture was measured while students used desk-top computers. Posture was reported as five upper quadrant angles (Head flexion, Neck flexion; Craniocervical angle, Trunk flexion and Head lateral bending). The Computer Usage Questionnaire measured seated-related UQMP and hours of computer use. The Beck Depression Inventory and the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children assessed psychosocial factors. Sitting posture, computer use and psychosocial factors were measured at baseline. UQMP was measured at six months and one-year follow-up. 211, 190 and 153 students participated at baseline, six months and one-year follow-up respectively. 34.2% students complained of seated-related UQMP during the follow-up period. Increased head flexion (HF) predicted seated-related UQMP developing over time for a small group of students with pain scores greater than the 90th pain percentile, adjusted for age, gender, BMI, computer use and psychosocial factors (p = 0.003). The pain score increased 0.22 points per 1° increase in HF. Classroom ergonomics and postural hygiene should therefore focus on reducing large HF angles among computing adolescents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifying Characteristics of Airline Frequent-Fliers in Australia: Implications for Market Segmentation, Target Marketing, and Product Differentiation

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Airlines can cultivate new business, enjoy repeat patronage through progressively attractive awards given directly to frequent fliers, deter emerging airlines from entering established markets, and compile the demographic profiles and travel characte...

A YEN FOR THE DOLLAR: Airlines and the Transformation of US-Japanese Tourism, 1947-1977

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Douglas Karsner

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This article examines the transformation of transpacific tourism between the United States and Japan from 1947 to 1977, focusing on the key role that Pan American World Airways, Northwest Orient Airlines, and Japan Airlines played in this development. In the late 1940s, travel was mostly by a small upper class leisure market cruising on ships. Linkages between the air carriers and other factors, including governmental policy, travel organizations, and changes in business and culture influenced the industry. By the 1970s, these elements had reshaped the nature and geography of tourism, into a mass airline tourist market characterized by package tours, special interest trips, and consumer values.

Measurements of cosmic-ray doses in commercial airline cabins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okano, M.; Fujitaka, K.; Izumo, K.

1996-01-01

Cosmic radiation doses which aircrew and air passengers receive in airplanes have been calling attention in many countries especially in the last decade. In this relation, various types of information had been reported on cosmic radiation intensity. In Japan, the cosmic radiation intensity had been measured in commercial airline cabins as well as chartered flights. While the intensity depends on altitude, geomagnetic latitude (or cutoff rigidity), and temporal variation of the solar activity, their doses are often speculated based on paper records on airflights combined with the intensity-altitude relationship. In this study, however, efforts were made to estimate more realistic integrated doses in airline cabins based on actual on-board measurements which had been conducted several dozens of times in each year (e.g., 45 times in 1994 and 27 times in 1995). (author)

Investigating brand personality of state-owned and private airlines: Maham Versus Iran Air

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahdi Karoubi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Today, companies need to create exclusion not in the market but in their own capabilities and features in order to gain distinction. The creation and maintenance of distinction through functional features is nearly impossible anymore. Thus, apart from the functional features, companies need to consider their intangible properties, among which brand is one of the most important ones. One of components researchers have detected for brand is personality, which can enhance the preference and loyalty of the customers and influence their decision process. In the service section, due to its specific features, the impacts of brand personality are more important and more complicated and airline companies, as service industries, which provide one of the most intangible products, are no exception. In the current study, using Aaker's Five-Dimension Model for brand personality, brand personality of a state-owned airline company (Iran Air and a private one (Mahan are compared from the perspective of technical directors of travel agencies. The population includes 233 technical directors whose views regarding brand personality of airline companies are studied following the distribution of questionnaires. The results of the data analysis indicate Mahan Airline is superior to Iran Air in all the five dimensions.

ANTHROPOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FLIGHT PERSONNEL FOR DESIGNING DAMPERS FOR SHOCKPROOF SEATS OF HELICOPTER CREWS.

Science.gov (United States)

Moiseev, Yu B; Ignatovich, S N; Strakhov, A Yu

The article discusses anthropometric design of shockproof pilot seats for state-of-the-art helicopters. Object of the investigation was anthropometric parameters of the helicopter aviation personnel of the Russian interior troops. It was stated that the body parameters essential for designing helicopter seat dampers are mass of the body part that presses against the seat in the seating position, and eye level above the seat surface. An uncontrolled seat damper ensuring shockproof safety to 95 % helicopter crews must be designed for the body mass contacting the seat of 99.7 kg and eye level above the seat of 78.6 cm. To absorb.shock effectively, future dampers should be adjustable to pilot's body parameters. The optimal approach to anthropometric design of a helicopter seat is development of type pilot' body models with due account of pilot's the flight outfit and seat geometry. Principle criteria of type models are body mass and eye level. The authors propose a system of type body models facilitating specification of anthropometric data helicopter seat developers.

Fuel conservation: the airline - ATC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grundy, P.M.

1982-05-01

The air traffic control system has a greater impact on fuel conservation than any other factor in aviation, the most energy intensive industry in the world. The article discusses various measures that could be adopted by airlines and air traffic controllers to increase fuel conservation. These include: reducing operating empty weights, flying at optimum altitude, direct routing, linear holding, speed control, flight planning, loading for favorable center of gravity to reduce trim drag, minimizing route mileage, and clearance priorities for more fuel demanding aircraft during landing.

Advanced Infant Car Seat Would Increase Highway Safety

Science.gov (United States)

Dabney, Richard; Elrod, Susan

2004-01-01

An advanced infant car seat has been proposed to increase highway safety by reducing the incidence of crying, fussy behavior, and other child-related distractions that divert an adult driver s attention from driving. In addition to a conventional infant car seat with safety restraints, the proposed advanced infant car seat would include a number of components and subsystems that would function together as a comprehensive infant-care system that would keep its occupant safe, comfortable, and entertained, and would enable the driver to monitor the baby without having to either stop the car or turn around to face the infant during driving. The system would include a vibrator with bulb switch to operate; the switch would double as a squeeze toy that would make its own specific sound. A music subsystem would include loudspeakers built into the seat plus digital and analog circuitry that would utilize plug-in memory modules to synthesize music or a variety of other sounds. The music subsystem would include a built-in sound generator that could synthesize white noise or a human heartbeat to calm the baby to sleep. A second bulb switch could be used to control the music subsystem and would double as a squeeze toy that would make a distinct sound. An anti-noise sound-suppression system would isolate the baby from potentially disturbing ambient external noises. This subsystem would include small microphones, placed near the baby s ears, to detect ambient noise. The outputs of the microphone would be amplified and fed to the loudspeakers at appropriate amplitude and in a phase opposite that of the detected ambient noise, such that the net ambient sound arriving at the baby s ears would be almost completely cancelled. A video-camera subsystem would enable the driver to monitor the baby visually while continuing to face forward. One or more portable miniature video cameras could be embedded in the side of the infant car seat (see figure) or in a flip-down handle. The outputs of

LEASING AS IMPORTANT TOOL OF AIRLINE FINANCING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. G. Afanasiev

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article corers current state of airline financing using such instrument as aviation leasing indifferent forms, such as finance leasing its different forms, operational leasing and its different types, sale and lease back analyzed all pluses and minuses of each form. The main questions of Capetown Convention on international warranties concerning moving equipment also discussed.

75 FR 30775 - Availability of Seats for the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-02

..., Recreational Diving seat, Education seat, Archaeological Research seat, Maritime Museum seat, Youth seat, and... by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. It is one of 13 sanctuaries and protects the wreck..., Recreational Diving, the US Navy, Virginia and North Carolina Department of Historic Resources, the National...

The strategic impact of airline group diversification: the cases of Emirates and Lufthansa

OpenAIRE

Redpath, N.; O'Connell, John F.; Warnock-Smith, D.

2016-01-01

The airline industry is a diverse sector, requiring the support of a varied range of ancillary businesses such as maintenance, catering and travel agencies to carry out its activities. Many of these supporting businesses demonstrate the potential to drive wider profit margins despite generating lower revenues than the airlines themselves, making them attractive investment opportunities in a sector prone to volatile and often lacklustre trading. This study investigates two of the largest diver...

Scenario tree airline fleet planning for demand uncertainty

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Repko, M.G.J.; Lopes dos Santos, Bruno F.

2017-01-01

This paper proposes an innovative multi-period modeling approach to solve the airline fleet planning problem under demand uncertainty. The problem is modeled using a scenario tree approach. The tree is composed of nodes, which represent points of decision in multiple time stages of the planning

Airline's choice of aircraft size-explanations and implications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rietveld, P.; Givoni, M.

2009-01-01

When facing a growth in demand, airlines tend to respond more by means of increasing frequencies than by increasing aircraft size. At many of the world's largest airports there are fewer than 100 passengers per air transport movement, although congestion and delays are growing. Furthermore, demand

Twelve Years in the Life of Airline Websites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Michael Powell

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Perhaps no innovation in history has affected marketing management as pervasively as has the advent of e-commerce. This revolutionary new channel has required businesses to acquire an entirely new set of skills and approaches to promotion, pricing, and distribution. The necessity for e-commerce website operators to more deeply understand consumer behavior when engaged in e-commerce has become a central and crucial factor in website success or failure. As predicted nearly 20 years ago, travel bookings have moved almost entirely to the World Wide Web (WWW. For the past 12 years, data have been collected concerning traveler’s preferences, concerns, and perceptions of airline websites in particular. This research reviews and comments on the evolution of those sites and consumer perceptions of efficiency, ease of use, and usefulness. The results of this study are intended to guide airlines in their pursuit of customer satisfaction and increased profits.

The Surprising Impact of Seat Location on Student Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins, Katherine K.; Wieman, Carl E.

2005-01-01

Every physics instructor knows that the most engaged and successful students tend to sit at the front of the class and the weakest students tend to sit at the back. However, it is normally assumed that this is merely an indication of the respective seat location preferences of weaker and stronger students. Here we present evidence suggesting that in fact this may be mixing up the cause and effect. It may be that the seat selection itself contributes to whether the student does well or poorly, rather than the other way around. While a number of studies have looked at the effect of seat location on students, the results are often inconclusive, and few, if any, have studied the effects in college classrooms with randomly assigned seats. In this paper, we report on our observations of a large introductory physics course in which we randomly assigned students to particular seat locations at the beginning of the semester. Seat location during the first half of the semester had a noticeable impact on student success in the course, particularly in the top and bottom parts of the grade distribution. Students sitting in the back of the room for the first half of the term were nearly six times as likely to receive an F as students who started in the front of the room. A corresponding but less dramatic reversal was evident in the fractions of students receiving As. These effects were in spite of many unusual efforts to engage students at the back of the class and a front-to-back reversal of seat location halfway through the term. These results suggest there may be inherent detrimental effects of large physics lecture halls that need to be further explored.

Airline Safety Management: The development of a proactive safety mechanism model for the evolution of safety management system

OpenAIRE

Hsu, Yueh-Ling

2004-01-01

The systemic origins of many accidents have led to heightened interest in the way in which organisations identify and manage risks within the airline industry. The activities which are thought to represent the term "organisational accident", "safety culture" and "proactive approach" are documented and seek to explain the fact that airlines differ in their willingness and ability to conduct safety management. However, an important but yet relatively undefined task in the airline...

Development of a Methodology to Gather Seated Anthropometry in a Microgravity Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Rajulu, Sudhakar; Young, Karen; Mesloh, Miranda

2009-01-01

The Constellation Program's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is required to accommodate the full population range of crewmembers according to the anthropometry requirements stated in the Human-Systems Integration Requirement (HSIR) document (CxP70024). Seated height is one of many critical dimensions of importance to the CEV designers in determining the optimum seat configuration in the vehicle. Changes in seated height may have a large impact to the design, accommodation, and safety of the crewmembers. Seated height can change due to elongation of the spine when crewmembers are exposed to microgravity. Spinal elongation is the straightening of the natural curvature of the spine and the expansion of inter-vertebral disks. This straightening occurs due to fluid shifts in the body and the lack of compressive forces on the spinal vertebrae. Previous studies have shown that as the natural curvature of the spine straightens, an increase in overall height of 3% of stature occurs which has been the basis of the current HSIR requirements. However due to variations in the torso/leg ratio and impact of soft tissue, data is nonexistent as to how spinal elongation specifically affects the measurement of seated height. In order to obtain this data, an experiment was designed to collect spinal elongation data while in a seated posture in microgravity. The purpose of this study was to provide quantitative data that represents the amount of change that occurs in seated height due to spinal elongation in microgravity environments. Given the schedule and budget constraints of ISS and Shuttle missions and the uniqueness of the problem, a methodology had to be developed to ensure that the seated height measurements were accurately collected. Therefore, simulated microgravity evaluations were conducted to test the methodology and procedures of the experiment. This evaluation obtained seat pan pressure and seated height data to a) ensure that the lap restraint provided sufficient

Joint overbooking and seat allocation for fare families

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjorth, Robert; Fiig, Thomas; Bondoux, Nicolas

2016-01-01

Revenue Management Systems (RMS) traditionally solve the seat allocation problem separately from the overbooking problem. Overbooking is managed by inflating the authorization levels obtained from seat allocation by various heuristics. This approach although suboptimal, is necessitated because...... independent demand model, which is readily solved. The resulting availability control can easily by implemented in existing RMS...

Design and Evaluation Methods for Optimizing Ejection Seat Cushions for Comfort and Safety

Science.gov (United States)

1977-02-01

buttocks to the seat cushion or seat pan. Kohara , a Japaners Investigator discussed the problems of seating comfort and the measuren.ent of buttock/seat...loads In an unpublished report in 1965 (23) and subsequently In a magazine article In 1966 (24). Kohara was able to weasure pressures by means of...Isolation. Kohara has also studied the vibration Isolation requirements in high speed trains (23, 2’). Howeveri the seat cushion has been used only rarely in

Mitigation of airspace congestion impact on airline networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vaaben, Bo Valdemar; Larsen, Jesper

2015-01-01

In recent years European airspace has become increasingly congested and airlines can now observe that en-route capacity constraints are the fastest growing source of flight delays. In 2010 this source of delay accounted for 19% of all flight delays in Europe and has been increasing with an average...

The use of seat belts and contributing factors : an international comparison.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mäkinen, T. Wittink, R.D. & Hagenzieker, M.P.

1991-01-01

The purpose of this study was to define factors that contribute to the use or non-use of seat belts. Legislation prescribing compulsory seat belt usage is one of the most important factors. Promotion of the use of seat belts without this legislation is very difficult and time-consuming. So far, the

MIT-Skywalker: Evaluating comfort of bicycle/saddle seat.

Science.gov (United States)

Goncalves, Rogerio S; Hamilton, Taya; Daher, Ali R; Hirai, Hiroaki; Krebs, Hermano I

2017-07-01

The MIT-Skywalker is a robotic device developed for the rehabilitation of gait and balance after a neurological injury. This device has been designed based on the concept of a passive walker and provides three distinct training modes: discrete movement, rhythmic movement, and balance training. In this paper, we present our efforts to evaluate the comfort of a bicycle/saddle seat design for the system's novel actuated body weight support device. We employed different bicycle and saddle seats and evaluated comfort using objective and subjective measures. Here we will summarize the results obtained from a study of fifteen healthy subjects and one stroke patient that led to the selection of a saddle seat design for the MIT-Skywalker.

Autist mobile seat's frame strength simulation used in a car

Science.gov (United States)

Suryo, S. H.; Jamari, J.; Naufal, G. K.; Ismail, R.; Bayuseno, A. P.; Desiningrum, D. R.

2016-04-01

Going on a car with autistic children needs a special handling. Autistic children that tend to be hyperactive in the car may disturb driving. A tool is needed to keep them in a calm state when they are in the car. Autist Mobile Seat is an aid for the autistic children when going on a car. The aid is an additional seat paired with the main seat of the car. This aid consists of three main things: Main frame, body skin, and pneumatic system. Frame as the main component supporting the Autist Mobile Seat functions as a holder as well as a body skin retainer in order to be able to retain the body of the autistic children. The strength of the frame from this Autist Mobile Seat should be counted as an anticipation from the failure of the frame function when receiving load when used by the autistic children in the car. Consequently, a test on the frame of the Autist Mobile Seat towards the load received should be conducted by using a method of FEM (Finite Element Method) with the help of commercial software. The simulation produces the maximum strength, the frame towards the load received as well as the critical point on the frame when loading occurs.

Interfaces Visualize Data for Airline Safety, Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

As the A-Train Constellation orbits Earth to gather data, NASA scientists and partners visualize, analyze, and communicate the information. To this end, Langley Research Center awarded SBIR funding to Fairfax, Virginia-based WxAnalyst Ltd. to refine the company's existing user interface for Google Earth to visualize data. Hawaiian Airlines is now using the technology to help manage its flights.

Percentage of Drivers and Front Seat Passengers Wearing Seat Belts, 2012 & 2014, All States

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Source for 2012 national data: National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), 2012. Source for 2012 state data: State Observational Survey of Seat Belt Use, 2012....

14 CFR 125.211 - Seat and safety belts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Seat and safety belts. 125.211 Section 125... Requirements § 125.211 Seat and safety belts. (a) No person may operate an airplane unless there are available... the airplane who is at least 2 years old; and (2) An approved safety belt for separate use by each...

Effect of airline travel on performance: a review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Leatherwood, Whitney E; Dragoo, Jason L

2013-06-01

The need for athletes to travel long distances has spurred investigation into the effect of air travel across multiple time zones on athletic performance. Rapid eastward or westward travel may negatively affect the body in many ways; therefore, strategies should be employed to minimise these effects which may hamper athletic performance. In this review, the fundamentals of circadian rhythm disruption are examined along with additional effects of airline travel including jet lag, sleep deprivation, travel at altitude and nutritional considerations that negatively affect performance. Evidence-based recommendations are provided at the end of the manuscript to minimise the effects of airline travel on performance.

The Impact of Seating Location and Seating Type on Student Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Meeks, Michael D.; Knotts, Tami L.; James, Karen D.; Williams, Felice; Vassar, John A.; Wren, Amy Oakes

2013-01-01

While an extensive body of research exists regarding the delivery of course knowledge and material, much less attention has been paid to the performance effect of seating position within a classroom. Research findings are mixed as to whether students in the front row of a classroom outperform students in the back row. Another issue that has not…

"Hot Seat" Questioning: A Technique to Promote and Evaluate Student Dialogue

Science.gov (United States)

Crider, Anthony

Several approaches have been proposed to include students in classroom dialogue, including "think-pair-share" and "talk to your neighbor." I recently implemented an additional technique in which four students answer questions in a "Hot Seat" at the front of the classroom. An unforeseen by-product of this was student-initiated peer instruction outside of the classroom. A small case study (approximately 50 students) on the effect of the Hot Seat using the midterm exam showed that students were 9.5 +/- 3.2% more likely to correctly answer a question related to material covered while they occupied the Hot Seat. Analysis of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test revealed that they were twice as likely to learn their Hot Seat material. A survey revealed one likely reason: Students typically spent 15-60 additional minutes preparing for class on their two assigned Hot Seat dates. Curiously, students received no significant benefit (2.2 +/- 3.6%) from their second turn in the Hot Seat, possibly reflecting student immunization to its motivational pressure.

The Low Cost Airline Consumer Price Sensitivity. An Investigation on The Mediating Role of Promotion and Trust in Brand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janfry Sihite

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The ASEAN Open Sky Policy is one of ASEAN policy to open the airspace between the ASEAN member countries. Aviation services based companies including the Low Cost airlines will experience tight com-petition among ASEAN airline companies. This research aim to explore the effect of price on customer loyalty through the mediating role of promotion and trust in brand. The original sample collected from 100 Indonesian low-cost airline Citilink consumer that just arrived in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the bootstrapped techniques conducted for 500 sub-samples and further analyzed with structural equation modelling partial least square. The research findings support the low cost airline consumer price sensitivity, furthermore price affect the trust in brand more severe compared with the promotion. Price effect fully mediated through the trust in brand and promotion toward the consumer loyalty. Further research should consider the sensitivity of price to elaborate the decision making process for the low cost air-line consumer.

The Low Cost Airline Consumer Price Sensitivity. An Investigation on The Mediating Role of Promotion and Trust in Brand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janfry Sihite

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The ASEAN Open Sky Policy is one of ASEAN policy to open the airspace between the ASEAN member countries. Aviation services based companies including the Low Cost airlines will experience tight com-petition among ASEAN airline companies. This research aim to explore the effect of price on customer loyalty through the mediating role of promotion and trust in brand. The original sample collected from 100 Indonesian low-cost airline Citilink consumer that just arrived in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the bootstrapped techniques conducted for 500 sub-samples and further analyzed with structural equation modelling partial least square. The research findings support the low cost airline consumer price sensitivity, furthermore price affect the trust in brand more severe compared with the promotion. Price effect fully mediated through the trust in brand and promotion toward the consumer loyalty. Further research should consider the sensitivity of price to elaborate the decision making process for the low cost airline consumer.

49 CFR 571.210 - Standard No. 210; Seat belt assembly anchorages.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... bolt holes or the centroid of any other means of attachment to the structure specified in 4.1.3.1... are either: (a) For designated seating positions that are common to the same occupant seat and that... common to the same occupant seat, but that face in the same direction, if the vertical centerline of the...

Airline loyalty (programs) across borders : A geographic discontinuity approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, Gerben; Behrens, Christiaan; van Ommeren, Jos

2018-01-01

We analyze brand loyalty advantages of national airlines in their domestic countries using geocoded data from a major international frequent flier program. We employ a geographic discontinuity design that estimates discontinuities in program activity at the national borders of the program's

Resection of deep-seated brain glioma by microsurgery assisted with neuronavigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng Ming; Zhou Youxin; Sun Chunming; Zhang Shiming

2009-01-01

Objective: To investigate the clinical value of neuronavigator assisted microsurgery for deep-seated brain glioma. Methods: The electromagnetic neuronavigation system had been applied for microsurgery of deep-seated brain glioma in fifteen cases. Results: Ten from 15 patients were totally removed, 2 were subtotally removed and 3 were partial removed.All patients had no new neurological deficit. Conclusion: The neuronavigator assisted microsurgery for deep-seated brain glioma is of characters including accurate location, minimal invasiveness, and can enhance the rate of total resection and decrease the operative complications in the patients with deep-seated brain glioma. (authors)

A new landing impact attenuation seat in manned spacecraft biologically-inspired by felids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Hui

2015-04-01

Full Text Available When manned spacecraft comes back to the earth, it relies on the impact attenuation seat to protect astronauts from injuries during landing phase. Hence, the seat needs to transfer impact load, as small as possible, to the crew. However, there is little room left for traditional seat to improve further. Herein, a new seat system biologically-inspired by felids’ landing is proposed. Firstly, a series of experiments was carried out on cats and tigers, in which they were trained to jump down voluntarily from different heights. Based on the ground reaction forces combined with kinematics, the experiment indicated that felids’ landing after self-initial jump was a multi-step impact attenuation process and the new seat was inspired by this. Then the construction and work process of new seat were redesigned to realize the multi-step impact attenuation. The dynamic response of traditional and new seat is analyzed under the identical conditions and the results show that the new concept seat can significantly weaken the occupant overload in two directions compared with that of traditional seat. As a consequence, the risk of injury evaluated for spinal and head is also lowered, meaning a higher level of protection which is especially beneficial to the debilitated astronaut.

Söder Airlines alustab Tampere-Tallinna lende / Toivo Tänavsuu

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Tänavsuu, Toivo

2003-01-01

2002. aastal Soome ärimeeste loodud lennufirma Söder Airlines lennuk hakkab lendama Tallinna ja Tampere vahel, edaspidi kavatsetakse avada ka lennuliin Tampere-Kuressaare. Vt. samas: Lennust Eestisse huvitub ka SkyEurope

Progress in airline distribution systems: The threat of new entrants to incumbent players

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Athina Sismanidou

2009-07-01

Full Text Available For decades, distribution has been a key ICT (Information and Communication Technology area for airlines and this sector has been dominated by four (now three Global Distribution Systems (GDSs whose primacy has been threatened over the last four years by a set of new players, the so called GDS New Entrants (GNEs.  GNEs emerged with the advent of the Internet and open source technology as ‘disintermediation’ facilitators and generated vast interest from airlines because they promised to reduce the cost of distribution. This paper explores the impact of ICTs on airlines with a focus on GDSs. It provides an overview of the changing market dynamics, analyses the environment that led to the appearance of GNEs and pinpoints the issues behind their until now failure to provide a true alternative to the GDSs.  This analysis complements existing academic research in that it clarifies critical issues in the air travel distribution field and provides an overview of current industry developments.

AIRLINE ITINERARY CHOICE IN A DYNAMIC SUPPLY ENVIRONMENT: RESULTS FROM A STATED PREFERENCE SURVEY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uzi Freund-Feinstei

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the choice of airline itineraries in dynamic settings using a tailored stated preference survey. The paper hypothesizes that airline itinerary choice is not a one-time event, but a continuous process during a certain time frame. Consumers can choose either to purchase an itinerary, deferring choice up to the end of the sales period, or completely declining the purchase. Understanding such consumers’ behavior is specifically relevant to the tourism industry, where firms are extensively utilizing internet websites to offer their products (e.g., airline tickets, hotel rooms to consumers. The paper describes the stated preference survey with real itineraries of various airlines on medium and long-haul routes. Choice sets are composed with dynamic and static variables and socio-economic variables. Questionnaires were distributed electronically among various groups of respondents, yielding a sample of 914 persons. Results show that (i itinerary choice deferring takes place, with differences between tourists and business-travelers, (ii the decision whether to defer choice is affected by dynamically changing variables and by the length of each respondent’s allocated choice period, and (iii the proposed methodology is adequate for investigating choice in dynamic settings and thus indicating its potential for further research in transportation planning and in tourism.

Attractiveness-Based Airline Network Models with Embedded Spill and Recapture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Desmond Di Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: In airline revenue management, the modeling of the spill and recapture effects is essential for an accurate estimation of the passenger flow and the revenue in a flight network. However, as most current approaches toward spill and recapture involve either non-linearity or a tremendous amount of additional variables, it is computationally intractable to apply those techniques to the classical network design and capacity planning models.Design/methodology: We present a new framework that incorporates the spill and recapture effects, where the spill from an itinerary is recaptured by other itineraries based on their attractiveness. The presented framework distributes the accepted demand of an itinerary according to the currently available itineraries, without adding extra variables for the recaptured spill. Due to its compactness, we integrate the framework with the classical capacity planning and network design models.Findings: Our preliminary computational study shows an increase of 1.07% in profitability anda better utilization of the network capacity, on a medium-size North American airline provided by Sabre Airline Solutions.Originality/value: Our investigation leads to a holistic model that tackles the network design and capacity planning simultaneously with an accurate modeling of the spill and re- capture effects.Furthermore, the presented framework for spill and recapture is versatile and can be easily applied to other disciplines such as the hospitality industry and product line design (PLD problems.

Zagreb and Tenerife: Airline Accidents Involving Linguistic Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Cookson, Simon

2009-01-01

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is currently implementing a program to improve the language proficiency of pilots and air traffic controllers worldwide. In justifying the program, ICAO has cited a number of airline accidents that were at least partly caused by language factors. Two accidents cited by ICAO are analysed in this…

Experimental verification of numerical calculations of railway passenger seats

Science.gov (United States)

Ligaj, B.; Wirwicki, M.; Karolewska, K.; Jasińska, A.

2018-04-01

The construction of railway seats is based on industry regulations and the requirements of end users, i.e. passengers. The two main documents in this context are the UIC 566 (3rd Edition, dated 7 January 1994) and the EN 12663-1: 2010+A1:2014. The study was to carry out static load tests of passenger seat frames. The paper presents the construction of the test bench and the results of experimental and numerical studies of passenger seat rail frames. The test bench consists of a frame, a transverse beam, two electric cylinders with a force value of 6 kN, and a strain gauge amplifier. It has a modular structure that allows for its expansion depending on the structure of the seats. Comparing experimental results with numerical results for points A and B allowed to determine the existing differences. It follows from it that higher stress values are obtained by numerical calculations in the range of 0.2 MPa to 35.9 MPa.

Biomechanical investigation of prolonged driving in an ergonomically designed truck seat prototype.

Science.gov (United States)

Cardoso, Michelle; McKinnon, Colin; Viggiani, Dan; Johnson, Michel J; Callaghan, Jack P; Albert, Wayne J

2018-03-01

A postural evaluation during a prolonged driving task was conducted to determine the ergonomic validity of a new freely adjustable truck seat prototype. Twenty participants were recruited to perform two 2-h simulated driving sessions. Postures were assessed using motion capture, accelerometers and pressure pads. Subjective discomfort was also monitored in 15-min increments using ratings of perceived discomfort (RPD) and the Automotive Seating Discomfort Questionnaire. Participants had a more neutral spine posture during the first hour of the drive and reported lower RPDs while sitting in the prototype. Pairing the gluteal backrest panel with the adjustable seat pan helped reduce the average sitting pressure. The industry-standard truck seat may lead to the development of poor whole body posture, and the proposed ergonomic redesign of a new truck seat helped improve sitting posture and reduce perceived discomfort. Practitioner Summary: A new freely adjustable truck seat prototype was compared to an Industry standard seat to assess hypothesised improvements to sitting posture and discomfort for long haul driving. It was found that the adjustable panels in the prototype helped promote spine posture, reduce sitting pressure and improved discomfort ratings.

75 FR 58340 - Airworthiness Directives; Koito Industries, Ltd., Seats and Seating Systems Approved Under...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-24

... under Executive Order 13132. This proposed AD would not have a substantial direct effect on the States... cable, hook and loop (hook and loop is a generic term for Velcro), leather cover that is glued to seat...

Development of a method for rating climate seat comfort

Science.gov (United States)

Scheffelmeier, M.; Classen, E.

2017-10-01

The comfort aspect in the vehicle interior is becoming increasingly important. A high comfort level offers the driver a good and secure feeling and has a strong influence on passive traffic safety. One important part of comfort is the climate aspect, especially the microclimate that emerges between passenger and seat. In this research, different combinations of typical seat materials are used. Fourteen woven and knitted fabrics and eight leathers and its substitutes for the face fabric layer, one foam, one non-woven and one 3D spacer for the plus pad layer and for the support layer three foam types with variations in structure and raw material as well as one rubber hair structure were investigated. To characterise this sample set by thermo-physiological aspects (e.g. water vapour resistance Ret, thermal resistance Rct, buffering capacity of water vapour Fd) regular and modified sweating guarded hotplates were used according to DIN EN ISO 11092. The results of the material characterisation confirm the common knowledge that seat covers out of textiles have better water vapour resistance values than leathers and its substitutes. Subject trials in a driving simulator were executed to rate the subjective sensation while driving in a vehicle seat. With a thermal, sweating Manikin (Newton Type, Thermetrics) objective product measurements were carried out on the same seat. Indeed the subject trials show that every test subject has his or her own subjective perception concerning the climate comfort. The results of the subject trials offered the parameters for the Newton measuring method. Respectively the sweating rate, sit-in procedure, ambient conditions and sensor positions on and between the seat layers must be comparable with the subject trials. By taking care of all these parameters it is possible to get repeatable and reliable results with the Newton Manikin. The subjective feelings of the test subjects, concerning the microclimate between seat and passenger, provide

75 FR 25202 - Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines; Order Renewing...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-07

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Industry and Security Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines; Order Renewing Order Temporarily Denying Export Privileges Orion... Denying the Export Privileges of Respondents Orion Air, S.L. (``Orion Air'') and Syrian Pearl Airlines...

Competition, concentration and fares in the U.S. airline industry

OpenAIRE

Paul W. Bauer

1987-01-01

An examination of the true state of competition and concentration in the airline industry by taking into account the function and effects of the hub-and-spoke networks that have developed in the market.

Optimizing Air Transportation Service to Metroplex Airports. Par 2; Analysis Using the Airline Schedule Optimization Model (ASOM)

Science.gov (United States)

Donoue, George; Hoffman, Karla; Sherry, Lance; Ferguson, John; Kara, Abdul Qadar

2010-01-01

The air transportation system is a significant driver of the U.S. economy, providing safe, affordable, and rapid transportation. During the past three decades airspace and airport capacity has not grown in step with demand for air transportation; the failure to increase capacity at the same rate as the growth in demand results in unreliable service and systemic delay. This report describes the results of an analysis of airline strategic decision-making that affects geographic access, economic access, and airline finances, extending the analysis of these factors using historic data (from Part 1 of the report). The Airline Schedule Optimization Model (ASOM) was used to evaluate how exogenous factors (passenger demand, airline operating costs, and airport capacity limits) affect geographic access (markets-served, scheduled flights, aircraft size), economic access (airfares), airline finances (profit), and air transportation efficiency (aircraft size). This analysis captures the impact of the implementation of airport capacity limits, as well as the effect of increased hedged fuel prices, which serve as a proxy for increased costs per flight that might occur if auctions or congestion pricing are imposed; also incorporated are demand elasticity curves based on historical data that provide information about how passenger demand is affected by airfare changes.

Seat Adjustment Design of an Intelligent Robotic Wheelchair Based on the Stewart Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Po Er Hsu

2013-03-01

Full Text Available A wheelchair user makes direct contact with the wheelchair seat, which serves as the interface between the user and the wheelchair, for much of any given day. Seat adjustment design is of crucial importance in providing proper seating posture and comfort. This paper presents a multiple-DOF (degrees of freedom seat adjustment mechanism, which is intended to increase the independence of the wheelchair user while maintaining a concise structure, light weight, and intuitive control interface. This four-axis Stewart platform is capable of heaving, pitching, and swaying to provide seat elevation, tilt-in-space, and sideways movement functions. The geometry and types of joints of this mechanism are carefully arranged so that only one actuator needs to be controlled, enabling the wheelchair user to adjust the seat by simply pressing a button. The seat is also equipped with soft pressure-sensing pads to provide pressure management by adjusting the seat mechanism once continuous and concentrated pressure is detected. Finally, by comparing with the manual wheelchair, the proposed mechanism demonstrated the easier and more convenient operation with less effort for transfer assistance.

Cardiovascular investigations of airline pilots with excessive cardiovascular risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Wirawan, I Made Ady; Aldington, Sarah; Griffiths, Robin F; Ellis, Chris J; Larsen, Peter D

2013-06-01

This study examined the prevalence of airline pilots who have an excessive cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk score according to the New Zealand Guideline Group (NZGG) Framingham-based Risk Chart and describes their cardiovascular risk assessment and investigations. A cross-sectional study was performed among 856 pilots employed in an Oceania based airline. Pilots with elevated CVD risk that had been previously evaluated at various times over the previous 19 yr were reviewed retrospectively from the airline's medical records, and the subsequent cardiovascular investigations were then described. There were 30 (3.5%) pilots who were found to have 5-yr CVD risk score of 10-15% or higher. Of the 29 pilots who had complete cardiac investigations data, 26 pilots underwent exercise electrocardiography (ECG), 2 pilots progressed directly to coronary angiograms and 1 pilot with abnormal echocardiogram was not examined further. Of the 26 pilots, 7 had positive or borderline exercise tests, all of whom subsequently had angiograms. One patient with a negative exercise test also had a coronary angiogram. Of the 9 patients who had coronary angiograms as a consequence of screening, 5 had significant disease that required treatment and 4 had either trivial disease or normal coronary arteries. The current approach to investigate excessive cardiovascular risk in pilots relies heavily on exercise electrocardiograms as a diagnostic test, and may not be optimal either to detect disease or to protect pilots from unnecessary invasive procedures. A more comprehensive and accurate cardiac investigation algorithm to assess excessive CVD risk in pilots is required.

System for routine testing of self-contained and airline breathing equipment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McDermott, H.J.; Hermens, G.A.

1980-07-01

A system for routine testing of self-contained and airline breathing equipment, developed by Shell Oil Co., for testing breathing equipment at one of its refineries, consists of an 80 psig air supply for airline respirators; a 500-2100 psig air supply for self-contained units; a regulator test system which uses a mannequin head that simulates human inhalation and which tests the ability of the regulator to keep the mask interior at the correct positive pressure; and an exhalation valve test system which identifies a leaky or sticking valve. The testing system has been in use for about 30 mo and has led to increased acceptance of respiratory protective equipment by workers.

Overseas airlines woo Chinese tourists

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2004-01-01

<正> A well-known ancient Chinese poet, Su Shi (1037-1101), used to describe the natural scene in April as: "Two or three sprays of peach behind bamboo; When spring warms the river the ducks are the first to know."As for the potential of China’s tourism industry, airline companies from other countries seem to be the "ducks" who have very good foresight about passenger loads as more Chinese travellers prefer overseas destinations as their first choice for holidays, especially the three week-long holidays, Spring Festival, May Day and National Day.As the May Day holiday approaches,

Customers' attributional judgments towards complaint handling in airline service: a confirmatory study based on attribution theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiou, Wen-Bin

2007-06-01

Besides flight safety, complaint handling plays a crucial role in airline service. Based upon Kelley's attribution theory, in the present study customers' attributions were examined under different conditions of complaint handling by the airlines. There were 531 passengers (216 women; ages 21 to 63 years, M = 41.5, SD = 11.1) with experiences of customer complaints who were recruited while awaiting boarding. Participants received one hypothetical scenario of three attributional conditions about complaint handling and then reported their attributional judgments. The findings indicated that the passengers were most likely to attribute the company's complaint handling to unconditional compliance when the airline company reacted to customer complaints under low distinctiveness, high consistency, and when consensus among the airlines was low. On the other hand, most passengers attributed the company's complaint handling to conditional compliance under the conditions in which distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus were all high. The results provide further insights into how different policies of complaint management affect customers' attributions. Future directions and managerial implications are also discussed.

Competition and coordination in the U.S. airline hub-to-hub markets: An industry pre-merger case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prasun Bhattacharjee

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This paper investigates the nature of conduct that existed in the U.S. airline hub-to-hub markets prior to the recent merger wave of the legacy carriers. We explore the strategic importance of network carrier hubs in form of “spheres of influence” on airline market conduct. We also simultaneously recognize the overgrowing role played by Low Cost Carriers (LCC over the years by estimating two conduct parameters - one in markets where LCCs directly compete head-to-head with legacy carriers and the other for markets which LCCs do not serve but has presence in the hub airports or adjacent airports comprising the market endpoints. Thus our supply side framework also sheds some light on the issue of perfect contestability in airline industry. Design/methodology/approach: We estimate a structural oligopoly model for differentiated products with competitive interactions using DB1B data for first quarter of 2004. Findings: Our results imply that the nature of competition is more aggressive relative to Bertrand behavior in hub-to-hub markets and that these markets are less than perfectly contestable. Originality/value: This paper adds to the empirical literature of airline competition by enabling estimation of the actual conduct parameter assuming firm price setting behavior in presence of product differentiation. Contrary to existing literature on airline competition, a structural model enables us to systematically separate out effects of demand, cost and strategic factors on observed airline prices.

Annualized TASAR Benefit Estimate for Alaska Airlines Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

The Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept offers onboard automation for the purpose of advising the pilot of traffic compatible trajectory changes that would be beneficial to the flight. A fast-time simulation study was conducted to assess the benefits of TASAR to Alaska Airlines. The simulation compares historical trajectories without TASAR to trajectories developed with TASAR and evaluated by controllers against their objectives. It was estimated that between 8,000 and 12,000 gallons of fuel and 900 to 1,300 minutes could be saved annually per aircraft. These savings were applied fleet-wide to produce an estimated annual cost savings to Alaska Airlines in excess of $5 million due to fuel, maintenance, and depreciation cost savings. Switching to a more wind-optimal trajectory was found to be the use case that generated the highest benefits out of the three TASAR use cases analyzed. Alaska TASAR requests peaked at four to eight requests per hour in high-altitude Seattle center sectors south of Seattle-Tacoma airport.

Industry Issue Paper: Cross-Cultural Factors and Corporate Governance Transparency in Global Airline Strategic Alliances

OpenAIRE

Giapponi, Catherine C.; Scheraga, Carl A.

2007-01-01

This paper argues that a critical dimension in understanding the factors that inhibit the effectiveness and benefits of airline alliances is corporate transparency. Specifically, the issue of transparency in corporate governance is considered. Corporate governance is the set of institutional arrangements affecting corporate decision making, and deals with the relationship among various participants in determining the direction and performance of corporations. However, airline strategic allian...

EVALUATING THE SHORT RUN EFFECTS OF U.S. CRUDE OIL INVENTORY LEVELS ON WTI CRUDE OIL PRICE FROM 1993 - 2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobi Olasojiand

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The focus of this research was to investigate the short-term influence of U.S. crude oil inventories on WTI crude oil prices from 1993 to 2013. This study is important for policy makers who wish to reduce the persistent and growing price volatility of crude oil and its related products as well as businesses such as airline companies who wish to make annual budgetary sales decisions. Using OLS multiple regression, cointegration, VECM and Ex-post forecast techniques; we provide evidence of an inelastic relationship in which a 1% increase in U.S. crude oil inventories is associated with 0.46% decrease in WTI crude oil prices; however this was only valid for 22% of WTI crude oil price variation. We also find that past data on U.S. crude oil inventories could be used to predict future WTI crude oil prices movement. Contrary to literature, the results of the VECM analysis indicate there is no short-run relationship between both variables over the trajectory.

Factors related to seatbelt-wearing among rear-seat passengers in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Choy Peng; Law, Teik Hua; Wong, Shaw Voon; Kulanthayan, S

2013-01-01

The benefit of wearing a rear seatbelt in reducing the risk of motor vehicle crash-related fatalities and injuries has been well documented in previous studies. Wearing a seatbelt not only reduces the risk of injury to rear-seat passengers, but also reduces the risk of injury to front-seat occupant who could be crushed by unbelted rear-seat passengers in a motor vehicle crash. Despite the benefits of wearing a rear seatbelt, its rate of use in Malaysia is generally low. The objective of this study was to identify factors that are associated with the wearing of a seatbelt among rear-seat passengers in Malaysia. Multinomial logistic regression analysis of the results of a questionnaire survey of 1651 rear-seat passengers revealed that rear-seat passengers who were younger, male, single and less educated and who had a perception of a low level of legislation enforcement, a lower risk-aversion and less driving experience (only for passengers who are also drivers) were less likely to wear a rear seatbelt. There was also a significant positive correlation between driver seatbelt and rear seatbelt-wearing behaviour. This implies that, in regards to seatbelt-wearing behaviour, drivers are more likely to adopt the same seatbelt-wearing behaviour when travelling as rear-seat passengers as they do when driving. These findings are crucial to the development of new interventions to increase the compliance rate of wearing a rear seatbelt. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physiological Motion Axis for the Seat of a Dynamic Office Chair

Science.gov (United States)

Kuster, Roman Peter; Bauer, Christoph Markus; Oetiker, Sarah; Kool, Jan

2016-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to determine and verify the optimal location of the motion axis (MA) for the seat of a dynamic office chair. Background A dynamic seat that supports pelvic motion may improve physical well-being and decrease the risk of sitting-associated disorders. However, office work requires an undisturbed view on the work task, which means a stable position of the upper trunk and head. Current dynamic office chairs do not fulfill this need. Consequently, a dynamic seat was adapted to the physiological kinematics of the human spine. Method Three-dimensional motion tracking in free sitting helped determine the physiological MA of the spine in the frontal plane. Three dynamic seats with physiological, lower, and higher MA were compared in stable upper body posture (thorax inclination) and seat support of pelvic motion (dynamic fitting accuracy). Spinal kinematics during sitting and walking were compared. Results The physiological MA was at the level of the 11th thoracic vertebra, causing minimal thorax inclination and high dynamic fitting accuracy. Spinal motion in active sitting and walking was similar. Conclusion The physiological MA of the seat allows considerable lateral flexion of the spine similar to walking with a stable upper body posture and a high seat support of pelvic motion. Application The physiological MA enables lateral flexion of the spine, similar to walking, without affecting stable upper body posture, thus allowing active sitting while focusing on work. PMID:27150530

Self-reported seat discomfort among Dutch commercial truck drivers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tan, C.F.; Chen, W.; Rauterberg, G.W.M.

2010-01-01

Comfort is an attribute that today’s consumers demand more and more. The seat has an important role to play in fulfilling these comfort expectations. Seating comfort is a major concern for drivers and other members of the work force who are exposed to extended periods of sitting and its associated

Enhancing Safety at Airline Operations Control Centre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lukáš Řasa

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In recent years a new term of Safety Management System (SMS has been introduced into aviation legislation. This system is being adopted by airline operators. One of the groundbased actors of everyday operations is Operations Control Centre (OCC. The goal of this article has been to identify and assess risks and dangers which occur at OCC and create a template for OCC implementation into SMS.

Development of adaptive helicopter seat systems for aircrew vibration mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yong; Wickramasinghe, Viresh; Zimcik, David G.

2008-03-01

Helicopter aircrews are exposed to high levels of whole body vibration during flight. This paper presents the results of an investigation of adaptive seat mount approaches to reduce helicopter aircrew whole body vibration levels. A flight test was conducted on a four-blade helicopter and showed that the currently used passive seat systems were not able to provide satisfactory protection to the helicopter aircrew in both front-back and vertical directions. Long-term exposure to the measured whole body vibration environment may cause occupational health issues such as spine and neck strain injuries for aircrew. In order to address this issue, a novel adaptive seat mount concept was developed to mitigate the vibration levels transmitted to the aircrew body. For proof-of-concept demonstration, a miniature modal shaker was properly aligned between the cabin floor and the seat frame to provide adaptive actuation authority. Adaptive control laws were developed to reduce the vibration transmitted to the aircrew body, especially the helmet location in order to minimize neck and spine injuries. Closed-loop control test have been conducted on a full-scale helicopter seat with a mannequin configuration and a large mechanical shaker was used to provide representative helicopter vibration profiles to the seat frame. Significant vibration reductions to the vertical and front-back vibration modes have been achieved simultaneously, which verified the technical readiness of the adaptive mount approach for full-scale flight test on the vehicle.

The Career Cost: Does It Pay for a Military Pilot to Leave the Service for the Airlines?

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

airline pilot compensation: Alaska, American, Delta Airlines, FedEx, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, United, UPS, and Virgin America...continue to receive pay after reaching 65 years old, and the veteran loses their source of income. If the retiree lived to be 90 years old, then they

The repeatability and reproducibility of the BioRID IIg in a repeatable laboratory seat based on a production car seat.

Science.gov (United States)

Hynd, David; Depinet, Paul; Lorenz, Bernd

2013-01-01

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Informal Group on GTR No. 7 Phase 2 are working to define a build level for the BioRID II rear impact (whiplash) crash test dummy that ensures repeatable and reproducible performance in a test procedure that has been proposed for future legislation. This includes the specification of dummy hardware, as well as the development of comprehensive certification procedures for the dummy. This study evaluated whether the dummy build level and certification procedures deliver the desired level of repeatability and reproducibility. A custom-designed laboratory seat was made using the seat base, back, and head restraint from a production car seat to ensure a representative interface with the dummy. The seat back was reinforced for use in multiple tests and the recliner mechanism was replaced by an external spring-damper mechanism. A total of 65 tests were performed with 6 BioRID IIg dummies using the draft GTR No.7 sled pulse and seating procedure. All dummies were subject to the build, maintenance, and certification procedures defined by the Informal Group. The test condition was highly repeatable, with a very repeatable pulse, a well-controlled seat back response, and minimal observed degradation of seat foams. The results showed qualitatively reasonable repeatability and reproducibility for the upper torso and head accelerations, as well as for T1 Fx and upper neck Fx . However, reproducibility was not acceptable for T1 and upper neck Fz or for T1 and upper neck My . The Informal Group has not selected injury or seat assessment criteria for use with BioRID II, so it is not known whether these channels would be used in the regulation. However, the ramping-up behavior of the dummy showed poor reproducibility, which would be expected to affect the reproducibility of dummy measurements in general. Pelvis and spine characteristics were found to significantly influence the dummy measurements for which poor reproducibility was

The transmission of vertical vibration through seats: Influence of the characteristics of the human body

Science.gov (United States)

Toward, Martin G. R.; Griffin, Michael J.

2011-12-01

The transmission of vibration through a seat depends on the impedance of the seat and the apparent mass of the seat occupant. This study was designed to determine how factors affecting the apparent mass of the body (age, gender, physical characteristics, backrest contact, and magnitude of vibration) affect seat transmissibility. The transmission of vertical vibration through a car seat was measured with 80 adults (41 males and 39 females aged 18-65) at frequencies between 0.6 and 20 Hz with two backrest conditions (no backrest and backrest), and with three magnitudes of random vibration (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m s -2 rms). Linear regression models were used to study the effects of subject physical characteristics (age, gender, and anthropometry) and features of their apparent mass (resonance frequency, apparent mass at resonance and at 12 Hz) on the measured seat transmissibility. The strongest predictor of both the frequency of the principal resonance in seat transmissibility and the seat transmissibility at resonance was subject age, with other factors having only marginal effects. The transmissibility of the seat at 12 Hz depended on subject age, body mass index, and gender. Although subject weight was strongly associated with apparent mass, weight was not strongly associated with seat transmissibility. The resonance frequency of the seat decreased with increases in the magnitude of the vibration excitation and increased when subjects made contact with the backrest. Inter-subject variability in the resonance frequency and transmissibility at resonance was less with greater vibration excitation, but was largely unaffected by backrest contact. A lumped parameter seat-person model showed that changes in seat transmissibility with age can be predicted from changes in apparent mass with age, and that the dynamic stiffness of the seat appeared to increase with increased loading so as to compensate for increases in subject apparent mass associated with increased sitting

Seat-belt use still low in Kuwait: self-reported driving behaviours among adult drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Raman, Sudha R; Ottensmeyer, C Andrea; Landry, Michel D; Alfadhli, Jarrah; Procter, Steven; Jacob, Susan; Hamdan, Elham; Bouhaimed, Manal

2014-01-01

Kuwait mandated seat-belt use by drivers in 1976 and by front seat passengers in 1994. The study objectives were to identify and estimate current factors associated with seat-belt use and levels of potentially unsafe driving behaviours in Kuwait. In 2010, 741 adults were surveyed regarding driving habits and history. Only 41.6% of drivers reported always using a seat belt. Front seat passenger belt use was more common (30.5%) than rear seat belt use (6.5%). Distracted driving behaviours were common, including mobile phone use ('always' or 'almost always': 51.1%) and texting/SMS (32.4%). Logistic regression indicated that drivers who were young (18-19 years), male, Kuwaiti nationals or non-Kuwaiti Arabs, drove over the speed limit, had traffic violation tickets or >1 car crashes in the last year, were less likely to use seat belts. Targeted initiatives to increase public awareness and to enforce car-safety legislation, including use of seat belts, are necessary to decrease the health burden of car crashes in Kuwait.

Customers' expectations of complaint handling by airline service: privilege status and reasonability of demands from a social learning perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiou, Wen-Bin; Chang, Ming-Hsu; Yang, Chao-Chin

2009-04-01

In the airline industry, membership and cabin class are noticeable servicescape features of customers' privilege status. Customers may learn that higher privilege customers are more desired and endured by the airline. From the customers' point of view, those with higher privilege may expect their demands to be complied with when they complain. The present study employed hypothetical scenarios to investigate how the privilege status of passengers and reasonability of their demands influenced their expectations toward the compliance of airline personnel. Analysis showed that higher privilege customers were more likely to expect airline personnel to comply with their demands. Moreover, participants with medium or high levels of privilege status had greater expectations of compliance even when demands were unreasonable. In sum, customer expectations toward complaint handling reflected predictions based on social learning.

Restraint use and seating position among children in motor vehicles ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Just over a third of the children were seated on the front seat of the vehicle, ... meaning adult will be dislodged by the huge gravitational forces in the case of an ..... action. 2009. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563840_.

Identifying strategies to improve the effectiveness of booster seat laws

Science.gov (United States)

2008-05-01

The objective of this project was to identify strategies to improve the effectiveness of booster seat laws. The project explored the possible factors that relate to the use and nonuse of booster seats, and examined the attitudes of law enforcement of...

76 FR 31803 - Airworthiness Directives; Koito Industries, Ltd., Seats and Seating Systems Approved Under...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-02

... CONTACT: Patrick Farina, Aerospace Engineer, Cabin Safety Branch, ANM-150L, FAA, Los Angeles Aircraft... understands that the FAA considers this phased testing structure as an acceptable testing plan, but also... the suspect seats were witnessed by FAA ``delegates'' (designated engineering representatives (DERs...

Adaptive magnetorheological seat suspension for the expeditionary fighting vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hiemenz, G J; Hu, W; Wereley, N M

2009-01-01

The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) is an amphibious vehicle designed to operate through harsh conditions and at much higher speeds than its predecessors. These unique capabilities and broadly varying operational conditions lead to a complex design and human factors scenario for the forward seating positions that cannot be solved using conventional passive seat suspension systems. Injurious shock loads transmitted to the occupants when traversing over water in high sea states and/or at high speeds, as well as harmful shock and vibration transmitted to the occupants when the vehicle is travelling over land, pose a threat to occupant health and significantly limit mission duration. In this study, a semi-active magnetorheological (MR) seat suspension is developed which adapts to broadly varying operational conditions, as well as occupant weight, to provide optimal protection of EFV occupants. It is shown that this MR seat suspension system will reduce the shock and vibration transmitted to the occupant by up to 33% and 65%, respectively, as compared to the existing passive suspension.

Adaptive magnetorheological seat suspension for the expeditionary fighting vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hiemenz, G J [Techno-Sciences, Inc., 11750 Beltsville Dr. Ste. 300, Beltsville, MD 20705 (United States); Hu, W; Wereley, N M [Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20712 (United States)], E-mail: greg@technosci.com, E-mail: wereley@umd.edu

2009-02-01

The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) is an amphibious vehicle designed to operate through harsh conditions and at much higher speeds than its predecessors. These unique capabilities and broadly varying operational conditions lead to a complex design and human factors scenario for the forward seating positions that cannot be solved using conventional passive seat suspension systems. Injurious shock loads transmitted to the occupants when traversing over water in high sea states and/or at high speeds, as well as harmful shock and vibration transmitted to the occupants when the vehicle is travelling over land, pose a threat to occupant health and significantly limit mission duration. In this study, a semi-active magnetorheological (MR) seat suspension is developed which adapts to broadly varying operational conditions, as well as occupant weight, to provide optimal protection of EFV occupants. It is shown that this MR seat suspension system will reduce the shock and vibration transmitted to the occupant by up to 33% and 65%, respectively, as compared to the existing passive suspension.

Race, belief in destiny, and seat belt usage: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Colón, I

1992-01-01

A survey of 1063 individuals found that when belief in destiny was statistically controlled, differences in seat belt use by race disappeared. Thus, racial differences in seat belt use are statistically accounted for and might be explained by belief in destiny. Efforts to increase seat belt use should target minority groups rather than include them in broadbrush programs. Further, these efforts should take into account this important difference in motivation. PMID:1585969

Effects of Wheelchair Seat-height Settings on Alternating Lower Limb Propulsion With Both Legs.

Science.gov (United States)

Murata, Tomoyuki; Asami, Toyoko; Matsuo, Kiyomi; Kubo, Atsuko; Okigawa, Etsumi

2014-01-01

This study investigated the effects of seat-height settings of wheelchairs with alternating propulsion with both legs. Seven healthy individuals with no orthopedic disease participated. Flexion angles at initial contact (FA-IC) of each joint, range of motion during propulsion period (ROM-PP), and ground reaction force (GRF) were measured using a three dimensional motion capture system and force plates, and compared with different seat-height settings. Statistically significant relationships were found between seat-height and speed, stride length, knee FA-IC, ankle FA-IC, hip ROM-PP, vertical ground reaction force (VGRF), and anterior posterior ground reaction force (APGRF). Speed, hip ROM-PP, VGRF and APGRF increased as the seat-height was lowered. This effect diminished when the seat-height was set below -40 mm. VGRF increased as the seat-height was lowered. The results suggest that the seat-height effect can be attributed to hip ROM-PP; therefore, optimal foot propulsion cannot be achieved when the seat height is set either too high or too low. Efficient foot propulsion of the wheelchair can be achieved by setting the seat height to lower leg length according to a combination of physical characteristics, such as the user's physical functions, leg muscles, and range of motion.

Compatibility of booster seats and vehicles in the U.S. market.

Science.gov (United States)

Bing, Julie A; Agnew, Amanda M; Bolte, John H

2018-05-19

The objective of this study was to analyze booster and rear vehicle seat dimensions to identify the most frequent compatibility problems. Measurements were collected from 40 high-back and backless boosters and 95 left rear and center rear row seating positions in 50 modern vehicles. Dimensions were compared for 3,800 booster/vehicle seat combinations. For validation and estimation of tolerance and correction factors, 72 booster installations were physically completed and compared with measurement-based compatibility predictions. Dimensions were also compared to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) volumetric envelopes of forward-facing child restraints and boosters. Seat belt buckles in outboard positions accommodated the width of boosters better than center positions (success rates of 85.4 and 34.7%, respectively). Adequate head restraint clearance occurred in 71.9 to 77.2% of combinations, depending on the booster's head support setting. Booster recline angles aligned properly with vehicle seat cushion angles in 71.5% of combinations. In cases of poor angle alignment, booster angles were more obtuse than the vehicle seat angles 97.7% of the time. Head restraint interference exacerbated angle alignment issues. Data indicate success rates above 90% for boosters being fully supported by the length of the seat cushion and for adequate height clearance with the vehicle roofline. Comparison to ISO envelopes indicates that most boosters on the U.S. market are taller and angled more obtusely than ISO target envelopes. This study quantifies some of the common interferences between boosters and vehicles that may complicate booster usage. Data are useful for design and to prioritize specific problem areas.

Ergonomic Evaluation of Space Shuttle Light-Weight Seat Lever Position and Operation

Science.gov (United States)

Maida, J.; Rajulu, Sudhakar L.; Bond, Robert L. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

During a Shuttle flight in the early part of 1999, one of the crewmembers was unable to operate the backrest lever for the light-weight seat in microgravity. It is essential that the crewmembers are able to adjust this back-rest lever, which is titled forward 2 degrees from vertical during launch and then moved backwards to 10 degrees aft of vertical upon reaching orbit. This adjustment is needed to cushion the crewmembers during an inadvertent crash landing situation. The original Shuttle seats, which had seat controls located on the front left and right sides of the seat, were replaced recently with the new light-weight seats. The controls for these new, seats were moved to the night side with one control at the front and the other at the back. While it was uncertain whether the problem encountered was unique to that crewmember or not it was clear to the personnel responsible for maintaining the Shuttle seats that not knowing the cause of the problem posed a safety concern for NASA. Hence the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) of the Johnson Space Center was requested to perform an evaluation of the seat controls and provide NASA with appropriate recommendations on whether the seat lever positions and operations should be modified. The ABF designed an experiment to investigate the amount of pull force exerted by subjects, wearing an unpressurized or pressurized crew launch escape suit, when controls were placed in the front and back (on the right side) of the light-weight seat. Single-axis load cells were attached to the seat levers, which measured the maximum static pull forces that were exerted by the subjects. Twelve subjects, six male and six female, participated in this study. Each subject was asked to perform the pull test at least three times for each combination of lever position and suit pressure conditions. The results from this study showed that as a whole (or in general), the subjects were able to pull on the lever at the back position with

Nonconformities in real-world fatal crashes--electronic stability control and seat belt reminders.

Science.gov (United States)

Lie, Anders

2012-01-01

Many new safety systems are entering the market. Vision Zero is a safety strategy aiming at the elimination of fatalities and impairing injuries by the use of a holistic model for safe traffic to develop a safe system. The aim of this article is to analyze fatalities in modern cars with respect to the Vision Zero model with special respect to electronic stability control (ESC) systems and modern seat belt reminders (SBRs). The model is used to identify and understand cases where cars with ESC systems lost control and where occupants were unbelted in a seat with seat belt reminders under normal driving conditions. The model for safe traffic was used to analyze in-depth studies of fatal crashes with respect to seat belt use and loss of control. Vehicles from 2003 and later in crashes from January 2004 to mid-2010 were analyzed. The data were analyzed case by case. Cars that were equipped with ESC systems and lost control and occupants not using the seat belt in a seat with a seat belt reminder were considered as nonconformities. A total of 138 fatal crashes involving 152 fatally injured occupants were analyzed. Cars with ESC systems had fewer loss-of-control-relevant cases than cars without ESC systems. Thirteen percent of the ESC-equipped vehicles had loss-of-control-relevant crashes and 36 percent of the cars without ESC systems had loss-of-control-relevant crashes. The analysis indicates that only one car of the 9 equipped with ESC that lost control did it on a road surface with relevant friction when driving within the speed restriction of the road. In seats with seat belt reminders that are in accordance with the European New Car Assessment Programme's (Euro NCAP) protocol, 93 percent of the occupants were using a seat belt. In seats without reminders this number was 74 percent. This study shows that ESC systems result in a very significant reduction in fatal crashes, especially under normal driving conditions. Under extreme driving conditions such as speeding

Grounded for an ethical dilemma: disequilibrium in a commercial airline pilot.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirschen, Matthew P; Friedlander, Joel A

2012-10-01

This article presents the case of a 41-year-old airline pilot with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo who requests that his diagnosis not be disclosed to his commercial airline employer or his aviation medical examiner because it may result in the suspension of medical certification. The legal and ethical requirements for physicians reporting impaired pilots are discussed as well as practical recommendations for handling such situations. The argument is made that a physician's obligation to honor patient confidentiality should not take precedence over his or her duty to protect the safety and well-being of the airplane passengers and the general public. If the patient chooses not to self-report, a physician has an ethical obligation to report the patient's medical condition to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Airline Transport Pilot-Airplane (Air Carrier) Written Test Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Federal Aviation Administration (DOT), Washington, DC. Flight Standards Service.

Presented is information useful to applicants who are preparing for the Airline Transport Pilot-Airplane (Air Carrier) Written Test. The guide describes the basic aeronautical knowledge and associated requirements for certification, as well as information on source material, instructions for taking the official test, and questions that are…

Knowledge, attitude and use of seat belt among commercial drivers in Sokoto Metropolis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A O Abiola

2010-01-01

Conclusion: This study has identified high level of knowledge, positive attitude and reported use of seat belt. It is recommended that public awareness of the safety benefits of seat belts and strong enforcement are necessary to achieve optimal use of seat belt.

adaptation strategies of airline travel agencies to the dynamics of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bawa et al.

strategies airline travel agencies adopt to remain in business. Data for this paper was ... that in 2013, travel and tourism's total contribution to the global economy rose to ... reality of today's tourism industry as it has penetrated the decision.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance in the Airline Industry in Central and Eastern Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roman Asatryan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper contributes to the knowledge on corporate social responsibility (CSR initiatives of by businesses and its ability to influence their financial performance. Consequently, the main objective is to examine the relationship between CSR and financial performance in the airline industry in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper does not attempt to establish causality between CŚR and financial performance. The paper attempts to contribute to the existing knowledge in the field by examining the extent to which CSR relates to financial performance of airline firms. A sample of 20 audited financial statements of airline firms were selected randomly. The study analyzed the impact of CSR activities on the financial performance of firms. The Return on Equity (ROE and Return on Assets (ROA were used as indicators to measure financial performance of firms whiles the independent variables were Community Performance (CP, Environment Management System (EMS and Employee Relations (ER. The study found that there is a significant positive relationship between CSR initiatives and financial performance measures. More specifically, there was found to be a positive relationship between the independent variables of CSR thus, CP, EMS and ER and the financial performance of airline firms in terms of the ROE and ROA.

Fatigue Monitoring Tool for Airline Operators (FMT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gislason Sigurdur Hrafn

2017-12-01

Full Text Available A Fatigue Monitoring Tool (FMT model was constructed for an operational airline in order to manage the fatigue levels of their crews in accordance with Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS practices. This article describes the implementation of the Fatigue Monitoring Tool model and the airline’s aims to put the recent scientific findings on aviation fatigue into practical use. The model consists of proxy points allotted to various duties and rest periods.

SIT (seated immobility thromboembolism) syndrome: a 21st century lifestyle hazard.

Science.gov (United States)

Beasley, Richard; Heuser, Patricia; Raymond, Nigel

2005-04-01

The association between prolonged seated immobility and venous thromboembolism (VTE) is well recognised in relation to travel. In this case series, we report the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) following prolonged sitting in relation to work and/or recreation. The cases were characterised by the considerable length of time the individuals sat, the extensive nature of the VTE events in young individuals without other recognised risk factors, and the lack of recognition by the attending doctors of seated immobility as the likely major risk factor. While recognising that the association may be coincidental rather than causal, we propose the acronym 'SIT' (seated immobility thromboembolism) syndrome to encompass all forms of seated immobility associated with VTE.

Fatigue mitigation effects of en-route napping on commercial airline pilots flying international routes

Science.gov (United States)

Baldwin, Jarret Taylor

The introduction of ultra-long range commercial aircraft and the evolution of the commercial airline industry has provided new opportunities for air carriers to fly longer range international route segments while deregulation, industry consolidation, and the constant drive to reduce costs wherever possible has pressured airline managements to seek more productivity from their pilots. At the same time, advancements in the understanding of human physiology have begun to make their way into flight and duty time regulations and airline scheduling practices. In this complex and ever changing operating environment, there remains an essential need to better understand how these developments, and other daily realities facing commercial airline pilots, are affecting their fatigue management strategies as they go about their rituals of getting to and from their homes to work and performing their flight assignments. Indeed, the need for commercial airline pilots to have access to better and more effective fatigue mitigation tools to combat fatigue and insure that they are well rested and at the top of their game when flying long-range international route segments has never been greater. This study examined to what extent the maximum fatigue states prior to napping, as self-accessed by commercial airline pilots flying international route segments, were affected by a number of other common flight assignment related factors. The study also examined to what extent the availability of scheduled en-route rest opportunities, in an onboard crew rest facility, affected the usage of en-route napping as a fatigue mitigation strategy, and to what extent the duration of such naps affected the perceived benefits of such naps as self-accessed by commercial airline pilots flying international route segments. The study utilized an online survey tool to collect data on crew position, prior flight segments flown in the same duty period, augmentation, commuting, pre-flight rest obtained in the

75 FR 41579 - Submitting Airline Data via the Internet

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-16

... via the Internet; Final Rule #0;#0;Federal Register / Vol. 75 , No. 136 / Friday, July 16, 2010... Airline Data via the Internet AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The U.S..., operational and consumer data reports electronically via the Internet using the comma separated value (CSV...

AIRLINE ACTIVITY FORECASTING BY REGRESSION MODELS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Н. Білак

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Proposed linear and nonlinear regression models, which take into account the equation of trend and seasonality indices for the analysis and restore the volume of passenger traffic over the past period of time and its prediction for future years, as well as the algorithm of formation of these models based on statistical analysis over the years. The desired model is the first step for the synthesis of more complex models, which will enable forecasting of passenger (income level airline with the highest accuracy and time urgency.

Materials for fire resistant passenger seats in aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Tesoro, G.; Moussa, A.

1980-01-01

The paper considers the selection of cushioning foam and upholstery fabric materials for aircraft passenger seats. Polyurethane, polychloroprene, polyimide, and polyphosphazene are the foam materials considered; and a variety of commercial and developmental fabrics (including wool, cotton, synthetics, and blends) are examined. Viable approaches to the design of fire-resistant seat assemblies are indicated. Results of an experimental laboratory study of fabrics and fabric/foam assemblies exposed to external point-source radiative heat flux are discussed.

Fire-resistant materials for aircraft passenger seat construction

Science.gov (United States)

Fewell, L. L.; Tesoro, G. C.; Moussa, A.; Kourtides, D. A.

1979-01-01

The thermal response characteristics of fabric and fabric-foam assemblies are described. The various aspects of the ignition behavior of contemporary aircraft passenger seat upholstery fabric materials relative to fabric materials made from thermally stable polymers are evaluated. The role of the polymeric foam backing on the thermal response of the fabric-foam assembly is also ascertained. The optimum utilization of improved fire-resistant fabric and foam materials in the construction of aircraft passenger seats is suggested.

Injury severity and seating position in accidents with German EMS helicopters.

Science.gov (United States)

Hinkelbein, Jochen; Spelten, Oliver; Neuhaus, Christopher; Hinkelbein, Mandy; Özgür, Enver; Wetsch, Wolfgang A

2013-10-01

Accident rates and fatality rates for Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) missions have been investigated recently, but none of these studies considered the influence of the seating position in the helicopter. The aim of the present descriptive and observational study was to analyze injury severity depending on the seating position during HEMS accidents in Germany. Data from the German Federal Agency for Flight Accident Investigation was gathered for a period of 40 years (from 1970 to 2009). The seating position in the aircraft during the accident and the resulting injury severity (i.e., 1=no; 2=slight; 3=severe; and 4=fatal) were recorded. Injury severity was compared using the Fisher's exact test. P values accidents were investigated (n=61 accidents did not lead to any injuries in the occupants, n=7 accidents resulted in minor, and n=6 in severe injuries, and lethal injuries resulted from n=15 accidents). The occupant in the "patient" position was most likely to suffer from deadly injuries (44.9%), followed by the HEMS crew member rear seat (25.0%), compared to lower lethality rates in the other seating positions (9.4-11.2%). Sitting on the HEMS crew member rear seat also was associated with the highest percentage of severe and minor injuries (12.5% each). In HEMS accidents, the patients' position and the HEMS crew member rear seat were found to be at the highest risk for fatal or severe injuries. These results support the urgent requirement of a large international data base for HEMS accidents as a basis for further studies to improve the safety in HEMS missions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Tractor-Seat Height above the Ground on Lateral Vibrations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime Gomez-Gil

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Farmers experience whole-body vibrations when they drive tractors. Among the various factors that influence the vibrations to which the driver is exposed are terrain roughness, tractor speed, tire type and pressure, rear axle width, and tractor seat height above the ground. In this paper the influence of tractor seat height above the ground on the lateral vibrations to which the tractor driver is exposed is studied by means of a geometrical and an experimental analysis. Both analyses show that: (i lateral vibrations experienced by a tractor driver increase linearly with tractor-seat height above the ground; (ii lateral vibrations to which the tractor driver is exposed can equal or exceed vertical vibrations; (iii in medium-size tractors, a feasible 30 cm reduction in the height of the tractor seat, which represents only 15% of its current height, will reduce the lateral vibrations by around 20%; and (iv vertical vibrations are scarcely influenced by tractor-seat height above the ground. The results suggest that manufacturers could increase the comfort of tractors by lowering tractor-seat height above the ground, which will reduce lateral vibrations.

Assessing the Relationship between Airlines' Maintenance Outsourcing and Aviation Professionals' Job Satisfaction

Science.gov (United States)

McCamey, Rotorua

The current economic and security challenges placed an additional burden on U.S. airlines to provide optimum service at reasonable costs to the flying public. In efforts to stay competitive, U.S. airlines increased foreign-based outsourcing of aircraft major repair and overhaul (MRO) mainly to reduce labor costs and conserve capital. This concentrated focus on outsourcing and restructuring, ignored job dissatisfaction among remaining employees which could reduce and or eliminate an airline's competitiveness. The purpose of this quantitative study was (a) to assess the relationship between increased levels of foreign-based MRO outsourcing and aviation professionals' job satisfaction (Y1); (b) to assess the influence of increased levels of foreign-based outsourcing on MRO control (Y2), MRO error rate (Y3), and MRO technical punctuality (Y4) as perceived by aviation professionals; and (c) to assess the influence of increased levels of foreign-based MRO outsourcing on technical skills (Y5) and morale ( Y6) as perceived by aviation professionals. The survey instrument was utilized based on Paul Spector's Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and MRO specific questions. A random sample of 300 U.S. airline participants was requested via MarketTools to meet required sample size of 110 as determined through a priori power analysis. Study data rendered 198 useable surveys of 213 total responses, and correlation, multiple regression, and ANOVA methods were used to test study hypotheses. The Spearman's rho for (Y 1) was statistically significant, p = .010 and multiple regression was statistically significant, p < .001. A one-way ANOVA indicated participants differed in their opinions of (Y2) through (Y6), Recommendations for future research include contrasting domestic and global MRO providers, and examining global aircraft parts suppliers and aviation technical training.

Musculoskeletal analysis of driving fatigue: The influence of seat adjustments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Majid, Noor Aliah binti Abdul; Abdullah, Mohd Fareez Edzuan; Jamaludin, Mohd Syahmi

2013-01-01

Main causes for discomfort experienced by vehicle drivers during driving were investigated using a rigid-body model originally developed in the AnyBody Modeling System [1]. The interactions between the human body and the car-seat in various combinations of seat-pan/backrest inclinations and the e...

An Active Seat Controller with Vehicle Suspension Feedforward and Feedback States: An Experimental Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdulaziz Alfadhli

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Active seat suspensions can be used to reduce the harmful vertical vibration of a vehicle’s seat by applying an external force using a closed loop controller. Many of the controllers found in the literature are difficult to implement practically, because they are based on using unavailable or difficult and costly measurements. This paper presents both simulation and experimental studies of five novel, simple, and cost-effective control strategies to be used for an active seat suspension in order to improve ride comfort at low frequencies below 20 Hz. These strategies use available and measurable feedforward (preview information states from the vehicle secondary suspension, as well as feedback states from the seat suspension, together with gains optimised to minimise the occupant vibration. The gains were optimised using a genetic algorithm (GA, with a fitness function based on the seat effective amplitude transmissibility (SEAT factor. Constraints on the control force and the seat suspension stroke were also included in the optimisation algorithm. Simulation and laboratory experimental tests were carried out to assess the performance of the proposed controllers according to the ISO 2631-1 standard, in both the frequency and time domains with a range of different road profiles. The experimental tests were performed using a multi-axis simulation table (MAST and a physical active seat suspension configured as a hardware-in-loop (HIL simulation with a virtual linear quarter vehicle model (QvM. The results demonstrate that the proposed controllers substantially attenuate the vertical vibration at the driver’s seat compared with both a passive and a proportional-integral-derivative (PID active seat suspension and thus improve ride comfort together with reducing vibration-linked health risks. Moreover, experimental results show that employing both feedforward information and feedback vehicle body and seat acceleration signals in the controller

Development of Methodology to Gather Seated Anthropometry Data in a Microgravity Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Rajulu, Sudhakar; Young, Karen; Mesloh, Miranda

2010-01-01

The Constellation Program is designing a new vehicle based off of new anthropometric requirements. These requirements specify the need to account for a spinal elongation factor for anthropometric measurements involving the spine, such as eye height and seated height. However, to date there is no data relating spinal elongation to a seated posture. Only data relating spinal elongation to stature has been collected in microgravity. Therefore, it was proposed to collect seated height in microgravity to provide the Constellation designers appropriate data for their analyses. This document will describe the process in which the best method to collect seated height in microgravity was developed.

Factors Affecting Customer Retention in the Airline Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raghda Climis

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This study empirically investigated the factors that affect customer retention in the airline industry in North Cyprus. These factors were service quality attributes, perceived safety, customer satisfaction, loyalty reward program, relationship commitment and customer loyalty. The study also investigated four different groups for purposes of travel (business, education, vacation and family visit in the empirical model. Methodology: A descriptive approach was chosen to conduct this research. A quanhip between customer retention and the related study factors; however, not all of these relations are signifcant. The results also showed that the different purposes of travel had different influences on the variables regarding the positive and signifcant relations between them. Some independent variables had a negative effect on the dependent variables. Conclusions: This research was limited to one group and place: the students of Eastern Mediterranean University in North Cyprus. Originality: This study connected the retention, loyalty, satisfaction and service quality factors as attributes. In addition, this research was the frst to include other independent factors affecting satisfaction and loyalty in a comparison between four different groups regarding the purpose of travel in the airline industry.

Design Method for Fast Switching Seat Valves for Digital Displacement Machines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roemer, Daniel Beck; Johansen, Per; Pedersen, Henrik C.

2014-01-01

corresponding to the piston movement, which has been shown to facilitate superior part load efficiency combined with high bandwidth compared to traditional displacement machines. However, DD machines need fast switching on-off valves with low pressure loss for efficient operation, especially in fast rotating......Digital Displacement (DD) machines are upcoming technology where the displacement of each pressure chamber is controlled electronically by use of two fast switching seat valves. The effective displacement and operation type (pumping/motoring) may be controlled by manipulating the seat valves...... method for DD seat valves are presented, taking into account the significant aspects related to obtaining efficient DD valves with basis in a given DD machine specifications. The seat area is minimized and the stroke length is minimized to obtain fast switching times while considering the pressure loss...

The seating mechanics of head-neck modular tapers in vitro: Load-displacement measurements, moisture, and rate effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouellette, Eric S; Shenoy, Aarti A; Gilbert, Jeremy L

2018-04-01

The mechanically assisted crevice corrosion performance of head-neck modular tapers is a significant concern in orthopedic biomaterials. Fretting crevice corrosion processes in modular tapers are thought to be influenced by a wide array of factors including seating mechanics of the junction, hence there is a need for in vitro test methods that can assess their performance. This study presented a test method to directly measure the load-displacement seating mechanics of modular tapers and used this method to compare the seating mechanics for different tapers, moisture, seating loads and seating rates. Seating mechanics were explored whereby the instantaneous load-displacement behavior of the head seating onto the neck is captured and used to define the mechanics of seating. Two distinct taper design/material combinations were assembled wet or dry using axially applied loads (500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 N) at two loading rates of 100 and 10 4  N/s (n = 5 for each condition) using a servohydraulic test frame. The results showed that pull-off strength scaled with seating load and ranged between 43% and 68% of seating load depending on sample and wetness. Tapers seated wet had higher pull-off strengths (2,200 ± 300 N) than those seated dry (1,800 ± 200 N, p mechanics (load-displacement plots) varied due to sample type and due to wetness with differences in seating energy, seating stiffness, and seating displacement. These results show the detailed mechanics of seating during assembly and provide significant insight into the complex interplay of factors associated with even "ideal" seating (axial, quasistatic) loading. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:1164-1172, 2018. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Disturbance observer based Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy control for an active seat suspension

Science.gov (United States)

Ning, Donghong; Sun, Shuaishuai; Zhang, Fei; Du, Haiping; Li, Weihua; Zhang, Bangji

2017-09-01

In this paper, a disturbance observer based Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy controller is proposed for an active seat suspension; both simulations and experiments have been performed verifying the performance enhancement and stability of the proposed controller. The controller incorporates closed-loop feedback control using the measured acceleration of the seat and deflection of the suspension; these two variables can be easily measured in practical applications, thus allowing the proposed controller to be robust and adaptable. A disturbance observer that can estimate the disturbance caused by friction, model simplification, and controller output error has also been used to compensate a H∞ state feedback controller. The TS fuzzy control method is applied to enhance the controller's performance by considering the variation of driver's weight during operation. The vibration of a heavy duty vehicle seat is largest in the frequency range between 2 Hz and 4 Hz, in the vertical direction; therefore, it is reasonable to focus on controlling low frequency vibration amplitudes and maintain the seat suspensions passivity at high frequency. Moreover, both the simulation and experimental results show that the active seat suspension with the proposed controller can effectively isolate unwanted vibration amplitudes below 4.5 Hz, when compared with a well-tuned passive seat suspension. The active controller has been further validated under bump and random road tests with both a 55 kg and a 70 kg loads. The bump road test demonstrated the controller has good transient response capabilities. The random road test result has been presented both in the time domain and the frequency domain. When with the above two loads, the controlled seat suspensions root-mean-square (RMS) accelerations were reduced by 45.5% and 49.5%, respectively, compared with a well-tuned passive seat suspension. The proposed active seat suspension controller has great potential and is very practical for application

Adaptive magnetorheological seat suspension for shock mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Harinder Jit

This research focuses on theoretical and experimental analysis of an adaptive seat suspension employing magnetorheological energy absorber with the objective of minimizing injury potential to seated occupant of different weights subjected to broader crash intensities. The research was segmented into three tasks: (1) development of magnetorheological energy absorber, (2) biodynamic modeling of a seated occupant, and (3) control schemes for shock mitigation. A linear stroking semi-active magnetorheological energy absorber (MREA) was designed, fabricated and tested for intense impact conditions with piston velocities up to 8 m/s. MREA design was optimized on the basis of Bingham-plastic model (BPM model) in order to maximize the energy absorption capabilities at high impact velocities. Computational fluid dynamics and magnetic FE analysis were conducted to validate MREA performance. Subsequently, low-speed cyclic testing (0-2 Hz subjected to 0-5.5 A) and high-speed drop testing (0-4.5 m/s at 0 A) were conducted for quantitative comparison with the numerical simulations. Later, a nonlinear four degrees-of-freedom biodynamic model representing a seated 50th percentile male occupant was developed on the basis of experiments conducted on Hybrid II 50th percentile male anthropomorphic test device. The response of proposed biodynamic model was compared quantitatively against two different biodynamic models from the literature that are heavily implemented for obtaining biodynamic response under impact conditions. The proposed biodynamic model accurately predicts peak magnitude, overall shape and the duration of the biodynamic transient response, with minimal phase shift. The biodynamic model was further validated against 16 impact tests conducted on horizontal accelerator facility at NAVAIR for two different shock intensities. Compliance effects of human body were also investigated on the performance of adaptive seat suspension by comparing the proposed biodynamic model

A Behavioral Framework for Managing Massive Airline Flight Disruptions through Crisis Management, Organization Development, and Organization Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Tulinda Deegan

In this study the researcher provides a behavioral framework for managing massive airline flight disruptions (MAFD) in the United States. Under conditions of MAFD, multiple flights are disrupted throughout the airline's route network, customer service is negatively affected, additional costs are created for airlines, and governments intervene. This study is different from other studies relating to MAFD that have focused on the operational, technical, economic, financial, and customer service impacts. The researcher argues that airlines could improve the management of events that led to MAFD by applying the principles of crisis management where the entire organization is mobilized, rather than one department, adapting organization development (OD) interventions to implement change and organization learning (OL) processes to create culture of innovation, resulting in sustainable improvement in customer service, cost reductions, and mitigation of government intervention. At the intersection of crisis management, OD, and OL, the researcher has developed a new conceptual framework that enhances the resiliency of individuals and organizations in responding to unexpected-yet-recurring crises (e.g., MAFD) that impact operations. The researcher has adapted and augmented Lalonde's framework for managing crises through OD interventions by including OL processes. The OD interventions, coupled with OL, provide a framework for airline leaders to manage more effectively events that result in MAFD with the goal of improving passenger satisfaction, reducing costs, and preventing further government intervention. Further research is warranted to apply this conceptual framework to unexpected-yet-recurring crises that affect operations in other industries.

RELEVANCE OF PROCESS RISK ASSESSMENT IN AIRLINES

OpenAIRE

Oksana G. Feoktistova; Igor K. Turkin; Sergey V. Barinov

2017-01-01

The notion of “the concept on assumed risk” that took over from the outdated concept of absolute security is analyzed, the increasing significance of operating risk assessment at the present stage is noted. Some basic risk assessment techniques are considered. Matrix technique of risk assessment is considered more thoroughly, and it may be used in risk assessment of airlines in the context of labour protection management system.The ability to correctly assess risks and develop appropriate pre...

Assessing the structure of non-routine decision processes in Airline Operations Control.

Science.gov (United States)

Richters, Floor; Schraagen, Jan Maarten; Heerkens, Hans

2016-03-01

Unfamiliar severe disruptions challenge Airline Operations Control professionals most, as their expertise is stretched to its limits. This study has elicited the structure of Airline Operations Control professionals' decision process during unfamiliar disruptions by mapping three macrocognitive activities on the decision ladder: sensemaking, option evaluation and action planning. The relationship between this structure and decision quality was measured. A simulated task was staged, based on which think-aloud protocols were obtained. Results show that the general decision process structure resembles the structure of experts working under routine conditions, in terms of the general structure of the macrocognitive activities, and the rule-based approach used to identify options and actions. Surprisingly, high quality of decision outcomes was found to relate to the use of rule-based strategies. This implies that successful professionals are capable of dealing with unfamiliar problems by reframing them into familiar ones, rather than to engage in knowledge-based processing. Practitioner Summary: We examined the macrocognitive structure of Airline Operations Control professionals' decision process during a simulated unfamiliar disruption in relation to decision quality. Results suggest that successful professionals are capable of dealing with unfamiliar problems by reframing them into familiar ones, rather than to engage in knowledge-based processing.

A study on mechanism of wear on body seat in nozzle of diesel fuel injector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeonggee, Son; Yamashita, Toru; Sato, Susumu; Kosaka, Hidenori; Masuko, Masabumi [Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan)

2013-06-01

Wear of nozzle's body seat of diesel fuel injector, which is caused by the collision of needle on the body seat in a nozzle, affects fuel spray behaviors and injection characteristics. Recently, to reduce the wear of body seat, DLC nozzles are widely used. The DLC on the needle which is called diamond-like carbon has a certain effect in reducing wear of body seat. However, disallowable wear is reported at limited engine operating conditions. Moreover, the wear mechanism of body seat with DLC coated needle has not been made clear yet. In this study, the influence of temperature of the body seat and fuel property on the wear of DLC nozzle was investigated with a newly developed wear testing device which was constructed based on common-rail injection system. Worn surfaces of body seat were observed by FE-SEM, laser scanning microscope and EPMA. The obtained results from the measurements show that DLC nozzle has much less wear amount than non-DLC nozzle on the body seat and the corrosive wear effect is suppressed with DLC nozzle. (orig.)

Forecasting of time series with trend and seasonal cycle using the airline model and artificial neural networks Pronóstico de series de tiempo con tendencia y ciclo estacional usando el modelo airline y redes neuronales artificiales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J D Velásquez

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Many time series with trend and seasonal pattern are successfully modeled and forecasted by the airline model of Box and Jenkins; however, this model neglects the presence of nonlinearity on data. In this paper, we propose a new nonlinear version of the airline model; for this, we replace the moving average linear component by a multilayer perceptron neural network. The proposedmodel is used for forecasting two benchmark time series; we found that theproposed model is able to forecast the time series with more accuracy that other traditional approaches.Muchas series de tiempo con tendencia y ciclos estacionales son exitosamente modeladas y pronosticadas usando el modelo airline de Box y Jenkins; sin embargo, la presencia de no linealidades en los datos son despreciadas por este modelo. En este artículo, se propone una nueva versión no lineal del modelo airline; para esto, se reemplaza la componente lineal de promedios móviles por un perceptrón multicapa. El modelo propuesto es usado para pronosticar dos series de tiempo benchmark; se encontró que el modelo propuesto es capaz de pronosticar las series de tiempo con mayor precisión que otras aproximaciones tradicionales.

The incidence of venous thromboembolism in commercial airline pilots: a cohort study of 2630 pilots.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuipers, S; Venemans-Jellema, A; Cannegieter, S C; van Haften, M; Middeldorp, S; Büller, H R; Rosendaal, F R

2014-08-01

Airline pilots may be at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) because air travel has recently been established as a risk factor for VTE. The aim of this study was to assess the risk of VTE in a cohort of Dutch airline pilots. Airline pilots who had been active members of the Dutch aviation society (VNV) were questioned for the occurrence of VTE, presence of risk factors for VTE and number of flight hours per year and rank. Incidence rates among pilots were compared with those of the general Dutch population and with a population of frequently flying employees of multinational organizations. A total of 2630 male pilots were followed-up for a total of 20420 person-years (py). Six venous thromboses were reported, yielding an incidence rate of 0.3 per 1000 py. The standardized morbidity ratio, comparing these pilots with the general Dutch population adjusted for age, was 0.8. Compared with the international employee cohort, the standardized morbidity ratio was 0.7 when all employees were included and 0.6 when only the frequently travelling employees were included. The incidence rate did not increase with number of flight hours per year and did not clearly vary by rank. We conclude that the risk of VTE is not increased amongst airline pilots. © 2014 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Airline Overbooking Problem with Uncertain No-Shows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunxiao Zhang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper considers an airline overbooking problem of a new single-leg flight with discount fare. Due to the absence of historical data of no-shows for a new flight, and various uncertain human behaviors or unexpected events which causes that a few passengers cannot board their aircraft on time, we fail to obtain the probability distribution of no-shows. In this case, the airlines have to invite some domain experts to provide belief degree of no-shows to estimate its distribution. However, human beings often overestimate unlikely events, which makes the variance of belief degree much greater than that of the frequency. If we still regard the belief degree as a subjective probability, the derived results will exceed our expectations. In order to deal with this uncertainty, the number of no-shows of new flight is assumed to be an uncertain variable in this paper. Given the chance constraint of social reputation, an overbooking model with discount fares is developed to maximize the profit rate based on uncertain programming theory. Finally, the analytic expression of the optimal booking limit is obtained through a numerical example, and the results of sensitivity analysis indicate that the optimal booking limit is affected by flight capacity, discount, confidence level, and parameters of the uncertainty distribution significantly.

Airline Sustainability Modeling: A New Framework with Application of Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hashem Salarzadeh Jenatabadi

2016-11-01

Full Text Available There are many factors which could influence the sustainability of airlines. The main purpose of this study is to introduce a framework for a financial sustainability index and model it based on structural equation modeling (SEM with maximum likelihood and Bayesian predictors. The introduced framework includes economic performance, operational performance, cost performance, and financial performance. Based on both Bayesian SEM (Bayesian-SEM and Classical SEM (Classical-SEM, it was found that economic performance with both operational performance and cost performance are significantly related to the financial performance index. The four mathematical indices employed are root mean square error, coefficient of determination, mean absolute error, and mean absolute percentage error to compare the efficiency of Bayesian-SEM and Classical-SEM in predicting the airline financial performance. The outputs confirmed that the framework with Bayesian prediction delivered a good fit with the data, although the framework predicted with a Classical-SEM approach did not prepare a well-fitting model. The reasons for this discrepancy between Classical and Bayesian predictions, as well as the potential advantages and caveats with the application of Bayesian approach in airline sustainability studies, are debated.

How to Control Airline Routes from the Supply Side: The Case of TAP

Science.gov (United States)

Button, Kenneth; Costa, Alvaro; Reis, Vasco

2005-01-01

Competition in the European airline industry is currently fierce in the face of depressed demand conditions, and in the wake of privatizations and liberalization. The Portuguese flag carrier, TAP Air Portugal, operates within this environment. It is a medium sized carrier that was part of the defunct Qualiflyer Group alliance and has recently joined the Star Alliance. It controls more than 50% of the air market between Europe and Brazil and Europe and Angola. Nevertheless, it has been experiencing financial losses. One reason for this is that, following the reasoning of Ronald Coase (1946), it is difficult for any company with decreasing average costs to recover full costs in a highly competitive market. One way of approaching the problem is to establish quasi-monopoly power and airlines have done this through such things as frequent flyer programs and hub-and-spoke operations. Other airlines, notably charter carriers, have sought to adjust capacity and services to meet an anticipated cash flow. In practice, many have used a combination of measures with mixed success. This paper focuses on how TAP has responded to changing conditions by adjusting its supply-side activities in terms of restructuring its network to maximize potential revenues.

49 CFR 571.209 - Standard No. 209; Seat belt assemblies.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... seat belt assembly to fit the user, including such hardware that may be integral with a buckle... the proper use of the assembly, stressing particularly the importance of wearing the assembly snugly... of Standard No. 208. (a)(1) A manual seat belt assembly, which is subject to the requirements of S5.1...

Equivalent dose measurements on board an Armenian Airline flight and Concord (9-17 km)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akopova, A.B.; Melkonyan, A.A.; Tatikyan, S.Sh.; Capdevielle, J-N.

2002-01-01

The results of investigations of the neutron component (E=1-10 MeV) of cosmic radiation on board the 'Armenian Airlines' aircrafts using nuclear photoemulsion are presented. The emulsions were exposed on the flights from Yerevan to Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Beirut, Athens, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Sofia, and on Concord supersonic flights from Paris to New York. The dependence of the neutron fluxes, and on absorbed and equivalent doses on the flight parameters were investigated. On the flights of the supersonic Concord, with an altitude of 17 km, the neutron fluxes were essentially higher in comparison to those measured on Armenian airliners. It is interesting to note, that the neutron flux and equivalent dose rate decrease with altitude up to 470 km in space, for example, on board the STS-57. The shape of the differential energy spectrum for fast neutrons is the same on all Armenian airlines flights, but significantly different at 17 km altitude, where the flux in the energy region above 3 MeV is increasing

Equivalent dose measurements on board an Armenian Airline flight and Concord (9-17 km)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akopova, A.B. E-mail: akopova@lx2.yerphi.am; Melkonyan, A.A.; Tatikyan, S.Sh.; Capdevielle, J-N

2002-12-01

The results of investigations of the neutron component (E=1-10 MeV) of cosmic radiation on board the 'Armenian Airlines' aircrafts using nuclear photoemulsion are presented. The emulsions were exposed on the flights from Yerevan to Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Beirut, Athens, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Sofia, and on Concord supersonic flights from Paris to New York. The dependence of the neutron fluxes, and on absorbed and equivalent doses on the flight parameters were investigated. On the flights of the supersonic Concord, with an altitude of 17 km, the neutron fluxes were essentially higher in comparison to those measured on Armenian airliners. It is interesting to note, that the neutron flux and equivalent dose rate decrease with altitude up to 470 km in space, for example, on board the STS-57. The shape of the differential energy spectrum for fast neutrons is the same on all Armenian airlines flights, but significantly different at 17 km altitude, where the flux in the energy region above 3 MeV is increasing.

Examining Informal Learning in Commercial Airline Pilots' Communities of Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Corns, Kevin M.

2014-01-01

A pragmatic sequential mixed methods research methodology was used to examine commercial airline pilots' (N =156) types and frequencies of informal learning activities, perceptions of workplace informal learning, and opinions on how organizations should support workplace informal learning outside of the formal learning environment. This study…

Komparativ analyse - Scandinavian Airlines & Norwegian Air Shuttle

OpenAIRE

Kallesen, Martin Nystrup; Singh, Ravi Pal; Boesen, Nana Wiaberg

2017-01-01

The project is based around a pondering of how that a company the size of Scandinavian Airlines or Norwegian Air Shuttle use their Finances and how they see their external environment. This has led to us researching the relationship between the companies and their finances as well as their external environment, and how they differ in both.To do this we have utilised a myriad of different methods to analyse the companies, including PESTEL, SWOT, TOWS; DCF, risk analysis, Sensitivity, Porter’s ...

In-flight radiation measurements aboard French airliners

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montagne, C.; Donne, J.P.; Pelcot, D.; Nguyen, V.D.; Bouisset, P.; Kerlau, G.

1993-01-01

Routine radiation monitoring has been carried out for more than 15 years aboard Air France airliners. Annual dose received by aircrews can be estimated in the 2-3 mSv range for subsonic long-haul aircrews. Recent dosimetric measurements, using CIRCE devices based on low-pressure TEPC microdosimetry techniques and by using new types of bubble damage detectors, seem to confirm partly these results. More investigations by these new techniques could be undertaken at other phases of the 11 year solar cycle. (author)

Development of a multi-body nonlinear model for a seat-occupant system

Science.gov (United States)

Azizi, Yousof

A car seat is an important component of today's cars, which directly affects ride comfort experienced by occupants. Currently, the process of ride comfort evaluation is subjective. Alternatively, the ride comfort can be evaluated by a series of objective metrics in the dynamic response of the occupant. From previous studies it is well known that the dynamic behavior of a seat-occupant system is greatly affected by soft nonlinear viscoelastic materials used in the seat cushion. Therefore, in this research, especial attention was given to efficiently modeling the behavior of seat cushion. In the first part of this research, a phenomenological nonlinear viscoelastic foam model was proposed and its ability to capture uniaxial behavior of foam was investigated. The model is based on the assumption that the total stress can be decomposed into the sum of a nonlinear elastic component, modeled by a higher order polynomial of strain, and a nonlinear hereditary type viscoelastic component. System identification procedures were developed to estimate the model parameters using uniaxial cyclic compression data from experiments conducted at different rates on two types of low density polyurethane foams and three types of high density CONFOR foams. The performance of the proposed model was compared to that of other traditional continuum models. For each foam type, it was observed that lower order models are sufficient to describe the uniaxial behavior of the foam compressed at different rates. Although, the estimated model parameters were functions of the input strain rate. Alternatively, higher order comprehensive models, with strain independent parameters, were estimated as well. The estimated comprehensive model predicts foam responses under different compression rates. Also, a methodology was proposed to predict the stress-response of a layered foam system using the estimated models of each foam in the layers. Next, the estimated foam model was incorporated into a single

La nuova sfida di SEAT Pagine Gialle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonardo Landini

2008-03-01

Full Text Available SEAT Pagine Gialle’s new challengeSEAT Pagine Gialle is a company that for over 80 years has provided information services, search and communication tools.The companies success and notoriety is built on a customer base of about 20 million families and 3 million professional operators with a continually updated technology with which it integrates with detailed geographical information that allows it to reach millions of users every day. The services the company offers include an advanced cartographic web-based search, satellite and aerial photos, the calculation of driving instructions, weather forecasts and traffic information, 360 degree views and the modelling of whole cities in 3D.

Lifestyle factors, direct and indirect costs for a Brazilian airline company

Science.gov (United States)

Rabacow, Fabiana Maluf; Luiz, Olinda do Carmo; Malik, Ana Maria; Burdorf, Alex

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE To analyze lifestyle risk factors related to direct healthcare costs and the indirect costs due to sick leave among workers of an airline company in Brazil. METHODS In this longitudinal 12-month study of 2,201 employees of a Brazilian airline company, the costs of sick leave and healthcare were the primary outcomes of interest. Information on the independent variables, such as gender, age, educational level, type of work, stress, and lifestyle-related factors (body mass index, physical activity, and smoking), was collected using a questionnaire on enrolment in the study. Data on sick leave days were available from the company register, and data on healthcare costs were obtained from insurance records. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to investigate the association between direct and indirect healthcare costs with sociodemographic, work, and lifestyle-related factors. RESULTS Over the 12-month study period, the average direct healthcare expenditure per worker was US$505.00 and the average indirect cost because of sick leave was US$249.00 per worker. Direct costs were more than twice the indirect costs and both were higher in women. Body mass index was a determinant of direct costs and smoking was a determinant of indirect costs. CONCLUSIONS Obesity and smoking among workers in a Brazilian airline company were associated with increased health costs. Therefore, promoting a healthy diet, physical activity, and anti-tobacco campaigns are important targets for health promotion in this study population. PMID:26039398

Lifestyle factors, direct and indirect costs for a Brazilian airline company.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabacow, Fabiana Maluf; Luiz, Olinda do Carmo; Malik, Ana Maria; Burdorf, Alex

2014-12-01

OBJECTIVE To analyze lifestyle risk factors related to direct healthcare costs and the indirect costs due to sick leave among workers of an airline company in Brazil. METHODS In this longitudinal 12-month study of 2,201 employees of a Brazilian airline company, the costs of sick leave and healthcare were the primary outcomes of interest. Information on the independent variables, such as gender, age, educational level, type of work, stress, and lifestyle-related factors (body mass index, physical activity, and smoking), was collected using a questionnaire on enrolment in the study. Data on sick leave days were available from the company register, and data on healthcare costs were obtained from insurance records. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to investigate the association between direct and indirect healthcare costs with sociodemographic, work, and lifestyle-related factors. RESULTS Over the 12-month study period, the average direct healthcare expenditure per worker was US$505.00 and the average indirect cost because of sick leave was US$249.00 per worker. Direct costs were more than twice the indirect costs and both were higher in women. Body mass index was a determinant of direct costs and smoking was a determinant of indirect costs. CONCLUSIONS Obesity and smoking among workers in a Brazilian airline company were associated with increased health costs. Therefore, promoting a healthy diet, physical activity, and anti-tobacco campaigns are important targets for health promotion in this study population.

Lifestyle factors, direct and indirect costs for a Brazilian airline company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabiana Maluf Rabacow

2014-12-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE To analyze lifestyle risk factors related to direct healthcare costs and the indirect costs due to sick leave among workers of an airline company in Brazil. METHODS In this longitudinal 12-month study of 2,201 employees of a Brazilian airline company, the costs of sick leave and healthcare were the primary outcomes of interest. Information on the independent variables, such as gender, age, educational level, type of work, stress, and lifestyle-related factors (body mass index, physical activity, and smoking, was collected using a questionnaire on enrolment in the study. Data on sick leave days were available from the company register, and data on healthcare costs were obtained from insurance records. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to investigate the association between direct and indirect healthcare costs with sociodemographic, work, and lifestyle-related factors. RESULTS Over the 12-month study period, the average direct healthcare expenditure per worker was US$505.00 and the average indirect cost because of sick leave was US$249.00 per worker. Direct costs were more than twice the indirect costs and both were higher in women. Body mass index was a determinant of direct costs and smoking was a determinant of indirect costs. CONCLUSIONS Obesity and smoking among workers in a Brazilian airline company were associated with increased health costs. Therefore, promoting a healthy diet, physical activity, and anti-tobacco campaigns are important targets for health promotion in this study population.

Comparison of airline passenger oxygen systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, N J

1995-08-01

The principal sources of oxygen for inflight passenger use, scheduled and unscheduled, are examined. Present practices of assessment of the passenger's "fitness to fly" are described. Three partner airlines, British Airways, U.S. Air, and Qantas, catering for more than 8000 oxygen requests annually, are compared. Analysis of customer use suggests that medical oxygen requests are frequently not clinically justified. The growth in demand, for both scheduled and unscheduled use of an expensive resource, supports the need for a "recommended best practice" among carriers. Passengers with respiratory disorders who will most benefit from inflight oxygen are vulnerable either to hypoxia or asthma.

Anteseden Customer Loyalty Pada Low Cost Carrier Airline

OpenAIRE

Harlan, Marcella

2015-01-01

The background of this research was Customer loyalty as a competitive advantage in service industry.The design of this research applies a survey toward unit of analysis on Low Cost Carrier Airline to interview the passanger for testing hypothesis. Meanwhile the required data consist of five variables; Recovery Satisfaction, Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Trust, Customer Loyalty. The aggregate numbers of customer being respondent of the study are 200. Data analysis us...

Determinants of Market Structure and the Airline Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Raduchel, W.

1972-01-01

The general economic determinants of market structure are outlined with special reference to the airline industry. Included are the following facets: absolute size of firms; distributions of firms by size; concentration; entry barriers; product and service differentiation; diversification; degrees of competition; vertical integration; market boundaries; and economies of scale. Also examined are the static and dynamic properties of market structure in terms of mergers, government policies, and economic growth conditions.

Scale development of safety management system evaluation for the airline industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ching-Fu; Chen, Shu-Chuan

2012-07-01

The airline industry relies on the implementation of Safety Management System (SMS) to integrate safety policies and augment safety performance at both organizational and individual levels. Although there are various degrees of SMS implementation in practice, a comprehensive scale measuring the essential dimensions of SMS is still lacking. This paper thus aims to develop an SMS measurement scale from the perspective of aviation experts and airline managers to evaluate the performance of company's safety management system, by adopting Schwab's (1980) three-stage scale development procedure. The results reveal a five-factor structure consisting of 23 items. The five factors include documentation and commands, safety promotion and training, executive management commitment, emergency preparedness and response plan and safety management policy. The implications of this SMS evaluation scale for practitioners and future research are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Low Back Pain in Pilots and Maintenance Technicians on a Commercial Airline.

Science.gov (United States)

Fajardo Rodriguez, Hugo A; Ortiz Mayorga, Viviana A

2016-09-01

Lower back pain (LBP) is the most common complaint worldwide and the leading cause of disability in the workplace. In Colombia there are no epidemiological data on low back pain in aviation. This study aimed to characterize lower back pain in pilots and maintenance technicians in a Colombian commercial airline. Information was collected from the total population in a Colombian commercial airline in Bogota during the period from 2011 to 2013 using a voluntary survey which requested demographics, occupational (LEST survey) factors, back pain, and chronic pain (chronic pain grade scale). The prevalence rate of LBP in pilot respondents was 71% and the factors associated previously have belonged to the military forces: occupational exposure to physical load and work time. Chronic low back pain was at a prevalence of 49%. The prevalence of LBP in maintenance technicians was 65%. Associated factors were again similar to military forces and included mental workload. Chronic pain had a prevalence of 65%. Factors associated with chronic low back pain were the technicians' time in office and physical load. The prevalence of lower back pain in pilots is similar to that presented in the airline world population. In the case of maintenance technicians, the prevalence was higher than those found in other similar groups, but very similar to prevalences presented in different business industries, including the transport sector. Fajardo Rodriguez HA, Ortiz Mayorga VA. Characterization of low back pain in pilots and maintenance technicians on a commercial airline. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016; 87(9):795-799.

Public health response to commercial airline travel of a person with Ebola virus infection - United States, 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Regan, Joanna J; Jungerman, Robynne; Montiel, Sonia H; Newsome, Kimberly; Objio, Tina; Washburn, Faith; Roland, Efrosini; Petersen, Emily; Twentyman, Evelyn; Olaiya, Oluwatosin; Naughton, Mary; Alvarado-Ramy, Francisco; Lippold, Susan A; Tabony, Laura; McCarty, Carolyn L; Kinsey, Cara Bicking; Barnes, Meghan; Black, Stephanie; Azzam, Ihsan; Stanek, Danielle; Sweitzer, John; Valiani, Anita; Kohl, Katrin S; Brown, Clive; Pesik, Nicki

2015-01-30

Before the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa, there were few documented cases of symptomatic Ebola patients traveling by commercial airline, and no evidence of transmission to passengers or crew members during airline travel. In July 2014 two persons with confirmed Ebola virus infection who were infected early in the Nigeria outbreak traveled by commercial airline while symptomatic, involving a total of four flights (two international flights and two Nigeria domestic flights). It is not clear what symptoms either of these two passengers experienced during flight; however, one collapsed in the airport shortly after landing, and the other was documented to have fever, vomiting, and diarrhea on the day the flight arrived. Neither infected passenger transmitted Ebola to other passengers or crew on these flights. In October 2014, another airline passenger, a U.S. health care worker who had traveled domestically on two commercial flights, was confirmed to have Ebola virus infection. Given that the time of onset of symptoms was uncertain, an Ebola airline contact investigation in the United States was conducted. In total, follow-up was conducted for 268 contacts in nine states, including all 247 passengers from both flights, 12 flight crew members, eight cleaning crew members, and one federal airport worker (81 of these contacts were documented in a report published previously). All contacts were accounted for by state and local jurisdictions and followed until completion of their 21-day incubation periods. No secondary cases of Ebola were identified in this investigation, confirming that transmission of Ebola during commercial air travel did not occur.

Designing Train Passenger Seat by Kansei Engineering in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hapsari Sakya Nabila

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Public transport adoption is still major problem in Indonesia. Integrating impression and emotion to service may change the image of public transport, leading to fast adoption rate. As product development technique, Kansei Engineering is well known to facilitate that integration. This paper communicates the implementation of Kansei Engineering (KE in designing train passenger seat in Indonesia. The train between Bandung-Solo (8 hours journey was chosen to be the investigated object. The train was selected to be refurbished by introducing a new passenger seat design, emphasizing on the improvement of passenger experience. As the first step of KE type I technique, travel experience of the existing passengers were taken into the consideration for selecting Kansei words. It was found that the relevant Kansei words to design passenger train seat in Indonesia were: comfort, people-friendly, multifunction, safe, soft, spacious, relaxing, superior, maintainable, strong, producible, minimalist, attractive, modern, unique, and durable. Upon understanding the semantic meaning of those words, physical properties and technical specification were produced by consulting to the related members. Finally, a passenger seat with synthetic leather cover, modular design, foldable table, individual power point, bluesilver color, and adjusted to Indonesian’s anthropometry data was proposed as the final design

Optimum design of automobile seat using statistical design support system; Tokeiteki sekkei shien system no jidoshayo seat eno tekiyo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kashiwamura, T [NHK Spring Co. Ltd., Yokohama (Japan); Shiratori, M; Yu, Q; Koda, I [Yokohama National University, Yokohama (Japan)

1997-10-01

The authors proposed a new practical optimum design method called statistical design support system, which consists of five steps: the effectivity analysis, reanalysis, evaluation of dispersion, the optimiza4ion and evaluation of structural reliability. In this study, the authors applied the present system to analyze and optimum design of an automobile seat frame subjected to crushing. This study should that the present method could be applied to the complex nonlinear problems such as large deformation, material nonlinearity as well as impact problem. It was shown that the optimum design of the seat frame has been solved easily using the present system. 6 refs., 5 figs., 5 tabs.

75 FR 66728 - Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines: Orion Air, S.L...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-29

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Industry and Security Action Affecting Export Privileges; Orion Air, S.L. and Syrian Pearl Airlines: Orion Air, S.L., Canada Real de Merinas, 7 Edificio 5, 3'A... Denying the Export Privileges of Respondents Orion Air, S.L. (``Orion Air'') and Syrian Pearl Airlines...

Competition in the Malaysian Airline Industry: An Exploratory Study using Game-Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

OpenAIRE

Ho, Kevin Swee Aun

2005-01-01

The competitive landscape of the Malaysian airline industry is facing changes due to the presence of a low-cost carrier, AirAsia. AirAsia has gain much market share by introducing low-fares much to the expense of the national carrier, MAS. Due to the increased competition, the national carrier must react in order to stop the decline of its domestic operations. This aim of this study is to understand the strategies of the two dominant carriers in the Malaysian airline industry, MAS and AirAsia...

Child car seats – a habitat for house dust mites and reservoir for harmful allergens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Clarke

2015-02-01

Full Text Available [b]Introduction and objective[/b]. House dust mites produce allergens which can cause or aggravate diseases such as asthma, eczema and rhinitis. The objectives of this study are to quantify typical house dust mite and Der p 1 allergen levels in child car seats, and to determine external variables that may influence mite populations in cars. [b]Materials and Methods[/b]. Dust samples were collected from the child car seats and driver seats of 106 cars using a portable vacuum sampling pump over a two minute sampling period. Mites were counted and identified and results were expressed as mites per gram (mites/g of dust, while Der p 1 content of samples were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA. Questionnaires were completed by participants to identify environmental and behavioural effects on mite populations. Results were analysed using General Linear Model (GLM procedures. [b]Results[/b]. Twelve species of mites, of which nine are known to produce harmful allergens, were recorded from 212 dust samples. Over 80% of drivers’ seats and over 77% of child car seats harboured dust mites with a significant correlation (p = 0.001 between the mites/g of dust and Der p 1 content recovered from each seat. A mean of 53 mites/g of dust per seat was recovered, with a mean Der p 1 level of 1.1µg/g. Over 12% of driver seats and 15% of child car seats contained house dust mite levels sufficient to be risk factors for sensitisation and allergic reactions. [b]Conclusions[/b]. Child car seats and driver seats are habitats to a range of mite species which can be present in sufficient concentrations to cause or aggravate allergen related illnesses in individuals who are genetically predisposed.

Flow Characteristics and Sizing of Annular Seat Valves for Digital Displacement Machines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Nørgård

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the steady-state flow characteristics and power losses of annular seat valves for digital displacement machines. Annular seat valves are promising candidates for active check-valves used in digital displacement fluid power machinery which excels in efficiency in a broad operating range. To achieve high machine efficiency, the valve flow losses and the required electrical power needed for valve switching should be low. The annular valve plunger geometry, of a valve prototype developed for digital displacement machines, is parametrized by three parameters: stroke length, seat radius and seat width. The steady-state flow characteristics are analyzed using static axi-symmetric computational fluid dynamics. The pressure drops and flow forces are mapped in the valve design space for several different flow rates. The simulated results are compared against measurements using a valve prototype. Using the simulated maps to estimate the flow power losses and a simple generic model to estimate the electric power losses, both during digital displacement operation, optimal designs of annular seat valves, with respect to valve power losses, are derived under several different operating conditions.

Price rules in airline marketing / Elina Krauja-Veide, Marina Jõgi, Toms Andersons...[jt.

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2004-01-01

Lennukompaniide Air Baltic, Estonian Air, British Airways ja Lithuanian Airlines turundusjuhid olukorrast Baltimaade lennundusturul ja lennufirmade turundustegevusest. Kommenteerivad Priit Kivik, Ilona Kbejan, Julia Brjuhanova. Tabel

Student's vacation travel: a reference dependent model of airline fares preferences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grigolon, A.B.; Kemperman, A.D.A.M.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2012-01-01

This article reports the results of student vacation travel choice analysis using a reference dependent model of airline fare preferences. Findings suggests, as expected, that the preferences/utility decreases with increasing levels of cost. The evaluation of the airfare, however, becomes

THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY: LOWELL YEREX, HIS AIRLINE, AND U.S. POLICY CONCERNING INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL AVIATION, 1939-44

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erik Benson

2000-01-01

Full Text Available Even as World War Two hung in the balance, the United States looked to the postwar period as a time of opportunity for international airlines. However, U.S. officials disagreed over the best course of action for the future. Would they support one airline or competing carriers? Those favoring competition found a champion in Lowell Yerex, a New Zealand entrepreneur with a thriving Central American airline. However, his nominal British citizenship aroused concerns in an Anglophobic U.S. government, and thus it never accepted him as an option. Still, Yerex played a critical role in the development of U.S. policy and the maturation of modern commercial aviation.

Cosmic radiation exposure to airline flight passenger

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Momose, Mitsuhiro

2000-01-01

At the high altitudes, airline flight passengers can be exposed to some levels of cosmic radiation. The purpose of this study was to quantify this radiation exposure. Cosmic radiation was measured during 5 flights using a personal dosimeter (PDM-102, Aloka). Cosmic radiation equivalent dose rates ranged from 0.7 to 1.43 microsieverts per hour, the average rate was 1.08. For the passenger who travels only occasionally, the cosmic radiation levels are well below occupational limits, and the risks are extremely small. (author)

Cosmic radiation exposure to airline flight passenger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Momose, Mitsuhiro [Shinshu Univ., Matsumoto, Nagano (Japan). School of Medicine

2000-08-01

At the high altitudes, airline flight passengers can be exposed to some levels of cosmic radiation. The purpose of this study was to quantify this radiation exposure. Cosmic radiation was measured during 5 flights using a personal dosimeter (PDM-102, Aloka). Cosmic radiation equivalent dose rates ranged from 0.7 to 1.43 microsieverts per hour, the average rate was 1.08. For the passenger who travels only occasionally, the cosmic radiation levels are well below occupational limits, and the risks are extremely small. (author)

An exact model for airline flight network optimization based on transport momentum and aircraft load factor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Jorge Caetano

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The problem of airline flight network optimization can be split into subproblems such as Schedule Generation (SG and Fleet Assignment (FA, solved in consecutive steps or in an integrated way, usually based on monetary costs and revenue forecasts. A linear pro­gramming model to solve SG and FA in an integrated way is presented, but with an al­ternative approach based on transport momentum and aircraft load factor. This alterna­tive approach relies on demand forecast and allows obtaining solutions considering min­imum average load factors. Results of the proposed model applications to instances of a regional Brazilian airline are presented. The comparison of the schedules generated by the proposed approach against those obtained by applying a model based on mone­tary costs and revenue forecasts demonstrates the validity of this alternative approach for airlines network planning.

Design and evaluation of a suspension seat to reduce vibration exposure of subway operators: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcotte, Pierre; Beaugrand, Sylvie; Boutin, Jérôme; Larue, Christian

2010-01-01

Subway operators have complained about discomfort caused by whole-body vibration. To address this problem, a suspension seat with extensive ergonomic features has been adapted to the confined space of the subway operator cab. The suspension was modified from an existing suspension in order to reduce the dominant frequency of the subway vertical vibration (2.4 Hz). The suspension seat has been extensively tested on a vertical hydraulic shaker. These tests have shown that the SEAT value was lower for a higher vibration level, for higher subject weight, and for the suspension adjusted at median height. The seat also produces a lower SEAT value when there was a predominance of the 6 Hz vibration component. The horizontal seat adjustments had no influence on the suspension SEAT value. Removing the suspension damper also decreases the SEAT value for all the tested configurations. The final version of the suspension seat prototype was validated during normal subway operation with 19 different operators having weight in the 5th, 50th and 95th percentile of the operator population. Accelerations were measured with triaxial accelerometers at the seat cushion, above the suspension and on the floor. In addition to the vibration measurements, each operator was asked about his perceived discomfort from vibration exposure. Globally, the suspension seat attenuated the vertical vibration (SEAT values from 0.86 to 0.99), but discomfort due to amplification of the 2.4 Hz component occurred when the suspension height was adjusted at the minimum, even when the global weighted acceleration was lower (SEAT value < 1). These results suggest that in order to reduce the discomfort caused by whole-body vibration, the transmissibility of the seat should also be considered, in particular when there is a dominant frequency in the vibration spectra.

Digital Recovery Sequencer - Advanced Concept Ejection Seats

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ross, David A; Cotter, Lee; Culhane, David; Press, Matthew J

2005-01-01

.... Continued usage of the Analog Sequencer is undesirable due to limitations with respect to its installed life, electronic component obsolescence, flexibility to accommodate seat safety improvements...

[Use of seat belts and mobile phone while driving in Florence: trend from 2005 to 2009].

Science.gov (United States)

Lorini, Chiara; Pellegrino, Elettra; Mannocci, Federico; Allodi, Guendalina; Indiani, Laura; Mersi, Anna; Petrioli, Giuseppe; Santini, Maria Grazia; Garofalo, Giorgio; Bonaccorsi, Guglielmo

2012-01-01

to evaluate the trend over time of the use of seat belts by drivers and passengers of cars and vans and the use of hand held mobile phone while driving in Florence from 2005 to 2009. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: direct observations (58,773 vehicles) have been conducted to detect the use of seat belts by occupants of cars and vans, and the use of mobile phone while driving. It has been carried out correlation analysis between the use of the seat belt by occupants of vehicles and between the simultaneous use of this device and mobile phone while driving.Moreover, it has been carried out time series analysis (ARIMA Box Jenkins) of in the prevalence of the use of seat belts by occupants of vehicles observed, of mobile phone by drivers and the trend of the risk to drive using the mobile phone with unfastened seat belt rather than to drive using the mobile phone with fastened seat belt. seat belts were used on average by 75.7% of drivers, 75.5% of front passengers and 25.1% of rear passengers. The average mobile phone use while driving was 4.5%. Drivers most frequently fasten seat belt if front passengers use it and while they do not use mobile phone. The use of seat belts by drivers and front passengers has not changed over time, whereas the use of mobile phone while driving has significantly increased. The prevalence of using mobile phone with unfastened seat belt rather than to use it with fastened seat belt while driving has significantly decreased over the years, indicating an increase in the use of mobile phone, especially among those who fasten the seat belt. it is necessary to plan and realize stronger interventions in the whole area.

European Charter Airlines and In-Flight Catering Provision

OpenAIRE

Duncan, Tara

2005-01-01

This report examines the main UK and European charter airlines. The report will be split into three main sections which correspond to the three main European charter markets, • the UK, • Germany and • Scandinavia/Benelux. Each section considers the current market demand for charter flights before looking more closely at each individual charter carriers. As this report is focussing on charter airline’s onboard catering provision, the report will look at eac...

The Presence of Behavioral Traps in U.S. Airline Accidents: A Qualitative Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Velazquez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Behavioral traps are accident-inducing operational pitfalls aviators may encounter as a result of poor decision making. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA identifies the existence of twelve of these negative pilot behaviors. These are: Peer Pressure; Get-There-Itis; Loss of Situational Awareness; Descent Below the Minimum En Route Altitude (MEA; Mind Set; Duck-Under Syndrome; Getting Behind the Aircraft; Continuing Visual Flight Rules (VFR into Instrument Conditions; Scud Running; Operating Without Adequate Fuel Reserves; Flying Outside the Envelope; and Neglect of Flight Planning, Preflight Inspections, and Checklists. The purpose of this paper was to study the nature of their occurrence in the airline domain. Four Subject Matter Experts (SMEs analyzed 34 National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB accident reports. The SMEs were able to identify many pilot actions that were representative of the behavioral traps. Behavioral traps were found in all accidents with Loss of Situational Awareness and Neglect of Flight Planning, Preflight Inspections, and Checklists dominant. Various themes began to emerge, which played important roles in many accidents. These themes included Crew Resource Management (CRM issues, airline management and fatigue. The findings of this study indicated that behavioral traps were prevalent in airline accidents including habitual noncompliance by pilots. Attitude management training is recommended.

Association Between NCAP Ratings and Real-World Rear Seat Occupant Risk of Injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Metzger, Kristina B; Gruschow, Siobhan; Durbin, Dennis R; Curry, Allison E

2015-01-01

Several studies have evaluated the correlation between U.S. or Euro New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) ratings and injury risk to front seat occupants, in particular driver injuries. Conversely, little is known about whether NCAP 5-star ratings predict real-world risk of injury to restrained rear seat occupants. The NHTSA has identified rear seat occupant protection as a specific area under consideration for improvements to its NCAP. In order to inform NHTSA's efforts, we examined how NCAP's current 5-star rating system predicts risk of moderate or greater injury among restrained rear seat occupants in real-world crashes. We identified crash-involved vehicles, model year 2004-2013, in NASS-CDS (2003-2012) with known make and model and nonmissing occupant information. We manually matched these vehicles to their NCAP star ratings using data on make, model, model year, body type, and other identifying information. The resultant linked NASS-CDS and NCAP database was analyzed to examine associations between vehicle ratings and rear seat occupant injury risk; risk to front seat occupants was also estimated for comparison. Data were limited to restrained occupants and occupant injuries were defined as any injury with a maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score of 2 or greater. We linked 95% of vehicles in NASS-CDS to a specific vehicle in NCAP. The 18,218 vehicles represented an estimated 6 million vehicles with over 9 million occupants. Rear seat passengers accounted for 12.4% of restrained occupants. The risk of injury in all crashes for restrained rear seat occupants was lower in vehicles with a 5-star driver rating in frontal impact tests (1.4%) than with 4 or fewer stars (2.6%, P =.015); results were similar for the frontal impact passenger rating (1.3% vs. 2.4%, P =.024). Conversely, side impact driver and passenger crash tests were not associated with rear seat occupant injury risk (driver test: 1.7% for 5-star vs. 1.8% for 1-4 stars; passenger test: 1.6% for 5

An evaluation of airline beta values and their application in calculating the cost of equity capital.

OpenAIRE

Turner, Sheelah; Morrell, Peter

2003-01-01

This paper focuses on the calculation of the cost of equity capital in a sample of airlines, in comparison to industry-calculated values. The approach usually taken is to apply the Capital Asset Pricing Model to airline stock prices and market indices. The research shows that the calculated b values are sensitive to the precise methodology and calculations used. Further, the low regression model fits indicate the Capital Asset Pricing Model may not be the most suitable model for b value calcul...

Crew coordination concepts: Continental Airlines CRM training

Science.gov (United States)

Christian, Darryl; Morgan, Alice

1987-01-01

The outline of the crew coordination concepts at Continental airlines is: (1) Present relevant theory: Contained in a pre-work package and in lecture/discussion form during the work course, (2) Discuss case examples: Contained in the pre-work for study and use during the course; and (3) Simulate practice problems: Introduced during the course as the beginning of an ongoing process. These concepts which are designed to address the problem pilots have in understanding the interaction between situations and their own theories of practice are briefly discussed.

75 FR 31691 - Safety Standard for Infant Bath Seats: Final Rule

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-04

... would actually make the requirement less restrictive than what is already in the voluntary standard. For... various water levels and possible head positions of occupants vs. angles of bath seats to determine what... instructional literature or warnings, it is foreseeable that caregivers will install the bath seat on a wet and...

Metroplex Optimization Model Expansion and Analysis: The Airline Fleet, Route, and Schedule Optimization Model (AFRS-OM)

Science.gov (United States)

Sherry, Lance; Ferguson, John; Hoffman, Karla; Donohue, George; Beradino, Frank

2012-01-01

This report describes the Airline Fleet, Route, and Schedule Optimization Model (AFRS-OM) that is designed to provide insights into airline decision-making with regards to markets served, schedule of flights on these markets, the type of aircraft assigned to each scheduled flight, load factors, airfares, and airline profits. The main inputs to the model are hedged fuel prices, airport capacity limits, and candidate markets. Embedded in the model are aircraft performance and associated cost factors, and willingness-to-pay (i.e. demand vs. airfare curves). Case studies demonstrate the application of the model for analysis of the effects of increased capacity and changes in operating costs (e.g. fuel prices). Although there are differences between airports (due to differences in the magnitude of travel demand and sensitivity to airfare), the system is more sensitive to changes in fuel prices than capacity. Further, the benefits of modernization in the form of increased capacity could be undermined by increases in hedged fuel prices

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: A Study of Interrelationships and Effects in Nigerian Domestic Airline Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahim A. Ganiyu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The debate concerning the interrelationships and effects between customer satisfaction and loyalty has been tossed back and forth, without a consensus opinion. This study examines the linkages between customer satisfaction and loyalty in Nigerian domestic airline industry. The study adopted correlation research design to elicit information via questionnaire from 600 domestic air passengers drawn through convenience sampling technique. The data obtained from the respondents were analysed with Pearson correlation analysis, linear regression, and One-way analysis of variance. Based on 383 completed data, the results provide support for the association and influence of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. The study also found out that frequent air travelers displayed more loyalty tendency towards airline carriers compared to non-frequent air passengers. On the basis of aforementioned findings, the study concludes that customer satisfaction is extremely important in building and enhancing customer loyalty. Therefore, airline carriers should implement strategies that will guarantee long-term relationship with air travellers by offering service quality that will meet and exceeds their expectations and by extension customer satisfaction.

Occupant Kinematics in Simulated Autonomous Driving Vehicle Collisions: Influence of Seating Position, Direction and Angle.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitagawa, Yuichi; Hayashi, Shigeki; Yamada, Katsunori; Gotoh, Mitsuaki

2017-11-01

This two-part study analyzed occupant kinematics in simulated collisions of future automated driving vehicles in terms of seating configuration. In part one, a frontal collision was simulated with four occupants with the front seats reversed. The left front seat occupant was unbelted while the others were belted. In part two of the study, occupant restraint was examined in various seating configurations using a single seat model with a three-point seatbelt. The seat direction with respect to impact was considered as forward, rearward, and lateral facing in 45 degree increments. The effect of seat recline was also studied in the forward-facing and rear-facing cases by assuming three positions: driving position, resting position and relaxed position. Occupants were represented by human body finite element models. The results of part one showed that the front seat (rear-facing) occupants were restrained by the seatback, resulting in T1 forward displacement less than 100 mm; the rear seat occupants were restrained by the seatbelt resulting larger T1 forward displacement more than 500 mm. The results of the part two showed the directional dependence of occupant restraint. Greater T1 displacements were observed when the occupant faced lateral or front oblique. However, the seatbelt provided some restraint in all directions considered. The seatback generated contact force to the occupant when it was in the impact direction, including the lateral directions. The relaxed position allowed increased excursion compared to the driving position when the occupant faced rearward, but the magnitude of this increase was lower with lower impact speed.

Airline network development in Europe and its implications for airport planning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burghouwt, G.

2007-01-01

Order by Fax Printer Friendly PDF Brochure Send to Friend Enquire before Buying Hard Copy Airline Network Development in Europe and its Implications for Airport Planning Ashgate Publishing, March 2007, Pages: 300 Description Table of Contents Enquire before Buying Send to a Friend The ongoing

A duty-period-based formulation of the airline crew scheduling problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffman, K.

1994-12-31

We present a new formulation of the airline crew scheduling problem that explicitly considers the duty periods. We suggest an algorithm for solving the formulation by a column generation approach with branch-and-bound. Computational results are reported for a number of test problems.

Seat belt use to save face: impact on drivers' body region and nature of injury in motor vehicle crashes.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Guang-Ming; Newmyer, Ashley; Qu, Ming

2015-01-01

Seat belt use is the single most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in motor vehicle crashes. However, some case reports described seat belt use as a double-edged sword because some injuries are related to seat belt use in motor vehicle crashes. To comprehensively understand the effects of seat belt use, we systemically investigated the association between seat belt use and injuries based on anatomic body region and type of injury in drivers involved in motor vehicle crashes. The injury information was obtained by linking crash reports with hospital discharge data and categorized by using the diagnosis codes based on the Barell injury diagnosis matrix. A total of 10,479 drivers (≥15 years) in passenger vehicles involved in motor vehicle crashes from 2006 to 2011 were included in this study. Seat belt use significantly reduced the proportions of traumatic brain injury (10.4% non-seat belt; 4.1% seat belt) and other head, face, and neck injury (29.3% non-seat belt; 16.6% seat belt) but increased the proportion of spine: thoracic to coccyx injury (17.9% non-seat belt; 35.5% seat belt). Although the proportion of spine: thoracic to coccyx injury was increased in drivers with seat belt use, the severity of injury was decreased, such as fracture (4.2% with seat belt use; 22.0% without seat belt use). Furthermore, the total medical charges decreased due to the change of injury profiles in drivers with seat belt use from a higher percentage of fractures (average cost for per case $26,352) to a higher percentage of sprains and/or strains ($1,897) with spine: thoracic to coccyx injury. This study provide a comprehensive picture for understanding the protective effect of seat belt use on injuries based on anatomic body region and type of injury in drivers involved in motor vehicle crashes.

A demand-centered, hybrid life-cycle methodology for city-scale greenhouse gas inventories.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramaswami, Anu; Hillman, Tim; Janson, Bruce; Reiner, Mark; Thomas, Gregg

2008-09-01

Greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for individual cities is confounded by spatial scale and boundary effects that impact the allocation of regional material and energy flows. This paper develops a demand-centered, hybrid life-cycle-based methodology for conducting city-scale GHG inventories that incorporates (1) spatial allocation of surface and airline travel across colocated cities in larger metropolitan regions, and, (2) life-cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the embodied energy of key urban materials--food, water, fuel, and concrete. The hybrid methodology enables cities to separately report the GHG impact associated with direct end-use of energy by cities (consistent with EPA and IPCC methods), as well as the impact of extra-boundary activities such as air travel and production of key urban materials (consistent with Scope 3 protocols recommended by the World Resources Institute). Application of this hybrid methodology to Denver, Colorado, yielded a more holistic GHG inventory that approaches a GHG footprint computation, with consistency of inclusions across spatial scale as well as convergence of city-scale per capita GHG emissions (approximately 25 mt CO2e/person/year) with state and national data. The method is shown to have significant policy impacts, and also demonstrates the utility of benchmarks in understanding energy use in various city sectors.

Evaluation of the League General Insurance Company child safety seat distribution program

Science.gov (United States)

1982-05-01

This report presents an evaluation of the child safety seat distribution initiated by the League General Insurance Company in June 1979. The program provides child safety seats as a benefit under the company's auto insurance policies to policy-holder...

Whole-body Vibration Exposure Intervention among Professional Bus and Truck Drivers: A Laboratory Evaluation of Seat-suspension Designs.

Science.gov (United States)

Blood, Ryan P; Yost, Michael G; Camp, Janice E; Ching, Randal P

2015-01-01

Long-term exposure to seated whole-body vibration (WBV) is one of the leading risk factors for the development of low back disorders. Professional bus and truck drivers are regularly exposed to continuous WBV, since they spend the majority of their working hours driving heavy vehicles. This study measured WBV exposures among professional bus and truck drivers and evaluated the effects of seat-suspension designs using simulated field-collected data on a vibration table. WBV exposures were measured and compared across three different seat designs: an air-ride bus seat, an air-ride truck seat, and an electromagnetically active (EM-active) seat. Air-ride seats use a compressed-air bladder to attenuate vibrations, and they have been in operation throughout the transportation industry for many years. The EM-active seat is a relatively new design that incorporates a microprocessor-controlled actuator to dampen vibration. The vibration table simulated seven WBV exposure scenarios: four segments of vertical vibration and three scenarios that used field-collected driving data on different road surfaces-a city street, a freeway, and a section of rough roadway. The field scenarios used tri-axial WBV data that had been collected at the seat pan and at the driver's sternum, in accordance with ISO 2631-1 and 2631-5. This study found that WBV was significantly greater in the vertical direction (z-axis) than in the lateral directions (x-and y-axes) for each of the three road types and each of the three types of seats. Quantitative comparisons of the results showed that the floor-to-seat-pan transmissibility was significantly lower for the EM-active seat than for either the air-ride bus seat or the air-ride truck seat, across all three road types. This study also demonstrated that seat-suspension designs have a significant effect on the vibrations transmitted to vehicle operators, and the study's results may prove useful in designing future seat suspensions.

Compliance with Use of Seat Belt among Commercial Drivers in a Nigerian Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oluwole C. Omolase

2012-06-01

Full Text Available AIM: This study aimed at determining compliance with use of seat belt among commercial intercity drivers. METHOD: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in Owo, South West Nigeria among commercial intercity drivers between June and September, 2009. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria prior to commencement of this study. The permission of the leadership of Road Transport Workers’ Union was also sought and obtained. Ninety intercity commercial drivers out of the estimated one hundred and sixty intercity commercial drivers in the community were enrolled in this study. Informed consent was obtained from each of the respondents. The data obtained was collated and analyzed with SPSS 15.0.1 statistical soft ware version. RESULTS: Ninety respondents were enrolled in this study. The driving experience of the respondents revealed that most respondents: 53 (58.9% had more than 20 years driving experience. Most respondents;78 (86.7% complied with use of seat belt .The main barrier to compliance with seat belt was short trip;28 (50.9%.Most respondents; 67 (74.4%were in support of penalization of defaulters. The major source of awareness about seat belt was Federal Road Safety Corps;59 (65.6%. CONCLUSION: Most respondents complied with use of seat belt. The major barrier to compliance with seat belt was short trip within the community. The Federal Road Safety Corps should enforce compliance with the use of seat belt most especially within communities. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2012; 11(3.000: 281-286

Affirmative Action: Reservation Seats untuk Perempuan di Parlemen India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evi Yunita Kurniaty

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The study aims to help us understand and analyze women's efforts in the policy-making process to increase their political participation in the constitutional and electoral processes. We can also see the extent to which the values rooted in the patriarchal culture in a society and what can be done and reduce them. Affirmative action is carried out in India by applying the system of reservation seats for women in the Indian Parliament. This is done in India is proven to increase the number of women in the Indian Parliament. By the way there are quotas for women as a strategy for accessing the political arena has growing support among MPs. In this study, Indonesia could get a reservation seats of learning about the system is done. To increase the representation in the "area" is very difficult to be touched by a quota system which is run now, it can be done with reservation seats quota to ensure women's representation in parliament.

High level of work stressors increase the risk of mental-emotional disturbances among airline pilots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Indah S. Widyahening

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Civilian airline pilots have one of the most stressful occupations. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of work stressors and other factors on mental-emotional disturbances among airline pilots. A cross-sectional study was done by interviewing selected pilots of an airline using appropriate questionnaires, during their routine medical examination from May to July 1999 in Jakarta. Five aspects of work stressor were assessed: working conditions, physical conditions of working environment, career development, organization and interpersonal relationship. Mental-emotional disturbances were determined by using the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL 90 questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using relative risk by Cox regression with constant time. From 128 subjects interviewed, 109 could be analyzed. Most of the subjects were married (73.4% and college graduates (91.7%. The number of captains and first officers were almost equal. The prevalence of mental-emotional disturbances was 39.4%. Mental-emotional disturbances were significantly related to work stressors and moderately related to household tension (P = 0.184. Compared to pilots with low levels of work stressors, those with high or very high levels of work stressors had a risk of 4.6 times of mental-emotional disturbances [adjusted relative risk (RRa = 4.64; 95% confidence interval (CI = 1.01 – 19.65]. Adequate guides to cope work stressors and household tension which related to mental-emotional disturbance is recommended. (Med J Indones 2007; 16:117-21Keywords: mental-emotional disturbance, work stressors, household tension, airline pilots

Business Model as an Inducer of Disruptive Innovations: The Case of Gol Airlines

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Sirlei de Almeida Pereira

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This study was undertaken to investigate the premises that the success of disruptive innovation is related to the business model adopted by organizations. An analysis of five business models from the literature review - Bovet and Martha (2000, Applegate (2001, Chesbrough and Rosenbloom (2002, Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010, and Rodrigues, Maccari and Lenzi (2012 – was conducted based on the case of the Brazilian Gol Airlines who is recognized as a success business that promoted a disruptive innovation. The results suggest that the assertive choice of the business model can leverage innovation processes, and two of the models listed are adherence to the case studied. Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Business Model; Innovation Elements; Strategy; Gol Airlines.

Ergonomic Analysis of Tricycle Sidecar Seats: Basis for Proposed Standard Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael C. Godoy

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Ergonomics (also called human factors engineering is the study of human characteristics for the appropriate design of the living and work environment. It is applied in various industrial areas which includes transportation.Tricycle being one of the most common means of public transportation in Lipa City has various adaptations to suit the culture, and environment. The purpose of this study is to analyze the variability in design of the tricycles in Lipa City, Philippines and propose a standard ergonomically designed tricycle sidecar seat for a greater population. The study was conducted at 26 tricycle terminals with 232 tricycle samples within Lipa City proper including the public market area where 400 commuters were given questionnaires to determine the risk factors associated with the existing tricycle sidecar seat design. Anthropometric measurements of 100 males and 100 female commuters were obtained together with the sidecar dimensions of 232 tricycles to substantiate the observed variations in design. Using the design for the average and design for the extremes, it was found out that most of the tricycles in Lipa City, Philippines have inappropriate inclined seat and lowered sidecar seat pan height which can result to leg and abdominal pain; narrowed seat pan depth which caused pressure on buttocks and legs; narrowed backrest width which can cause upper and low back pain; low backrest height that can pose upper back pain; which can also result to abdominal pain; inclined backrest and limited vertical clearance which can cause upper back pain and neck pain. The researcher proposed a sidecar seat design standard which can be used by the Land Transportation Office, and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to provide ease, comfort, and convenience to the passengers.

Enhancement of a model for Large-scale Airline Network Planning Problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kölker, K.; Lopes dos Santos, Bruno F.; Lütjens, K.

2016-01-01

The main focus of this study is to solve the network planning problem based on passenger decision criteria including the preferred departure time and travel time for a real-sized airline network. For this purpose, a model of the integrated network planning problem is formulated including scheduling

Application of a bus seat buffer to mitigate frontal crash effects

Science.gov (United States)

Stanisławek, Sebastian; Dziewulski, Paweł; Sławiński, Grzegorz

2018-01-01

The paper considers the problem of coach occupant safety during crash events. The authors present a simple low-cost seat buffer concept which may mitigate the effects of frontal impact. The method of computer simulation was chosen to solve the problem efficiently. The Finite Element Method (FEM) implemented in the LS-DYNA commercial code was used. The testing procedure was based on European Commission regulations, under which vehicles move at a defined speed. Simulations have shown that seat occupants suffer serious trauma during a crash, with the head experiencing relatively high acceleration, thus resulting in an HIC36 of 1490. The installation of a protective buffer mounted on the upper part of the seat reduced the HIC36 to only 510. However, in its current form it does not meet the requirements of the regulations. Further modifications to the overlay shape and structure are essential in order to better improve the deceleration of passengers' bodies. Moreover, a detailed model of seats and their anchorage should be taken into account. A more flexible structure should provide more positive and more accurate results.

Car seat inspection among children older than 3 years: Using data to drive practice in child passenger safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Kroeker, Amber M; Teddy, Amy J; Macy, Michelle L

2015-09-01

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional death and disability among children 4 years to 12 years of age in the United States. Despite the high risk of injury from motor vehicle crashes in this age group, parental awareness and child passenger safety programs in particular may lack focus on this age group. This is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of child passenger safety seat checklist forms from two Safe Kids coalitions in Michigan (2013) to identify restraint type upon arrival to car seat inspections. Other variables were included if the coalition provided a new child safety seat and if the child had a sibling who underwent a car seat inspection. χ statistics were used to compare change in restraint use on arrival and at departure, the proportion of children attending a car seat inspection event by age, the age category of children by site, the proportion of children with siblings also undergoing a car seat inspection by age, and the distribution of a new child safety seat by age. Data were available from 1,316 Safe Kids Huron Valley and 3,215 Safe Kids Greater Grand Rapids car seat inspections. Just 10.8% of the total seats inspected were booster seats. Child safety seats for infant and young children were more commonly inspected (rear-facing carrier [40.3%], rear-facing convertible [10.2%], and forward-facing [19.3%] car seats). Few children at inspections used a seat belt only (5.4%) or had no restraint (13.8%). Children 4 years and older were found to be in a suboptimal restraint at least 30% of the time. Low proportions of parents use car seat inspections for children in the booster seat age group. The proportion of children departing the inspection in a more protective restraint increased with increasing age. This highlights an area of weakness in child passenger safety programs and signals an opportunity to strengthen efforts on The Booster Age Child. Epidemiologic/prognostic study, level III.

Comparative study of potential whiplash injuries for different occupant seated positions during rear end accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Omerović, Senad; Tomasch, Ernst; Gutsche, Andreas J; Prebil, Ivan

2016-01-01

Whiplash injuries to the cervical spine represent a considerable economic burden on society with medical conditions, in some cases persisting for more than a year. Numerous studies of whiplash injuries have been made for occupant normal seated position, leaving the analysis of neck injuries for out-of-normal positions not well documented. For that purpose, a detailed human cervical spine finite element model was developed. The analysis was made for four most common occupant seated positions, such as: Normal Position with the torso against the seat back and the head looking straight ahead, Torso Lean forward position with the torso away from the seat back for approximately 10°, Head Flexed position with the head flexed forward approximately 20° from the normal position and Head-Flexed with Torso Lean forward position with the head flexed forward approximately 20° and torso 10° from the normal position. The comparative study included the analysis of capsular ligament deformation and the level of S-curvature of the cervical spine. The model developed predicted that Head Flexed seated position and Head-Flexed with Torso Lean forward seated position are most threatening for upper and lower cervical spine capsular ligament, respectively. As for the level of S-curvature, the model predicted that Head-Flexed with Torso Lean forward seated position would be most prone to neck injuries associated with it. This study demonstrated that the occupant seated position has a significant influence on potential whiplash injuries.

Seat Capacity Selection for an Advanced Short-Haul Aircraft Design

Science.gov (United States)

Marien, Ty V.

2016-01-01

A study was performed to determine the target seat capacity for a proposed advanced short-haul aircraft concept projected to enter the fleet by 2030. This analysis projected the potential demand in the U.S. for a short-haul aircraft using a transportation theory approach, rather than selecting a target seat capacity based on recent industry trends or current market demand. A transportation systems model was used to create a point-to-point network of short-haul trips and then predict the number of annual origin-destination trips on this network. Aircraft of varying seat capacities were used to meet the demand on this network, assuming a single aircraft type for the entire short-haul fleet. For each aircraft size, the ticket revenue and operational costs were used to calculate a total market profitability metric for all feasible flights. The different aircraft sizes were compared, based on this market profitability metric and also the total number of annual round trips and markets served. Sensitivity studies were also performed to determine the effect of changing the aircraft cruise speed and maximum trip length. Using this analysis, the advanced short-haul aircraft design team was able to select a target seat capacity for their design.

Journal of Airline and Airport Management: Taking off on an exciting journey into Air Transport Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Gonzalez-Prieto

2011-11-01

Full Text Available We are pleased to introduce this first and inaugural issue of the first volume of the Journal of Airline and Airport Management (JAIRM. JAIRM is an international journal that proposes and fosters discussion on the theory and application in all areas of air transport, including (but not limited to air transport and globalization, airline and airport management. We are interested in issues related to production, logistics, operations, marketing, policy and regulation, information systems, project management, quality, as well as regional development, economics, organizational behaviour, finance and accounting in air transport research.

Mergers and Product Quality: Evidence from the Airline Industry

OpenAIRE

Chen, Yongmin; Gayle, Philip

2013-01-01

Retrospective studies of horizontal mergers have focused on their price effects, leaving the important question of how mergers affect product quality largely unanswered. This paper empirically investigates this issue for two recent airline mergers: Delta/Northwest and Continental/United. Consistent with the theoretical premise that mergers improve coordination but diminish competitive pressure for quality provision, we find: (i) each merger is associated with a quality increase in markets whe...

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF MAJOR AIRLINE COMPANIES IN UAE WITH REFERENCE TO PROFITABILITY, LIQUIDITY, EFFICIENCY, EMPLOYEE STRENGTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Indrani Hazarika

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The demand for air transport has been consistently increasing in UAE and has made significant growth in the aviation sector in terms of expansion and modernization. Within Dubai’s services sector, transport ranks first accounting for 14.8% of Dubai’s GDP in 2014.As per the Economics Report commissioned by Emirates and Dubai Airports, aviation sector is expected to contribute $53.1 billion to Dubai’s economy, 37.5 per cent to its GDP and will support over 750,000 jobs by 2020. The present study makes a comparative analysis of the top airline companies in UAE – Emirate Airlines and Air Arabia in terms of profitability, liquidity, efficiency and also Etihad Airways on employee strength and productivity from 2010 to 2014.Dubai’s aviation sector is projected to support over 1,194,700 jobs by 2030 and the total economic impact on UAE is expected to increase to $88.1 billion. The financial performance indicators of Emirates Airlines and Air Arabia has been compared and further analyzed to see if there is any significant impact of the macroeconomic indicators on the financial performance of the airline companies. Companies can create wealth either by increasing profit per employee or by increasing the number of employees earning such profits, or both.

Naturalistic driving study of rear seat child occupants: Quantification of head position using a Kinect™ sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Arbogast, Kristy B; Kim, Jinyong; Loeb, Helen; Kuo, Jonny; Koppel, Sjaan; Bohman, Katarina; Charlton, Judith L

2016-09-01

Restraint performance is evaluated using anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) positioned in prescribed, optimal seating positions. Anecdotally, humans-children in particular-assume a variety of positions that may affect restraint performance. Naturalistic driving studies (NDSs), where cameras and other data acquisition systems are placed in a vehicle used by participants during their regular transportation, offer means to collect these data. To date, these studies have used conventional video and analysis methods and, thus, analyses have largely been qualitative. This article describes a recently completed NDS of child occupants in which their position was monitored using a Kinect sensor to quantify their head position throughout normal, everyday driving trips. A study vehicle was instrumented with a data acquisition system to measure vehicle dynamics, a set of video cameras, and a Kinect sensor providing 3D motion capture at 1 Hz of the rear seat occupants. Participant families used the vehicle for all driving trips over 2 weeks. The child occupants' head position was manually identified via custom software from each Kinect color image. The 3D head position was then extracted and its distribution summarized by seat position (left, rear, center) and restraint type (forward-facing child restraint system [FFCRS], booster seat, seat belt). Data from 18 families (37 child occupants) resulted in 582 trips (with children) for analysis. The average age of the child occupants was 45.6 months and 51% were male. Twenty-five child occupants were restrained in FFCRS, 9 in booster seats, and 3 in seat belts. As restraint type moved from more to less restraint (FFCRS to booster seat to seat belt), the range of fore-aft head position increased: 218, 244, and 340 mm on average, respectively. This observation was also true for left-right movement for every seat position. In general, those in the center seat position demonstrated a smaller range of head positions. For the first

76 FR 23793 - Extension of Application Period for Seats for the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-28

... Period for Seats for the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council AGENCY: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... seats on the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council: (1) Research Member seat and (2...

Impact of Active Climate Control Seats on Energy Use, Fuel Use, and CO2 Emissions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kreutzer, Cory J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rugh, John P [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Titov, Eugene V [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kekelia, Bidzina [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-11-28

A project was developed through collaboration between Gentherm and NREL to determine the impact of climate control seats for light-duty vehicles in the United States. The project used a combination of experimentation and analysis, with experimental results providing critical input to the analysis process. First, outdoor stationary vehicle testing was performed at NREL's facility in Golden, CO using multiple occupants. Two pre-production Ford Focus electric vehicles were used for testing; one containing a standard inactive seat and the second vehicle containing a Gentherm climate control seat. Multiple maximum cool-down and steady-state cooling tests were performed in late summer conditions. The two vehicles were used to determine the increase in cabin temperature when using the climate control seat in comparison to the baseline vehicle cabin temperature with a standard seat at the equivalent occupant whole-body sensation. The experiments estimated that on average, the climate control seats allowed for a 2.61 degrees Celsius increase in vehicle cabin temperature at equivalent occupant body sensation compared to the baseline vehicle. The increased cabin air temperature along with their measured energy usage were then used as inputs to the national analysis process. The national analysis process was constructed from full vehicle cabin, HVAC, and propulsion models previously developed by NREL. In addition, three representative vehicle platforms, vehicle usage patterns, and vehicle registration weighted environmental data were integrated into the analysis process. Both the baseline vehicle and the vehicle with climate control seats were simulated, using the experimentally determined cabin temperature offset of 2.61degrees Celsius and added seat energy as inputs to the climate control seat vehicle model. The U.S. composite annual fuel use savings for the climate control seats over the baseline A/C system was determined to be 5.1 gallons of gasoline per year per

Detention of Star I Airline's only plane causes havoc / Linas Jegelevicius

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Jegelevicius, Linas

2010-01-01

Leedu lennukompanii Star1 Airlines teatas 24. septembril, et peatab kõik oma lennud kuni 2. oktoobrini. Leedu lennuaamet uurib Star1 Airlinesi finantsseisu. Paljud reisijad on jäänud lennujaamadesse. Transpordiminister Eligijus Masiulise sõnul võidakse firmalt Euroopa Liidu reeglite rikkumise tõttu lennulitsents ära võtta

Assessment of the vibration on the foam legged and sheet metal-legged passenger seat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Dahil

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In this study, it was aim ed to decrease the vibration reaching to passenger from the legs of vehicle seats. In order to determine the levels of vibrations reaching at passengers, a test pad placed under the passenger seat was used, and HVM100 device was used for digitizing the information obtained. By transferring the vibration data to system by using HVM100 device, the acceleration graphics were prepared with Blaze software. As a result, it was determined that the acceleration values of seat legs made of foam material were lower than that of seat legs made of 2 mm thick sheet metal, so they damped the vibration better.

The effect of shaped wheelchair cushion and lumbar supports on under-seat pressure, comfort, and pelvic rotation.

Science.gov (United States)

Samuelsson, Kersti; Björk, Maarit; Erdugan, Ann-Marie; Hansson, Anna-Karin; Rustner, Birgitta

2009-09-01

A wheelchair seat and position help clients perform daily activities. The comfort of the wheelchair can encourage clients to participate in daily activities and can help prevent future complications. This study evaluates how a shaped seat-cushion and two different back supports affect under-seat pressure, comfort, and pelvic rotation. Thirty healthy subjects were tested using two differently equipped manual wheelchairs. One wheelchair had a Velcro adjustable back seat and a plane seat-cushion. The other wheelchair had a non-adjustable sling-back seat and a plane cushion. The second wheelchair was also equipped with a shaped cushion and/or a detachable lumbar support. Under-seat pressure, estimated comfort, and pelvic rotation were measured after 10 min in each wheelchair outfit. Peak pressure increased with the shaped cushion compared to the plane cushion. No significant difference in estimated comfort was found. Pelvic posterior-rotation was reduced with the adjustable or detachable back-support irrespective of the shape of the seat cushion. To support a neutral pelvic position and spinal curvature, a combination of a shaped cushion and a marked lumbar support is most effective.

Seafloor in the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Search Area

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Walter H. F.; Marks, Karen M.

2014-05-01

On the morning of 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, lost contact with air traffic control shortly after takeoff and vanished. While the world waited for any sign of the missing aircraft and the 239 people on board, authorities and scientists began to investigate what little information was known about the plane's actual movements.

The potential role of maglev in short-haul airline operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, L.R.

1991-01-01

Intercity travel is predominately by commercial air transport. However, airports are becoming increasingly congested at a time when there is often substantial local opposition to the expansion of airport infrastructure because of the environmental impacts. This paper explores the potential for integrating high-speed maglev systems into the airport infrastructure, but more importantly into airline operations. 7 refs., 2 figs.

Collective efficacy in a high-fidelity simulation of an airline operations center

Science.gov (United States)

Jinkerson, Shanna

This study investigated the relationships between collective efficacy, teamwork, and team performance. Participants were placed into teams, where they worked together in a high-fidelity simulation of an airline operations center. Each individual was assigned a different role to represent different jobs within an airline (Flight Operations Coordinator, Crew Scheduling, Maintenance, Weather, Flight Scheduling, or Flight Planning.) Participants completed a total of three simulations with an After Action Review between each. Within this setting, both team performance and teamwork behaviors were shown to be positively related to expectations for subsequent performance (collective efficacy). Additionally, teamwork and collective efficacy were not shown to be concomitantly related to subsequent team performance. A chi-square test was used to evaluate existence of performance spirals, and they were not supported. The results of this study were likely impacted by lack of power, as well as a lack of consistency across the three simulations.

A joint econometric analysis of seat belt use and crash-related injury severity.

Science.gov (United States)

Eluru, Naveen; Bhat, Chandra R

2007-09-01

This paper formulates a comprehensive econometric structure that recognizes two important issues in crash-related injury severity analysis. First, the impact of a factor on injury severity may be moderated by various observed and unobserved variables specific to an individual or to a crash. Second, seat belt use is likely to be endogenous to injury severity. That is, it is possible that intrinsically unsafe drivers do not wear seat belts and are the ones likely to be involved in high injury severity crashes because of their unsafe driving habits. The preceding issues are considered in the current research effort through the development of a comprehensive model of seat belt use and injury severity that takes the form of a joint correlated random coefficients binary-ordered response system. To our knowledge, this is the first instance of such a model formulation and application not only in the safety analysis literature, but in the econometrics literature in general. The empirical analysis is based on the 2003 General Estimates System (GES) data base. Several types of variables are considered to explain seat belt use and injury severity levels, including driver characteristics, vehicle characteristics, roadway design attributes, environmental factors, and crash characteristics. The results, in addition to confirming the effects of various explanatory variables, also highlight the importance of (a) considering the moderating effects of unobserved individual/crash-related factors on the determinants of injury severity and (b) seat belt use endogeneity. From a policy standpoint, the results suggest that seat belt non-users, when apprehended in the act, should perhaps be subjected to both a fine (to increase the chances that they wear seat belts) as well as mandatory enrollment in a defensive driving course (to attempt to change their aggressive driving behaviors).

Valve seat pores sealed with thermosetting monomer

Science.gov (United States)

Olmore, A. B.

1966-01-01

Hard anodic coating provides a smooth wear resistant value seating surface on a cast aluminum alloy valve body. Vacuum impregnation with a thermosetting monomer, diallyl phthalate, seals the pores on the coating to prevent galvanic corrosion.

Evaluating the impact of child safety seat check-up events on parental knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Herring, Ashley B; Jones, Ches; Nunez, Casandra

2002-12-01

Riding unrestrained is the greatest risk factor for death and injury among children in motor vehicles. Restraining a child can reduce the risk of death for that child by up to 71%. However, despite increased awareness, child safety seat usage rates are still disturbingly low. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact that child safety seat check-up events have on parental knowledge on child safety seats and installation. The subjects for this study were 101 parents/caregivers who attended child safety seat check-up events in northwest Arkansas from May 2000 through June 2001. A 20-item survey was conducted via the telephone. Results showed that the check-up events in northwest Arkansas have had an impact on self-efficacy. The participants of the events were primarily Caucasian and females in the 30-34 age group. Nine of 10 subjects scored in the high knowledge category. Conclusions are that check-up events do have an impact on parental knowledge and are accepted by the target group. Additionally, participants believed that car seats are of great importance and do protect their children in the event of a crash.

Development of Adaptive Aircraft Passenger Seat System for Comfort Improvement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tan, C.F.; Chen, W.; Rauterberg, G.W.M.

2009-01-01

Air travel is becoming increasingly more accessible to people both through the availability of cheap flights and because the airlines are now able to cater for individuals of all ages and disabilities. Air travels, especially for long haul, may cause both physiological and psychological discomfort

Comparison of different decontaminant delivery methods for sterilizing unoccupied commercial airliner cabins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Xi; Chen, Qingyan [National Air Transport Center of Excellence for Research in the Intermodal Transport Environment (RITE), School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, 585 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, IN 47905 (United States)

2010-09-15

Effective decontamination is crucial if an airliner cabin is contaminated by biological contaminants, such as infectious disease viruses or intentionally released biological agents. This study used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method as a tool and vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) as an exemplary decontaminant and Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores as a simulant contaminant to investigate three VHP delivery methods for sterilizing two different airliner cabins. The CFD first determined the airflow and the transient distributions of the contaminant and decontaminant in cabins. Auxiliary equations were implemented into the CFD model for evaluating efficacy of the sterilization process. The improved CFD model was validated by the measured airflow and simulated contaminant distributions obtained from a cabin mockup and the measured efficacy data from the literature. The three decontaminant delivery methods were (1) to supply the mixed VHP and air through the environmental control system of a cabin, (2) to send mixed VHP and air through a front door and to extract them from a back door of a cabin, and (3) to send directly VHP to a cabin and enhance the mixing with air in the cabin by fans. The two air cabins studied were a single-aisle and a twin-aisle airliner one. The results show that the second decontaminant delivery method (displacement method) was the best because the VHP distributions in the cabins were most uniform, the sterilization time was moderate, and the corrosion risk was low. The method displaced the existing air by the air/disinfectant solution, rather than dispersive mixing as the other two methods. (author)

An examination of ongoing trends in airline ancillary revenues

OpenAIRE

Warnock-Smith, David; O'Connell, John Frankie; Maleki, Mahnaz

2015-01-01

The airline industry seems permanently embedded in producing thin margins and continuously combatting downward pressure on yields. To perpetuate the problem, the industry remains eclipsed with high cost structures and low barriers to entry. However, a new sizzling concept continues to counterbalance these effects in the form of ancillary revenues. Globally, these revenues have increased by 121% from 2010 to 2014 – and the trend is set to continue as carriers are quickly implementing structura...

Rear seat safety: Variation in protection by occupant, crash and vehicle characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Durbin, Dennis R; Jermakian, Jessica S; Kallan, Michael J; McCartt, Anne T; Arbogast, Kristy B; Zonfrillo, Mark R; Myers, Rachel K

2015-07-01

Current information on the safety of rear row occupants of all ages is needed to inform further advances in rear seat restraint system design and testing. The objectives of this study were to describe characteristics of occupants in the front and rear rows of model year 2000 and newer vehicles involved in crashes and determine the risk of serious injury for restrained crash-involved rear row occupants and the relative risk of fatal injury for restrained rear row vs. front passenger seat occupants by age group, impact direction, and vehicle model year. Data from the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) and Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) were queried for all crashes during 2007-2012 involving model year 2000 and newer passenger vehicles. Data from NASS-CDS were used to describe characteristics of occupants in the front and rear rows and to determine the risk of serious injury (AIS 3+) for restrained rear row occupants by occupant age, vehicle model year, and impact direction. Using a combined data set containing data on fatalities from FARS and estimates of the total population of occupants in crashes from NASS-CDS, logistic regression modeling was used to compute the relative risk (RR) of death for restrained occupants in the rear vs. front passenger seat by occupant age, impact direction, and vehicle model year. Among all vehicle occupants in tow-away crashes during 2007-2012, 12.3% were in the rear row where the overall risk of serious injury was 1.3%. Among restrained rear row occupants, the risk of serious injury varied by occupant age, with older adults at the highest risk of serious injury (2.9%); by impact direction, with rollover crashes associated with the highest risk (1.5%); and by vehicle model year, with model year 2007 and newer vehicles having the lowest risk of serious injury (0.3%). Relative risk of death was lower for restrained children up to age 8 in the rear compared with passengers in the right

The Rise of the Low Cost Model in the Airline Industry : A Study of the Strategies of Southwest, RyanAir and Air Asia

OpenAIRE