The Relationship between Air Travel Service Quality and Factors of Theory of Planned Behavior: Evidence from Low-Cost Airlines in Thailand

Despite an increased emphasis on improvement in airline service quality concerning consumer behavior, such as passenger repurchasing as a result of their behavioral intention over the last several decades, there is still much less concern with the nature of airline service quality than should exist in the so-called "logistics service quality” and less concern with examining the specific behavioral intention preceding repurchasing behavior together with the theory of planned behavior. As such, this study aims to explore these issues, along with the psychological factors of the theory of planned behavior, that can lead to repurchasing behavior via word-of-mouth intention (WOMI). With an online survey of 383 respondents experienced with flying, the results reveal that the logistics service quality and each determinant in the theory positively influence a passenger's repurchasing behavior through WOMI. Accordingly, service marketers can implement service design and apply integrated marketing communication by learning from repurchasing behavior that was formed by the given factors to retain their existing customers. Moreover, this study is the first to empirically and explicitly validate dimensions of airline services through the lens of logistics that are deemed fit with the nature of the airlines. It advances the understanding of theory approaching and connects what has hampered its advancement in a body of knowledge, simultaneously in a context of airline context where it should not be relegated to transportation and consumer and service orientation.

REDUCED TRANSMISSION RISKS FOR PASSENGER OPERATIONS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In the aircraft cabin, passengers must share a confined environment with other passengers during boarding, flight, and disembarkation, which poses a risk for virus transmission and requires risk-appropriate mitigation strategies. Spacing between passenger groups during boarding and disembarkation reduces the risk of transmission, and optimized sequencing of passenger groups helps to significantly reduce boarding and disembarkation time. We considered passenger groups to be an important factor in overall operational efficiency. The basic idea of our concept is that the members of a group should not be separated, since they were already traveling as a group before entering the aircraft. However, to comply with COVID-19 regulations, different passenger groups should be separated spatially. For the particular challenge of disembarkation, we assume that passenger groups will be informed directly when they are allowed to leave for disembarkation. Today, cabin lighting could be used for this information process, but in a future digitally connected cabin, passengers could be informed directly via their personal devices. These devices could also be used to check the required distances between passengers. The implementation of optimized group sequencing has the potential to significantly reduce boarding and disembarkation times, taking into account COVID-19 constraints. © 2022 ICAS. All Rights Reserved.

Stress Factors and the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review on the Aviation Industry

This study outlines the stress factors and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the stress variables among aviation workers, which includes airline employees, flight crews, pilots, maintenance crews, air traffic controllers, airport or ground workers, engineers, training personnel, and other aviation-related personnel. A review was done on 37 research papers using systematic literature review (SLR) and discovered nine stress factors among aviation workers which are working hours, workloads, internal factors, ergonomic issues, job uncertainty, job demands, organizational issues, team conflict, and the COVID-19 itself. The findings of this study could provide insights to employers in the aviation industry for mitigation actions that could help to successfully reduce and eliminate stress factors in the workplace. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Monitoring, Tracking and Fighting Pandemics using Drone-based Artificial Intelligence in IoT

The world has altered since the World Health Organization (WHO) designated (COVID-19) a worldwide epidemic. Everything in society, from professions to routines, has shifted to accommodate the new reality. The World Health Organization warns that future pandemics of infectious diseases are likely and that people should be ready for the worst. Therefore, this study presents a framework for tracking and monitoring COVID-19 using a Deep Learning (DL) perfect. The suggested framework utilises UAVs (such as a quadcopter or drone) equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to keep an eye on and combat the spread of COVID-19. AI/IoT for COVID-19 nursing and a drone-based IoT scheme for sterilisation make up the bulk of the infrastructure. The proposed solution is based on the use of a current camera installed in a face-shield or helmet for use in emergency situations like pandemics. The developed AI algorithm processes the thermal images that have been detected using multi-scale similar convolution blocks (MPCs) and Res blocks that are trained using residual learning. When infected cases are detected, the helmet's embedded Internet of Things system can trigger the drone system to intervene. The infected population is eradicated with the help of the drone's sterilisation process. The developed system undergoes experimental evaluation, and the findings are presented. The developed outline delivers a novel and well-organized arrangement for monitoring and combating COVID-19 and additional future epidemics, as evidenced by the results. © 2023 IEEE.

Kinetic Energy Recovery from a Landing Aircraft: Energy Analysis, Environmental and Economic Prospects

The Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change has sounded its alarm through its special report on the impact of global warming of 1.5oC and called for a strengthened global response to the threat of climate change. Despite that the COVID-19 pandemic has left a devastating effect on the aviation industry, this is forecasted to bounce back and recover within a few years. It is therefore important now to revisit opportunities for a better balance between social, environmental and economic impact of the sector. The European Union has been leading the way in limiting the environmental impacts of aviation. Despite that most of the R&D effort has been focused on the airborne phase, the European Union is legislating so that all aircraft movements on the ground are set to be emission-free by 2050. The paper focuses on engineless aircraft taxiing with the aim to reduce emissions on the ground. We demonstrate that upon landing, an aircraft has enough kinetic energy, which if recovered could power a 5-minute engineless taxiing process. When scaled to a large fleet such as low-cost carriers, this emissions problem can be turned on its head and becomes an opportunity for fuel savings and a reduction in emissions on the ground. The paper also demonstrates that the cost to retrofit such technology can be recovered in a short timeframe and therefore there is an economic incentive to the airline. © 2022 ICAS. All Rights Reserved.

Quantification of oil and gas methane emissions in the Delaware and Marcellus basins using a network of continuous tower-based measurements

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), emissions from oil and gas infrastructure contribute 30 % of all anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions in the US. Studies in the last decade have shown emissions from this sector to be substantially larger than bottom-up assessments, including the EPA inventory, highlighting both the increased importance of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector in terms of their overall climatological impact and the need for independent monitoring of these emissions. In this study we present continuous monitoring of regional methane emissions from two oil and gas basins using tower-based observing networks. Continuous methane measurements were taken at four tower sites in the northeastern Marcellus basin from May 2015 through December 2016 and five tower sites in the Delaware basin in the western Permian from March 2020 through April 2022. These measurements, an atmospheric transport model, and prior emission fields are combined using an atmospheric inversion to estimate monthly methane emissions in the two regions. This study finds the mean overall emission rate from the Delaware basin during the measurement period to be 146–210 Mg CH4 h-1 (energy-normalized loss rate of 1.1 %–1.5 %, gas-normalized rate of 2.5 %–3.5 %). Strong temporal variability in the emissions was present, with the lowest emission rates occurring during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, a synthetic model–data experiment performed using the Delaware tower network shows that the presence of intermittent sources is not a significant source of uncertainty in monthly quantification of the mean emission rate. In the Marcellus, this study finds the overall mean emission rate to be 19–28 Mg CH4 h-1 (gas-normalized loss rate of 0.30 %–0.45 %), with relative consistency in the emission rate over time. These totals align with aircraft top-down estimates from the same time periods. In both basins, the tower network was able to constrain monthly flux estimates within ±20 % uncertainty in the Delaware and ±24 % uncertainty in the Marcellus. The results from this study demonstrate the ability to monitor emissions continuously and detect changes in the emissions field, even in a basin with relatively low emissions and complex background conditions.

The Legal Problem of Aircraft Mortgage in Indonesia

This article aims to analyze the urgency of aircraft mortgage regulation to provide an alternative solution for airlines that requires a loan to maintain their cash flow sufficiently by placing their aircraft as debt collateral. Since the issuance of Law Number 1 of 2009 on Aviation, the provisions regarding aircraft mortgage as debt collateral was removed from the previous Aviation Law Number 15 of 1992. Article 12 Paragraph (1) of Law Number 15 of 1992, governed that aircraft could be subject to mortgages, however, this provision was abolished by the new Aviation Law Number 1 of 2009. Article 465 of the new Aviation Law explicitly states that all provisions in Law Number 15 of 1992 are no longer valid, meanwhile, Law Number 1 of 2009 on Aviation, in no way regulates aircraft mortgages. In practice, this legal vacuum has become a problem for airline companies to place their registered aircraft as collateral in form of a mortgage. Particularly in the Covid 19 pandemic, which until the end of 2021 has not ended yet, it has caused severe damages to the financial balances of many airlines due to the absence of passengers and restrictions to fly by the Government. The aircraft can be used as collateral or security interest for, for example, a working capital loan. This research is a normative study that will discuss and analyze the types of collateral over aircraft that are most likely to be carried out by airlines in Indonesia amid the unavailability of aircraft mortgage regulation. This article also attempts to find possibilities that may be engaged to solve the problem.

Co-exposure to urban particulate matter and aircraft noise adversely impacts the cerebro-pulmonary-cardiovascular axis in mice

Worldwide, up to 8.8 million excess deaths/year have been attributed to air pollution, mainly due to the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM). Traffic-related noise is an additional contributor to global mortality and morbidity. Both health risk factors substantially contribute to cardiovascular, metabolic and neuropsychiatric sequelae. Studies on the combined exposure are rare and urgently needed because of frequent co-occurrence of both risk factors in urban and industrial settings. To study the synergistic effects of PM and noise, we used an exposure system equipped with aerosol generator and loud-speakers, where C57BL/6 mice were acutely exposed for 3d to either ambient PM (NIST particles) and/or noise (aircraft landing and take-off events). The combination of both stressors caused endothelial dysfunction, increased blood pressure, oxidative stress and inflammation. An additive impairment of endothelial function was observed in isolated aortic rings and even more pronounced in cerebral and retinal arterioles. The increase in oxidative stress and inflammation markers together with RNA sequencing data indicate that noise particularly affects the brain and PM particularly affects the lungs. Noise also increased levels of circulating stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, while PM increased levels of circulating cytokines CD68 and MCP-1. The combination of both stressors has additive adverse effects on the cardiovascular system that are based on PM-induced systemic inflammation and noise-triggered stress hormone signaling. We demonstrate an additive upregulation of ACE-2 in the lung, suggesting that there may be an increased vulnerability to COVID-19 infection. The data warrant further mechanistic studies to characterize the propagation of primary target tissue damage (lung, brain) to remote organs such as aorta and heart by combined noise and PM exposure.Copyright © 2023

Is the aircraft leasing industry on the way to a perfect storm? Finding answers through a literature review and a discussion of challenges

Since the emergence of the first private aircraft leasing companies in the 1970's, the airline industry has undergone tremendous changes. Supported by several decades of growing demands and rising world economies, the share of leased aircraft across airlines worldwide has grown steadily, exceeding 50% for the first time during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that earlier research has quantified the optimal lease rate for an airline between 40% and 60%, the industry might be facing challenges soon — potentially counteracting the recent recovery from COVID-19. This study reviews the existing research on aircraft leasing;a subject which has been rather scattered in the literature for the past few decades. We summarize more than 70 scientific papers published on aircraft leasing and closely related subjects. Based on the dissection and categorization of existing studies, we derive a set of important challenges for the aircraft leasing industry, which should be addressed by the community.

*Artificial saliva aerosol source and detection system for spreading analysis in indoor environments

In the context of the Corona pandemic the investigation of aerosol spreading is utmost important as the virus is transported by the aerosol particles exhaled by an infected person. Thus, a new aerosol generation and detection system is set up and validated. The system consists of an aerosol source generating a particle size distribution mimicking typical human exhalation with particles sizes between 0.3-2.5 µm and an array of Sensirion SPS30 particulate matter sensors. An accuracy assessment of the SPS30 sensors is conducted using a TSI OPS3330, a high-precision optical particle sizer. Low deviations of ±5 % of the particle concentration measured with the SPS30 with respect to the OPS are reported for concentrations below 2'500/cm3 and +10% for particle densities up to 25'000/cm3. As an application example the system is employed in a short distance single-aisle research aircraft Dornier 728 (Do728) located at DLR Göttingen, to investigate the large-scale aerosol-spreading. With this measurement system spreading distance from an index passenger extending one seat row to the front and two seat rows to the back is determined. © 2022 17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022. All rights reserved.

The impact of security oversight on air cargo price and demand

This paper examines the effect of security oversight on air cargo price and demand. We exploit variations in security oversight instituted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). We estimate a simultaneous equation model using proprietary operations data from a major airline in South Korea over the period 2009–2013. This study explores the shipping-charge behavior of a service provider through a modeling approach that considers air cargo security. Our findings show that security oversight increases air cargo demand, controlling for the effect of price. Improving security measures increases the air cargo price, but the magnitude of this increase is small. Our results should help policymakers gauge the benefit of improved security and help airlines design an effective model to determine future air cargo shipping charges under high uncertainty to mitigate short- and long-term financial risks.

Effects of COVID-19 on transportation services and travel behaviour in Malaysia

Movement restrictions implementation due the COVID-19 pandemic affected people's mobility and and transportation sectors globally. Tourism, retail, transportation, and hospitality also suffered significant consequences that indirectly impacted a country's economic stability. Hence, this paper presents the Malaysian experience with the effects of the pandemic on transportation services and travel behaviour. Online sources, secondary data and a questionnaire survey were employed to collect the relevant data. These data were further analysed and presented in this paper. In general, transportation sectors involving air, rail and public bus showed decreased demand and services. A severe drop in services was observed in air transportation which is more than 97%. Most people prefer not to use public transportation to avoid the risk of COVID-19 infection. Noticeable changes in travel behaviour and mode preference during and pre-pandemic are observed, particularly on trips related to work/school. Key pandemic factors concerning transportation were fear of infection and social distance. Hence, most people prefer to use a private vehicle. The changes in transportation service and travel behaviour result in severe losses in the transportation sector in Malaysia.

Take-off, turbulence and turnaround

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore the evolving nature of the work of cabin crew in a Scandinavian carrier in three eras, drawing on theories of gender and emotional labour.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on ethnographic data from fieldwork, interviews and documents.FindingsFrom being a feminized and temporary occupation for young, upper- and middle-class women in the 1970s, the occupation became a full-time job and with greater diversity of cabin crew. Today there are signs of the job becoming a precarious and temporary one of demanding and devalorized work in a polarized and class-divided labour market. Changing circumstances impact on the emotional labour requirement and terms and conditions at work.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation is that the research design was not initially longitudinal in the sense that the author does not have exactly the same kind of data from each era. The author has, however, been involved in this field for two decades, used multiple methods and interacted with different stakeholders and drew on a unique data material.Practical implicationsThe development in aviation is contributing to new discriminatory practices, driving employee conditions downwards and changing the job demands. This development will have practical consequences for the lives and families of cabin crew.Social implicationsThe analysis illustrates how work ‘constructs' workers and contributes in creating jobs that are not sustainable for the employees. Intensification of work, insecurity and tougher working conditions also challenge key features in the Nordic model such as proper pay, decent work and a life-long employment. Much indicates that the profession is again becoming a temporary one of demanding work with poor working conditions in a polarized and class-divided labour market.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the literature on emotional labour, gender and the evolving nature of the work of cabin crew. The unique data material, the longitudinal aspect of the research and the focus on a single network carrier are good in charting changes over time.

Aircraft noise prediction capability development: An overview of flight profile creation

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has led to the implementation of remote work as one of the safe management measures at workplaces. Consequently, most of the population has been staying home in the daytime-a period when the volume of air traffic may be higher. For residents staying near to an airport, their work concentration may be adversely affected by aircraft noise, not to mention that prolonged exposure could cause health problems. Hence, it is crucial to consider how aircraft noise can be predicted using noise maps. Before any noise management measures can be assessed for feasibility, aircraft noise prediction is first necessary to unveil how residential areas are affected. This paper presents an overview of the aircraft noise prediction capability that has been developed based on ECAC Doc. 29. The computation procedure involves flight profile creation, sound propagation physics correction, and noise map generation. The scope of this paper is limited to flight profile creation. Critical output parameters were compared against that of SoundPLAN. Results showed that the developed code can accurately compute both departure and arrival flight profiles. © ICA 2022.All rights reserved

Towards skill-based evaluation in a hybrid learning context: an experience in Aircraft Maintenance

COVID-19 forced Higher Education to take place virtually. The evaluation process was particularly sensitive, mainly if it involved written tests. Still, it posed an opportunity to revise learning activities and evaluations. The Aircraft Maintenance course at UPV was driven from a content-based evaluation toward a skill-based one, replacing an open-answer test with a thorough assignment. Student grades and surveys motivated the perpetuation of the activity once students were back in a classroom.

Numerical and experimental study of aerosol dispersion in the Do728 aircraft cabin.

The dispersion of aerosols originating from one source, the 'index' passenger, within the cabin of the aircraft Do728 is studied experimentally using an aerosol-exhaling thermal manikin and in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations (RANS). The overall aim of the present study is the experimental determination of the aerosol spreading for the state-of-the-art mixing ventilation (MV) and to evaluate the potential of alternative ventilation concepts for controlling the aerosol spreading in RANS. For MV, the experiments showed that the ratio of inhaled to exhaled aerosol particles drops below 0.06% (volume ratio) for distances larger than two seat rows from the source. However, within a single row, the observed ratio is higher. Further, the dispersion is much weaker for a standing than for a seated index passenger. High air exchange rates and a well-guided flow prevent a dispersion of the aerosols in high concentrations over larger distances. Additionally, the positive effect of a mask and an increased air flow rate, and especially their combination are shown. In the complementary conducted RANS, the advantages of floor-based cabin displacement ventilation (CDV) which is alternative ventilation concept to MV, regarding spreading lengths and the dwell time of the aerosols in the cabin were determined. The obtained results also underline the importance of the flow field for the aerosol dispersion. Further, additional unsteady RANS (URANS) simulations of the short-term process of the initial aerosol cloud formation highlighted that the momentum decay of the breathing and the evaporation processes take place within a few seconds only. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13272-023-00644-3.

The effects of operationally limited environments on primary flight training at the collegiate level

Scope and method of study: The purpose of this national research study was to examine the effects that COVID-19 had on primary flight training at the collegiate level. This study was to determine how pilot production was affected by the pandemic and its associated lockdowns and mitigation measures to help see the ripple effects it caused and construct a plan for sustained operations should another pandemic happen. Findings and conclusions: The data was collected from 10 FAA Part 141 collegiate flight schools that offered a four-year bachelors degree and operated their own fleet of aircraft were analyzed for the findings and conclusions in this study. The findings of this research have the potential to impact the program size, infrastructure, and standard operating procedures at Part 141 flight schools. Additionally, this study has the potential to help forecast the future pilot supply coming out of these schools and analyze where part of the pilot shortage may be happening. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Green Commercial Aviation Supply Chain—A European Path to Environmental Sustainability

The last century has witnessed European commercial aviation flourishing at the cost of environmental degradation by boosting greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. However, the outcry for net-zero emissions compels the sector's supply chain to a minimum 55% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions below the 1990 level by 2030 and zero CO2 emissions by 2050. This study examines a European environmental sustainability path toward a green commercial aviation supply chain. Driven by literature and a review of related documents, two propositions were advanced to orient perspectives on the relationship between pollution and the commercial aviation supply chain and actions being taken toward environmental sustainability. In semi-structured interviews, seventeen aerospace associates endorsed pollution sources in the commercial aviation supply chain during the four stages of the aircraft life cycle, including extracting the raw materials, manufacturing, ground and flight operations, and end-of-service. They recommended transitioning into green commercial aviation through the widespread deployment of innovative technologies, from modifying airframes to changing aviation fuel, utilizing alternative propulsion systems, adopting circular manufacturing, and improving air traffic management.

THE ANALYSIS OF WORK SHIFT PATTERNS AND RISK OF FATIGUE IN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL: A CASE STUDY

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, PT. XYZ, the biggest aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) company in Indonesia, implemented a new shift pattern for line-maintenance personnel. The new shift pattern allows maintenance personnel to have fewer working hours per day (7-hour shifts) in more shift varieties for 5 consecutive days. Maintenance personnel will have 2-morning shifts, 1-noon shift, and 2-night shifts followed by 3 rest days. This study aims to explore the risk of fatigue caused by the newly implemented shift pattern. Data were collected through electronic questionnaires from a total of 303 respondents. This study found that at the time of the survey, many respondents (78 of 303, 26%) felt tired and had difficulty concentrating, regardless of the shift they were in. Based on the duty time, the highest scores of level 6 (tired, difficult to concentrate) were discovered on night shift day 5. This result shows that although the organization had provided the maintenance personnel with the opportunity to obtain sleep during rest days, tiredness and fatigue were still experienced by the aircraft maintenance personnel. This study recommends necessary actions to be taken to prevent fatigue, especially from the noon shift afterwards, where fatigue level is increasing, and alertness level is decreasing. © 2023 Faculty of Transport and Aviation Engineering, Silesian University of Technology. All rights reserved.