Airline Planning Process 5k394x

AIRLINE PLANNING PROCESS

6.1 FLEET PLANNING 6.1.1 Airline Fleet Planning Decisions Commercial

Aircraft Categories and Characteristics

Technical

and Performance Characteristics

Financial

and Economic Issues

Other

Aircraft Selection Criteria

Commercial Aircraft Categories and Characteristics 

119 commercial large aircrafts, long haul from Boeing and

Airbus company; 

41 commercial small aircrafts, short-haul Airbus A319LR and A320-200 series;



16 cargo or freight aircrafts; 7 Airbus A330, 8 Boeing 777 and 1 Boeing 747 series and;



9 Qatar executive aircrafts from Bombardier and Gulfstream.

Other Aircraft Selection Criteria Qatar

Airways is now planning to change their Airbus A320neo because of: Hydraulic

problems Software problems High temperatures

6.1.2 Fleet Planning Methods Approaches in Fleet Planning method:  Forecast

aggregate enger or freight

traffic.  Convert traffic forecast to a capacity forecast based on load factor assumptions.

 Project

capacity available from the current

fleet.  Calculate

the additional requirements for growth and replacement, considering the fleet mix, airplane productivity and system characteristics.

QATAR AIRWAYS FLEET PLAN:  It

aims at outlining a strategic retail plan with regard to Qatar Airways a retail company with continental presence in Asia. The strategic retail plan would help the company in forecasting on how to increase revenues, profits and enjoy the economies of scale.

TOOLS TO USE: SWOT

Analysis

oStrengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

PEST

Analysis

oPolitical,

Economic, Social, and Technological

FLEET PLANNING METHODS

TRAFFIC FORECAST

enger

airline traffic can be measured in of the number of engers transported.

revenue

enger kilometer (rpk) is the most common measure of airline traffic. therefore, 1 rpk is defined as one paying enger transported 1 km.



Airbus A319-100LR flight carrying 110 engers over a distance of 1000 km generates 110 000 rpk of airline traffic.

Load factor -defined as the number of engers divided by the number of seats of the flight. Airbus A319-100LR flight = 110/150 = 73% average load factor

Asm (available seat mile) / ASK requirement -is

the most common measure of airline output . 1 ask is defined as one available seat flown 1 kilometer. Airbus A319-100LR flight operates over a distance of 1000 km with a 150-seat aircraft, generates 150 000 ask of airline output.

AIRPLANE

Airbus A319

# OF DEPARTURES

DISTANCE

SEATS

3.6

1000

Airbus A320

3.9

1116

124

Airbus A321

4.0

957

146

156

INVESTMENT REQUIRED

The number of aircraft to be acquired has financial impacts in of investment funding, depreciation and interest expenses. At the same time, analysis of expected operating costs for the aircraft type leads to a combined forecast of operating costs and financial impacts.

Approaches to Fleet Planning Evaluations “Top-Down”(Macro) Approach “Planning Load Factor” establishes ASKs needed to accommodate forecast RPK growth. “Capacity Gap”defined as required future ASMs minus existing ASMs and planned retirements

Assumptions about average aircraft stage length and daily utilization determine “aircraft productivity”in ASMs per day, used to calculate number of aircraft required Estimates of aircraft operating costs can then be used to compare economic performance of different aircraft types.