Airlines seek to minimise operating costs, in all aspect of business areas. Some of these areas are the aircraft maintenance and inventory control policies associated. Maintenance is one of the essential operations in aviation industry. Any shortcoming in maintenance causes reducing in the income rate. In addition, there is a direct relationship between maintenance and inventory department in any company is a vital to guarantee the availability of spare parts to carry out the required maintenance. Therefore, this research presents an integrated framework for maintenance scheduling and inventory control policies in aviation industry, aiming to minimise the maintenance cost by addressing a models for determining the optimum maintenance scheduling for aircraft components and its inventory control policy. The interval between maintenance for the components is optimised by minimising the total cost. This consists of labour cost, spare parts cost and delay cost etc. A decision to replace a component must also be taken when a component cannot attain the minimum reliability. Mathematical models are developed to calculate the expected costs based on the cost of corrective, preventive maintenance and the probability of failure. The maintenance scheduling mathematical model is developed to act as a maintenance decision making model to determine the optimum preventive maintenance interval of the expensive aircraft components. A decision making inventory control model to balance the cost of repair and purchase cost is developed and will be integrated with the scheduling maintenance to guarantee the availability of the required components and act as an integrated framework, this would facilitate the decision making process in aviation industry in relation to scheduling and inventory policies.

High rates of serious road traffic accidents (RTAs) have been reported for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in recent years. This research aims to describe the problem in the UAE and to quantify its economic burden on the country’s resources. The approach chosen is quantitative, based on methods of RTA epidemiology and economic evaluation. The research is carried in two parts. Part one attempts to identify trends of morbidity and mortality from RTAs during 1981-1995, to compare the magnitude of the problem with other countries, to evaluate information available on possible causes, to estimate future forecasts of the problem and to analyse RTA injury severity before and after enforcing seatbelt legislation. The results of part one provide the basis to evaluate the economic impact of the problem during 1995 and to estimate the rational investment levels for improving safety and health, in part two. The Human Capital (HC) approach is used to estimate the economic costs of RTAs in the UAE during 1995. To estimate RTA comprehensive costs the study adds to the latter the costs of pain, grief and suffering (PGS) to RTA victims, drawn worldwide, using the Willingness to Pay (WTP) value approach. Data were obtained from police, health and WHO sources to describe trends in morbidity and mortality from 1981 to 1995. The results revealed that during the period 1981-1995, the rates of RTAs per 100,000 population and per 100,000 motor vehicles declined in the UAE by a trend component of -96.5 (<i>p</i><0.001; <i>R²</i> =0.69) and by -522 (<i>p</i><. 001; R 2 =0.92) respectively. RTA specific fatality rates based on the same two denominators also declined by -1.1 (<i>p</i><. 02; <i>R²</i> =0.56) and -5.1 (<i>p</i><.02; <i>R²</i> =0.330); and injury rates declined by a trend component of -6.8 (<i>p</i><. 01; <i>R²</i> =0.341) and -28.0 (<i>p</i>= n.s.) respectively. Paradoxically, however, except for a short period (1981-1985), a steady increase in the risk of injury and death in each RTA accompanied these declines. Between 1985 - 1995 the severity rate of RTA injuries more than doubled (<i>p</i><.001). The UAE’s specific fatality rates per 100,000 population and per 100,000 motor vehicles were high when compared with other countries. The reason for the increasing severity is not clear, but drivers aged between 18 and 40 years were mostly implicated in fatalities. When injury severity was measured before and after the enforcement of seat-belt legislation in 1999, a significant downward trend in injury severity occurred when seat belts were worn (chi-Square = 77.68, <i>p</i><0.0001). The total economic cost of RTAs in the UAE during 1995 amounted to AED 3.8 billion, equivalent to US$ 1 billion, representing 2-3% of the annual GDP. Out of that, the direct monetary costs of RTA fatalities and injuries exceeded AED 1 billion while the indirect costs accounted for the rest. The comprehensive costs of RTAs in the UAE amounted to AED 11.4 billions and ranged from AED 50,000 per minor injury to AED 7.5 million per fatality, roughly 4 times the economic costs of these events. This indicates that it is rational public policy to invest up to AED 50,000 to enhance safety and health to prevent one minor injury and up to AED 7.5 millions to prevent one death. The thesis makes many recommendations to improve future epidemiological and economic analysis of RTAs in the UAE. It is hoped that this study will form a useful base for evaluation when these studies take place and for establishing cost benefit ratios and, therefore, priority for future prevention strategies.

An examination of the relationships between competition and the deregulation and liberalisation of the US and European air transport sectors reveals that the structure of the air transport sector is undergoing a number of significant changes: a growing number of airlines are entering into horizontal and vertical cooperative arrangements and integration including franchising, codeshare agreements, alliances, ‘virtual mergers’ and in some cases, mergers with other airlines, groups of airlines or other complementary lines of business such as airports. The European and US regulatory approaches to these changes differ greatly. European competition policy has a very proactive, prescriptive nature, holding airlines accountable through self-regulation, whereas US antitrust is far more reactive, as breaches are dealt with upon petition. Experiences learnt from deregulating the US domestic air transport market may have influenced steps taken to liberalise the European sector, but the tables are now turned. This thesis examines intricacies of the cooperative strategies in the context of the cooperative spirit of the air transport sector and how the practices elicit competition and antitrust laws to explain how airlines have remained economically efficient in what is perceived as a complex and confused regulatory environment. This study expands existing theory to propose in synthesis that, in spite of complex competitive markets, airlines are able to utilise laws on liberalisation and deregulation to achieve a commercial advantage through integrated business strategies. Although it is not perceived by airlines as such, liberalisation and deregulation engender autonomy. Therefore, the regulatory environment in effect encourages the industry to consolidate and promote changes to its structure so as to compete at a level similar to that of other industries. The actions taken towards cooperative behaviour in the industry are in fact a result of competitive forces and the reactive policy approaches that are by-products of deregulation and liberalisation. The phenomenal success of strategic alliances further demonstrates that the relationship between global alliances and the regulatory environment is symbiotic, which is supported by industry–regulator discourse, and/or public and private ordering.

As the primary output of the air transport sector, the flow of air passengers plays an important role in the economic and social welfare of nations, while the sector’s regulatory framework represents the main vehicle through which government can exert a given level of influence over the provision of such services. This research modifies and applies existing macroeconomic impact theory to the Caribbean Community (Caricom), before developing an improved method by which to evaluate the supply and demand effects of further air policy liberalisation in the region. It was found, using an original multi-method approach, that the Caricom air transport sector contributed on average 16.9% towards GDP and 14.2% of the labour force. A large variation around these regional averages were noted, however, and are said to be primarily determined by exogenous factors such as relative size of GDP, relative sector diversity and relative level of trade dependency, with the largest impacts being recorded in smaller, tourism dependent islands. A significantly different picture emerges if catalytic impacts are removed showing the strength of the multiplier, with contribution to GDP reducing to 2.8% and the percentage of the labour force declining to around 1.9%. Multipliers for Trinidad & Tobago (-0.40), the Bahamas (2.38) and Guyana (2.95) were below the global average, however, reiterating the heterogeneity of the sample and by extension the whole Caribbean community. Using fixed-effects panel regression, the removal of bilateral or multilateral entry and tariff barriers were found to increase the average country-pair’s arriving and departing passenger levels by 250,000, 22,000 and 8,000 on NA-, UK- and Intra-Caricom markets respectively, given a one unit increase in air policy liberalisation. The actual impact of liberalisation on any given market was moderated by unobserved fixedeffect dummy variables which provided each country-pair with a unique intercept value to take account of underlying network and market maturity differences. Hence, all currently restricted country-pairs in the sample would stand to gain around 183,000 passengers per annum if a gradual bilateral approach to liberalisation was adopted. A counterfactual analysis suggested that a one unit policy change in the year 2000 on all 13 currently restricted markets would have increased passengers levels to around 16.4 million. In the multilateral scenario both restricted and partially liberal markets experience simultaneous reform resulting in a predicted traffic increase of 621,000 passengers per annum. Using ‘within sample’ multipliers, the extra bilateral output is estimated to increase baseline expenditure by US$51 million or US$16 million per annum when catalytic spending is included and excluded respectively. With multilateral reform, an additional US$164 million or US$53 million would accrue to the regional economy. When compounded, the total time-series effect of multilateral liberalisation totals 3.7 million passengers on top of the baseline, boosting regional output by 2.6% or 0.7% and increasing employment by 1.4% or 0.2%. Given previous evidence, extra-regional reform will not take place multilaterally in the foreseeable future. In the short to medium term, a combination of a revised Caricom MASA and gradual moves towards bilateral liberalisation would produce optimum macroeconomic results. The historical and counterfactual findings of this research challenge current restrictive practises in the region. Further assistance with respect to foreign carrier entry and regional carrier integration could stimulate the desired fare, capacity, frequency and connectivity improvements and generate significant increases in overall welfare.

Over half of the accidents on British roads occur at junctions and it was the primary goal of this research to develop an increased understanding of the underlying factors behind these accidents. The vast majority of all road accidents are attributable to human error and the research investigated junction negotiation with respect to drivers' perceptions of the social and environmental components of driving. The first part of the research, an observation study, gathered basic information about actual driver behaviour at junctions. The progress of over 3600 vehicles at four junctions of differing styles was recorded and analysed with the aid of a timebase video facility. It was found that approximately 7% of all drivers were involved in some form of near-miss for which evasive action was necessary. In addition to basic descriptive information, inferential statistical techniques were used to identify factors contributing to near-miss incidents in addition to signalling, tracking and approach speed behaviours. The information derived from this first study was used, in conjunction with that obtained from group discussions, to develop a questionnaire. Using a postal distribution technique, the questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of British full driving licence obtained from the records of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority. An additional sample was obtained from the Thames Valley Police accident records at Milton Keynes to ensure that a suitably-sized accident-involved sample was available for analysis. The various sections of the questionnaire were designed to reflect different aspects of driving at junctions. In addition, respondents were asked to provide details of the most recent accident, if any, which they had been involved in. Just over half of the 740 respondents to the questionnaire reported such accidents, and the information provided was used to establish factors implicated in accident-involvement, and particularly accident culpability, at junctions. In addition to sex and exposure factors, it was found that self-descriptive metavariables were the most effective at predicting aspects of involvement in accidents at junctions. In particular, those deemed to be accident-liable were more likely to describe themselves as self-centred and ill-mannered. Other metavariables, particularly those recording the subjective riskiness of various manoeuvres, were also found to be useful discriminators between various sub-groups of accident- involved drivers. Finally, the differences in responses made by drivers who had been trained by a variety of methods, or combination of methods, were investigated. It was discovered that those drivers initially trained by a qualified instructor were more likely to respond in similar ways to accident-involved drivers. In contrast, those who had taken some form of advanced tuition were more likely to report more considerate, attentive traits. Several suggestions for further research were made, particularly recommending the adoption of a longitudinal research design to enable causal relationships between accident-involvement and responses to questionnaire items to be determined.

Road pricing has an established history in the literature of transport economics, and its use as a theoretical and practical means of traffic restraint and management has attracted considerable interest for more than half a century. The theory of road pricing asserts that the optimal price should be the one that reflects the full cost of making an additional trip. Evidently, the magnitude of such a congestion toll varies over time and space. However, a review of some practical applications of road pricing in different countries reveals that no policy has as yet been implemented which aims to charge road users directly in relation to the congestion they actually cause and the time delay they impose on others. Therefore, the aim of this study is to model such a time-varying pricing scheme, termed: Time-Dependent Road Pricing, TDRP, and evaluate its various impacts on a single bottleneck as well as a traffic network. The TDRP function is derived based on the solution of the time-dependent queues and delays problem at traffic junctions. The derived function is demonstrated to lead to a very unstable user equilibrium for a single bottleneck. Therefore, two different approaches are adopted to modify this function: first, by considering the schedule delay changes imposed by vehicles on one another; and second, by using the day-to-day adjustment process. The former approach is demonstrated to eliminate queues completely and thus lead to system optimal SO for a single traffic bottleneck. Besides, the simulation solution demonstrates that TDRP, modified by the second approach, could lead to a stable equilibrium, and although it does not lead to SO it results in a very substantial reduction in queuing delay and travel time. To evaluate the stability of the results and the different impacts of TDRP on a traffic network, a traffic assignment model is developed. This model embraces route choices, departure time choices and the TDRP function, and it has the ability to evaluate the road network under different charging systems. Before evaluating the different impacts of TDRP on a traffic network, the importance of the phenomenon of interaction between nodes and its impacts on the value of TDRP are discussed. A general solution under specific traffic conditions as well as different TDRP scenarios are suggested. A set of numerical simulation experiments using the assignment model and a typical traffic network for urban areas is conducted. The results demonstrate that although TDRP does not eliminate the queues completely, it leads to a very substantial saving in travel time and queuing delay for all movements throughout the network under different levels of congestion. On the other hand, exempting some nodes (or links) from tile charges, would lead to a very substantial fall in the benefit obtained. The comparative analysis demonstrates that TDRP is a superior charging system compared with other charging systems. It is also concluded that TDRP does not represent the optimal charging system for a traffic network since other charging methods could lead to a better performance under very high levels of charge. Finally, the sensitivity of the results to work start time flexibility and the shadow values of the schedule delay function is investigated, and at the end, directions for further research are proposed.

The growth of the Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) in the world will have a significant impact on future airport development. LCCs such as Ryanair, Air Asia and EasyJet prefer only basic terminal facilities (TFs) at Low Cost Terminals (LCTs) to reduce associated costs (airport charges, capital investment, operational costs). Pressure by LCCs for reduced airport charges has led to the inclusion of only basic TFs so as to reduce capital investment and operational costs. This has raised an interest in the evaluation of TFs within LCT design. A reduction of airport charges, which is possible through LCTs, is indirectly linked to the reduction in air fares. The debate concerning the development of the ‘right’ TFs has led to considerable discussion by airport operators. Airports have to retain the airlines as business partners and customers. To this end, they need to develop facilities that offer best value in order to retain their custom. In addition, airports must be flexible enough to meet the changing needs of passengers. With particular emphasis on experiences at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), this research is an evaluation the provision of TFs for a LCT model, taking into account potentially conflicting expectations of airline and airport managements, and passengers. A research framework was developed as the result of a literature review of LCT design and development. The research itself used multiple questionnaires in pre- and postdevelopment surveys involving three different parties: airline management (Air Asia Berhad), airport operator (Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad) and passengers (LCT users). The headquarters of Air Asia Berhad and Malaysia Airports Berhad were visited and surveys were undertaken to ascertain the viewpoints of LCC passengers flying with Air Asia, a low-cost airline based at KLIA, Malaysia. The main focus of this research has been to propose a possible conceptual model for LCT design with an emphasis on simplifying the provision of TFs in such a way as to reduce capital investment and operational and airport charges, while at the same time being able to generate additional airport revenues. The evidence from the surveys reveals that, in LCT design, there are conflicting expectations between airlines, airport authorities and passengers on the adequacy of TFs whose design is influenced by consideration of cost and revenue structures. The proposed conceptual model indicates the preferences for core and secondary TFs within LCT design after the cost and revenue structures, and airline management, airport operator and passenger’s expectations, are considered.

The main objective of this research is to develop and test a technique for estimating trip matrices from traffic counts. After discussing conventional methods for obtaining trip matrices an analysis is made of the problem of estimating them from traffic counts: it is found that in general the problem is underspecified in the sense that there will be more than one trip matrix which, when loaded onto a network, may reproduce a set of observed counts. A review is made of some models put forward to estimate a trip table from volume counts, the majority of them based on a travel demand model. A new model is then developed by the author within an entropy maximising formalism. The model may be interpreted as producing the most likely trip matrix consistent with the information contained in the counts and a prior trip matrix if available. This model does not require counts on all links in the network, can make efficient use of outdated trip matrices and other information, and is fairly modest in computer requirements. The model is then tested against real data collected by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory in the central area of Reading. Considerable temporal variability was found in the sampled trip matrices. The matrices estimated by the model are not very close to the observed ones but their errors are in general within the daily variations of the sampled matrices. A number of tests on the sensitivity of the model to errors and availability of traffic counts and route choice models used are also reported. A technique has been developed to rank links according to their potential contribution to the improvement of an estimated trip matrix. This scheme may be used to select new counting sites. The availability of a reasonable prior estimate of the trip matrix considerably improves the accuracy of the origin-destination matrix generated by the model. Some suggestions for extensions and further research are presented towards the end of this work.

In Libya, studies state that there is an increase in car ownership and this increase in traffic movement causes congestion which affects and can increase travelling time in large Libyan cities, particularly in Tripoli and Benghazi. Because of this the Government are requesting the establishment of a new policy that could be effective in reducing traffic problems at the present time and avoiding the amplification of traffic problems in the future. Currently, road user charging policy (RUC) is considered as a suitable tool for tackling urban traffic problems. Because of the reasons stated above, RUC can be applied in the urban areas of large Libyan cities in order to reduce traffic congestion problems. This study attempts to ascertain and document the perceived impacts of road user charging on an individual's daily activity travel patterns in urban areas by using one of the large Libyan cities (Benghazi) as the case study. The research methodology has been designed with the aim of identifying the existing transport conditions and the characteristics of activity travel patterns in Benghazi; establishing the views of transport policymakers and consultants toward RUC, and establishing and documenting the perceived impacts of road user charging on individuals' daily activity travel patterns. A triangulation method was employed to collect data, a survey of a road user charging experiment in Benghazi was conducted with the road users in the central business district (CBD) and semi-structured interviews have been carried out with transport policymakers. The findings indicate that RUC policy can have a positive impact in reducing traffic congestion with a reduction in car trips crossing the restricted areas during the peak period by around 35.5%. However the road users had different choices to make; they could decide to pay the toll and continue with their current travel pattern, pay the toll for some days, or not pay at all. Around 68% of drivers chose to pay the toll for all days or for some days. On the other hand, 32% of the drivers did not pay the toll at all and avoided the payment by choosing other alternatives. The majority of drivers who decided to avoid the toll chose to change their travel time, to before the restricted period. Furthermore, the analysis of travel durations during the field study proved that the lognormal distribution is the best suited distribution for the data of the durations of travel. Regarding the attitudes toward RUC, the study concluded that 70% of the transport policymakers, consultants and academics thought that RUC may greatly assist in the reduction of traffic congestion. However, more than a quarter of respondents (27%) stated that they did not have enough information or knowledge on how RUC could impact on the travel patterns of road users. In addition, the study concluded that the main reasons for non-implementation of a road user charging policy are a lack of public transport, a lack of knowledge on RUC policy and the culture of the community. It has been stated that although the Ministry of Transport in Libya has established a number of projects aiming to improve the road conditions and public transport services, the condition of roads still needs to be improved. Despite these limitations, there are a number of benefits which can be obtained from the implementation of RUC in large Libyan cities, particularly in Tripoli and Benghazi. To implement the road user charging scheme successfully from the beginning the transport policymakers could use the guidelines that have been developed in this study to identify the main issues, requirements and needs of road user charging before the process begins and these guidelines will be the first step in the implementation of road user charging in Libya.

No description available.