Unmanned aircrafts represent one of the fastest growing technologies of the last years. Although historically not completely unknown, only recently have they acquired the long-deserved attention. However, it focuses almost exclusively on their use in combat operations, whereas their capabilities in civilian sphere remain relatively unexplored. Analysis of these abilities is the main focus of this thesis, which describes and analyses current applicable legislation, points out different issues of both its interpretation and application and tries to offer solutions. This thesis is divided into 4 chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter deals with the introduction to this topic, including history of unmanned aircrafts and clarification of the term unmanned aircraft itself. Then it moves on to describe the possible classification of unmanned aircrafts and the terminology used, which remains unsettled even to this day. The main aim of this is to try to help the reader to find his way in this complicated area. The second chapter includes the analysis of the applicable legislation in the Czech republic, starting with the general approach and then continuing with special emphasis on particular issues, such as operating limitations of unmanned aircrafts in certain areas or liability of aircraft operators...

This dissertation describes a model that predicts airline flight network, frequency and fleet changes in response to policy measures that aim to reduce the environmental impact of aviation. Such airline operational responses to policy measures are not considered by existing integrated aviation-environment modelling tools. By not modelling these effects the capability of the air transport system to adjust under changing conditions is neglected, resulting in the forecasting of potentially misleading system and local responses to constraints. The model developed follows the overriding principle of airline strategic decision making, i.e., airline profit maximisation within a competitive environment. It consists of several components describing different aspects of the air transport system, including passenger demand forecasting, flight delay modelling, estimation of airline costs and airfares, and network optimisation. These components are integrated into a framework that allows the relationships between fares, passenger demand, infrastructure capacity constraints, flight delays, flight frequencies, and the flight network to be simulated. Airline competition is modeled by simulating a strategic game between airlines competing for market share, each of which maximizes its own profit. The model is validated by reproducing historical passenger flows and flight frequencies for a network of 22 airports serving 14 of the largest cities in the United States, using 2005 population, per capita income and airport capacities as inputs. The estimated passenger flows and flight frequencies compare well to observed data for the same network (the R2 value comparing flight segment frequencies is 0.62). After validation, the model is applied to simulate traffic growth and carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions within the same network from 2005 to 2030 under a series of scenarios. These scenarios investigate airline responses to (i) airport capacity constraints, (ii) regional increases in costs in the form of landing fees, and (iii) major reductions in aircraft fuel burn, as would be achieved through the introduction of radically new technology such as a blended wing body aircraft or advanced open rotor engines. The simulation results indicate that, while airport capacity constraints may have significant system-wide effects, they are the result of local airport effects which are much greater. In particular, airport capacity constraints can have a significant impact on flight delays, passenger demand, aircraft operations, and emissions, especially at congested hub airports. If capacity is available at other airports, capacity constraints may also induce changes in the flight network, including changes in the distribution of connecting traffic between hubs and the distribution of true origin-ultimate destination traffic between airports in multi-airport systems. Airport capacity constraints are less likely to induce any significant increase in the size of aircraft operated, however, because of frequency competition effects, which maintain high flight frequencies despite reductions in demand in response to increased flight delays. The simulation results also indicate that, if sufficiently large, regional increases in landing fees may induce significant reductions in aircraft operations by increasing average aircraft size and inducing a shift in connecting traffic away from the region. The simulation results also indicate that the introduction of radically new technology that reduces aircraft fuel burn may have only limited impact on reducing system CO2 emissions, and only in the case where the new technology can be taken up by the majority of the fleet. The reason for this is that the reduced operating costs of the new technology may result in an increase in frequency competition and thus aircraft operations. In conclusion, the modelling of airline operational responses to environmental constraints is important when studying both the system and local effects of environmental policy measures, because it captures the capability of the air transport system to adjust under changing conditions.

Flight across the North Atlantic is a routine process now, with thousands of flights carrying millions of passengers between Europe and North America every year quickly, safely, and affordably. By some measures it remains the busiest international flight corridor in the world and the most profitable for airlines. Yet there were no planes capable of making the flight a mere century ago. Aviation underwent a period of rapid development and expansion during the twentieth century that transformed the North Atlantic from a barrier into a central corridor in the global air network. This dissertation examines the development of civil aviation on the North Atlantic from 1919 to 1970, focusing on political, economic, and technological factors. Transatlantic flight was a focus of aviation but the earliest planes lacked the range needed to make the crossing. Technological improvements let pioneering aviators cross the ocean by 1919, proving that it was possible though difficult without further advances. Infrastructure also needed to be further developed since the North Atlantic was a hostile environment, with bad weather and limited facilities for aircraft in emergencies. Until 1945, the governments of the North Atlantic region thoroughly explored, studied, and built the infrastructure to make regular transatlantic possible. Postwar, governments supported their airlines through further infrastructural improvements, subsidies, by funding aeronautics, and by complex negotiations with foreign countries to open the skies to passenger travel. By 1970, transatlantic flight was a routine endeavour enjoyed by the masses and supported by systems invisible to the average traveler.

The principal aim of this thesis is to identify and analyse inovative approaches and procedures of low-cost airlines that brought air transport to a broader mass of customers. This work also explores marketing specifics of the airline industry, discusses ticket pricing and ticket distribution issues, advertising opportunities, quality and product range issues. Later, it deals with enviromental challenges facing aviation. The final section formulates recommendations that will enable further revenue increases for low-cost carriers.

This diploma thesis is focused on modern information technologies and its direct effect on the aviation industry. Comparing the state of the industry without technologies and nowadays; describing changes in consumer behaviour as well as in the matter of providing services by companies; pointing out that these changes were caused mainly by growing number of Internet and mobile technologies users all over the world. The last chapter is dedicated to projection of future trends regarding aforementioned area.

As a subject of this Masters thesis, I have chosed Customer Relationship Managemement in the aerospace industry, thus the aplication of set of tools supporting marketing, sales and customer service. The work is a gradual description of current trands and changes in the aviation industry with aim to follow moments of truth and the processes that take place at customer level Business to Cusotmer (B2C) and at industrial level Business to Business (B2B). While the B2C sector is represented by relatioship of air cariers and passengers, the B2B sector follows the relationship of air carriers and airports. The work is divided into two main parts, theoretical and practical one. The theoretical part consists of a destription of the CRM and aviation industry. It is based on the knowledge that the customer relationship strategy is a long-term and effecite partnership based on understanding of specific customer wishes and needs, which is supported by IT technologies and propper alignment of business processes. The practical part was written in order to apply CRM approaches to right customers (using an appropriate market segmentation) at right place (by creating positive moments of truth) and through right processes.

This thesis focuses on the distribution and comparison of different distribution channels, which are used in aviation. Theoretical knowledge is applied to the example of two major European airlines, KLM and Air France, which together form a group of Air France-KLM. The main objective is to compare the various distribution channels and to confirm or to refute the thesis that the vast majority of airline bookings is realized through the travel agencies. The first part focuses on the history of aviation, international organizations active in the aviation and on the actual distribution. Another section is devoted to airlines KLM and Air France. The last part deals with the differences between the various distribution channels and compares them based on specific data.

This diploma thesis examines the impact of information and communication technologies on the current form of air transport process. The technology is now a key factor of progress in this sphere. This diploma thesis aims to prove this claim and describes the examples of technology impact in the activities of participants in air transport (airlines, airports and passengers) as well as related changes in their behavior.

The aviation industry worldwide is changing dynamically in reaction to trends such as globalisation and with the need to increase market share to remain competitive. The African aviation industry still faces many problems in the institutional, technical and operational areas. Despite its potential for enhancing economic development, air travel to and from Africa remains a small percentage of world air travel. The African air route network is characterised by sparse demand, with long sector distances, low frequencies and high fares. This study investigates cost-effective hub-and-spoke (H&S) network design strategies for the African route network. An H&S network would minimise the cost of air transport and improve accessibility and connectivity. The study challenges the typical characteristics of H&S networks which are usually found in denser route networks. The design methodology used was the one most appropriate for the African region, using the datasets and tools available. As a first-cut analysis for Africa, the results of the research contribute to understanding the effectiveness of H&S networks in markets with sparse demand. A cost model previously developed by the author to calculate operating costs on a route was used. It eliminated the need to assume discount coefficients on links, as passenger demand increases, in a field with limited data. The cost indicators derived from the model were used as criteria for choosing the most efficient hubs within a cluster. These were compared with the hub location criteria in the literature which use distances and passengers. It was found that using the cost indicators gives a reasonably consistent method that lowers passenger travel time. The optimum number of clusters and hubs was found to be four. The geo-political network design method yielded the lowest network costs. The hubs are centrally located within the clusters: Morocco in the north, South Africa in the south, Kenya in the east and Nigeria in the west. They are characterised by high passenger demand and short node-hub sectors. There are significant benefits to be gained from using this hub network design, resulting from the economies of scale with higher passenger densities on routes. Furthermore, the benefits of higher service frequencies and better connectivity outweigh the extra travel time when routing through hubs. The study found that for sparse networks, the cheapest hub-location options have high passenger demand. The sector distance is crucial in lowering operating costs as smaller, more efficient short range aircraft can be operated. It is therefore more efficient to assign nodes to the closest hub to lower node-hub costs. The optimum number of hubs/clusters is thus determined by the distance threshold for the efficient aircraft. The effect of changing the cluster boundaries on network costs also depends on the change in node-hub distances between the clusters. As sparsity reduces, the economies-of-scale benefits outweigh the increasing operating costs of longer distances, allowing efficient operation of larger-capacity aircraft. This means that the location of the hubs and the number of clusters becomes more flexible, implying that node-hub links can become longer, reducing both the clusters and the number of hubs. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Civil Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

Thesis (LLM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / The introduction of the King reports on corporate governance in South Africa introduced good corporate governance principles to be applied by companies and entities; public, private and state-owned companies. The lxxvpurpose of King I, II, III and draft King IV on corporate governance is to provide and promote a good transitional process in companies in order for them to showcase the principles of accountability, sustainability and transparency; which are the fundamental aspects of which every company has to adhere to in order for it to be a good corporate citizen of the state. Ethics as mostly dealt with in draft King IV being the founding principles of good corporate governance. The trends across the domains show a lack of good corporate governance between the shareholder, board and management with displacement of the controlling and managing abilities between the parties. Despite continued upheavals, repeated disappointment and financial shortcomings the government continues to bail state-owned airlines from a state of insolvency. This study aims to analyze the application of the corporate governance principles in the aviation sector looking closely into state-owned airlines.