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International air transport is a commercial business by nature but carries a political significance. It has been regulated under the Chicago regime which requires the sovereignty governments to negotiate and determine how airlines engage in the transnational operations regardless of the market demand. Policy makers will have to take into account all factors, whether at international, domestic, institutional and individual levels, in determining to what extent the market should be liberalised so as to protect their national interest, optimise the opportunities for their industry and society as a whole, while at the same time promote competition and facilitate international trade. Despite the vast research that has been done on the liberalisation of international air transport as well as China‘s aviation policy and its industry, little is known about the considerations of Chinese government when formulating its international air transport policy, e.g. what are the variables that have influenced the country‘s policy making process that leads to the policy per se. The focus of the existing literature fails to treat China‘s international air transport policy as a subject matter for an objective and comprehensive analysis, but rather takes the policy itself as an external stimulus that drives the radical changes of the industry. Consequently, China‘s policymaking process with respect to international air transport remains a black box and its international behaviour is considered unpredictable. Applying the Micro-Macro Linkage Approach to three case studies, i.e. China-the US, China-the Netherlands and China-the UK markets, this research analyses China‘s liberalisation policy with respect to international air transport. By examining the data gathered through qualitative methods such as historical files and record, observations, and interviews with those who have participated in the process of policymaking and have been personally involved in bilateral air services negotiations, this research aims at identifying the factors that have had an impact on the country‘s policymaking process, establishing whether these factors are evolving over the years and determining how they are interacting with each other in leading to the policy outcome, hence, shedding light on the country‘s international trade policymaking and its international behaviour. The research has revealed that China‘s international air transport policymaking is both a top-down and bottom-up process with industry regulator being the primary initiator, formulator and administrator of the industry-specific liberalisation policy. Its decision making process has become more transparent, plural, open for and subject to both external and internal influences at all levels. International environment including international conventions, laws and regulations have formed a framework within which the country has to operate to develop its overall national policy. Bilateral political and economic relationship has played a pivotal role in shaping the country‘s policy on that specific country-pair market. Domestic considerations such as national interest, benefits to the society, industry and consumers as a whole are the fundamental concerns in determining the policy scope, i.e. to what extent the market should be liberalised and the pace of such liberalisation. Stakeholders are increasingly proactive in its involvement in the policymaking process in an attempt to influence the policy makers to their own optimal benefits. Institutions and personal characteristics do shape individual policy makers‘ mindset and perceptions but only to the extent of affecting the negotiation outcome on the bilateral country-pair markets. These factors have been evolving over the years and are time- and circumstance-constrained, namely, some factors may function at one occasion at a certain time but not necessarily at another. This research is a meaningful endeavour in attempting to understand China‘s policymaking process with respect to international air transport as an international trade in services, which has just received growing interest in both academia and industry practitioners in recent years. It will contribute to the knowledge of the study of China and the study of international air transport at large.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2008.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2001--Bielefeld.

Este trabalho busca entender a produtividade econômico-financeira e operacional das empresas aéreas brasileiras no período pós-desregulamentação e os impactos da produtividade no desempenho econômico-financeiro do setor aéreo. O foco do trabalho está voltado para a análise dos principais fatores de produção, mão de obra, capital e energia, e dos processos diretamente gerenciáveis pelas companhias aéreas do país. Até o início da década de ‘90, o transporte aéreo regular de passageiros foi fortemente regulamentado no Brasil, tanto no mercado doméstico, quanto no internacional, encontrando-se, atualmente, num processo de liberalização. A desregulamentação do setor aéreo no Brasil e a decorrente abertura deste mercado, a exemplo do ocorrido nos Estados Unidos e Europa, gerou um aumento acentuado de produtividade. Outros fatores, têm contribuído para a busca de eficiência e do aumento da produtividade do transporte aéreo no Brasil: o aumento dos custos operacionais, afetando a rentabilidade do setor; o crescente endividamento das empresas nacionais, diminuindo sua situação de liquidez e a concorrência do mercado doméstico e internacional impulsionou as companhias brasileiras a aumentar a eficiência gerencial para garantir sua sobrevivência. O trabalho mostrou, que no período estudado, as empresas brasileiras alcançaram ganhos expressivos de produtividade, explicados principalmente pelos ganhos de produtividade de mão de obra e de energia. Para a obtenção destes ganhos de produtividade as ações gerenciais focaram: o enxugamento do quadro de funcionários, ações de reestruturação da frota, o melhor aproveitamento das aeronaves e a padronização da frota. Estes ganhos, entretanto, não se traduziram em resultados financeiros, uma vez que a redução de custos operacionais obtida pelo aumento da produtividade foi amplamente superada pelo crescimento das despesas financeiras (juros, “leasing”). No período estudado a produtividade total dos fatores aumentou 34,3 % correspondendo a um aumento de 3,4% a.a., portanto, acima da produtividade média da indústria brasileira. / This doctoral thesis focuses on the analysis of the productivity of the main production factors, labor, capital, energy and also on the processes directly managed by the airlines. The thesis assesses the operational productivity and its explaining variables in the post-deregulation period, as well as its impacts on the economic performance of Brazilian airlines. Until the beginning of the 1990s, air passenger transportation has been strongly regulated in Brazil. This was the case with domestic and the international markets, which is now going through a liberalization process. The liberalization of the Brazilian market occurred in a similar way in the United States and Europe wich generated increased productivity gains. In the case of the Brazilian air transport some factors contributed to the efficiency and gains of productivity, e.g. the increase of the main production costs and financial expenses (diminishing profits), the growing indebtedness of the Brazilian airlines (which affected their cash situation) and the enhancing competition in the domestic and in the international markets (forcing them to increase their operational and managerial efficiency, as a way to guarantee their survival). The thesis showed extraordinary increases in total factor productivity mainly due to increases in labor and energy productivity. To guarantee these productivity gains the managerial actions focused mainly on labor reduction, fleet restructuring, standardizing and improved utilization of the airplanes.These productivity gains however didn’t translate into financial results due to sharp increases in financial expenses. During the studied time period, the Brazilian total factor productivity rose by 34.3% or 3.4% p.a. and remained therefore above Brazilian industrial productivity.

Air transportation as an industry, has progressed in no country without substantial government support. Most nations have subsidized their commercial air services to such an extent that full government control has finally resulted. In the national interest, airlines are deemed both desirable and essential, despite their non-capability of full self-support. Hence, with government aid mandatory, it is logical that legislative attempts should be made to keep such aid at the lowest possible level consistent with the provision of safe, efficient and reasonably modern air services. Where a single airline must of necessity be paid a subsidy it is manifestly uneconomic to permit the entrance of a competitor in the same field. By so doing, the total subsidy required would undoubtedly increase inasmuch as each operator would move more than doubly distant from achievement of lowest possible unit costs. This concept guided the Hon. CD. Howe in the drafting of the original Trans-Canada Air Dines Act in 1937. By that act, Trans-Canada was given monopoly transcontinental privileges. These privileges were not seriously challenged until 1941. In that year, Canadian Pacific Air lines was formed. This firm to proceeded progressively encroach upon the presumed domain of the government airline. By 1952, Canadian Pacific had acquired a patchwork coverage of the greater part of Canada, requiring only an east-west link to create a composite operation. To facilitate this final step, C.P.A. applied in November of 1952 for authority to operate an all-freight service between Montreal and Vancouver, The consequent Air Transport Board hearing and report to the Cabinet, and the ultimate Cabinet decision, provide the basic subject matter dealt with in this thesis. Before the Board, C.P.A. contended: 1. that all-cargo carriers in the U.S.A. had been most successful In their operations, 2. that adequate Canadian air freight traffic potential was readily available for diversion from such surface transport facilities as rail express, 3. that conditions in Canada were even more favourable than in the U.S. for air freight development, 4. that T.C.A. had knowingly neglected the air freight field, concentrating its efforts upon the more readily lucrative passenger and mail traffic, 5. that the pro-posed C.P.A. service would create new air business, would not divert traffic from T.C.A. to an extent detrimental to the latter's finances. Successive thesis chapters appraise, and in the opinion of the writer, totally negate these Canadian Pacific contentions. In its report to the Cabinet, the Air Transport Board leaned heavily, upon the evidence submitted by C.P.A. In essence, the Board report to the Cabinet recommended that the application be approved. The Cabinet chose to do otherwise. The application was denied. Apparently, the ministers had listened with conviction to the statements of T.C.A. President, Mr. McGregor and had given heed to the warnings of the economic witnesses, Professor Waines and Dr. Currie, as to the desirability of avoidance of the pitfalls which have beset Canadian railway experience. In the light of the data assembled within this thesis, the writer contends that the Cabinet decision was fully justified. T.C.A.'s slow approach to reduced rate air freight haulage was sound in all respects. Unfortunately, however, it is noted that the application, the hearing and the resultant publicity have pressured Trans-Canada into establishing presently uneconomic air freight services rather than further jeopardize the monopolistic status of the firm. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

This master thesis deals with practical application of simulation models and multi criteria evaluation of different alternatives in the field of air transport. The aim of this thesis is to show, and demonstrate using a simulation as a possibility of improving arrival and departure capacity of the M.R Stefanik Airport in Bratislava. There is a selection of low cost airlines based on a customer opinion. These airlines could increase the number of offered flights from the airport. Descriptions of various simulations can be found in the theoretical part, same as WSA, TOPSIS and MAPPAC, subsequent demonstration of these methods is shown in the practical part. The thesis is based on the results of practical application of simulation models followed by the application of multi criteria evaluation of alternatives. Furthermore this thesis compares the final results of the arrangement of low cost airlines using different methods.

Main topic of this thesis is mapping of competition between rail and air transport. The first goal is to find out, which of these two types of transport is preferable for the customer, if he has the opportunity to select plane or train. To reach this goal is chosen 15 connections between cities and on these connections is rail and air transport compared in terms of price and total travel time. The second goal is to research the behavior and decision-making of customers, who use rail and air transport.

Air transportation demand forecasting is a core element in aviation planning and policy decision making. NASA Langley Research Center addressed the need of a global forecast model to be integrated into the Transportation Systems Analysis Model (TSAM) to fulfil the vision of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) at NASA Headquarters to develop a picture of future demand worldwide. Future forecasts can be performed using a range of techniques depending on the data available and the scope of the forecast. Causal models are widely used as a forecasting tool by looking for relationships between historical demand and variables such as economic and population growth. The Global Demand Model is an econometric regression model that predicts the number of air passenger seats worldwide using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population, and airlines market share as the explanatory variables. GDP and Population are converted to 2.5 arc minute individual cell resolution and calculated at the airport level in the geographic area 60 nautical miles around the airport. The global demand model consists of a family of models, each airport is assigned the model that best fits the historical data. The assignment of the model is conducted through an algorithm that uses the R2 as the measure of Goodness-of-Fit in addition to a sanity check for the generated forecasts. The output of the model is the projection of the number of seats offered at each airport for every year up to the year 2040. / Master of Science