The Research of Ground Services, Airlines and Airports Relationship

The research of ground services, airlines and airports relationship Abstract The purpose of this report is to investigate the airport ground services, the relationship between airports and airlines, and the scope of ground services. The results indicated that airports are multifunction service center that offer a large range of services to airlines and their passengers, airports and airlines are highly interdependent. However, the relationship between airports and airlines become competition, privatization, and globalization within the industry. 1. 0Introduction Airports are an essential part of the air transport system. They provide all the infrastructure needed to enable passengers and freight to transfer from surface to air modes of transport and to allow airlines to take off and land’(Anne 2012, p. 1). It is argued that the elementary airport infrastructure are composed of runways, taxiways, apron space, gates, passenger and freight terminals, and ground transport intercha nges. In order to be capable of fulfilling their role within the air transport industry, airports aggregate many different of facilities and services (Anne 2012).These services could include ‘air traffic control, security, fire and rescue in the airfield’ (Anne 2012, p. 1). Handling facilities are provided to passengers with their baggage, transport between aircraft and terminals, and handling within the terminal. On the other, airports also provide a large range of commercial services consist of shops and restaurants to hotels, conference services and business parks (Anne, 2012). This report will analyse the crux ground services to the airlines at airport, it will also illustrate the relevance between airport and airlines.Finally, it will state the process and activities of ground services. 2. 0Findings 2. 1 Key ground services The crux ground services of airport are ground services. Ground handling activities at airports are extremely significant to airlines (Anne 201 2). They influence both to an airline’s expense and the quality of service which airports offer to their passengers. Ground handling services could divide into ‘passenger handling, baggage handling, freight and mail handling, ramp handling, fuel and oil handling, and aircraft services and maintenance’. Anne 2012, p. 126) These activities are often provide between ‘terminal or traffic handling, which is passenger check-in, baggage and freight handling, and airside or ramp handling, which covers activities such as aircraft loading and unloading, cleaning and servicing’ (Anne 2012, p. 126). Occasionally, these services are provided by the airport operators, however, most of airports are provided by airlines or handling agents (Anne, 2012). 2. 2 The relationship between the airports and airlinesTyler (2011), IATA’s director general and CEO argues that ‘airports and airlines share a common interest in making aviation safer, more secure, user- friendly, operationally efficient and environmentally responsible’. It is argued that ‘an airport and an airline at one airport are, by nature of the business, jointly making a business project at the airport’ (Hihara 2010, p. 2). Airport is to provide related service to airlines, in exchange for landing fee, at the same time, airline provide air transport service to the airport, with or without stimulative money from the airport.These two services are not separable in one sense that each service may not exist without the other. ‘Also they are in a strategic complementary relationship, where one side’s effort could improve not only its own but also the other side’s contribution to the value of the joint project’ (Hihara 2010, p. 2). For instance, airport aims to improve airport services for purpose of increasing the charm of the airport and help airline’s isolated achievement to bring more passengers, as a result of both ending u p in enjoying more incomes. Therefore further efforts arising from such contractual relationship in addition to such interdependent relationship could have the potential to significantly enhance the values of the project both sides are participating in’ (Hihara 2010, p. 2). However, Anne (2012) argues that ‘airline–airport relationship is changing, being driven by trends towards greater competition, privatization, and globalization within the industry’.At the same time, ‘the airline–airport relationship is starting to become much more to do with the linking of two privately owned international companies, rather than two state owned organizations operated within the limits of national laws and regulations’ (Anne 2012, p. 132). 2. 3 Ground Services Model There are three kinds of ground handling models, historically; ground handling services may often controlled by the national airline or airport operator. Some airport operators such as Mi lan, Rome, Vienna, and Frankfurt airports, which have been heavily involved in such activities, earn very significant revenues from such activities – sometimes over half the total income of the airport’ (Anne 2012, p. 126). On the other side, the airlines operator will just pay rental fees and perhaps a small concession fee to the airports, and airlines or third party ground handling companies would provide the handling services. ‘Countries in Europe where the national airline has had a handling monopoly include Spain with Iberia and Greece with Olympic’ (Anne 2012, p. 26). It is believed that ‘European airports showed 44 per cent of aircraft movements were handled by airport operators, 27 per cent were self-handled by the national carrier, 8 per cent were handled by the national carrier for other airlines, 7 per cent were handled by independent ground handlers, and the remaining 14 per cent were self handled by other airlines. By contrast, in terms of passenger numbers, only 16 percent were handled by the airport operator, again 7 per cent by independent ground handlers and the rest by airlines’ (Anne cited in Deutsche Bank, 2012).Furthermore, ‘the relationship between airports and airlines in the United States is unique and so is worthy of special consideration’ (Anne 2012, p. 129). Anne (2012) also argues that ‘the airports and airlines enter into legally binding contracts include airport use and lease agreements which detail the fees and rental rates which an airline has to pay, the method by which these are to be calculated and the conditions for the use of both airfield and terminal facilities’.The key reason for the existence of these agreements is private bondholders need a formal relationship between the airports and airlines before investing in the airport. 2. 4 The scope of airport ground services Ground handling as the most significant services to airlines at airport, it could be div ided into three aspects, passenger handling, cargo handling and ramp handling. Passenger handling †¢ Ticking: ticket reservation, ticker sales, cancellations, and rebooking †¢ Check-in: check-in service and issue boarding cards Boarding: check boarding card, cross-checking passenger list, check identification and call missing passengers †¢ Flight information: flight timetables, passenger and baggage information †¢ Pick-up service: baggage tracing and delivery †¢ VIP and individual service: provide special service to VIP, child, disabled and elderly †¢ The other services: seating, restroom, toilets, duty-free stores, finance, etc. ( Munich Airport, 2013) Cargo handling †¢ Document handling: mail and necessary paper handling ( Munich Airport, 2013) †¢ Baggage handling: it could be divided into two parts . Departure baggage handling: deliver baggage to check-in, tagging and weighing, transport of baggage to airside, arranging and packing, deliver baggage to planeside and loading onto aircraft (Ashford, N. , Stanton, H. , and Moore, C. ,1997) 2. Arrival baggage handling: unloading from aircraft, deliver to terminal, arranging and loading onto claim devices, transport to reclaim area, announcement of baggage reclaim, and transport from reclaim area. (Ashford, N. , Stanton, H. , and Moore, C. 1997) Ramp handling †¢ Towing: towing of aircraft †¢ Maintenance: flight inspection, air conditioning, ground power supply, and deicing. †¢ Replenishment: fueling, catering †¢ Sanitation: fuselage and cabin cleaning. ( Munich Airport, 2013) 3. 0 Conclusion Based on findings, it can be found that the crux ground services of airports are ground handling, airports and airlines are highly depend on each other, they are multifunction service center that provide a large range of services o airlines and their passengers on the medium or marginal site of an air trip. However, the relationship between airports and airlines beco me competition, privatization, and globalization. References Ashford, N. , Stanton, H. , and Moore, C. 1997 , Airport Operations, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, New York. Anne, G 2012, Managing Airports, Taylor and Francis publishing, London, UK, viewed 10 April 2013, RMIT University library database. Hihara, K 2010, Analysis on Airport-Airline Relationship with Risk Sharing Contract, viewed 10 April 2013. lt; http://www. pp. u-tokyo. ac. jp/research/dp/documents/GraSPP-DP-E-10-001_ITPU-DP-E-10-001. pdf>. Munich Airport 2013, business and partners, ground handling services, viewed 10 April 2013. < http://www. munich-airport. de/en/business/branchen/gh/index. jsp>. Tyler , T 2011, ‘Innovation in Airline-Airport Cooperation’, Press room, 2 November, viewed 10 April 2013. < http://www. iata. org/pressroom/pr/pages/2011-11-02-01. aspx>.