Source: TWA Advertising, May 27, 1955 issue of Collier’s magazine. By the 1950s domestic and international (particularly transatlantic) air services were becoming common. Trans World Airlines (TWA 1925-2001) was a major domestic and international air carrier. The above graph depicts a sample of its one-way fare structure based upon an
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Changes in the Duration of Selected Scheduled Flights, 1996-2019
Source: adapted from the Wall Street Journal and Flightstats. (JFK – New York, John F. Kennedy; LAX – Los Angeles; ORD – Chicago; ATL – Atlanta; MCO – Orlando). Direct flights only. The growth and compounding of airport congestion have incited airlines to extend the scheduled duration of many of
Trends in Fuel Efficiency, Selected Passenger Jet Planes
Note: Size related to seat capacity, two-class configuration.Source: adapted from IEA/OECD (2009) Transport, Energy and CO2: Moving toward sustainability. Paris: International Energy Agency. The evolution of jet planes goes on par with the evolution of their fuel efficiency (here measured in megajoules per passenger-km). Several factors contributed to the improvements
Development Costs for Selected Aircraft
Aircraft Year of First Service Development Costs (USD) Constant 2004 Dollars Douglas DC-3 1936 4.3 Million Douglas DC-6 1946 144 Million Boeing 707 1958 1.3 Billion Boeing 747 1970 3.7 Billion Boeing 777 1995 7.0 Billion Airbus A380 2007 14.4 Billion Boeing 787 2012 13.4 Billion Source: Adapted from
Market Share of Main Airline Alliances, 2020
Source: IATA. Share of passengers. Until the 1980s, airline companies were strongly regulated by governments with protected routes and the prevention of foreign ownership. With deregulation initiated in the United States in the 1980s, a reorganization of the airline industry has occurred. The main trend involves alliances between airline companies
Air Hubs and Market Fragmentation at Chicago
Source: adapted from R. Baseler (2003) “Market Outlook for Air Travel: A Global Perspective”, 2nd Annual MIT Airline Industry Conference, Washington DC. Before deregulation and Open Skies agreements, only a few international city-pairs could be serviced. The unavailability of lower capacity aircraft for long ranges also meant that only the
Largest Airline Companies by Revenue, 2019
Source: MRO Global Outlook. Note: IAG (International Consolidated Airlines Group) was formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia in 2011. Although the size of an airline can be measured by the number of passengers or cargo it carries, such figures do not well reflect the passenger and cargo
Boarding of a Ryanair Flight
Photo: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 2011; Larnaca, Cyprus. Ryanair is a salient example of a low-cost airline business strategy relying on using one type of aircraft (B737-800) and secondary airports for hubs (e.g. Charleroi, Dublin) for lower gate fees. The booking is made online with the pricing system based on yield
Strategies of Low-Cost Carriers
Source: adapted from Graham, B. and T. Vowles (2006) “Carriers within carriers: a strategic response to low-cost airline competition”, Transport Reviews, Vol. 26, pp. 105-126.
Market Share of the top American Airlines, 1977-2022
Source: Based on data from Air Transport World and RITA/BTS. One of the main outcomes of deregulation was the consolidation of airlines and a gain of market share. Two of the four largest airlines in the United States before deregulation, Eastern and TWA, went bankrupt. Pan Am was another carrier