Recurrence in the evolution of air transport networks

Changes in air transport networks over time may be induced by competition among carriers, changes in regulations on airline industry, and socioeconomic events such as terrorist attacks and epidemic outbreaks. Such network changes may reflect corporate strategies of each carrier. In the present study, we propose a framework for analyzing evolution patterns in temporal networks in discrete time from the viewpoint of recurrence. Recurrence implies that the network structure returns to one relatively close to that in the past. We applied the proposed methods to four major carriers in the US from 1987 to 2019. We found that the carriers were different in terms of the autocorrelation, strength of periodicity, and changes in these quantities across decades. We also found that the network structure of the individual carriers abruptly changes from time to time. Such a network change reflects changes in their operation at their hub airports rather than famous socioeconomic events that look closely related to airline industry. The proposed methods are expected to be useful for revealing, for example, evolution of airline alliances and responses to natural disasters or infectious diseases, as well as characterizing evolution of social, biological, and other networks over time.

The transformation of strategic airline alliances and airline joint ventures: where are they heading?

Airline companies has been incorporated various cooperation forms to handle risky situations arising from high competition level and to gain sustainable competitive advantages. The aim of this research is to reveal the transformation that strategic airline alliances and airline joint ventures have, with their current situation. In this research, which adopted the qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were held with top executives of five traditional airline companies affiliated to strategic airline alliances and airline joint ventures. The most significant finding obtained as a result of the research is that airline companies affiliated with strategic airline alliances are beginning to question alliances’ structures though airlines accept that alliances are still valuable to them. Another remarkable finding is that airlines have begun to move out of classical form with newly launched form of joint venture.

Spatially Characterizing Major Airline Alliances: A Network Analysis

An airline alliance is a group of member airlines that seek to achieve the same goals through routes and airports. Hence, airports’ connectivity plays an essential role in understanding the linkage between different markets, especially the impact of neighboring airports on focal airports. An airline alliance airport network (AAAN) comprises airports as nodes and routes as edges. It could reflect a clear collaborative proportion within AAAN and competitive routes between AAANs. Recent studies adopted an airport- or route-centric perspective to evaluate the relationship between airline alliances and their member airlines; meanwhile, they mentioned that an airport community could provide valuable air transportation information because it considers the entire network structure, including the impacts of the direct and indirect routes. The objectives are to identify spatial patterns of market region in an airline alliance and characterize the differences among airline alliances (Oneworld, Star Alliance, and SkyTeam), including regions of collaboration, competition, and dominance. Our results show that Star Alliance has the highest collaboration and international market dominance among three airline alliances. The most competitive regions are Asia-Pacific, West Asia, Europe, and North and Central America. The network approach we proposed identifies market characteristics, highlights the region of market advantages in the airline alliance, and also provides more insights for airline and airline alliances to extend their market share or service areas.

Strategic Communication and Competitive Advantage: Assessing CEO Letters of Global Airline Alliances

For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the aviation industry. Scholars have focused on the effects of alliance affiliation for airlines and what the competitive advantages of alliances are. However, these issues have been discussed in relation to operational aspects. The quality of strategic communication can be an important factor in achieving a competitive advantage and realizing a differentiation strategy. This study assessed the differences in quality of strategic communication between the three leading alliance groups (oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance) and a non-alliance group. Comprehensive content analysis was implemented using the letters of chief executive officers (CEOs) of 46 airlines. We found that the non-alliance group has more ideal CEO letters than the alliance groups, and the main topics and quality of CEO letters of alliance group differed. This study provides a novel insight into the competitive advantage of global airline alliances.

Perceived Quality of an Intermediary and Its Relations with Image and Perceived Value

Whilst globalisation has offered a fertile ground for businesses to offer several services from all sides of the compass, it appears that this landscape has attracted new avenues for service provisions and transactions. All these aspects have resulted in dramatic shift in consumers' purchase decision making process. This research presents some insights of customers' perception of quality offered by intermediaries working in networked environments. The principal hypotheses are that, after experiencing services delivered by an intermediary, customers synthesise their perceptions, in terms of the quality perceived. Furthermore, this assessment will determine its image and the perceived value. A quantitative survey was conducted in an airline alliance context, to verify if the hypotheses are acceptable. A structural equation modelling tested using the PLS-SEM method demonstrates the influence of alliance wide perceived quality on airline alliances' image and perceived value.

Loyalty Programme and Meta-Services

This research focuses on the customers' perception of loyalty programme offered by networked service providers such as airline alliances. The authors call such services meta-services. Their main hypothesis is that after experiencing meta-services delivered by meta-service providers, consumers synthesise a part of their perceptions in terms of the perceived benefits of the loyalty programme. This assessment will influence the perceived value, satisfaction, and at last behavioural intentions. The authors' point of view is to highlight the determinants of this assessment, including the quality of the proposed services and rewards. A quantitative survey was conducted in an airline alliance context. A structural equation model is tested in order to verify if the hypotheses are acceptable. It also shows how passengers build their global evaluation of a frequent flyer program and how far it influences their future behaviour towards the alliance members.

Perceptions of Customers as Sustained Competitive Advantages of Global Marketing Airline Alliances: A Hybrid Text Mining Approach

Over the past several decades, the aviation industry has been reshaped, centering on global alliances, and these have grown exponentially. However, it is still not clear whether they are achieving sustained competitive advantages, and what are the specific competitive advantages of the three alliances (oneworld, SkyTeam, Star Alliance) arising on the customer side. This study aims to examine whether global alliance groups outperform the non-alliance group, how the three alliances differ regarding passengers’ perceptions, and what their competitive advantages are. A hybrid text mining analysis was adopted as this study’s method. Frequency tests, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance tests, and three-step mediated regression analyses were performed using 6393 ordinal and word-of-mouth (WOM) data. We found that the degree of passengers’ perceptions of alliances was low, the non-alliance group outperformed the alliance groups, and there were no significant differences between alliances on service rating and sentiment score. Only oneworld has competitive advantages that link to passengers’ service rating and sentiment score. These findings imply that alliances could not ensure competitive advantages that derive from customers’ perceptions, and although passengers partly perceived several selling points, their differentiation strategies are not successful.

Competitive Advantages of International Airline Alliances: A Critical Review

Over the past several decades, airlines have formed and participated in international alliances to seek competitive advantages. However, it is still unclear whether airlines obtain substantial competitive advantages through an international alliance and how to measure the competitive advantages of alliances and airlines. This study presents a critical literature review as a contribution to comprehensive and novel empirical researches in the future.

A Content Analysis of International Airline Alliances Mission Statements

Background: Mission statements have come to play an important role as tools for organizational value sharing.Objectives: This study aims to shed light on what types of values are highlighted in international airline alliance members’ mission statements, and whether there are significant differences or not.Methods/Approach: Quantitative content analyses have been conducted with the goal to investigate mission statements of 61 members of international airline alliances: Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and oneworld.Results: Frequency test outcomes reveal that “philosophy”, “self-concept” and “location” are the predominant components in oneworld, “philosophy” is the primary component in SkyTeam, and “philosophy” and “customer” are the focal components of Star Alliance. According to chi-square tests, Star Alliance members emphasize “customer” more often than others do, and oneworld members highlight “profitability” more often. One-way Anova tests with a post hoc analysis reveal that Star Alliance members cover more components than SkyTeam.Conclusions: The theoretical implication of these findings is that they reveal the existence of unique values among international airline alliances members offering a competitive advantage. As a practical implication, these findings will be helpful for international airline alliances and airline managers for comparative purposes.