Hi People

For my final year at university, and for our final big project, we are each required to choose a topic which is releated to air transport! It requires research into aspects of the air transport industry. I have had a few ideas in my head...but not sure which to choose!! One of the ideas which came to mind is the future of the comfort of air transport travel.

But wanted some ideas, and information on issues which you all feel passionate about Any inforamtion will be realy great!

Thanks people...look forward to replies!

What type of project is it?
What major/specialization do you have?
If you choose it, will you need to quantify "air comfort"? If so, this could get tricky.

See if you can get a research grant, and then fly a number of airlines to see what the current level of comfort is .

At the undergraduate level? I'd start by looking at the various proposals out there for "future air travel" like the Airbus "standing room" plane and the Lufthansa "bunk bed" models... then continue with various studies about seat pitch. Putting people in terrible seat pitches or reclines (28" or worse?) and evaluating their response of discomfort in getting up or off those seats...

Thanks for replies!

Yeah great ideas!

Well yeah its at undergraduate level! Its an Air Transport Degree, how about submiting a topic like...the problems facing air travel today?? E.g long delays, congestion inside the aiport, lost baggage etc!

I am still confused at what topic to or issue to go for?!!!

What is the future of air travel seems really good!!

There would be so much to cover! It seems like a good topic to choose! Thanks!

What do you think people?

That's too broad. You'll have a hard time going into any depth with that topic. Pick something more specific.

What about problems experienced with outsourced (outside of the US) customer service call centers?

How about reduced efficiency -- through convoluted dissemination of information -- in airline travel discussion groups due to the excessive use (!) of "punctuation marks"...???

^

I think you should cut down on your use of exclamation marks! Unless you want your composition to look like it was written by an overly excited 7th grader!!!

Just look at his name...Deeps!, loves the exclamation marks

You're not going to be much use in industry, at least not as a leader, if you can't come up with original ideas in your chosen area of concentration.

Very good suggestion ^

How about TSA and why it is bad for the Airline Industry and Safety of the
airline passengers.

There's a lot happening on the MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) side of things... a lot of it to do with entering and emerging from bankruptcy. Some items that come to mind are Delta's dealings with parts supplier contracts while under Chapter 11 protection (having greater ability to renegotiate and break contracts). Delta has also ramped up a lot of in-sourcing (CFM56 and CF34 engine overhauls along with associated components) as an attempt to increase revenue through TechOps. Northwest also completely outsourced nearly all component and heavy maintenance.

A lot of the MRO discussion would be directly related to cost-cutting attempts, how well they worked, and savings vs. value. You could also look at cost-cutting as a whole and what it has done to airline service level (an interesting comparison would be domestic vs. international and US vs. European carriers).

Outside of MRO I would look at the emergence of code-sharing and airline partner programs, especially the regional airline partnerships and how they play in to the hub/spoke system.

Another interesting topic could be mainline-legacy carriers compared to low-cost and ultra-low-cost carriers. A historical look at Ryan Air's emergence in Europe and comparisons to the US low-cost carriers and the very few US ultra-low-cost carriers (Spirit and SkyBus come to mind) would be another good study in the US vs. European aspect of air travel.

I'm not sure what your research time-line is like, or how specific your topic needs to be, but these subjects could be comprehensively covered using readily available research materials. Most of these topics and trends are well documented within the airline business, but not overly discussed outside of it. Aviation Weekly and SpeedNews are two great publications, one pay and one free, that could give you a lot of insight into the inner workings of the airlines that most publications outside of the industry will not.

Anybody who thinks "The Future of Air Travel" is an original and unique topic needs more help than FT can provide.

Originality is uninteresting at the undergraduate level. Or it is now, anyway. Review, rehash, rewrite on topics of narrow scope, and maybe do some primary data collection. This isn't a Masters thesis in discussion.