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Impact of short- to medium-haul aircraft block time changes on airline yields

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Abstract

According to various studies, significant reductions of mission fuel burn might be achieved by lowering cruise speeds using different aircraft technologies. The change of cruise speed will have an impact on aircraft operations, mainly on block times, airline networks and hence a possible impact on airline yields. Therefore, this paper describes the effect of changed block times on passenger demand and airline yields. The used methodology is based on the discrete choice theory and is applied to simulate passenger choice in airline networks using 2004 data from the US airline market. With a change of cruise speeds and corresponding block times, analyses showed an increase of average yields by +2 % with a decrease of block times by −10 %. With an increase of block times by +20 %, a decrease of average yields by −4 % was identified. Also non-linearities between changes of yields and load factors could be observed. Changes to yields are heavily depending on origin–destination (OD) characteristics and are mainly driven by available flight alternatives.

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Abbreviations

ATM:

Air traffic management

BT:

Block time

BTS:

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

DB1B:

Airline origin and destination survey

COO:

Cost of ownership

CSR:

Cruise speed reduction

DOC:

Direct operating cost

EC:

European Commission

FFP:

Frequent flyer program

M:

Mach number

MCT:

Minimum connecting time

MGT:

Minimum ground time

NASA:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

OAG:

Official Airline Guide

OD:

Origin–destination

OR:

Open rotor

TF:

Turbofan

US:

United States

VOT:

Value of time

WTP:

Willingness to pay

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V., Munich, Germany

    Kay O. Plötner, Michael Schmidt, Thomas Röhm & Mirko Hornung

Authors
  1. Kay O. Plötner
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  2. Michael Schmidt
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  3. Thomas Röhm
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  4. Mirko Hornung
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kay O. Plötner.

Additional information

This paper is based on a presentation at the German Aerospace Congress, September 16–18, 2014, Augsburg, Germany.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4 and 5.

Table 4 IATA Airline Code
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Table 5 ICAO Airport three letter code
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Plötner, K.O., Schmidt, M., Röhm, T. et al. Impact of short- to medium-haul aircraft block time changes on airline yields. CEAS Aeronaut J 6, 599–611 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13272-015-0165-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13272-015-0165-0

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