Publications

August 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Case

JetBlue Airways: Deicing at Logan Airport

By: Douglas Fearing and Robert S. Huckman

The case explores a deicing capacity expansion decision made by JetBlue at Boston Logan International Airport in the summer of 2010. The need for capacity expansion was driven by significant challenges faced during the previous winter combined with substantial... View Details

Keywords: Operational Disruptions; Strategic Planning; Disruption; Cost vs Benefits; Air Transportation; Service Operations; Logistics; Operations; Air Transportation Industry; Boston

July 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Northwest Airlines: Strategic Alliance and Strategic Position--May 1996

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Davis Dyer

Describes the strategic position of Northwest Airlines in 1996 and discusses its financial rebound and changes and improvements since the 1993 restructuring agreement. Describes the company's new strategy and its management of principal strategic assets, focusing at... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Restructuring; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Government Administration; Cooperation; Business Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; United States; Netherlands

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April 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

GE and the Industrial Internet

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Marco Iansiti and Kerry Herman

CEO Jeff Immelt considers whether GE is moving fast enough on its new Industrial Internet initiative. The undertaking includes building out an Industrial Internet, connecting machines and devices, collecting their data and operations, and providing services to clients... View Details

01 Mar 2009
News

Your Taxi Is Waiting

particularly business travelers, will appreciate the efficiency of this scenario. But can “air taxis” really take off in the current economic climate? Will companies economize by placing an even greater value on executives’ time and book flights with companies like... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Air Transportation; Air Transportation

04 Apr 2023
Blog Post

Maersk’s Journey to Decarbonize Shipping

more than fivefold over 2021 and 2022. Graph showing forty-foot equivalent (FEU) container prices on various routes increasing in 2021 and falling in late 2022. Source: Freightos Maersk’s decarbonization strategy While many consumers and businesses struggled with... View Details

March 2011
Supplement

Padraig O'Ceidigh and Aer Arann: Building a Business in the Context of a Life - What Happened

By: Janet J. Kraus and Shirley Spence

Provides an epilogue to the problem posed in the companion case: what to do in the face of potential liquidation? View Details

Keywords: Natural Disasters; Crisis Management; Air Transportation; Entrepreneurship; Management Teams; Business or Company Management; Success; Decision Making; Air Transportation Industry; Republic of Ireland

October 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Supplement

Airbus vs. Boeing (M): MAX 8 Disasters (July 2019)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes the October 2018 and March 2019 crashes of Boeing MAX 8 jets, which together killed over 300 passengers. The planes involved in both crashes shared a problem with a software system called MCAS, which Boeing had revamped at the last minute prior to... View Details

Keywords: Airbus; Boeing; Product Development; Product Design; Air Transportation; Projects; Competition; Safety; Failure; Air Transportation Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States; Europe

June 2020
Teaching Note

The New LAX: Ready for Takeoff?

By: Boris Groysberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Kerry Herman and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching note serves as a supplement to “The New LAX: Ready for Takeoff?” HBS 420-025. View Details

01 Jun 2014
News

Ready for Takeoff

vacant. "The country stops. The days that Brazil plays, it will be a national holiday," Sender says. This year, though, Sender won't have much time to celebrate. As CEO of TAM Airlines, Brazil's largest, she'll be managing operations at what will likely be the busiest... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Air Transportation; Air Transportation

May 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

HNA Group: "A Miracle in Civil Aviation"

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and Carole Winkler

Chen Feng and three others started Hainan Airlines in China during a historic transformation and privatization of the civil aviation industry. From a small loan from the local province in 1992, Chairman Chen built the company into a conglomerate that, by 2003, owned... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Air Transportation; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Advantage; Emerging Markets; Business Startups; Air Transportation Industry; China

March 2011
Case

Padraig O'Ceidigh and Aer Arann: Building a Business in the Context of a Life

By: Janet J. Kraus and Shirley Spence

In April 2010, the eruption of a volcano wreaked havoc in the airline industry and placed Aer Arann on the bring of liquidation. For founder, sole owner and chairman Padraig O'Ceidigh, the airline has been a personal as well as business passion. The case provides a... View Details

Keywords: Natural Disasters; Crisis Management; Air Transportation; Entrepreneurship; Management Teams; Business or Company Management; Success; Decision Making; Air Transportation Industry; Republic of Ireland

October 1988
Background Note

Note on Airline Reservations Systems (Revised), Part II

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Duncan G. Copeland

Keywords: Air Transportation; System

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31 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Improving Fairness in Flight Delays

arrival rate into a congested airport; in an AFP, the FAA uses the same approach to adjust the amount of traffic flying into congested airspace. These two tools account for approximately 30 percent of all air View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Air Transportation; Air Transportation

01 Mar 2006
News

Another First

DESJARDINS: Heads Air Force Academy. PHOTO BY DAVID BITTON/COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE Brig. Gen. Susan Y. Desjardins (TGMP 14, 2004), a veteran cargo- and refueling-plane pilot and commander, became the first female commandant of cadets,... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Air Transportation; Air Transportation; Air Transportation

July 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Northwest Airlines: Brush with Bankruptcy (A)--November 1992

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Davis Dyer

Deals with Northwest's financial crisis between the fall of 1992 and the following spring. Northwest's leaders face the problem of how to meet an impending $600 million payment on the 1989 LBO loan when the airline had run out of cash. Concludes by outlining options... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Restructuring; Leveraged Buyouts; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Financial Crisis; Air Transportation Industry; United States