Publications

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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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

January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

HNA Group: Global Excellence with Chinese Characteristics

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Joycelyn W. Eby

By 2015, the HNA Group had grown from its roots as Hainan Airlines, a small airline founded in 1993 into a global conglomerate that ranked #464 in the Global 500. Much of this success it had achieved by cross-industry expansion within China, but since 2008, it had... View Details

Keywords: China; Aviation And Aerospace; Airline Industry; Airlines; Globalization; Corporate Culture; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; China

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

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

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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November 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Restructuring JAL

By: Malcolm Baker, Adi Sunderam, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Hideo Seto, the recently appointed chairman of the investment committee of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, must decide whether to push JAL group, Japan's largest airline, into bankruptcy or to act as a sponsor in an out-of-court restructuring. The... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Costs Of Financial Distress; Cost vs Benefits; Air Transportation; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Air Transportation Industry; Japan; United States

07 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

quickly to produce and air new advertising creative that tapped into the rapidly changing zeitgeist. The result, the Retail Heroes campaign, featured CEO McMillon Zooming in remotely from home to thank the one million Walmart front line... View Details

Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman

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

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

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

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

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

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