Publications

2011
Other Unpublished Work

International Air Transport Association Vision 2050

By: Michael E. Porter

IATA asked 35 strategic thinkers to develop this vision for the next 40 years for the airline industry. The group benefited greatly by the inspirational and strategic leadership and wisdom of Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew. And Harvard University Professor... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Singapore

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Feb 2014
Case

Flying High, Landing Low: Strengths and Challenges for U.S. Air Transportation

The U.S. air transportation system flies high on some indicators, mostly involving capacity to take to the air, but lands low on others, mostly involving ground facilities and processes. This note provides... View Details

February 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Background Note

Flying High, Landing Low: Strengths and Challenges for U.S. Air Transportation

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Aditi Jain and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

The U.S. air transportation system flies high on some indicators, mostly involving capacity to take to the air, but lands low on others, mostly involving ground facilities and processes. This note provides an overview of the history and current state of air... View Details

2010
Other Unpublished Work

Modeling Passenger Travel and Delays in the National Air Transportation System

Many of the existing methods for evaluating an airline's on-time performance are based on flight-centric measures of delay. However, recent research has demonstrated that passenger delays depend on many factors in addition to flight delays. For instance,... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Performance Evaluation; Air Transportation Industry; United States

November 2008
Case

HNA Group: Moving China's Air Transport Industry in a New Direction

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Manty

HNA Group, the parent company of Hainan Airlines, was positioning itself to go global and make a mark for itself as the largest private airline in China. Positioned squarely behind the "Big Three" state-owned carriers, Hainan Airlines sought to create a world-class... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Private Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Air Transportation Industry; China

September 2010
Teaching Note

HNA Group: Moving China's Air Transport Industry in a New Direction (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for 309029. View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; State Ownership; Industry Structures; Air Transportation Industry; China

20 May 2015
News

Harvard Professor On Reinventing American Transportation

May 1982 (Revised June 1982)
Case

Air Traffic Controllers

By: Michael Beer

On August 3, 1981 President Ronald Reagan terminated 12,000 air traffic controllers, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, for violating their no-strike oath. Provides background on the human resources policies and practices of the Federal... View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Labor and Management Relations; Government and Politics; Labor Unions; Negotiation; Employees; Air Transportation Industry; United States

July 1993
Case

Air Miles Canada

By: Thomas O. Jones, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Roger H. Hallowell

Air Miles Canada both increases customer loyalty by rewarding shopping frequency at specified merchants, and enables its sponsors to develop a new, more complex understanding of their customers' (and potential customers') shopping habits, thus making future customer... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Customer Relationship Management; Information Management; Air Transportation Industry; Canada

Research Summary

Airline Schedule Disruptions

Increasing congestion and frequent schedule disruptions throughout the National Air Transportation System, both at airports and en route, have led to significant flight and passenger delays. Professor Fearing's primary research focus is on measuring and reducing... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Air Transportation; Traffic Flow Management; Air Transportation Industry

01 Dec 2016
News

Air Time

trying to find parking.” “About 30 percent of the traffic in most urban areas is caused by people just driving around trying to find parking.” — Bryan Mistele (MBA 1995), founder of INRIX transportation information firm Trending... View Details

11 May 2015
Research & Ideas

A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure

Any highway commuter who has wasted hours stuck in traffic can see the cracks in the United States' transportation system, as can any airline passenger who has been stranded overnight in an airport. Yet while many agree that the need for infrastructure change is... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Transportation

January 1985 (Revised April 1985)
Case

Eastern Air Lines

By: George C. Lodge

Keywords: Air Transportation Industry

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2023
News

Clearing the Air

strategy and projects for CarbonCapture, Inc. She is currently overseeing the development of Project Bison, a planned direct air capture (DAC) facility in southwest Wyoming. Meghan Kenny (MBA 2019) is the director of strategy and projects... View Details

Keywords: April White and Dan Morrell; Illustrations by Richard Borge

January 2008 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Linear Air: Creating the Air Taxi Industry

Linear Air is an air taxi start-up established to take advantage of the emergence of Very Light Jets, which incorporate new technology that cuts jet operating costs by about 40%. Air taxis could make use of the 5400 smaller regional airports throughout the US,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Product Launch; Industry Structures; Competition; Air Transportation Industry

Web

Transportation - Business & Environment

Confronting Climate Change Transportation Transportation is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions The transport sector accounts for about 14% of the world’s... View Details

January 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Delta Air Lines (A): The Low-Cost Carrier Threat

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Laurent Therivel

The top management of Delta Air Lines must decide how to respond to the threat posed by low-cost carriers such as Southwest and JetBlue. Among the options considered is the launch of a low-cost subsidiary by Delta itself. Prior efforts to launch a low-cost subsidiary,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Cost; Decision Choices and Conditions; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Air Transportation Industry