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The United States Air Force often provides effective airlift for cargo distribution, but is at times inefficient. This paper aims to address the under-utilization of military airlift cargo compartments that plagues the airlift system.

The authors examine seven techniques designed to increase cargo compartment utilization and increase airlift utilization rates. The techniques were applied through load planning software to 30 real-world movements consisting of 159 sorties. They then ran each post-technique movement through a modeled flight environment to obtain cycle movement data. The metrics gained from both the load planning software and the modeled environment were regressed to provide statistical understanding regarding how well each technique influenced cost savings.

The results showed a 24 per cent elimination of aircraft required and a savings of $14.5m. Extrapolation of the authors’ findings to four years of airlift mission data revealed an estimated annual savings of $1.6bn.

This research effort provides multiple options to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of military airlift.

The purpose of this paper is to examine an issue of critical importance to America’s national security. The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) is a public/private partnership between US air carriers and the Department of Defense (DOD) for the provision of contingency airlift services to the military in times of national need. Formed in 1951, the CRAF has only been activated twice, but it has continued to be a source of emergency air transportation should the nation require resources beyond those available from the US Air Force. Sweeping changes occurring in global trade, commercial aviation, national defense policy and foreign relations suggest that changes will be needed to maintain the CRAF as a strategic defense transportation resource.

This paper examines the long-standing national policy of relying on commercial interests to provide contingency transportation to the DOD in wartime. The CRAF will be singled out for closer examination in light of environmental changes occurring in the airline industry, international trade and global threats to the nation. The purpose of this analysis is to then assess the partnership’s ability to remain relevant in an uncertain future.

First, commercial cargo aircraft are downsizing thereby becoming less useful to the DOD. Second, there is no new wide-body military airlifter on the horizon. Third, threats from hostile nations are becoming more indirect and subtle, requiring planners to think “outside the box” when assessing the need for strategic airlift over the next 20-50 years.

The CRAF has not fundamentally changed since its inception in 1951. The time has come to reexamine the partnership to ensure that it remains America’s emergency lifeline.

This lesson uses Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto to introduce students to a true story of a Catholic, Polish social worker who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish children during World War II by relocating them. Students are asked to consider Irena’s actions and her motives. Students then are introduced to the Kindertransport, a series of rescue missions of Jewish children from Nazi Germany, by reading the stories of children who were involved in the event. To help students understand the relocation of children during World War II was not an isolated incident in history, students examine the Pedro Pan Airlift of 1959-1960 in order to compare and contrast the event to the Kindertransport of World War II.

Scheduling the airlift of relief supplies into a damaged or small airport during a crisis is complex yet crucial. The volume of cargo and flights can temporarily overwhelm the airport’s capacity and the mix of flights adds complexity. The purpose of this paper is to better characterize airport operations during a crisis, to develop a model that can assess strategies for scheduling flights and to draw implications for decision makers.

First, empirical data are analyzed to characterize airport operations. Previously unreported data from the 2010 Haiti earthquake response in the form of a “flight log” are analyzed to provide new insights and parameters. Alternate scheduling strategies are drawn from review of the literature and After Action Reports. Second, a queuing model is developed to understand operations in past crises and predict the impact of alternate scheduling strategies. Empirical data provide the parameters for airport scenarios evaluated.

Unloading capacity is seen to be the bottleneck but also to not be fully utilized, suggesting that a more aggressive flight schedule is needed. Scheduling flights is shown to be a tradeoff between volume of aid delivered and flights that must be diverted. The proper mix of aircraft and prioritized divert policies also provide benefits. Finally, it is beneficial, though perhaps counterintuitive, to create a parking buffer upstream from the unloading bottleneck.

Analysis of previously unreported data from the Haiti earthquake provides new insights regarding airport parking and unloading operations. A new model of airport scheduling for disaster response is proposed. The model differs from other humanitarian airlift models in that it focuses on aircraft parking and unloading. It differs from commercial aircraft scheduling and gate assignment in the objective used.

The development of the flight station of the C‐130J variant of the C‐130 military airlift aircraft is discussed. The development effort began with research and development projects in the early 1980s. Following this was a series of related research and technology integration efforts under contract to the US Government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Finally, detailed design of the C‐130J in a formal development program began in 1992. The technologies that were integrated into the C‐130J flight station that made it possible to reduce the flight station crew from four (pilot, copilot, navigator, and flight engineer) to two (pilot and copilot) are reviewed.

This viewpoint paper provides insights and actions as to how destinations and airports need to be aligned in post-COVID-19 resumption. This paper aims to inform those working in airports and tourism boards about how to deal with airlines and support connectivity and route development post-COVID-19.

This paper provides a practical viewpoint based on working with airlines and tourism boards as part of consultancy and advisory development.

This paper offers practical suggestions on how airlines, airports and tourism boards can work together to support air connectivity and tourism development.

This paper provides those working in aviation and the tourism industry with practical steps to manage route development and connectivity post-COVID-19.

The paper suggests new ways of working towards the integration of efforts made by airlines, airports and tourism boards.

Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs (A&T) uses the criteria for performance excellence as its road‐map to business excellence. This study employs a house of quality to facilitate a detailed, quantitative analysis of how well the various strategic thrusts and initiatives at A&T address the individual items within the criteria. This unique application of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) will demonstrate applicability to the design and development of a large organization.

Technology, like airlifting, is a tradition at Lockheed‐Georgia Company. Scientists and engineers at the Marietta, Georgia, facility are actively involved in a variety of aerospace research and development projects that not only shape tomorrow's aircraft, but offer significant benefits to numerous other industries.