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This study investigates the impact of financial health and corporate governance on aviation safety, aiming to fill a critical gap in existing research. The purpose of this study is to identify how these factors influence the safety records of airlines and provide insights for regulators, airlines and stakeholders to enhance aviation safety.

Using a comprehensive international sample spanning 1950–2009 and later, this empirical analysis draws on diverse databases. The authors examine 372 airlines across 70 countries from 1990 to 2016. The research uses statistical models to analyze the relationship between financial indicators, corporate governance quality and aviation safety, addressing limitations of prior single-country studies.

The findings reveal a significant inverse relationship between financial health and accident propensity, with profitable airlines exhibiting lower accident rates. Additionally, airlines with higher corporate governance quality, characterized by qualified directors and stable leadership, experience fewer accidents. The study identifies key factors such as pilot errors, mechanical failures and adverse weather, contributing to approximately 75% of accidents, emphasizing the importance of organizational control.

This research has crucial implications for aviation safety policies and practices. Regulators and international organizations, such as International Civil Aviation Organization and International Air Transport Association, should allocate resources to supervise financially vulnerable airlines and those with lower governance quality. Governments might consider incentivizing safety practices through tax deductibility for relevant expenses. Shareholders are encouraged to prioritize qualified, younger and less busy directors, recognizing their impact on safety performance.

This study contributes to existing literature by addressing methodological biases and offering a comprehensive international perspective. The identification of a link between financial health, corporate governance and accident rates in the aviation industry provides valuable insights. The research informs policymakers, regulators and industry stakeholders on effective strategies to improve safety by considering financial and governance factors under their control.

This study aims to investigate the potential impact and passenger perceptions of integrating multimedia books within airline services, aiming to elucidate the evolving landscape of in-flight entertainment and reading experiences.

A quantitative research methodology was used, using a structured questionnaire distributed to presenters at the International Federation of Library Associations.

Analysis revealed varying passenger interest in multimedia books, with approximately 57.7% displaying engagement, while 40.4% demonstrated limited interest or none. However, a notable majority (60.6%) preferred multimedia books over traditional print books during flights. Furthermore, 90.4% perceived a positive impact of multimedia books on flight reading experiences, leading to increased satisfaction (81.7%) and a high likelihood of recommending airlines offering such content (91.3%).

The study's limitations include a specific focus on International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) presenters, potentially limiting broader generalisations. Further research might explore the preferences of a wider demographic range and incorporate qualitative aspects to deepen understanding. Airlines could leverage multimedia books to enhance passenger satisfaction, attract diverse audiences and foster cultural inclusivity within in-flight entertainment.

This study contributes insights into the evolving landscape of in-flight entertainment, emphasising the significant potential and positive impact of integrating multimedia books within airline services. It underscores the importance of catering to diverse passenger preferences and enhancing overall satisfaction during air travel.

Digital transformation has created an important framework for the commercial aviation industry. Aviation companies that develop a digital strategy or implement the strategies successfully are seeing improvements in their overall efficiency, cost, flexibility and security performances with the effect of digitalization. For aviation businesses, digitalization is seen as one of the important conditions of competition. For this reason, many aviation businesses prioritize digital investments and make the major strategic moves necessary to gain a competitive advantage. However, the digitization of aviation businesses cannot be achieved by investing in technology alone. Digital arguments need to be aligned with customer expectations and the goals of the business. The increase in the number of airline companies has caused airline companies to create new strategies that will increase cost efficiency. IATA (International Air Transport Association), which is a member of airline companies and works for the efficiency of commercial air transportation revealed its vision of a ‘Digital Airline’, which represents what an airline can look like in 2025. Digitalization and efficiency, reflections on human resources, digital applications of airlines, benefits of airline companies from digital transformation, airline mobile applications, online check-in and boarding services (self-check-in, kiosk), online travel assistant, digital baggage cards (RFID – radio frequency identification), digital cabin management systems, in-flight entertainment systems, cabin cleaning robots, digital loyalty programmes, a new perspective in aviation education, interactive virtual reality environments, big data technology and applications and disadvantages of digital transformation are evaluated in the chapter.

During the 1920s, military interests in Latin America and international and diplomatic relations gave the impetus to the creation national airlines. In countries like Colombia and Brazil, the technological and commercial approaches of Germany and other Europeans nations influenced the forms airlines took. In the following decade the United States began to exert its influence which was consolidated after the Second World War. The pattern continued until the 1980s and involved strong international regulation, the predominance of publicly owned national airlines, and American technological leadership. Market liberalization then brought about a new scenario involving privatizations of national airlines across the region, intensified competition, and mergers and acquisitions that led to the formation of large carriers. Today, passenger traffic in the region is dominated by two carriers: LATAM and Avianca. Other local airlines remain, often linked to a global alliance member. Air traffic has been grown, with the prospect of further growth after economic recovery flowing the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, commercial air traffic has adapted to the needs of its vast territory but where institutional changes have played a very important and often decisive role.

In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, low-cost carriers grew rapidly in many low- and middle-income economies. In this chapter, we examine the geography and network structure of low-cost carriers in such economies across Asia in 2018. We use these analyses to explore the relationship between budget airlines and economic development. Levels of disposable income and infrastructure adequacy help to account for the significance of low-cost airlines in some middle-income economies. And in turn, these airlines by fostering higher levels of accessibility and personal mobility may help catalyze faster development. However, the environmental externalities associated with aviation, especially atmospheric emissions, raise concerns about the sustainability of this mode. We assess these concerns and focus in particular on the development of low-cost carriers fleets in Asia. We ask whether the acquisition of more fuel-efficient aircraft will ameliorate aviation's environmental impact.

The low-cost carrier's model made remarkable gains across the globe in the prior decade, although growth was uneven domestically and intraregionally. Within this region, there are significant differences in overall country size, the size of the domestic aviation market, and the number of carriers serving the market. The largest and most developed market is in Russia, but rest of the region also experienced growth in economy airlines' activity as they discovered the power of the model to expand aviation access and lower costs. The success of low-cost carriers, however, has been halting and hampered by government decisions on foreign investment, ownership, and leasing. Still, some carriers have been able to grow and achieve gains over rivals. The recent Russian-Ukrainian war has further complicated the situation.

Here we consider the various ways in which airlines integrate their business activities. The thin markets, long distances, poor infrastructure, and challenging terrain over which many airlines based in developing countries operate can make it difficult to reap the economies of scale, scope, and density that carriers in more developed nations enjoy. There also remain institutional barriers to cross border trade in airline services. As a response to this, airlines from developing regions “cooperate” in a number of ways. This may involve multinational ownership, code sharing, or joint ventures. The rationale for these actions, together with discussion of the outcomes of some of them, is considered here.

Alliances between companies are an example of a collaborative strategy adopted in anticipation of highly uncertain markets. Since 1980, the commercial airline industry has been affected by a progressive liberalization worldwide. In this historical context, most airlines reacted with defensive movements in the face of high competition. In the case of airlines in the Spanish market, one of the largest in the world due to the weight of the tourism sector in its economy, airlines responded in various ways to the intensification of competition. Iberia, the main Spanish airline, established different defensive alliance policies. In the 1980s, alliances were mainly collaborative. Since 1998, airline alliances have become coopetitive in nature, as was the case with the creation of One World group (American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and Iberia). The partners began to interact in a more horizontal way, maintaining various agreements (code-sharing, handling, schedule coordination, shared sales, fleet maintenance) without renouncing their independence in the face of global competition. Iberia has subsequently modified the composition of its portfolio to move towards a more vertical collaboration with the integration into the IAG Group (Iberia, British Airways, Air Lingus and Vueling). This second phase is a quest to increase market power with deep changes in the nature of its alliances while maintaining coopetitive alliances.

This study examined the factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase for each class of airline service, and integrate the constructs of service quality, satisfaction and willingness-to-repurchase which were rooted on Engel-Kollat-Blackwell (EKB) model. The study focuses on the domestic and international arrival of passengers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja. Information was gathered from domestic and foreign passengers who had post-purchase experience and had used the airline's services more than once. The survey data were obtained concurrently from arrival passengers at two major international airports using an electronic questionnaire through random and purposive sampling techniques. The data was analysed using the ordinal logit model and structural equation model. From the 606 respondents, 524 responses were received but 489 responses were valid for data analysis and reporting and were obtained mostly from economy and business class passengers. The study found that the quality of seat pitch, allowance of 30 kg luggage permission, availability of online check-in 24 hours before the departing flight, quality of space for legroom between seats, and the quality of seats that can be converted into a fully flatbed are the major service factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase economy and business class tickets. Also, it was found that passengers' willingness to repurchase is influenced majorly by service quality, but not necessarily influenced by satisfaction. These results reflect the passengers' consciousness of COVID-19 because the study was conducted during the heat of COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations were suggested for airline management based on each class.

This chapter provides an overview of the century-long economic history of scheduled passenger airlines services in developing countries. Initially there is discussion of what constitutes a developing country and how airlines activities interact with development processes. It is a broad view which compares and contrasts the varying paths civil aviation has taken within different countries and internationally. It offers some insights as to why airlines are where we are today and as to what the future may hold for developing nations.