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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.

Safety is arguably the most important “quality” attribute of commercial aviation, yet it rarely figures into overt interfirm rivalry. Usually, airlines do not even allude to their safety record vis-à-vis rivals in their advertising and press statements. Moreover, statistical analysis by independent parties usually indicates that peer airlines within the same geographic region and segment of the industry have indistinguishable safety records (Barnett, 2010).

In recent decades there have been substantial changes in the structure of the global airline industry commencing with deregulation closely followed by the emergence of Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs). LCCs have greatly increased the opportunities for affordable air travel by generating considerable opportunities for many destinations to tap into new markets. This paper examines a range of issues related to the operation of LCCs and how destinations may be adversely affected when problems emerge. Specifically the paper examines problems that arose in Australia in 2011 when Tiger Airways Australia was grounded for an extended period. Until its grounding the airline, while having a poor reputation for on-time service and customer service, did have a significant impact on airfares which rose on average by 15% during the period of it was grounded.

This chapter explores the evolution of Virgin Blue, a low-cost carrier that commenced operations in Australia in 2000, through a process that saw it emerge as a full-service airline by 2012. The path of evolution is analyzed with the aid of several strategic marketing concepts including strategic windows and repositioning. Given the contemporary nature of the area of study, the research employs historical narrative and case study methodology. From a tourism industry perspective, the discussion highlights the usefulness of the strategic management approach including the use of strategic windows and demonstrates that firms are able to successfully reinvent themselves to respond to new market opportunities. The results also highlight the need for destination marketing organizations to be alert to changes in airline operations that may fundamentally alter their value proposition in some of the target markets that they are operating in. In the case of Virgin, the airline evolved from a low-cost airline to a full-service airline and in the process lost some customers who were pursing low-cost holiday options but gained customers who were less price sensitive.

In spite of the extensive literature on the regulation of air transport services, until the development of the Quantitative Air Services Agreements Review (QUASAR) methodology no systematic review existed of the degree of liberalization granted through air services agreements. The chapter lays out QUASARs key features, and presents the main results its application has generated. It then elaborates on how the methodology could be further refined and extended to other segments of the air transport industry yet uncovered. Based on QUASAR, the chapter critically evaluates some commonly held beliefs about the liberalization of international passenger transport and then moves on to explore the technical feasibility of creating a liberal multilateral regime for air transport services. QUASAR has demonstrated that, although the air transport sector has experienced some liberalization over the past few years, this has been, overall, rather marginal. The skies are not truly open.

This study provides a comprehensive framework of adaptation in triadic business relationship settings in the service sector. The framework is based on the industrial network approach (see, e.g., Axelsson & Easton, 1992; Håkansson & Snehota, 1995a). The study describes how adaptations initiate, how they progress, and what the outcomes of these adaptations are. Furthermore, the framework takes into account how adaptations spread in triadic relationship settings. The empirical context is corporate travel management, which is a chain of activities where an industrial enterprise, and its preferred travel agency and service supplier partners combine their resources. The scientific philosophy, on which the knowledge creation is based, is realist ontology. Epistemologically, the study relies on constructionist processes and interpretation. Case studies with in-depth interviews are the main source of data.

The Internet has enabled consumers to act as their own travel agents and to verify independently the accuracy of the information provided by airlines through the CRSs and travel agents. As a result, the relationships between consumers and the suppliers of air-travel information have been radically altered, and we document these changes. We identify the relevant market for air-travel information, which includes CRSs, online travel agencies, and the websites and call centers of individual carriers. We determine market concentration and market shares using the Herfindhal-Hirschman Index. Based on our analysis, we argue that there is no longer any need to regulate independent CRSs. However, airlines that own CRSs continue to have an incentive to withdraw their flight and fare information from rival CRSs and, to prevent this from happening, the mandatory participation rule adopted in 1992 should be maintained.

European air transport policy, emerged through the confluence of case law and legislation, in four broad areas: liberalization, safety and security, greening, and the external policy. Following the implementation of the single market for air transport, policy shifted to liberalizing and regulating associated services and in recent years to greening, the external aviation policy, and safety and security. Inclusion of air transport in the Environmental Trading Scheme of the European Union exemplifies the European Commission’s proactive stand on bringing the industry in line with emission reduction trajectories of other industries. However, the bid to include flights to third countries in the trading scheme pushed the EU into a controversial position, causing the Commission to halt implementation and to give ICAO time to seek a global multilateral agreement. The chapter also discusses how the nationality clauses in air services agreements breached the Treaty of Rome, and a court ruling to that effect enabled the EC to extend EU liberalization policies beyond the European Union, resulting in the Common Aviation Area with EU fringe countries and the Open Aviation Area with the USA. Another important area of progress was aviation safety, where the EU region is unsurpassed in the world, yet the Commission has pushed the boundary even further, by establishing the European Safety Agency to oversee the European Aviation Safety Management System. Another important area of regulatory development was aviation security, a major focus after the woeful events in 2001, but increasingly under industry scrutiny on costs and effectiveness. The chapter concludes by arguing that in the coming decade, the EU will strive to strengthen its position as a global countervailing power, symbolized in air transport by a leadership position in environmental policy and international market liberalization, exemplified in the EU’s external aviation policy.