Logistics And Supply Chain Management In The Airline Industry Essay.

Write a report on logistics and supply chain management.

Overview of Airport and Airline industry

The airlines industry is responsible for facilitating passage by air by providing the required service to the flight travellers and cargo by the utilization of aircraft that come in the category of the helicopters and airplanes. It is the 400 B.C. when the origin of the airplane had been identified. This was during the time of invention of the kite. The airline industry is structured into three main components namely general, commercial and military. Commercial airlines might put focus on the different areas of business that pertains to crop dusting, fighting the forest fires and also in case of operations that are in the nature of rescue. According to the trade organisation airlines of America, commercial aviation is responsible for driving more than $1.5 Trillion per year in the economic activities and more than 10 million of jobs. General aviation includes personal and business or executive flights and the instruction of flights. The subsectors of the airlines industry comprise of operations, maintenance, finance and marketing divisions (Belobaba, Odoni & Barnhart, 2015).

Figure 1 : Construction of the Hamad International Airport

There is a possibility of air transportation to be either planned or non-programmed. Mostly all business-related airlines operate based to a particular schedule,  fly regular routes even in case when the plane is not full. Air carriers which do not function based on a particular schedule usually fly at the time of non-peak hours. There is more amount of suppleness concerning choice of airport, flight times and load factors. There are several available jobs within the industry and provides employability to a record number of people. The airline industry is characterised by intense antagonism with strong price pressure which causes a continuous obligation for the enhancement of efficiency. In parallel it can be stated that the industry is continuously growing with more and more passengers who travel much more frequently.

From the time there has been the increase in the traffic, the airline industry has been noticeable by high growth and there has been a continuous increase in the productivity. Both globalization and privatization have a suitable impact on the airline industry (Phellas, Bloch & Seale, 2011).

The basic fact which can be stated with respect to airports and airlines is that they share a common goal. With the passage of time the relationship between the two has distorted. Airports were much more bigger but the balance has transferred  to the airlines due to the enforcement of deregulations. In case of airports which have limited slot access, there is a risk of air routes being suspended immediately. For the maintenance or expansion of airline routes it is necessary for support of airport costs in a suitable way. For the expansion of complex at airports it is necessary to draw foreign airlines which do not possess their base in the country as well as national flag carriers (Teodorovic, 2017).

The important things to keep in mind when airports intensify a business with air carriers are that the airports are obligatory to offer each company with a fair surroundings for business. Therefore only one company alone cannot be kept under focus. It also needs to be kept in mind that airports and airlines are different entities and so no laws can be violated or treated through their cooperation. For a few decades after the completion of World War 2, both airports and airlines were protected by the designation of the airlines which were allowed to operate and restrictions on the establishment of routes pursuant to the government authorization were protected (Mahadevan, 2015).  

The extent of relationship between airport and airlines

In the backdrop of greater selection and concentration within the industry, fewer airports have the required capabilities to become airline hubs. More and more airlines are forming alliances and it has become possible for the airports to expand their networks despite the cases where they are not utilized by the airlines. In the prevailing circumstances, there must be much more factors and reasons for the airports to attract different airlines and routes than the mere reduction or exemption of facility charges (Wu, 2016).

The suppliers remain connected to the airport at all times. There are number of providers for incorporated IT business solutions and communication services for the air transport industry. There are close monitors on every segment of the airline industry and there is the innovation, development and management of business solutions over the most extensive network of the world. The specialists in the air transport infrastructure and IT solutions make it possible for the complete addition of technology systems at the airports. Resultantly there is a proper collaboration with all the necessary stakeholders, involving airlines and concessionaires in order to augment the efficiency, capitalize on passenger fulfilment and advance the overall fiscal performance.

There are all round facilities of overall communication, monitoring of traffic and control, the implementation of the data link requirements in order to attach to the networks providing data and voice communications with suitable customer aircrafts. Proper care is taken to ensure that there is connectivity and a sense of reliability established within the minds of all the stakeholders.

Airline workings require the highest principles of safety, dependability, competence as well as comfort. There is a increasing need for air traffic, a high concentration of movements and only a limited place available for handling the operations. It is a prime requisite to implement optimized actions and technologies and a close connection of all relevant stakeholders. The airline operations consist of all the factors which are relevant to the system. Airlines were administration owned before the time of liberalization, many airlines were known to be flag carriers due to the reason that the airports were commercialized and now the airport operations are supported. The profit margins for the airports are also greatly result the increased profit margins of the airports.

Airports were conventionally a civic entity because of the massive change within the airlines, the airports were suddenly originated and seen to be operative towards commercialization. At the time the airports began to move commercially it was from one building but with the growth of the industry and the influx of the passengers, there was an inevitable need to increase in size. The proper revenue management and the type of situations in which the airplanes need to run are to be considered. Airports and airline facilities are a crucial aspect of the overall impact of the system.

There might be several components which need to be kept in mind at the time of choosing a particular operational airport. The most important choice factor is that of price. Apart from price there are several factors which can impact the choices of an operational airport.

How suppliers are connected to the airport

One crucial factor is that of distance from important locations and the right conditions in the airport. The best located airports have the chances of more people flocking to the places to wither catch flights or go to some places. Parking facilities are also important in the operational airports and their choices. In case the cost of parking in a particular airport is higher than another, then it might be added to the base price of the flight at the time of price comparison between different airports. For trips which are loner, free or inexpensive parking can cause huge savings amounting to hundreds of dollars. Therefore those airports with free and easy parking facilities need to be chosen at all times. The time and gas money lost to pouring of additional distance is possible to be improved very speedily.

Another important factor is that of public transit. Every person does not like to take public transport to the airport. There might be a lot of luggage to the airport specifically at the time of travelling to far off destinations. It might however work suitably for some customers as well. Public transit can prove to be a safety valve for many of the routine hassles for air travel. In case of cancelled flights for which the individuals have no backup plan to go home, flights at odd hours and at times which a person’s family cannot receive him or her might get salvaged in case there is the option of a quick ride to the local train station.

The airport tolls are also considered in cases where the airport has to be chosen based on the price. The travellers who mostly frequent airport management need to use an airport hotel for some specific reason or another. At times when there are very early flights or at times of flight delays there might be problems in asking family or relatives to come over. A particular airport with enhanced choice of nearby hotels and short rides on hotel shuttles can also save the riders from the tougher issues of air travel.

Another crucial factor which needs to be considered at the time of airport choice is that of security. After a certain number of trips to any particular airport, there is a clear understanding of how the security check points are run, how many checkpoints are there and the security crews as well as configurations (Mertens, 2014).

Handling of baggage at the airports is a crucial factor which the people need to keep in mind at the times of their choice of airports. The quality of handling of baggage is very crucial in which an airport is managed. There has been hugely differing assessments on the baggage handling quality at several airports. In certain airports there also are night curfews in order to reduce the noise and traffic in the surrounding neighbourhoods. Usually curfews are not major problems at the airport as they are manageable according to the particular situations

The aviation industry is inflowing towards a new era of change as there is the aim to fulfil the environmental challenges. The operational efficiency includes different aspects like the delay against the schedule, availability of flight time, and also the cancellations of flight. A suitable amount of importance is given to airline costs which are incurred as the result of delays against the schedule as well as the additional time that the airlines build into their schedules in the anticipation of delay. The types of estimation of the costs fall under two particular categories. The “cost factor approach” applies the cost factors to the delay quantities. Different cost factors might be used for different types of delay which are based on the place where the delay occurs. There needs to be a type of delay at the time of investigation, the type of aircraft as well as the duration of delay (Rizzo, 2013).

Airline operations and its major components

The problems with the cost factor approach include the limitations in the data which are necessary for the categorization of delay. The problems include the limitations in the data which are necessary for the categorization of delay incurred by the airline flights. Another reason is the limited basis for the determination of the cost factors. Another approach is based on the aggregate cost and considers the sort of relationship between the total airline cost as well as the amount of delay. These issues might be incurred at any time by the airline flights. The recent research which has been conducted recently states that there is a nature of relationship between the factors to be investigated using the methodology of statistical cost estimation. The estimates of the total cost of delay to the airlines based on the aggregate approach might be more than what is based on the cost factor approach. However the differences in the total cost are more or less fair. The suggestion of the latter approach does not allow in the capturing of much of relevant information (Farhadi, Ghoniem & Al-Salem, 2014).  

Not only the price but the operational cost also needs to be maintained at the airline facilities. It is crucial for the airline industry to ensure that the operational transits are managed well and all the components of the aircrafts are well maintained in order to avoid any sort of delay.

At the present scenario, more and more people aim to fly and this number is increasing with each passing day. This is responsible for the economic growth and the rise of opportunities and also brings challenges to the industry. There needs to be a proper provision for suitable airport performance from the time of approach to the departure. There are several years of experience which helps all the airports worldwide. The airports need to create intelligent, highly integrated airport operations that are responsible for raising the performance continuously. At present more and more people are opting to use airlines for their travel. The ease and the feasibility with which the airlines are utilized are a most important contributing factor for the expansion of airline industry and also for it gaining a suitable competitive advantage.  

The aviation industry is changing at a rapid pace. The airports around the world are challenged to manage the increase at the time of staying profitable as well as maintaining safety. The airports and airlines need to be facilitated to do more than what they already possess. It needs to be endured that all parts of the airport are working together. The airport should be turned into an interactive one. The throughput of the airport needs to be expanded. By letting all the parts of the airport work together as a single unit it is possible to help the unlocking of the hidden potential for the airport traffic and its expansion. With the leading solutions for the gate, airfield, tower as well as service, connectivity of the entire airport needs to be secured and there need to be more and safer aircraft movements.

Factors behind choosing an operational airport

There needs to be a proper system integration to ensure that the airline systems are properly integrated to beat airport congestion. Actually it can be said that congested airports solved the problem by leading the way for the building of new infrastructure. At present the airports are finding new ways to overcome the challenge without proper infrastructure investments. One of these is the proper use of the effectual utilization of several independent of successive IT and operational improvement steps. It is desirable that there is a proper tailored approach to boost the performance at the airport. Each airport is diverse and one solution will not suit all. The solutions must be best suited according to the demands of each airport, environments as well as business objectives. The totality of the airline programs should be such that the airport performance is the best and at the optimum level of performance (Yang & Banamah, 2014).

There needs to be a proper airport performance from approach to departure. The industry’s most extensive portfolios are offered and there needs to be a proper foundation for the completely integrated solutions for the support of airport development. It needs to be understood that there are increased demands on the tower and airfield and gate. The operational know how of the case is to be enabled for assisting all the parts of an airport to work together as one in order to increase the performance of the airport. The situations from customer arrival to departure are to be kept in mind. Newer and better apron management systems and docking systems are to be implemented for improving the airport throughput, tackle the available congestion and also optimize the transit process, efficiency and predictability.

Each airport is different and therefore only one explanation is not bound to fit all. Every solution must be customized to each of the airport’s weight, environment and business. It is not unknown that the existing infrastructure often possesses hidden and unused capability which can be released within a holistic observation of the airport. There needs to be the application of an advisory and consultative approach in order to create the right solution. The aim in this case is to propose a cost effective way to resolve an airport’s most prestigious challenges quickly and smoothly. This can help to include every aspect of the traffic control and leadership, from approach runway to the tower based traffic control systems, to intelligent gate and docking mechanization. The operational view needs to be utilized in order to optimize airport presentation and success of the customers.

A stepwise procedure can be adopted in order to optimize the performance of the airport. There needs to be an operational approach which will help to create an optimized solution which boosts the aircraft movements, safety and also optimizes the airport efficiency. It is needed that the airport performance be accelerated, concentrating on the efficiency, sustainability and the safety by the analysis, recommendations as well as the deliverance of the proper mix of intelligent operational and technical solutions and services for the tower, airfield as well as gate facilities. The first step is to understand the operations of the airport including the detailed analysis of the traffic flow and airfield tower and the gate operational processes. After the proper identification of the areas which need improvement, there needs to be a new and innovative operational scheme which needs the business needs as well as the strategic objectives.

There needs to be a proper solution design. The complete airport operations solution needs to be decided which helps in the integration of all the systems together which are needed to implement the new procedures of operation. For attaining the complete benefits of the operational concept it is crucial to select the most fitting products and systems for the integration into the complete solution.

It is then desirable to make sure that the experienced project management teams are kept in charge of the deployment and engineering of the complete system. There needs to be a tightly integrated solution which works seamlessly and with the best amount of efficiency. The highest performance of airport is sustained with the support of the operations team and this includes both the maintenance and training. Thus it can be said that there needs to be a proper mix of intelligent, operational and technical solutions and forces for the tower, airfield and gate. The full six-step mix of solution design may not always be required so the input from the expert form any of the three stages so the expert input can be mixed and matched to achieve the safest and most efficient ground operations for every airport.

Global airlines are thinking of ways in which they can obtain bigger payoffs from the way they are managing their expenses. They possess the technology all around their functions and also have the opportunity to leverage it better. They also have the technology around their operations for the betterment of the technology. The most suitable airline operations actually unify the technology in a way which sets the stage for better integrated processes all around the company, connecting different departments with the real time data for the shaping of the decision making capabilities. The capability to foster procedure which are best integrated with the maintenance, ground operations, flight crews and revenue forecasting are responsible for the operational efficiency, customer loyalty and also the profitability. At a time when they are asked about the connection between the operational success and technology of the respondents which point towards the improved integrated business procedures built on the foundation of the connected systems. With the requirements for more environmentally sound aircraft there have been numerous chief alterations with new aircraft which can grasp double the amount of a normal jumbo which is understood on both the levels which has to reduce the needs of both the aircrafts. There is the chance of aiding the passenger arriving and departing a particular airport, for the alleviation of the pressure at the check in desks as also with the agents. Due to the demands due to the change in the climate, the market demand has not changed dramatically. There have been certain technological advances which have been shown. The security at the airports has changed internally as well as externally (Davies & Hughes, 2014).

A case study about Hamad International airport: HIA and its operational performances with strategic decision:

“Qatar’s Hamad International Airport”, a world class facility planned to turn out to be tine of the new aviation hubs of the Middle East. It features the world’s largest free-span continuation hanger is the latest addition to the Kingspan Insulated Panels LLC’s growing portfolio of the projects in the region. The hanger is made by the utilization of the King Zip SF and it is done based on the highest protection standards.  The hangar is capable of management extremely wide body aircrafts and functions as the central maintenance facility for the fast expanding feet fo Qatar Airways.  

“The Kingspan Insulated Panels LLC’s capabilities were a perfect fit to the requirements of the organisation. A remarkable milestone was achieved in the history of aviation infrastructure development in the particular region. Offering the ultimate design and also premium flexibility, the King Zip Standing seam is manufactured in aluminium and is available in stainless steel, zinc or copper. It can be supplied smooth, embossed, crimp curved, concave or convex, smooth tapered or smooth curved.  The King Zip SP standing seam roof on the Qatar’s Airport hangar spans across an impressive area of 98000 metre square. The KingZip SF can be contrived on site allowing roofs to be built using very long lengths of sheet and also increasing the speed of construction considerably.”

The architectural walls of the Kingspan re covert fix insulated wall panel systems and they offer unparalleled freedom of design and top of the range performance to architects. The wide range of profits allows the architects to look beyond the conventional insulated panel of designs for the creation of buildings, with much more inspiring facades and need to have better inspiring facades with suitable parameters.

Figure 2: Hamad International Airport

Figure 3: Hamad Airport facilities

Figure 4: Qatar Airways

Pre engineered single components with single fix nstallationm AWP panels can also be quickly and easily installed and the site time in this case is reduced by around 50%. The steelwork requirements are also reduced and are environmentally sustainable. The method of energy efficient performance is responsible for the reduction of the lifetime operating costs and also the carbon dioxide emissions by a percentage of 50%.  The airlines at Qatar and the Hamad International airport have become the standard to abide by in the present situation.

The maintenance hangar at the Hamad international Airport is presently the Benchmark in the region for advanced, safe and durable roofing and walling. It basically underlines the strong partnerships at the Kingspan insulated panels LLC which has been formed in the middle east where ambitious infrastructure developments are on-going.

Conclusion:

The airline industry has grown enormously in the recent times. In the past it has been seen that there were very few airlines operating across the world. There is a great development in the particular industry of choice. The growth of the airline market has been responsible for a considerable competition of the stakeholders. The development of an effective strategy is considered to be the only solution to overcome the competition in the industry. The growth of the airline market has been responsible for the competition among the stakeholders. The success of any airline industry at present is dependent on the suitability of the adopted strategy. The secret behind successful airlines is the highest growth rate in all parts of the world where it has its operations. The growth of the airline industry has also led to a suitable amount of brand awareness in the industry. The facilities which airlines provide to its customers can lead to the reasons for its success.

Much effort goes into the aviation industry being constructed properly and are not all positive. The main fact is that the changes in the industry cannot always be positive. The aviation industry can continue to grow in all ways, means and for the achievement of both profit and whatever the consumer demands. It is clear to stay that the industry is very complex and will always have that particular status.

The aim of this section is to discuss about the methods of research and the ways which have been adopted to conduct the relevant research. The research methodology focuses on several areas of the study including that of research type, the nature of the data to be collected, the nature of the research design, the methodology of data collection and finally the limitations of the research and scope for future study if possible. It also discusses about the primary data, the secondary data in case any of them have been used and so on. The methodology is basically used to understand how much effective the research design is on the basis of the survey conducted. In order to make a particular research robust as well as far-sighted, for the effective contribution of the study in future it is crucial to properly develop an efficient as well as appropriate research methodology. The tools and purpose used in this case need to be relevant to the particular study (Mertens, 2014).

Research design is basically a master plan or framework which is of help in guiding the framework of a particular research. Three different conditions are there in order to determine the choice of a research design which include the nature of the research questions which are asked, the control of the researchers on the actual behaviour and also the focus on the current happenings. The aim of a research design is to basically guide a researcher through the procedure of the collection, analysis and interpretation of data. Overall there are three basic categories of research design which are considered at the time of the framing of the methodology for the research under question. These comprise of descriptive, explanatory and finally exploratory research design.

The first type namely the explanatory design of research deals with the identification of various types of occurrence of certain incidents. The exploratory research design basically helps to understand the events which are occurring in an in-depth manner. This is evident from the term exploratory itself. The exploratory framework not only helps in understanding the issues deeply but in addition to that also helps in the attainment of proper insights regarding the occurrences and the solutions of the relevant problems which are considered in the research (Zohrabi, 2013).

The descriptive nature of research design is descriptive by nature. This is actually helpful in the enhancement of knowledge, depending on the type of study concerned. It takes into account the nature of the events which occur and describe them based on the conceptual and theoretical frameworks possible. The present research aims to understand the opinions of the airport operation managers and also the supplier operation managers who are to be interviewed based on the interview questionnaire which has been designed. The conducted interviews in this case would help in the identification of the different operational tactics, issues, challenges and show the direction to the supplier as to how the supplier integration and collaboration would be brought about.

The research type in this particular study is of descriptive nature. The descriptive research is basically a study of status and in widely used in several disciplines. Its value is basically based on the premise that the problems can be solved and the practices improved through observation, analysis as well as description. The most common descriptive research method is that of the survey which includes questionnaires, personal interviews, phone surveys as well as normative surveys. The developmental research is also descriptive by nature. Descriptive research is basically a statement of affairs which are present in case the researcher has no control over a single variable. In addition to this it can be said that descriptive studies might be characterised by the simple attempt to determine describe or identify what actually is while other forms basically analytical research attempts to establish why it is a particular way (Smith, 2015).

Descriptive research helps in throwing light on the present issues or problems by a particular process of data collection which helps them to describe the situation much more completely than it would have been possible without employing of this particular method. Descriptive studies are utilized to describe different aspects of any particular phenomenon on the topic of study. An important characteristic of descriptive research relates to the phenomenon that only a single variable is required to conduct a particular study. The three most important findings of descriptive studies are the explanation, validating and description of the findings. An important characteristic of this kind of research, is the employing of a number of variables which are requested to conduct a particular study. This sort of research is seen to be closely linked to the observational data collection method.

Descriptive research is very much effective to analyse specifically non-quantified topics and issues. There is always the possibility of observation of the phenomenon in a completely natural and unchanged environment. The chance of integration of the various qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection is very much present in this method. This method is less time consuming and much less in comparison to quantitative experiments.

The research approaches of a specific study are used to show the major construct on the basis of which the methodological framework of the research concerned is constructed. There are broadly three types of research approach. These can be stated as deductive research approach, inductive research approach and abductive research approach. The discussion of the research approach is a crucial part of any scientific study regardless of the area of research. Within the methodology, the approach used as well as the breaking down of the arguments needs to be considered.

In case there is a formulation of a set of hypothesis for the research which need to be confirmed or rejected at the time of research process it would comprise a deductive approach.

In case of inductive research approach there is no sort of hypothesis formulation. It starts with the research questions and aims and objectives that need to be achieved at the time of the procedure of the research.

In this particular research approach, the research process is designated to the explanation to the incomplete observations which have been specified at the beginning of the study.

Research ethics are factors which protect human subject or participants and also raise unique queries and complicated ethical, legal, social and political issues. Research ethics is particularly interested in the analysis of ethical issues which are raised when people are caught up as participants of the research. There are three main objectives under the ethics of research. The first and the most broad objective is the protection of the human participants. The second aim is to ensure that the research is conducted in a way which serves the interests of the individual, groups or the society completely. The third purpose is to examine the specific research activities and projects for ethical soundness looking at the issues which include the administration of risk, protection of confidentiality and the procedure of well-versed consent. No matter whatever the research method adopted it needs to maintain the ethical considerations at all times.

The study population is the one which the researcher needs to target and on which ideally the research study needs to be based on. There needs to be a proper understanding of the study population which is to be pre-determined in order to make sure that the findings and the requirements of the study are met. In this particular case study on the supply chain collaboration and integration for the enhancement of operational efficiencies and competitive advantage the main and target population is that of the operational managers at the airports and centres and also the customers, managers and suppliers of the industry. It also needs to be verified that the people from whom the data are collected are genuine and authentic. It also needs to be made sure that the data which the participants provide are authentic and genuine. The study population in this case are the stakeholders of the airline and aircraft industry who all are to be interviewed.

A population is a group of individuals, persons, objects or items from which the samples are considered for measurement. The complete group of individuals about whom the information is gathered is the target population concerned. Based on the study the target population is actually the managers, customers and supplies of the airline industry who all are to be interviewed.

The sample population in this particular survey consisted of certain operations managers and a certain proportion, specifically 10% of the customers. The sample comprised of the airport operations managers interviewed, the mangers of the Qatar Airlines and also the suppliers of the airports. The sample population is usually taken in a research such that it is a representative of the sample and it helps in the formation of an idea about the population.  The sample needs to be a proper representative of the overall population which has been looked at in this particular regard. In case the chosen sample is genuine then the inferences which can be made about the population and also about the nature of the research is genuine (Robinson, 2014).

There are different types of sampling techniques which can be adopted for the choice of the sample which is needed for a particular research. The popular types of sampling techniques can comprise of the non-probability sampling, simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling, cluster sampling, quota sampling and mini-max sampling among others.  In this case the sampling technique is that of a quota sampling as the population and hence the sample has been categorized on the basis of certain desired features. Quota sampling can actually be considered to be the non-probability equivalent of stratified sampling which is usually one of the better methods of sampling (Suri, 2011).

Data sources that are used extensively in different researches are broadly of two categories namely primary and secondary. The primary data comprise of those empirical evidence which are collected by the researcher by directly interviewing the relevant people for the purpose of their individual research. It is generally believed that primary data are less erroneous and of superior quality in comparison to other forms of data. However the collection of primary data is a time taking and costly process. This makes the researchers work with the sources of secondary data sources. These categories of data are either obtained from different sources of data and are not collected by the researcher. Secondary data reduces the cost of data collection. However there always remains the risk of working with much more erroneous and biased data (Phellas, Bloch & Seale, 2011).

Primary data comprise an original source of data which is actually the one in which the data are gathered by the research person at first by for his or her project. The primary data can be collected in different ways. The most common techniques are self-administered surveys, interviews, field observation and experiments. Primary data collection is genuinely expensive and time consuming compared to the collection of secondary data. Despite this fact, the primary data collection is the only suitable method of data collection for certain specific types of research. Primary sources of data are original, the respondents are genuine and the data collected are also authentic. In this particular case the nature of data collected is primary. The suppliers, managers as well as the customers are either interviewed or provided with questionnaires in order to elicit their responses. The airport operation managers and the supplier operation managers are interviewed using a different approach and the customers are interviewed by a different method.

No matter whatever the method employed to generate responses, the data which has been generated are primary by nature and therefore as authentic as possible.

The questionnaire is an instrument of research which comprise of a series of questions which are utilized for the purpose of gathering information from the respondents. These can basically be considered as a written from of the interview. Questionnaires are a way of obtaining large amounts of data which are collected from a large number of respondents. The answers which are gathered from the examples of questionnaires which are typically analysed or interpreted help the researchers to come up with solutions to the research which is being conducted. Such solutions are analysed or interpreted which are utilized by different fields in order to provide answers to the most pressing issues and solutions.

The negative aspects of questionnaires are basically the hiding of information by the respondents who are not interested to share the suitable information. This might tamper with the said records and cause the results of the research to be misinterpreted. In this particular research two types of questionnaires are designed. One is the interview questionnaire and the other category is the questionnaire survey. The answers are gathered from the questionnaires. The two types of questionnaires involve two different types of question patterns. These questionnaires are utilized to understand the answers and analyse them with respect to the research.

The interviews which are made to the operation managers and the interviewees namely the customers are used to elicit their responses in both cases. In the interview survey which is given to the customers the actual nature comprises of closed ended questions which help in the eliciting of the percentage of positive or negative answers to the respective questions in the survey concerned. Closed ended questions structure the answer by allowing responses to fit into pre-decided categories. The strength of a closed ended questionnaire is in the provision of large amounts of research data at costs which are relatively low and the sample size which is representative of the population can help the researcher generalize it. The questions in the questionnaire survey are standardized and all the respondents are asked exactly the same questions in the same particular order. This is supposed to mean that a questionnaire can be replicated easily for checking the reliability of the conducted research. There is a certain limitation in the sense that the specific responses do not allow the people to express what they feel in their own words.

The customer survey questionnaire is basically based on the questions which have multiple options and can elicit any of the responses which is possible from the survey. The customer survey questionnaire comprises of thirteen closed ended questions which have four to five choices from which the interviewees have to choose. The last question is related on the feedback of the Hamad International Airport or any comments which the customers have to make on the airport.  

Therefore it can be said that the survey questionnaire helps to get a comprehensive idea about their liking, their satisfaction level and also their ideas as to the delay areas in the airport. Questions are also discussed about the staff, the performance level of the staff members and their treatment of the customers at the airport (Im & Chee, 2011).

The interview questionnaire which is provided to the airport operation managers for their interview comprise of fourteen open ended questions which are utilized to elicit their respective responses on each of the questions. The interview questions for the airport operation managers can be considered to be a structured interview which helps in understanding their opinions and their viewpoints on the questions which are asked to them.  The interview questionnaire of the Qatar airways operations manager interview also comprises of twelve questions which are also open ended to elicit responses from the managers. The supplier operations manager interview also comprises of thirteen open ended questions which are related to the services to Qatar airways and the provision of the collaboration as well as the approach of integration. These three different types of interviews to the managers of the organisations help in the overall understanding of the organisational needs and the importance of operations and supplier collaborations with the airport.

In this case, secondary data sources have not been used much for the purpose of the survey. The secondary data sources are not considered to be reliable sources of information in all circumstances. The secondary data sources namely the airport manuals, the operations explanations of the airport, supplier information have been utilized to select the sample to make the sample representative of the population. As a whole the secondary sources of information need to be considered. It needs to be ensured that the secondary sources of information are genuine.

There are two chief types of data analysis. These are qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The method of “quantitative research” is utilized to quantify a particular problem or is used to generate numerical data or data which can be transformed into usable statistics. It is used to “quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviours and other defined variables an generalize the results from a sample population which is larger”. It is used to collect measurable data to formulate the facts and uncover the patterns in research. Quantitative methods of collection of data are much more structured than the qualitative data collection methods.

The qualitative method of research is chiefly an exploratory research. It is basically used to gain a proper understanding of the underlying reasons, opinions and motivations. It also provides insights into the problems of the research and also helps in understanding the ideas for potential methods of “quantitative research.” The qualitative research methods is used to expose trends in the thought and opinions and also go deeper into the trouble. Qualitative data compilation ways are several in number and they might vary based on the unstructured or semi-structured techniques (Im & Chee, 2011).

The limitations of the quantitative research are some. The quantitative research methodology usually requires a large size of the sample. In certain cases the respondents might not be available to provide suitable resources for data collection. The time frame and the frame of mind of the respondents need to be suitable for providing the suitable responses to the people. There are limited responses which are available for the survey. The procedure of collection of such data is expensive as well as time consuming. A lot of time is required to perform the analysis. It is also difficult in case the amount of data becomes difficult to perform. The requirements for the successful statistical confirmation of the results are very difficult in case of quantitative research. The related secondary data is not available and accessing such data becomes extremely difficult. It is more or less okay to analyse but difficult to understand in the context of a particular phenomenon.  The data might not be robust enough for the explanation of complex issues. Quantitative research can be compared to scientific processes. Not always the desired level of accuracy is reached at. In surveys the researcher pits importance on the self reports and not on the direct inspection of the happening of interest. The respondents’ honesty, seriousness, precise memory and interest in the survey settle on the accuracy of the findings.

There are certain patterns of behaviour which are ignored and therefore they might pose a problem as the researcher might not consider it to be of interest. The research in this case might be inconclusive.

Conclusion:

In this particular research, the type of data collected is quantitative data and the nature of the data is obtained from quantitative research methods. However there is much scope for future research and this can be done in case more and more interviewees are collected for research. It however needs to be kept in mind that the interviewees should be such that their opinions need to be relevant and of suitable consequence. It also has to be understood that the individuals participating in the research has to be of consequence. Thus it can be said that if more and more data can be collected to make the results suitable and conclusive. The research related to the airports and airline industry is bound to help in valuable conclusions related to the method of study. Attempts should be made to make the research suitable and helpful in future.

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