Singapore Airlines (SIA), renowned for service excellence and innovation, faces new challenges despite record profits in FY2024/25. Increased competition, rising costs, and reliance on fare promotions threaten profitability and brand exclusivity. Major investments in premium products, digital transformation, and international partnerships require careful execution to sustain SIA’s premium positioning and long-term growth.
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flagship airline, faced major criticism after mass flight cancellations during peak travel periods, exposing weaknesses in crew planning and digital resource management. While new digital systems and bonuses aim to address staffing issues, concerns remain about pilot fatigue, safety, and the airline’s ability to sustainably support future fleet expansion.
Hong Kong Airlines faced severe financial distress due to political unrest and the pandemic, prompting major restructuring, fleet reduction, and cost-cutting. While these measures saved the airline from liquidation, they resulted in lost market share and diminished service quality, challenging future competitiveness and customer loyalty.
This course provides an overview of airline management decision processes with a focus on economic issues and their relationship to operations planning models and decision support tools. It emphasizes the application of economic models of demand, pricing, costs, and supply to airline markets and networks, and it examines industry practice and emerging methods for fleet planning, route network design, scheduling, pricing and revenue management.
