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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 0019.PDF
FLIGHT International, 3 January 1981 17 craft is worked, and we see this in: Departures per employee: More staff are generally needed to despatch a big airliner, and smaller airliners tend to operate the short-haul, higher- frequency sectors. This yardstick also tends to favour the short-haul opera tor. The American group again stands out, with the exception of Pan Ameri can, which until recently has had no domestic routes. The average stage- lengths of Delta, Northwest and United are around those of the Euro pean group, hovering about 1,000km; but each American employee des patches double the number of flights. Top of the league again is Delta. Allowance must be made for the hang-ups and hassles of European frontiers, both in the air and on the ground: there are as many customs laws and air-traffic control authorities in Europe as there are countries. Per haps old Europe deserves her indus trial inefficiency, which is the hand maiden of sovereignty. Provincialism prospers: the year 1981 will almost certainly toll the bell for Eurocontrol, set up 20 years ago in a vain bid for the executive air-traffic control authority of Europe. Similar thoughts arise from a study of: Capacity tonne-km (CTK) per em ployee: This measure, like seat-miles per employee, is one of the common est yardsticks of transport efficiency. CTK includes cargo and mail and is the total airline product, the complete measure of output. But it is far from being a complete measure of effi ciency. ABC Airways flying small air liners at high frequency on short sec tors may produce a fraction of the CTK achieved by XYZ Airways oper ating jumbos on long sectors. This measure tends to favour long-haulers, airlines with a preponderance of big- capacity aircraft, all-cargo 747s being the biggest CTK-generators per hour. The Americans, with Northwest outstanding even above Pan Ameri can, score strongly over the Euro peans, as does Japan Air Lines. Inasmuch as European, American, Japanese and indeed most non-Soviet- bloc airlines operate similar aircraft, CTK/employee is certainly valid as a comparative measure of staff pro ductivity, though it is weighted in 1 <BMa "Short-haulage in itself is a test of efficiency . . favour of those carriers with big ships and long average stage-lengths. The US carriers selected for this study enjoy rather longer hauls than do the selected Europeans; but if short-haulage in itself is a test of effi ciency (as the puddle-jumpers insist it is) then Delta has, with SAS, the best excuse for coming bottom in most of our efficiency measures. In fact it consistently comes out either well above average or top. Revenue earned per employee: This is not a measure of wages, but of cash flowing into the business per staffmember. It, too, gives an indica tion of commercial service with a smile, but Euro-American comparisons are distorted by the great differences in fares. US domestic services cost the passenger half per kilometre what he pays to fly between European cities. Pooling agreements and lack of com petition are still the canker in Europe's airline blossom. One measure of the disparity in fares is revenue per passenger load tonne-km actually carried (not just capacity tonne-km offered). This "revenue rate", a measure of ticket BA BCal SAS Alit Luft AF Delta NW PAA TWA UAL JAL Aircraft 176 29 75 64 93 119 204 106 92 224** 337tt 75 Employees 54,463 6,197 16,231 17,040 29,558 32,175 32,281 8,036tt 26,964 35,900 50.807 20,908 CTK x 1,000m 7,197 960 2,553 2,666 4,983 5,672 7,310 3,764* 8,497t 9.392* 12,881 5,890 (Br/tisft Aerospace 748) price, was in 1978 as follows: Passenger revenue rate/LTK (US cents) in 1978: British Airways, 69-7 BCal, 94-3; SAS, 77-6; Alitalia, 75-3 Lufthansa, 95-5; Air France, 78 1 Delta, 59-7; Northwest, 54-5; Pan American, 53-4; TWA, 52-5; United, 52-0; JAL, 77-6. Passengers carried per employee: Since the majority of the world's air passengers take trips shorter than 1,000km, we would expect the record- breakers to be airlines with short stage-lengths. This is borne out by Delta's performance, again. Delta staff get three times more passengers into the sky than do three or four airlines with longer sectors. Pan Am's people, despite working stages double those of the Europeans, get nearly as many passengers. Japan Air Lines' Average sector or stage tength-km u n uL BA BCal SAS Alii Luft AF Detta NW PAA TWA UAL JAL Cost leveKUScents/capacity tonne-km) 50— Tota Hi Deluding maintenance wtm) Note: All numbers are from Icao statistical digests for 1978. Where data show discrepancies, presumably as a result of US industrial actions in 1978, 1977 numbers are indicated below:— * 5,999 in 1977. t 9.039 in 1977. $9,672 in 1977. *» 254 in 1977. ft 378 in 1977. *$ 11,335 in 1977. D BA BCal SAS Alit Lutt AF Delta NW PAA TWA UAL JAL S Revenue earned per employee Passengers carried per employee Utilisation (flying hrper aircraft per year) 120- 100- « 8 8°- o o §60- 40 20 1,200- 1,000' 800- 600- 400 200- [—I r—i r—| 4,000- 3,000- 2,000- 0-BA BCal SAS Alit Luft AF Delta NW PAA TWA UAL JAL BA BCal SAS Alit Luft AF Delta NW PAA TWA UAL JAL BA BCal SAS Alit Luft AF Delta NW PAA TWA UAL JAL
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