Introduction
Air transport development increased demand for airport facilities and efficient needs for cargo, passengers, and aircraft services. Advancement in computer technology has allowed manufacturers to design planes which are aerodynamic, more reliable, and powerful. Demand for transportation of cargo by air has grown steadily (Barczak, 2019). Air cargo terminals, fleets, and routes have also improved since airports are expanding air cargo operations to cut costs and improve service quality (Barczak, 2019). The cargo hubs utilize aircraft which include wide-body freighters, narrow-body freighters, and feeder airplanes. My selection is on feeder aircraft, which the express carriers rely on. They include DHL (International GmbH), United Parcel Service (UPS), and Lufthansa.
Advantages of Feeder Aircraft
I have chosen the feeder aircraft for my paper because they operate globally, therefore, linking different countries and, leading to international networks. The aircraft provide links and networks among hubs based on the full-service network carriers (FSNC), which optimize air cargo connectivity (Baxter, et al., 2018). Additionally, it incorporates and adopts the strategies of supply chain management, which results in cooperation and integration between the stakeholders participating in the supply chain and the air cargo companies.
Advantages of Primary Aircraft
The choice reduces risks since firms combine resources to form alliances for accomplishing a designated objective. Strategic associations, such as the WOW Cargo, comprise such members as Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, and SAS Cargo. These companies create a marketing advantage since consumers have a higher preference for airlines with extensive network routes (Baxter et al., 2018). Furthermore, alliances reduce costs, increase access to congested airports, and ensure the achievement of higher profits.
Disadvantages of Primary Aircraft
Similar to other aircrafts, the feeder airplanes have weaknesses which impede their operations. The feeder aircrafts groups are marketed as a commodity rather than a brand which meets marketing problems (Baxter et al., 2018). Furthermore, alliances are faced with issues which affect air cargo markets. These challenges include the concentration of demand, inadequate coordination arrangements within firms, uniformity in the appearance of the products, and air cargo product heterogeneity. Other prevalent problems include time sensitivity issues of air cargo, varying cultural practices, technological differences among members, and inadequate economies of scale.
Aircraft’s Operational Concern
Minimal attention has been paid to investigating the cause of accidents involving freighter aircrafts’ accidents. The approximate transported goods by major airline firms such as FedEx, DHL, and UPS in 2016 was 52 million tons (Kilic & Gundogdu, 2020). Cargo planes are subtle to risks when carrying hazardous and explosive materials (Baxter & Srisaeng, 2018). They also face challenges such as sabotage and hijacks, and other forms of crimes related to cargo, which contribute to accidents (Kilic & Gundogdu, 2020). Cargo aircraft accidents in 2019 were estimated to be at 30%, and they have not subsided to date (Kilic & Gundogdu, 2020). Accidents result in loss of staff and property worth millions.
Remedy to Operational Concerns
There are numerous cases of aircraft accidents in the contemporary industry. Human error accounts for 70-80% of airline aviation accidents (Kilic & Gundogdu, 2020). Future accidents will be prevented by identifying and analyzing frameworks of human errors using strategies such as management oversight and risk model (Kilic & Gundogdu, 2020). Erroneous filing of exportation documents results in wrong deliveries of cargo (Santisiri & Aksornkitti, 2019).
Therefore, to address the challenge, it is important to adopt proper oversight plans of cargo aircrafts operations coupled with strategic, competent supervisory steps. The selected aircraft fails to possess any maintenance concerns which disrupt the flow operations (Santisiri & Aksornkitti, 2019). It is important to address the challenges that result to accidents to improve the efficiency of the aircrafts.
Conclusion
Air transport increased demand for airport facilities and efficient needs for cargo, passengers, and aircraft services. My selection is on feeder aircraft, which is relied on by express carriers. Feeder aircraft operates internationally, leading to the creation of global networks. Human errors result in accidents, and wrongly filled exportation documents in air cargo operations lead to wrong deliveries. Elimination of human error prevents the occurrence of accidents which sabotage and disrupt operations of the airlines.
References
Barczak, A. (2019). Air cargo transportation in Poland–Trend analysis and forecast. Transport Economics and Logistics, 83(1), 79-87. Web.
Baxter, G., Srisaeng, P., & Wild, G. (2018). The air cargo carrying potential of the Airbus A350-900xWB and Boeing 787-9 aircraft on their ultra-long-haul flights: A case study for flights from San Francisco to Singapore. Transport and Telecommunication Journal, 19(4), 301-314. Web.
Baxter, G., & Srisaeng, P. (2018). Cooperating to compete in the global air cargo industry: The case of the DHL express and Lufthansa cargo A.G Joint venture airline ‘Aerologic’. Infrastructures, 3(1), 7. Web.
Kilic, B., & Gundogdu, S. (2020). Human factors in air cargo operations: An analysis using HFACS. Journal of Aviation Research, 2(2), 101-114.
Santisiri, W., & Aksornkitti, B. (2019). The Error Prevention in Filling Exported Documents in Air Cargo Operation. RSU International Research Conference, Thailand. Web.