(Author Name)
(Institute)
- Briefly summarize the history of Air Traffic Control / NAS. Include an explanation of some key players and events. (1-2 pages)
The evolution of Air Traffic Control began with the Post Office scheduling regular flights in 1918. The commercial air industry encouraged and supported the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which lent Federal support to the aviation industry. Subsequent to the act, which charged the Secretary of Commerce with key tasks such as fostering air commerce, issuing and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilots, certificating aircraft, establishing airways, and operating and maintaining aids to air navigation was passed, the need for air traffic controllers to manage the movement of aircraft on and off the runways and in airspace was felt. Archie League of St. Louis is considered to be the first air traffic controller, waving flags to direct aircraft on the ground. Towards the beginning of the 1930s, light beacons were used to help aircraft determine flight pathways, replacing the bonfires that were used earlier to show the path to airmen. In the late 1930s, these were replaced by four course radio beacons to provide directions. These were in turn replaced gradually by radio and radar technology after the Second World War and later (USA Today, 2008).
On the eve of the Second World War, in 1938, the Federal Government set up the Civil Aeronautics Authority, uniting traffic control towers and airport traffic controllers under a single authority. As aircraft began carrying radio beacons (called transponders) in the 60s and radar became ubiquitous, the process of air traffic control became increasingly managed by machines and computers. Communications between aircraft and air traffic controllers improved to levels never imagined before. In 1956, after the collision of two aircraft over the Grand Canyon, killing all 128 passengers, Congress approved a $250 million package to upgrade air traffic systems including the use of radar as standard equipment for air traffic control. While these are still operational today, the aim is to replace the system of radio transponders and radar with satellite based guidance systems by the 2020s.
- Summarize the development of the air carrier industry and how the airmail service helped develop the airline industry.
The Air Mail Act of 1926 was the single largest influencer in facilitating the development of the airline industry. This law allowed the postmaster to contract with private airlines to deliver mail. This led to the setting up of many private airlines, the first generation of the private air carriers which had charters to deliver mail along certain routes. In addition to mail cargo, these airlines also carried passengers, and this helped the profitable expansion of the airlines. The first commercial airlines included Pan American, Western Air Express and Ford Transport Service (Harris, 2012).
In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Act established the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) which oversaw regulation of which airlines could carry passengers on which route. The Board was empowered to determine if the existing carrier delivered service as expected by passengers, and that the fare charged was based on average costs. In case an air carrier failed to meet these conditions, the CAB could invite other airlines to operate on that sector, thus leading to the development of the airline industry. Adding safety to the mandate of the CAB, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) was created in 1958 to oversee aviation operations and safety regulations.
The three most important acts that had an influence on the development of aviation include the Air Mail Act of 1926, the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 and the Air Safety Act of 1958. The Air Mail Act of 1926 allowed the postmaster to hire private aircraft to carry mail across the US to different cities thereby setting up aviation routes along which these carriers began carrying passengers as well. The combination of air cargo and passengers helped airlines sustain and develop their operations profitably and led to the growth of the aviation industry.
The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 set up the Civil Aeronautics Board, which oversaw the setting up and oversight of civil aviation development along routes and the growth of private airlines as air carriers. It also combined the air traffic control along routes as well as at airports under a single authority. This helped to regularize and standardize the operating procedures across the industry and give it direction.
The 1958 Air Safety Act led to the setting up of the FAA which had complete oversight of all aspects of the air travel industry, from operating norms to safety regulations and procedures. The FAA became the single government Authority responsible for civil aviation in the country and became the reference point for all issues relating to domestic and international civil aviation.
Together, these three acts combined to form the base of modern civil aviation as it exists today.
- Explain the importance of International Aviation on International Air Transportation Law. Include in your discussion the conferences, conventions and agreements concerning the sovereignty of airspace, the Bermuda Agreement, and the pursuit of open skies.
As the size and capacity of aircraft grew with the civil aviation sector, aircraft capable of covering long distances, and traveling between countries came into commercial use. With this, airline companies now had the capability to carry passengers between various countries. As a result, it became vital to create checks and regulations to track the entry of foreign country nationals into and out of the country. This led to the setting up of international aviation law, which governs the process of inter-country travel.
The Chicago Convention of 1944 established the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), under the offices of the United Nations, to regulate international air travel (Sand, Leon and Pratt, 2011). It originally had 52 signatories. ICAO became a specialized agency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Convention has since been revised eight times (in 1959, 1963, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1997, 2000 and 2006).
The Bermuda Agreement of 1946 between the US and the UK was the first bilateral agreement between two countries on the right to connect these two countries by air (Cooper, 1946). It was subsequently followed by almost 4,000 similar bilateral air transport agreements, all of which were registered with the ICAO.
The first worldwide Traffic Conference was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, and it had far-reaching impact on the growth of international air transportation. Unanimous agreement on nearly 400 resolutions covering all aspects of air travel was reached, including fare construction rules for multi-sector trips, revenue allocation - pro-rating - rules, baggage allowances, ticket and air waybill design and agency appointment procedures (IATA, 2013)
- Review and explain some of the names given to international carriers and the categories and names they have today. (From the lesson “The Airline Industry”)
Initially, air carriers were designated under three types. These were:
Common Carrier – These were aircraft used for transporting the public for hire and which worked on a fixed schedule
Contract Carrier – these were aircraft taken on contract to transport for hire but did not work on a fixed schedule
Private Carrier – These were privately owned and operated vehicles meant for individual or the use of companies etc. they were not allowed to carry passengers for hire.
(FAA, 1996)
The CAB later created a different classification for airlines. These were classified as Domestic Trunk Aircraft and flew on medium to long range routes mostly between metropolitan cities and carried large volumes of passengers. The airlines which flew on these routes mostly expanded to international air transportation as well. Airlines covering smaller routes from the mid-sized cities to these larger cities were called temporary or Feeder routes. Later the feeder routes also grew to challenge the larger trunk route carriers. Today, airlines are classified mostly as national or regional carriers.
In addition to the passenger carriers, all cargo carriers comprising of domestic and international only-cargo aircraft were also allowed to operate. With the advent of helicopters in commercial aviation, a rotary wing carrier was another term used to classify helicopter services.
Supplemental air carriers were a mix of passenger and cargo carriers, largely with domestic operations restricted between two cities. Air taxis and air freight forwarders were aircraft that carried passengers and cargo respectively on non-published timetables, that is, only when there was a need. Commuter air carriers developed from air taxis when they started operating on a published schedule. Foreign air carriers were those that operated on international routes.
After deregulation in 1978, all these categories were reduced to three primary categories of Major, National and Regional carriers for passenger traffic and all Cargo carriers.
- Define and explain the airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Review the events (pros and cons) leading up to it and the results after it. Is it still valid today or do you believe we need to reregulate or partially reregulate the industry? Why or why not?
In the 1970s, Alfred Kahn, a supporter of deregulation became the head of CAB. Around the same time, the classifications of airlines across types – domestic, trunk, air taxi, etc. began to get extremely complicated due to the large variety of services being offered. In addition, a British airline began offering intercontinental services at relatively cheap rates, which led to the demand for lower costs on inter-city domestic air travel as well. The CAB also reduced subsidies on the trunk routes and increased them for non-trunk routes. With the advent of commercial jets, the capacity of trunk carriers increased significantly allowing them to operate economically without subsidies. Load factors reduced and cost of fuel rose in the 70s, leading to calls for regulatory reforms.
As a result of all these, Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, and subsequently all routes were opened to all domestic carriers to operate services (Smith and Cox, n.d.). This created increasing competition and lowering of airfares as well as improved service and choice for passengers. This resulted in the airline industry getting a significant boost, and led to the condition of modern aviation as it exists today.
Deregulation has been a boon to the industry because it encouraged the creation of an open market structure where passengers could have access to better service and lower fares, as airlines no longer held monopoly on certain routes due to past association arising from the postal Air act. The deregulation increases competition and ensures airlines deliver the best service to customers in order to retain their business.
- Discuss Airline Pricing, Demand, and Output Determination. Specifically, the Law of Demand, determinants of Demand and the difference between elastic and inelastic demand. In addition, discuss the 4 types of passenger fares.
Price is a complex issue in air transportation because of the transition from a highly regulated industry to a deregulated environment. The law of demand states that as the price falls, the demand should increase correspondingly. As the price increases, demand should fall. The key factors that determine pricing and demand include
- Cost of operating a flight on that route,
- Total volume of the business,
- The number of competitors,
- the preferences of passengers,
- the number of passengers in a particular market,
- the financial status and income levels of the passengers,
- the prices of competitors and related travel expenses,
- passenger expectations with respect to future prices
In most cases, the drop in prices should lead to increase in demand. However, there is a limit to the rise in demand. For example, dropping a price does not increase the number of passengers traveling beyond the limit of the population of the town or city. Similarly, demand in certain times – holidays etc. will change very little even if the price increases, this is inelastic demand. If demand increases significantly higher than the degree to which price drops, this is called elastic demand (Gillen, Morrison and Stewart, 2008).
In 1956, two aircraft – one TWA and one United Airlines - carrying a total of 128 passengers and crew collided over the Grand Canyon (Aircraft Archeology, n.d.). The cause of this mid-air collision was not determined satisfactorily. However, given the nature of the accident, federal regulators decided to implement sweeping changes in the way the industry was run. Air route controllers and air traffic controllers at airports were put under the same authority and the mandate of the CAB was changed to include air safety and traffic regulation. This led to the ultimate creation of the Federal Aviation Authority the FAA.
Given the magnitude of the accident, the reaction was appropriate. However, the accident could have been avoided if the implementation of radar technology had been pursued. Therefore, the regulators were only correcting a prior mistake. The setting up of the FAA should have been done much earlier, but the regulations and rules of the time led to the situation in which the accident occurred, with no oversight from a central authority. The setting up of the FAA helped correct this shortcoming.
References
Aircraft Archeology (n.d.) Aircraft Wrecks in Arizona and the South-West, retrieved from http://www.aircraftarchaeology.com/twaunited.html
Cooper, JC (1946) The Bermuda Plan: World Pattern for Air Transport, retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/70543/john-c-cooper/the-bermuda-plan-world-pattern-for-air-transport
FAA (1996) Historical Chronology, 1926-1996 retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/about/history/chronolog_history/
Gillen, DW, Morrison, WG and Stewart, C (2008) Air Travel Demand Elasticities: Concepts, Issues and Measurement. Wilfred Lauren University, Waterloo, Canada, retrieved from www.fin.gc.ca/consultresp/Airtravel/airtravStdy_2-eng.asp
Harris, Amy (2012) The History of Airline Industry, retrieved from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-airline-industry-100074.html
IATA (2013) Early Days, retrieved from http://www.iata.org/about/pages/history_2.aspx
Kraus, TL (2011) 75 Years of Federal Air Traffic Control, Federal Aviation Authority.
Sand, PH, Lyon, JT and Pratt, GN (2011) An History of International Air Law since 1944, McGill Law Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, 125-160.
Smith, FL and Cox, B (n.d.) Airline Deregulation, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, retrieved from http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/AirlineDeregulation.html
USA Today (2008) A Brief History of Air Traffic Control, retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-10-10-atc-history_N.htm
