Your airline will rely on various support services to keep your planes in the air.
It takes more than just good planning, a decent level of business acumen, and the right choice of aircraft to get an airline up and running. Without essential support services, your aircraft will remain static on the ground, unable to perform the very task for which they were acquired.
In this part of the series, let’s investigate what additional services you might require to keep your fleet in the air, carrying passengers and/or cargo and ultimately earning your airline revenue.
Introduction
By now, your airline is really taking shape as you approach the final steps of your business plan together (see How To Start An Airline: Part 2 – Developing A Business Plan). So far in the series, you have organized your finances (Part 3 – Finances) and secured all of the key personnel and other aspects of your operation (Part 4 – Planning And Infrastructure).
You will have also sourced and perhaps even obtained your startup aircraft (Part 5 – Aircraft Selection And Sourcing) and have your AOC and Operating License in place (Part 6 – Certification). Lastly, you will have refined the concept for your passenger’s experience so that they know what to expect from flying with your airline (Part 7 – Passenger Experience).
In this part of the series, we will take a closer look at the array of support services that your airline will require to launch and maintain reliable and safe operations. Some of these services may seem less important than others, yet they all have their place in the complicated jigsaw that gets your aircraft ready to fly, turned around at the airports into which you fly, and your operations running smoothly at all times.
A smooth operation should be synonymous with a safe and reliable one. But questionable reliability and safety could ultimately be the difference between your airline making it but, conversely, failing to survive.
Employing a careful and considered approach when procuring the essential support services will significantly impact your airline and its bottom line. With commercial understanding and a reasonable degree of negotiation skills, you should be able to secure the support services your airline will require at a deal that is right for you and your passengers.
Such services will be the lifeblood of your airline’s day-to-day operation. Getting the process right should serve you well as your airline finds its feet, or wings, in the modern-day airline industry.
Airport handling – the basics
The handling of commercial aircraft at airports is generally classified under two descriptive headings and then split into subgroups under those headings. The terms recognized throughout the industry for the various types of handling are described as ‘above the wing’ and ‘below the wing’ services.
Above the wing handling services includes all aspects of passenger handling, plus other activities that generally occur within the terminal building or directly relate to passengers. Below the wing handling activities are far more likely to occur around your aircraft while it sits on the ground, parked either at a gate or elsewhere on the airfield.
We will examine each of these types of handling in more detail below.
Handling is the general term given to all the various services that will contribute to the turnaround process, taking an arriving aircraft and transforming it into a clean, fuelled, and possibly catered airliner for its next passenger service. Simple Flying covered the more detailed intricacies of the aircraft turnaround process in this recent article.
You will need to carefully consider how your airline will procure the services it requires to handle your passengers, cargo, and aircraft so that your operation can run smoothly and keep to schedule.
Passenger handling is generally completed for departing passengers once they are safely handed over to the crew once they board the aircraft before departure. Likewise, once arriving passengers disembark the plane, they become under the responsibility of the ground staff inside the terminal building.
However, the lines of responsibility can be blurred in certain circumstances, such as in this case involving easyJet, as I reported for Simple Flying recently.
The turnaround of an aircraft is a carefully orchestrated procedure, intricately choreographed so that all functions are completed within a strict time window so that the plane is ready to depart on its next revenue flight at its allocated departure time.
In the time-lapse video below, you will see this precise procedure in operation, from the aircraft’s arrival at the parking stand to the release of brakes and the pushback for departure. While the video predominantly displays the below the wing operation, some aspects of above the wing activities can also be seen.
Above the wing handling
As mentioned, above the wing handling relates to everything involving the handling of passengers. This can be either within the airport terminal building to onboard the aircraft itself. The main areas of this type of handling include, but are not limited to, the following activities –
- Check-in services
- Baggage services and inquiries
- Inflight catering (see below)
- Aircraft cabin cleaning
- Special assistance, wheelchair, and ambulift provision
- Customer services and airport ticket desks
As many of these activities bring your airline directly into contact with the customer, each separate element must be provided in a timely, safe manner and in a way that will enhance the passengers’ overall perception of their experience and your airline. As touched on in Part 7 of this series, customer loyalty is everything in the airline business. Keep passengers returning, which means fewer dollars you need to be plowing into the marketing budget.
Below the wing handling
This handling category tends to occur on the ramp once an aircraft arrives at its stand and prepares for its next sortie. Again, the terminology encompasses a vast range of activities, which generally take place ‘airside’, where skilled workers with enhanced security clearance operate in highly dynamic and often potentially dangerous conditions.
Some of the main below the wing services that most readers will recognize include-
- Fuel provision and refueling
- General ground handling – pushback tugs, wing walkers, marshaling services, operation of airbridges,
- De-icing services in icy or potentially icy conditions
- Cargo handling and loading
- Baggage handling, sorting, and loading, plus preparing load sheets and weight and balance documentation.
- Toilet waste servicing plus potable water supplies.
- Aircraft towing services
- Aircraft exterior cleaning
Airport handling – your options
Regarding handling under both classifications identified above, airlines tend to contract for handling services in one of three ways. These are –
- Third-party handling services provided by a specialist handling company;
- Self-handling (where an airline provides its own handling services); or
- Handling services are provided by another airline that offers handling services at certain airports to other operators.
It will be up to you as to which model of handling you opt for at each airport your airline flies to. Note that airlines select different handling models for different airports they serve and do generally not follow a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
Using a third-party provider
Generally, airlines don’t carry out their own handling functions. Handling the management of all the various services that get your aircraft ready for its next service once it arrives at an airport can be complex and expensive. Many airlines view this task as a distraction and subcontract it to others whose business is solely to provide such services.
Since setting up an in-house handling operation is so expensive, it may prove far more cost-effective to contract out part or all of your handling to a third party. Most airports have one or more independent handling companies that exist solely to service the needs of airlines operating to those airports that do not wish to self-handle.
The airports you fly to may be one of your bases but may also be on another continent many thousands of miles and several flight hours from home.
Unless you have reached a critical mass whereby your airline can be set up and then operate profitably, as well as bear the total costs of owning your own handling operations, then contracting third-party suppliers and procuring their services is likely to be a more practical, cost-effective solution for you.
Such companies make their money by serving a range of different airline flights across the day (or during the operating hours of the airport), so you may be able to strike a better deal if your flights happen to arrive during off-peak times when the handling company is likely to have assets and staff available.
The contract with the handling company may be for a fixed term or on a rolling basis and stipulate what services are to be supplied. It should also lay down service quality guarantees and also on-time performance metrics.
These will protect your airline’s operation so that should the handling company continually underperform and delay your flights, you will have grounds for a claim against the handling company under the terms of the agreement.
Self-handling
Self-handling is more common at home base airports where the passenger traffic volumes can justify the investment in staff recruitment, training, and the equipment required. This involves employing your own staff to provide some or all of the services listed above, either employed directly by your airline or a subsidiary company.
Ryanair, for example, self-handles its flights at London Stansted Airport through its subsidiary, Blue Handling LImited, co-owned with another company, Omniserve.
With the self-handling model, your airline will recruit and train its staff to serve your passengers and provide other ground services. Your handling operation may well obtain its own ground equipment such as baggage belt loaders, sets of aircraft steps, de-icing trucks, and pushback vehicles, to name but a few.
Your handling operation will handle all of your own flights. Still, you may also contract its services to other carriers should it have spare capacity, for example, once all of your aircraft have departed on outbound services.
Doing so will attract an additional income stream to offset the investment costs involved in setting up your self-handling operation and can keep staff fully employed while waiting for your own aircraft to return.
Using another airline for handling services
Often larger airlines, particularly at hub airports where they already provide handling services for their own operation, will offer such services to other airlines at the airport. For example, British Airways have provided handling for other oneworld airlines at London Heathrow Airport, its own home base, for many years.
One aspect that might prove to be a particular attraction of this model for your airline is that you are likely to be contracting with a carrier with vast experience handling operations at that specific airport.
There is a potential downside, however. In cases where several flights are due to depart simultaneously, and yours happens to be the only one not operated by the airline providing your ground handling, you might find your flight has to wait until a pushback tug becomes available once all of the other airline’s flights have left their gates. Unusual although this scenario may seem, it can and does happen!
The importance of good passenger handling
A well-functioning passenger and aircraft handling function is essential for your airline’s operation. Without a reliable process to get passengers on and off your aircraft and get it turned around swiftly, and on time, you may as well give up without trying.
As discussed in the previous article in this series, passenger experience is all-encompassing, and there is little room for error. The slightest hiccup in your passenger’s experience can blight their whole experience traveling on your airline.
Ultimately, a passenger’s post-flight perception of your airline will undoubtedly include their journey through the terminal and the time spent onboard your aircraft. As we have seen, getting an aircrfat unloaded, cleaned, catered, and reloaded takes great coordination, with various elements working together in unison to get that aircraft away on time.
The whole process is fragile regardless of how often it is performed each day. It only takes one kink in the chain to unravel the entire process, leading to missed slots, delayed flights, and disgruntled passengers.
When selecting your handling services provider, look for a proven track record, who are the other customers that entrust their flights to that provider, and make sure that your airline is protected if the service level agreed to at the contract stage is not adhered to or falls short once the contract is underway. Your airline is the customer; as the old saying goes, “the customer is always right.”
Engineering
As with handling, you can opt for various engineering and maintenance support models for your new airline operation. You may decide to invest in a full in-house engineering department that can provide anything from heavy maintenance in your own hangars to contracting out your maintenance support to a third party.
In the same way as handling services, specialized maintenance companies, and other airlines can offer such engineering services, which are attractive options for any new airline starting out.
You may decide to employ your own licensed engineers for routine, or ‘line’ maintenance, where your own engineers tend to your aircraft when on the ground at your bases, resolving any minor engineering snags to ensure that your aircraft remain serviceable.
Each aircraft type in your fleet will be certified with what is known as a Minimum Equipment List (MEL). This serves as a checklist of what onboard equipment each aircraft must have in working order to be dispatched legally on commercial service.
Often, new startup airlines will employ line engineers to ensure that their fleets are maintained to this level so that they can continue to operate, with any significant issue being dealt with on the next maintenance layover, possibly by a third-party maintenance supplier. Some airlines will even dispatch flights with such engineers onboard (known colloquially as ‘flying spanners’) so that should the aircraft develop a fault down route, it can be resolved, and the aircrfat returned home as swiftly as possible.
This often occurs when a flight is operating a previously unused airfield where there is little or no third-party maintenance support available. For example, the flights from European countries to the airports in Ivalo and Kittilla located in Northern Finland for so-called ‘Santa flights’ each December often carry traveling engineers onboard for precisely this reason.
When deciding upon maintenance services provision, you must decide how much you are willing to invest in your own in-house operation versus how much it would be to outsource some of the entire operation to another organization.
A smooth maintenance operation is crucial for any airline. Having reliable engineering support impacts everything your airline does, from its on-time despatch reliability to customer satisfaction and safety. There are no corners to be cut when it comes to maintenance, which is a costly element of running an airline. Cutting corners leads to complacency and unsafe working practices, ultimately impacting flight safety.
Unless you can ensure that your airline has sufficient engineering support to keep it operating safely at all times of the day and night from the very outset, you should step away from the whole idea of running an airline now.
Inflight services
The term inflight services are often imagined as simply relating to the catering aspect of air travel. Yet it can consist of more than just the food and beverage service onboard passenger flights. Other services, such as selling tax-free goods and other consumables, have become part and parcel of modern air travel. For more on this, see How To Start An Airline: Part 7 – Passenger Experience.
Some airlines sell lottery tickets onboard, while others offer the chance to purchase train tickets for onward travel from the airport after arrival. Although such offerings can add significant incremental revenue to the airline’s bottom line, there is a cost to offering such ‘frills’ and behind the supply chain of such goods and services is a contract between the airline and the supplier.
Inflight catering has evolved enormously over the decades. It was not that long ago that being able to purchase food and drinks onboard routinely was an unheard-of concept. Nowadays, it has become commonplace across large swathes of the industry.
Conversely, the major carriers have been forced to up their game regarding inflight food and beverage service as the competition for the travel dollars of high-end premium passengers has increased. While the average passenger appreciates the service of food and drinks onboard, it is a highly costly business for airlines.
For example, removing single after-dinner chocolate from the business class cabins of a short-haul medium-sized European operator saved the airline almost US$1 million annually. Also, for the long-haul carrier offerings complete meal services in all three or four classes onboard, the costs of additional fuel required to carry large amounts of crockery, cutlery, and glass around the sky cannot be underestimated.
It is also a highly complex logistical task to fulfill service offerings on every flight your airline operates. It takes staff, training, computer-based stock and sales software, and logistical support to get the goods on and off the aircraft at each airport you fly.
Depending on the type of model you choose for your airline (and indeed, the level of inflight service you intend to offer o your passengers), you’ll need to conduct a rigorous tender process, find the supplier that is right for your airline, and will work with you to achieve the objectives.
At certain airports, you’ll have greater choice than at others, so the art of negotiating a good deal will be crucial. As with the example of the after-dinner chocolate above, even the slightest change to an inflight meal can hugely impact your bottom line.
IT and administration support
In the modern age, where everything relies on IT, you will need to invest in systems and technology that will support your operation. Every element of today’s airline operation runs on technology, so the procurement of such IT is crucial for you to operate and compete with your competitors.
Although the list of technology you will need to procure for your airline is far too extensive to reproduce in full here, some of the major systems you may want to consider early on might be –
- Reservations systems
- Customer and frequent flyer databases
- Check-in and baggage tracking systems
- Electonic maintenance logs
- Access to Global Distributions Systems to sell your flights through third parties and travel agents
- Flight monitoring, flight planning, and flight tracking software
- Your airline’s website and functionality
- Operations management software
Gone are the days when most of the work involved getting passengers on planes, getting those planes off the ground, and then delivering the passengers to their destination was paper-driven.
Any new airline will be compelled to invest heavily in IT infrastructure to function adequately and efficiently. The early selection of appropriate software solutions is advisable, particularly if you are purchasing off-the-shelf solutions that will require any level of customization to make them fit for the purpose for which your airline requires it.
As an additional point, along with the software you will need to run a successful airline, you will also require adequate systems support in case things go wrong, as they routinely do with complicated computerized systems. Either employing your own in-house support teams or outsourcing this aspect will also form a crucial part of your IT procurement process.
Other services you might consider
As touched upon at the top of this article, there are many other support services that your airline will rely on to function properly as a business but also operate as a safe and reliable airline. As part of your planning process when starting a new airline, each of these services should be given due consideration, and where applicable, a tender process run to find the service provider that is the right fit for you and your airline.
As part of your planning process and as your airliner comes together, you will require your procurement team to look at everything your airline will need to operate safely and profitably. Although, again, there are too many ancillary services to list here, you might consider the following as a starting point, although some of these you may consider managing with your own team –
- Slots acquisition
- Recruitment of key staff members
- Air traffic services
- Advertising and marketing
- Public relations
- Sales support and promotion
You may have planned your airline to the minutest detail and covered everything you can think of by this point. Yet, in commercial aviation, there will always be elements of your operation that you will not be able to control or manage. Some require particular expertise, while others would be far too costly to provide yourself.
That’s where the art of procurement comes in. An experienced purchasing professional on your team early on should give your airline the best opportunity to negotiate good commercial deals to obtain the supporting services your airline will require.
Running an airline is a collaborative business. Your operation will rely on many external suppliers to make it work. Developing close working relationships with your key suppliers will help foster partnerships that will ultimately result in efficient turnarounds, on-time departures, and happy customers.
Being reliant on others for support services for your airline should be a positive experience that benefits you as an airline owner/operator. But those relationships need to be carefully managed and nurtured. Goodwill is everything in the airline industry – have it onboard, and your airline will find operating much easier. However, without the support of your suppliers and ground handling providers, trying to run your airline could quickly become a very trying experience for all involved.
In the next part of this series, we will be pulling back the curtain on how to promote and sell your airline to the traveling public, both at home and abroad. Join us again for ‘How To Start An Airline: Part 9 – Marketing and Promotion‘
