Aspects of cooperation in air navigation services : current status and future directions

Abstract

Cooperation has been identified as an essential requirement for the strategic performance of air transport organisations. From an academic perspective, the debate on theory and practice of such cooperation mainly centres on questions regarding aspects of the increasingly strategic alliances among airlines. Recent developments in the air navigation service (ANS) industry, point towards a new organisational philosophy for ANS provision, which would incorporate the concept of international cooperation. This research shifts the focus and expands the growing body of knowledge in air transport cooperation, by exploring comprehensively, from ~a strategic management perspective, the area of cooperation involving air-navigation service providers (ANSPS), which potentially could improve service provision and reduce costs -in the future. The research presented in this thesis follows a conceptual path, beginning with, an analysis of air transport cooperation literature in great detail, to extract lessons applicable for ANSPS in their quest to cooperate. The ANS business model and its a international regulatory environment are .examined comprehensively to get an overview of how these are evolving and discover the underlying traits. From a empirical perspective, findings of two consecutive questionnaire surveys performed on ANSPs are presented, to develop insights into and understanding of, the current status and the future direction of cooperation in the key areas of ANS and cooperation between ANSPs and their industry partners. Having identified the future direction of cooperation, together with a critical review of the associated drivers and barriers to cooperation, enables the research, to develop solution methods in the form of recommendations to the stakeholders on how to enhance cooperation in ANS. The findings indicate conclusively that future progress is dependent on the scale and dynamics of the ANS industry, including the strategies ANSPs employ to interact with the regulatory and public bodies. Furthermore, cooperation to date has been driven by operational requirements to improve operational efficiency. Strategic cooperation does not come naturally° but is now being driven by commercialisation objectives -and is supported in 'Europe by changes in the regulatory framework. Where cooperation is likely to significantly impact the core business there are still significant issues outside the control of the ANSPS, and which require intervention from political and other stakeholders to collectively devise a outcome. This research highlights that standardisation is a key strategic issue for the industry as' more benefits and intense' cooperation can be expected, after standardisation is achieved in procedures, technology, air traffic control training content and safety management system product. To investigate another interesting aspect of this research, the European air traffic management (ATM) was examined in order to compare it with the South East (SE) Asia ATM situation. To support the point, that cross border rationalisation initiatives require a related business case as a complementary planning tool to build an economic argument against political barriers, this research developed a comprehensive sample business case methodology incorporating a quantitative cost benefit analysis which was used to validate the recommendation that SE Asian ANSPS consolidate the entire regions CNS infrastructure into a Regional CNS Organisation.