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GLOBAL AIRLINE INDUSTRY PROGRAM

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EST. 1999
PROFESSORS ARNOLD BARNETT, CYNTHIA BARNHART, & AMEDEO ODONI, CO-DIRECTORS

http://web.mit.edu/airlines/

  The airline industry is in the midst of a dramatic restructuring worldwide and especially in the United States, set in motion in part by the events of 9/11 and by subsequent events such as wars, SARS, and most recently, soaring fuel prices and bankruptcies. The ongoing changes are in many respects more fundamental than those following the deregulation of the U.S. airline industry in 1978. During this critical period, the MIT Global Airline Industry Program has provided timely and scholarly research and objective analysis to the air transportation community and to government policy-makers on the industry's most pressing challenges.


   The Program builds upon widely recognized, pioneering research that has provided senior managers with novel approaches to key strategic issues. Its research focus is on the development of tools and insights that provide the airline industry with measurable benefits. Over the past six years, many of its projects have addressed the challenges of airline industry restructuring and the strategic and operational changes required to achieve sustained airline profitability.

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   These research efforts address fundamental issues in the industry: productivity and competition, economics and deregulation, labor and human resources, strategic alliances, operations management and network considerations, safety and security, and infrastructure constraints and costs. The Program brings together faculty and students from the MIT departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Economics, as well as the Sloan School of Management, the Operations Research Center, the Engineering Systems Division, and researchers from several affiliated universities.

   The Program emphasizes direct and frequent interaction with the industry through direct observation and on-site visits with industry stakeholders, as well as meetings with an Industry Advisory Board composed of distinguished industry leaders. In 2005, the Program launched the MIT Airline Industry Consortium of major industry and government sponsors, including the FAA, the Air Transport Association, and several U.S. and international airlines, industry suppliers and airport authorities.