STRATEGIC AIRLINE MANAGEMENT - 2023/4

Module Overview

This module provides a comprehensive overview of the global airline industry from a strategic management perspective. It captures a broad spectrum of various business strategies deployed by Airlines in Asia, Europe, Gulf and the Americas.

Module provider

Surrey Hospitality & Tourism Management

Module Leader

O'CONNELL Frankie (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Indicative content includes:

•  The core concepts of strategic airline management


•  The macro & micro operating environment encircling the aviation ecosystem


•  Powering growth


•  Smart strategy in creating value and gaining competitive advantage


•  Bases of competitive strategy (cost leadership, differentiation, hybrid, focus differentiation)


•  Airline positioning for success in a hyper-competitive airline market


•  Airline operating costs (fuel, crews, aircraft ownership, maintenance, airport landing & navigational charges, depreciation, ground handling, passenger services, ticketing, sales & promotion, administrative)


•  Conquering strategies employed by the American, Asian, European and Gulf carriers


•  Airline Revenue Management best practices


•  Performing strategic analysis (SWOT, TOWS, BCG, ANSOFF applications)


•  Implementing creative strategies to respond to competition through an aviation lens


•  Effective diversification strategies (air cargo divisions, maintenance, catering, holidays)

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

In cases where the original group report is not suitable, an individual essay of 2000 words will be assigned. In cases where the original group presentation is not suitable, an individual presentation will be assigned.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is aimed at giving students the opportunity to gradually build up their knowledge and understanding of key issues in air transport management and is designed to allow students to evidence their achievement of the learning outcomes. The assessment comprises a group presentation and a group report.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

1. Students are required to write up a group report based on the group presentation.  This report has a target length of 5000 words.


2. For the second assessment (i.e., the group presentation) students will be working as a group to solve a simulated problem faced by an airline.

• During the first seminar, the coursework and the feedback process is explained.


• Feedback is also provided during and after in-class discussions


• Students work in groups on a task which reflects the report requirements and receive feedback on their work.


• As part of the formative feedback, students are provided with good and bad practice examples and in group discussion will discuss the key components of good reports and less good reports.


• Once marking is completed, students are able to access a report online which contains detailed generic feedback as well as a breakdown of marks. This enables students to assess their own performance compared to their peer students.

• For the group report, students receive written feedback together with their returned reports. Apart from comments on the reports, students will be given a formal sheet outlining their strengths, areas for improvements and suggestions on how to improve students’ performance for other assignments.


• For the group presentation, students receive oral feedback immediately after the presentation


• A post-coursework feedback session is designed to help students to fully understand the feedback given

Module aims

• Enhance students' understanding of strategic concepts and to solve complex Airline commercial issues by making winning strategic decisions.
• Create and describe strategies by which airlines can successfully achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, and uncover the reasoning that underpins why certain strategies fail.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The teaching and learning strategy is designed to provide a framework of contemporary knowledge and theories supported by examples from industry. The current issues and debates will be highlighted so that the students are able to apply critical thinking to the literature. The teaching and learning methods are based on a series of lectures and, where appropriate case studies and guest lectures.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Lectures, seminars and/or class discussion

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM335

Other information

This module adopts the university curriculum framework which aims to develop learners with strong capabilities in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the development of the following capabilities: 

Global and Cultural Capabilities: The module revolves around the development and management of air transport organisations (Airport/ Airlines) from a global perspective. Students develop an understanding of the influence of environment on the industry’s development, including international, national and cultural environments. Since students are from different countries with diverse cultural backgrounds, class discussions and seminar exercises will be used to reinforce students’ global and cultural capabilities. 

Digital Capabilities: Teaching and learning materials are provided in several formats, and students are encouraged to use discussion boards for communication. Students will be provided instruction on digital literature review searches that support their development of independent learning and successful assessment preparation. Students will use the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), SurreyLearn, video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and data analytics software to facilitate learning. These include accessing teaching and learning materials and engaging with their instructors and peers. 

Employability: Guest lecturers will present up-to-date insight from the air transport industry on relevant topics and provide an opportunity for students to directly learn from industry experts and stakeholders. Students will gain knowledge on current developments in air travel and be taught to critically evaluate these developments. They will also learn how to develop strategies to manage these developments. All these skills can be transferred to various situations at the workplace, including problem-solving tasks.

Sustainability: This module motivates students to critically evaluate the impacts of air travel/ transport industry on society, environment and economy through a case study analysis and class discussion. Students will be guided in developing recommendations for minimizing negative impacts of air travel for the society, environment and/or economy based on their knowledge of sustainable air transport/ tourism management and sustainable development. 

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The assessment strategy which comprises two stages; formative assessment and summative assessment. Through this strategy, this module empowers students to build self-evaluation into assessment processes and create spaces for students to reflect on their own performance whilst reviewing feedback. The structured schedule of the two-stage assessment will also support students in developing time management skills. Also, students are motivated to make informed decisions from a range of options as to which aspect of their work they would like to request feedback. The critical nature of the in-class discussion will help foster openness by encouraging students to understand and discuss contrasting perspectives.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.