AVIATION
Aviation management involves managing the workflow of airline, airport, or other businesses pertaining to aviation
or aerospace industry by carrying out the day-to-day operations of an airport or an airline. The Ministry of Civil
Aviation (MoCA) of Government of India is responsible to formulate policies and programs to develop and regulate
civil aviation, and to implement the schemes for expanding civil air transport. It also oversees airport facilities, air
traffic services, and air carriage of passengers and goods
The following are some most important factors that drive civil aviation:
• The Low Cost Carriers (LCCs), modern airports
• Emphasis on regional connectivity
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in domestic airlines
• Advanced information technology (IT) interventions
INDIAN AVIATION SECTOR
The Indian aviation sector can be broadly divided into the following main categories:
1. Scheduled air transport service: It is an air transport service undertaken between two or more places & operated
according to a published timetable. It includes: Domestic & International Airlines.
2. Non-scheduled air transport service: It is an air transport service other than the scheduled one & may be on
charter basis. The operator is not permitted to publish time schedule & issue tickets to passengers.
3. Air cargo services: It is an air transportation of cargo & mail. It may be on scheduled or non-scheduled basis.
These operations are to destinations within India. For operation outside India, the operator has to take specific
permission of Directorate General of Civil Aviation demonstrating his capacity for conducting such an operation.
4. Apart from this, the players in aviation industry can be categorized in three groups:
Public players, Private players , Start up players
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
International Air Transport Association is a trade association of scheduled domestic and international airlines. It is
a voluntary, non-political organization, which follows democratic decision-making procedures. This body is free
from prejudices of any political philosophy or economy, resulting countries come together to discuss matters of
mutual concern
IATA MEMBERS AND MEMBERSHIP
IATA members are spread across some 120 countries with 50 offices worldwide to strive for the common
aspirations of safe, secure, and hassel free travel experience to the national and international passengers. The five-
regional distribution of IATA are:
1. The Americas
2. Europe
3. North Asia
4. Africa & Middle East
5. Asia Pacific
The members enjoy certain benefits such as: -
Get a platform to voice their concern on a unified demand which boost the interest of members;
Get international recognition;
Get quick updates of industry change;
Get a range of financial services;
Get the professional and training support along with other expert services.
Aims of IATA
The mission of IATA is to lead, serve and advocate the interest of their members. The key area includes safety,
security, and environment; and to simplify aviation business process, passenger convenience while reducing the
cost and increasing the efficiency and efficacy, with reasonable rules and charges coupled with sensible regulations.
IATA: Activities and Services
IATA in aviation offer wide ranging services as below: -
Ensures the passenger, cargo and their luggage and carriers’ safety and security.
Facilitates members in flawless payment process.
Reduction in the fair charges, fees and taxes enabled accessibility for everyone.
Encourages practice of Fast Travel solutions by easing the regulatory restriction.
Streamlining the legal system and environment to strengthen the global aviation Industry.
Works in promoting sustainable aviation fuel to combat environmental issues
Services of IATA can be categorised as: -
1. IATA Accreditations: It accredits travel agencies, cargo companies and airlines involved in global passenger, cargo
and mail movement.
2. Intelligence & Statistics: It offers business Intelligence to the members, and releases current air transport
statistics periodically, maintain global aviation data management and share insights for passengers
3. Financial Services: IATA facilitate simple, secure and effective financial network throughout industry among all
the players like Airlines, airport authorises, air navigation service providers, other professional and industry
stakeholders.
4. IATA Location Identifiers Codes: It assigns unique codes to cities, airlines, airports, countries which are used at
various travel documents for ease. Like every train every airline has a code.
5. Consultation: It has got more than 50 years of expertise and experience in handling IATA airlines, safety and
security of airport, cargo, passenger, cargo handlers, ground handling companies. IATA also extends their
consultation services in environment, economy and flight operations.
6. Safety & Flight Operations Solutions: The players get benefited from the expert team of IATA on flight operations,
safety measures and practices. The three IATA conference zone, air traffic management, quality control along with
flight operation etc also taken care by them.
7. Security and Airport Solutions: IATA offers security training to all the concerned stakeholders. Also, they actively
look into construction, renovation, maintenance and operations. IATA also specifies various guidelines to carry live
animal, digital cargo, HAZMAT (Dangerous Goods).
8. Conferences: Conduct and facilitate annual meeting with members to discuss the bottlenecks and challenges of
the industry.
9. Innovation Hubs: IATA has innovation wing and think tanks that promotes startups, data science labs, organise
hackathons to deal with the dynamism of the industry.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
ICAO consists of an Assembly of representatives from the contracting states, a Council of governing bodies out of
various subordinate bodies, and a Secretariat. The chief officers are the President of the Council and the Secretary
General. ICAO conducts meeting every three years to discuss about the work and to set future policies.
The suggestions, standards, and recommendations are amended by the convention. ICAO identifies nine separate
geographical regions to plan the provision of air navigation facilities and on-ground services the aircrafts require
for flying in these regions.
International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA)
International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations is a non-governmental, membership-based
organisation representing the freight forwarding industry. Also known as the ‘Architects of Transport’, FIATA has
Association Members and Individual Members in some 150 countries. The organization aims to promote the
interests of the freight forwarding industry, establish and maintain industry standards, and provide a platform for
networking, collaboration, and professional development for its members.
The primary objectives of FIATA include: -
• Representing the interests of the global freight forwarding and logistics industry
• -Establishing and maintaining industry standards, best practices, and guidelines
• -Facilitating networking, collaboration, and professional development among its members
• -Advocating for policies that benefit the freight forwarding industry at the international level
World Travel Geography
Geography, other than playing a determinative role in touristic movements, also plays a significant role in
determining the content and timing of package tours for Travel Agents and Operators, as well as routes of planes
for Airlines. Since all airlines of the world operate their services to hundreds of destinations in different countries,
for them geography becomes one of the key aspects in planning and pricing of a travel
Travel professionals in order to best guide their clients in preparation of suitable Itineraries, reservations, group
bookings, fare calculations and ticketing should have knowledge about the world geography and be able to identify
the cities by their location, country, areas and sub areas as defined by IATA (International Air Transportation
Association).
IATA for its better functioning and regulations has taken the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere and
further divided them into three IATA Areas known as Traffic Conference Areas (IATATC Areas).These IATA TC Areas
are further divided into sub-areas and is significantly different from the geographical definitions. The three IATA
Traffic Conferences areas are denoted as TC1, TC2 and TC3 where TC1 is known as Western hemisphere and TC2 &
TC3 together forms Eastern hemisphere.
Reasons for creating Traffic Conferences Areas
1) IATA traffic conferences were established to deal with all International Air Traffic Matters involving Passengers,
Cargo, and Mail in specific area of the world.
2) IATA’s division helped member airlines sign agreements related to: Fares & rates, Traffic documents (standard
forms of passenger’s air tickets, baggage checked, air waybills , etc.) and Interline (inter airline ) agreements.
IATA Areas & Sub- Areas:
[Link] Traffic Conference Area 1 (TC1)
In its entirety, Area 1 or TC1 is composed of the Western Hemisphere but has several classifications of sub-areas
for fare construction purposes. Comprises of North America, South America, Central America and the adjacent
islands like Greenland, Bermuda, West Indies, Islands of the Caribbean Sea, Hawaiian Islands which includes
Midway and Palmyra
2. IATA Traffic Conference Area 2 (TC 2)
In its entirety, TC2 comprises of Europe, Africa and Ascension Island and parts of Asia, West of Ural Mountains,
including Iran and the countries of Middle-East.
3. IATA Traffic Conference Area 3 (TC3)
IATA Traffic Conference Area 3 is composed of the whole of Asia (East of Ural Mountains) and the adjacent islands
except the part included already in Area 2; the East Indies, Australia, New Zealand the neighbouring islands in the
Pacific Ocean except those in TC - 1 (TC1).
World Time Zones
Prime Meridian and Standard Meridian
The International Meridian conference chose the royal observatory at Greenwich, London, England as the place of
Prime Meridian i.e. 0° longitude. Thus, a world standard was set at Greenwich. Based on earth rotation, the solar
day has been divided into 24 hours and hence, the earth is divided into 24 imaginary zones each corresponding to
one hour of earth’s rotation. These imaginary zones are called time zones, beginning with the prime meridian in
Greenwich. There are 24 longitudes in total, each at 15-degree intervals called Standard Meridians
Greenwich Mean Time/ Universal Time Coordinated
The time at Greenwich and all the countries in this zone is referred to as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT); also known
as Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). The time in all other zones can be expressed by referring to GMT or UTC.
Standard Clock Time and Daylight-Saving Time
Depending on the location and the size of a country, few countries fall in different time zones. In order to maintain
the same local time within the national boundaries of a country, a time is fixed by law, called Standard Clock Time
(SCT) or Standard Time. Prime Meridian is considered as the reference zone for the calculation of time and known
as 0° meridian, Greenwich meridian, or prime meridian of the world.
Certain countries modify their standard time during summer by advancing one hour or a fraction of an hour. This
is a way of making better use of the natural daylight setting the clock forward during the summer months, and back
again in autumn. This temporary change is called Daylight Saving Time (DST).
International time calculator
Time charts are published in all major airline guides. The OAG time calculator given in the chart in the annexure,
lists all country/area wise Standard Clock Time, Daylight Saving Time and Daylight-Saving Time effective periods.
Standard Clock Time is expressed in hours ahead (+) or behind (-) of GMT
Time difference between two cities
Calculation of time difference is one of the most important parts of international travel. One can either gain or loss
time while traveling across international borders and time zones. If the local time of the two cities is known, time
difference between the points can be easily determined. In case the local time in both the points is ahead of GMT
or behind GMT, deduct the smaller from the largest figure. If the local time is ahead of GMT at one point and
behind GMT at another point, add both the figures together
Elapsed flying time
The transport time is the number of hours and minutes from the time of departure at the airport of origin until the
time of arrival at the airport of final destination. This includes eventual transit and/or transfer times. This is also
known as Elapsed Flying time. Elapsed Flying time is the time between the departure and arrival times – ramp to
ramp – in minutes. This includes any stopover time if the flight involves one or more stops.
AIR CARGO CONSOLIDATION
Air cargo consolidation is all about combining multiple consignees within a single shipment. It is possible that within
this model, someone’s cargo may be sharing space with the cargo of the shipper on an aircraft. The shipments that
the airline is carrying will be listed in a master waybill. However, a house waybill will be allotted to each individual
shipment. All this is done to manage and organize cargo within consolidated arrangements. This method is ideal
for those with small consignments and for saving cost of shipping.
Advantages of Air Cargo Consolidation
There are several advantages of consolidation. These are as follows:
1. The cargo will be attended with utmost detailing and a house waybill.
2. Timely execution and distribution of shipment.
3. Shipment kept in excellent condition.
4. Competitive pricing due to large network of freight forwarders.
5. Cost effective due to air consolidation of goods.
OAG- OFFICIAL AIRLINE GUIDE
The Official Airline Guide (OAG) is an air travel intelligence reference that provides data on airline schedules, cargo
and aviation analytics. In 1962, OAG began supplying data to the first computer reservations systems and created
the first tailored airline timetable. The OAG Quick Reference Editions began incorporating computer-generated
connecting flight information and tariff data. The IATA Standard Schedules Information Manual (SSIM) for the
interchange of airline schedule data was developed with OAG’s help
Official Airline Guide (OAG) is the key for air travel. It is a source of air travel intelligence that includes information
on airline schedules, cargo, and aviation statistics; and explains the schedule of all the flight, flight codes, signage
usage, and airport codes, as well as flight numbers, days of the week, different types of aircraft, number of stops,
classes of services provided on a given flight, and the departure and arrival times. OAG also provides a
comprehensive cargo flight reference guide that is updated monthly to provide visibility of all available flight
possibilities.
Detail information as per the OAG
1. Departure City: The first step is to look for the Departure city, which is displayed in a large font for easy tracking.
Names of the cities are mentioned in bold, in English, and in alphabetical order
2. Check in time: Prior to the flight’s scheduled departure, one must report for both airline and governmental
formalities. Check – in time refers to the period of time before a flight that one must arrive at the airport, to
complete the necessary paperwork
3. Surface Transport: This title refers to surface transportation by either rail or road transportation. It provides
information on the various terminals and surface transportation services available between city centres and
airports
4. Destination City: Destination city must be looked up, once the departing city has been located, in order to
complete the itinerary
5. Transfer Connection: OAG not only provides direct connections, but also transfer connections. The flight
schedules also include change of flight between the origin and destination, which could be one or more.
