What are passenger perspectives regarding airlines' environmental protection? An empirical investigation in Taiwan

Many airlines recognize the importance of environmental protection. The airlines implement a number of environment-friendly activities related to in-flight services and wish to trigger passengers' support and therefore inquire as to their preferences. Because these activities are not identical between airlines, it is not known which items are actually supported and which items are opposed. In this paper, major airline environmental protection activities were collated, and the Smart partial least square software was used to analyse data from 442 passengers who have experienced air travel in the past 3 years. The results showed that in general, passengers would prefer to choose airlines that supported environmental protection activities. However, several activity items would be rejected if passengers felt their rights or interests being compromised. It was also indicated that people from countries at different stages of economic development had varying preferences regarding their support of airlines' environmental protection activities, and the young generation had more concern about environmental protection than others. The findings of this research could be beneficial for airlines setting up their differentiated marketing strategies for enhancing both environmental protection efforts and business performance.     

Are intrazonal trips ignorable?

Intrazonal trips are not always included in model estimation because they do not appear on a network in centroid-to-centroid travel. It is also presumed that their exclusion does not affect model results. This paper tests the above presumption by examining the assumptions of ignorable missingness. The results indicate that omitting intrazonal trips in model estimation results in biased sample. Consequently, parameter estimates get biased. The paper also compares the results of travel mode choice models by excluding and including the intrazonal trips in model estimation.     

Are batteries ready for plug-in hybrid buyers?

The notion persists that battery technology and cost remain as barriers to commercialization of electric-drive passenger vehicles. Within the context of starting a market for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), we explore two aspects of the purported problem: (1) PHEV performance goals and (2) the abilities of present and near-term battery chemistries to meet the resulting technological requirements. We summarize evidence stating that battery technologies do not meet the requirements that flow from three sets of influential PHEV goals due to inherent trade-offs among power, energy, longevity, cost, and safety. However, we also show that part of this battery problem is that those influential goals are overly ambitious compared to goals derived from consumers’ PHEV designs. We elicited PHEV designs from potential early buyers among U.S. new car buyers; most of those who are interested in a PHEV are interested in less technologically advanced PHEVs than assumed by experts. Using respondents’ PHEV designs, we derive peak power density and energy density requirements and show that current battery chemistries can meet them. By assuming too aggressive PHEV goals, existing policy initiatives, battery research, and vehicle development programs mischaracterize the batteries needed to start commercializing PHEVs. To answer the question whether batteries are ready for PHEVs, we must first answer the question, “whose PHEVs?”     

Are tourists satisfied with the map at hand?

Tourist maps of a given destination offer information to tourists on its geographical environment and tourist sites of interest. This sort of information service is important for tourists unless they are very familiar with their destinations. This study mainly concerns with tourists' satisfaction with this geographical and touristic information service which has been neglected in the existing literature. The study, using Macau as a case, was designed to explore tourists' evaluation of tourist maps and the determining factors of the overall satisfaction, which were mainly involved in the content and design of tourist maps. The control variables including demographics and trip features were also examined. It was found that respondents were, in general, satisfied with the tourist map they used for sightseeing; however, their attitudes towards various elements of map content and design differed. These attitudes reflected by the data have implications for tourist map design and distribution in the future.     

Are tourist arrivals stationary? Evidence from BRIC countries

In this study, we attempted to analyse whether the shocks to tourist arrivals in BRIC countries are temporary or permanent, by analysing the stationary characteristics of the data in panel framework. We found that, for Brazil, Russia and India, tourist arrivals are stationary process, whereas for China it is non-stationary process. This implies that shocks to the tourism sector in Brazil, Russia and India have only temporary effect, whereas the shocks to China's tourism sector have permanent effects.     

How different is carrier choice for third party logistics companies?

The purpose of this paper is to test whether third party logistics companies (3PLs) are different from other end-shippers with respect to how they choose their carriers. The results of carrier choice models developed in this paper suggest that 3PLs are more biased against intermodal shipping than other end-shippers. The principal conclusions are as follows: mode and carrier choice modeling needs to take into consideration differences between 3PLs and other end-shippers; and with the increasing role of 3PLs in choosing carriers, their stronger bias against intermodal shipping will present further challenges to increasing freight rail mode share.     

Are stay-at-home orders more difficult to follow for low-income groups?

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of states, counties and cities in the United States issued mandatory stay-at-home orders as part of their efforts to slow down the spread of the virus. We argue that the consequences of this one-size-fits-all order will be differentially distributed among economic groups. In this paper, we examine social distance behavior changes for lower income populations. We conduct a comparative analysis of responses between lower-income and upper-income groups and assess their relative exposure to COVID-19 risks. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences analysis of 3140 counties, we find social distance policy effect on the lower-income group is smaller than that of the upper-income group, by as much as 46% to 54%. Our explorations of the mechanisms behind the disparate effects suggest that for the work-related trips the stay-at-home orders do not significantly reduce low income work trips and this result is statistically significant. That is, the share of essential business defined by stay-at-home orders is significantly negatively correlated with income at county level. In the non-work-related trips, we find that both the lower-income and upper-income groups reduced visits to retail, recreation, grocery, and pharmacy visits after the stay-at-home order, with the upper-income group reducing trips more compared to lower-income group.     

Cost-benefit analysis of airport security: Are airports too safe?

This paper assesses the risks and cost-effectiveness of measures designed to further protect airport terminals and associated facilities such as car parks from terrorist attack in the U.S., Europe, and the Asia-Pacific area. The analysis considers threat likelihood, the cost of security measures, hazard likelihood, risk reduction and expected losses to compare the costs and benefits of security measures to decide the optimal security measures to airports. Monte-Carlo simulation methods were used to propagate hazard likelihood, risk reduction and loss uncertainties in the calculation of net benefits that also allows probability of cost-effectiveness to be calculated. It is found that attack probabilities had to be much higher than currently observed to justify additional protective measures. Overall, then, it is questionable whether special efforts to further protect airports are sensible expenditures. Indeed, some relaxation of the measures already in place may well be justified.     

Are low-cost carrier passengers less likely to complain about service quality?

Complaints made by airline passengers to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) are often used in academic research and in the media as a proxy for the quality of commercial air service in the United States. In this paper, we test whether passengers of network carriers are more likely to make a complaint to the DOT about service quality failures than passengers of low-cost carriers. Through a fixed-effects regression, we find that passengers of low-cost carriers like Southwest Airlines are less likely to complain about service quality than passengers of network carriers like United Airlines, given the same levels of service quality and controlling for yearly fixed effects. This behavior could be explained by price-based expectations of service quality, lack of information about how to complain to the DOT, or qualitative differences in front-line customer service between airlines.     

Are commercial revenues important to today's European air navigation service providers?

In this paper we discuss the role of commercial revenues in the economics of European air navigation service providers (ANSPs) starting with the legal definitions of commercial revenues as contained in the respective European Union legislation. Based on the investigation of European ANSPs annual reports and/or strategic documents, we define the attributes of a new commercial model in the provision of air navigation services (ANS). We provide evidence that several European ANSPs have already implemented all or a majority of the attributes typical for the new commercial model. Discussing demand-side and supply-side drivers which could spur or impede the commercial business of European ANSPs, we assume the commercialisation of European ANSPs will be reinforced in future. Therefore, we design a set of partial indicators which enable us to analyse the role of commercial revenues in the economics of ANSPs.     

Environmental and financial sustainability of air transport: Are they incompatible?

Many would consider that the current reliance on air transport is environmentally unsustainable, especially given its impacts on climate change and its use of non-renewable resources. In addition, financial sustainability is often seen as inconsistent with environmental sustainability. The conclusions here are otherwise. Air transport does contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, but the climate change problem is a general one, and while addressing it has a cost, this cost is minimised when air transport is required to bear the environmental costs that it imposes. The reliance on non-renewable resources does give rise to a sustainability problem. There is not likely to be a problem of lack of financial sustainability of the industry, though addressing environmental objective will lead to a reduction in performance in the short run. Both environmental and financial sustainability of air transport can be achieved, as long as efficient policies are adopted.     

Rivalry amongst European low cost airlines: Are shareholders enjoying the game?

We develop a model of quantity and price competition for low cost airlines based on announcements of new routes and their impacts on the announcer and on its rival. We find that both firms’ profits may rise or fall as a result of an announcement of new routes, depending on launching costs for the announcer, and on whether market expansion or market substitution is dominant for the rival. We present an empirical study for two European low cost airlines that shows asymmetric behaviour; while EasyJet announcements have positive effects on Ryanair’s share price, the opposite is does not occur. This suggests that an airline’s reputation for reacting in response to rivals’ announcements may affect the stock market and may thus affect announcement behaviour.     

Are we keeping up? Accessibility,equity and air quality in regional planning

Many US metropolitan areas have undergone dramatic shifts in socioeconomic organization.. As urban areas gentrify, many low-income residents and communities of color have transitioned towards the exurban periphery. These suburban neighborhoods tend to have fewer employment opportunities and are fairly disconnected from public transportation networks serving the urban core. Using regional transportation plans (RTPs) for three California MPOs, we show that the transportation accessibility and environmental health issues affecting these exurban communities are unique and inadequately captured by the MPOs' current equity metrics. MPOs performance evaluation is regional and achieving equity within the urban core communities will not address emerging equity, accessibility and air quality concerns for exurban communities. With a brief history and a focused case study of RTPs for the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and Fresno, we examine how air pollution, equity, and transportation interact in three different types of 21st century cities. We find that when allocating limited transportation funds, California metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) prioritize the improvement of existing public transportation in urban core areas over expansion of transit networks towards disconnected exurbs. This approach is an effective way to reduce vehicle miles traveled (and thus, air pollution) at the regional level due to high population concentrations in urban cores. However, this approach also concentrates the air quality benefits of VMT reduction in these same urban core areas. Exurban residents' on-road and near-road exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution (TRAP) will not be reduced by improving public transit within the urban core. We argue that although these suburban and exurban communities are a small percentage of the regional population, they have a right to share in the benefits of transportation investments, particularly given the historical and ongoing patterns of displacement and economic exclusion from urban core areas.     

Are freight pipelines a pipe dream? A critical review of the UK and European perspective

Freight pipelines represent a novel way for the movement of freight transport and offer an alternative to conventional transport modes. The aim of this paper is to examine the potential for this transport mode within the UK and Europe. Firstly, the latest technological developments are identified, building on the last major review by Howgego and Roe (1998). There is then an analysis of the policy landscape towards freight pipelines, as successful implementation will require the support of policy makers. Finally, some of the major benefits and issues with freight pipelines are highlighted. We conclude that there are still opportunities for the use of freight pipelines, but that further research is yet required to fully understand the supply chain, logistics and other related activities that the introduction of this technology may influence. This is because systems which are presently in commercial operation have exhibited excellent characteristics, although they have not been more widely adopted.     

Are they telling the truth? Revealing hidden traits of satisfaction with a public bike-sharing service

Public bike-sharing systems (BSSs) are an emerging mode of transportation introduced by municipalities to solve congestion problems in metropolitan areas, especially when integrated with other types of transportation. In the last years, the number of public bike-sharing services has been constantly on the rise all over the world, and generally the overall satisfaction with them is high. However, satisfaction with public services is driven by mechanisms that can differ from those in the private sector. It is important to establish to what extent a high satisfaction is genuine or simply ephemeral. Even “old” public services (like public transportation) become “gold” when accompanied by the introduction of new technologies. In this paper we analyze this phenomenon using data from a satisfaction web-survey conducted among customers of the public BSS “BikeMi” in Milan, Italy, in a period when mobile technologies have been introduced to speed up the service. On analyzing the responses to satisfaction questions using simple summary statistics, the level of satisfaction resulted very high. However, our aim was to look for potential “darker” sides of the service by detecting possible hidden satisfaction components. For this purpose, we used the Nonlinear Principal Components Analysis, which is particularly powerful in this context. A simple textual analysis was also performed as a validating test. Results from our analysis indicated that satisfaction is flawed by a set of factors like the mechanics of the bikes, the picking and dropping system, and the apps used to organize the service. Less concern was detected for more general aspects of the service.     

Internationalization strategies of EU and Asia–Pacific low fare airlines

We employ Dunning’s eclectic paradigm (OLI) to shed light onto low fare airlines’ internationalization strategies. In addition to 31 European low fare airlines, we also analyze the internationalization strategies of 41 low cost carriers in the Asia–Pacific region. The results indicate that homogenous groups of such airlines emerge with regard to their internationalization strategies and that capital and ownership structure as well as relative timing is especially closely related to low fare airline’s entry modal choice. We discuss inferences for the use of the OLI paradigm in further studies of airline internationalization.     

Airline type and tourist expenditure: Are full service and low cost carriers converging or diverging?

Since some years ago low-cost carriers (LCCs) are becoming less and less low-cost-like, as well as full-service airlines are becoming less and less full-service-like, thus contributing to lessen the differences between users of one airline type and the other. LCCs have made air travel available to all budgets and enabled tourists to spend more at destination by reallocating their trip expenditure. The objective of this article is to observe if airline types have been converging regarding travellers’ expenditure allocation and total trip expenditure. We use repeated cross sections of the Spanish tourist expenditure survey between 2006 and 2014, and compositional data analysis with a total in order not to confound effects involving expenditure allocation with those involving expenditure volume. Results show that users of both airline types converge in their allocation of the trip budget (between transportation and at-destination expenses, and within at-destination expenses), but diverge with regard to total trip expenditure.     

Are Turkey's tourism markets converging? Evidence from the two-step LM and three-step RALS-LM unit root tests

In this study, we aim to analyse whether Turkey's 14 major tourist source markets are converging by using monthly data over the period January 1996 to December 2012. To this aim, we use the recently developed two-step Lagrange multiplier (LM) and three-step residual augmented least squares-Lagrange multiplier (RALS-LM) unit root tests that allow for two structural breaks in data. The results indicate that 10 out of 14 markets are converging, meaning that tourism policies and strategies directed at these markets are successful. Furthermore, the break points correspond to the important political, social, natural and economic events such as crisis, earthquake, disease and terrorist attack.     

Are we really measuring what we think we're measuring? Assessing attitudes towards destinations with the implicit association test

The study examines individuals' attitudes toward destinations by comparing the results of traditional self‐report surveys with those of the implicit association test (IAT). A total of 84 college students (30 Caucasian, 27 Chinese and 27 Korean) were employed to complete self‐report surveys and computer‐based IATs. The results show that participants' attitudes toward selected destinations (i.e. China and England) vary depending on which of the two different attitude measures is employed. Specifically, it appears that attitudes toward the two countries are not significantly different in self‐report survey, but differences in attitudes are significant in the IAT. This result indicates that greater use of the IAT would enhance our understanding of tourist responses, particularly those related to ability and willingness issues. The implications of the IAT results for tourism destination studies and its relation to explicit measures of attitudes are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.