This paper is dedicated to the memory of Linda Anderson, research writer and well of wisdom. Airline Industry Trends
Introduction After dramatic decline during the early years of the new century, business travel appears to be recovering. Most airlines focused on the higher-profit business customer prior to 2000, but certainly not in the manner they are courting him in today's market. Several airlines have made changes specifically targeting the business traveler, but many of the world's leading airlines face survival issues. All airlines are required to address financial, security and customer issues. Risk Management Airlines take risk management seriously enough to develop general risk management plans at the board level (Jenner, 2006). Most airlines, about 67 percent, have written risk management plans that reach across the entire company (Jenner, 2006). They spend more than $8.3 billion each year on risk management and about 70 percent of that amount is for insurance premiums (Jenner, 2006). Jenner (2006) reports that airlines are very concerned about this trend in insurance premiums and "experts are linking this concern to the fragility of airline finances, plus newly perceived business and terrorism risks" (p. 63). Insurance premiums have risen more than 15 percent since the 9/11 attacks (Jenner, 2006). Another issue facing airlines is computer crime (Jenner, 2006), which would be linked to the company's information systems. Even with these techniques, Zea (2002) argues that airlines in general have done little to manage risk effectively in many areas: "The present lack of effective risk management strategies at many airlines has a clear downside: volatile earnings" (Zea, 2002, p. 21). Physical Security Airline security has been an issue of escalating relevance in recent years. Always an issue of importance, it has moved into the realm being critical as of September 11, 2001. The very es