module specification

All successful airlines need to master their market position and technical competencies to ensure success and the management of ‘fares’ is central to this. Pricing and revenue management are at the heart of every airline’s competency and thus of paramount importance. Strategic positions require airlines to understand the competitive environment and the ‘price’ points for both leisure and business travel segments. Pricing and revenue management are therefore critical to survival in the global air travel market.

The module aims to provide students with:

• An understanding of the importance of the ‘pricing’ airline products and balancing revenue against costs
• Development of the pricing strategies and revenue management strategies for different types of airlines business models
• To appreciate the opportunities for new revenue streams from ancillary revenues and the de-bundling of airline products

The module also aims to develop students' skills, in particular: academic study skills; IT; literacy; applied analysis; entrepreneurship, critical thinking; interpersonal and team-working; communication, including oral presentation; and problem solving.

NA.

INDICATIVE CONTENT – includes the following areas of study:

LO1

• Air travel demand
• The decision-making process in airline selection
• Business travel features
• Leisure travel features
• Current air travel demand
• Airline product development linked to ‘fares' (prices)
• Researching the impact of airline pricing strategies and fares

LO2

• Overview of the historic developments in airline pricing and fares
• The role of IATA in the bank settlement plan
• Mileage fares and the IATA ticketing system
• The development of specialist markets for air travel e.g. groups
• Modern revenue management principles
• Point to point pricing revenue management
• Connecting passenger revenue management
• Differential pricing
• Seat inventory control
• Overbooking / spill

LO3

• Ancillary revenue and de-bundling strategy
• Impact of the internet and e commerce 
• Emerging trends in airline distribution
• Performance monitoring

The formal delivery of the teaching and learning will be based on three contact hours per week spread over 12 weeks with additional enrichment weeks throughout the semester. The contact hours will be formed of a two-hour interactive session which draws from teaching and learning strategies such as workshops, lectures, guest speakers, case study discussions, panel discussions and debates, videos, online Weblearn platforms as well as scenario-based real time activities and simulations.

Peer to peer learning will also feature within the programme as students work together to develop solutions to practically based pricing, revenue management strategies ancillary problems and assess/ critique the relevant impact.

Groupwork will form a large part of the sessions, with student participating in active learning as they disseminate and discuss relative experience and acquired knowledge on revenue and price management issues.

The remaining hour of contact time will be a seminar-based approach where students will explore current themes and trends in more detail. This will include gaming where possible.

Alumni will also provide a careers perspective for this section of the industry and guest lecturers will provide contextual learning.

Within the module there is significant opportunity to participate in proactive learning activities via the use of Weblearn facilities which promote inter-active discussions between both peers and lecturers and enables learners to share resources and access links to external journal articles, websites and other sources.

Discussion and debate are actively encouraged both within the classroom context and via Weblearn. Students participating in this degree come from a variety of backgrounds and often have a wealth of industry experience upon which to draw. It is useful to access this via proactive and inter-active classroom management.

Students have a responsibility to prepare for forthcoming lectures so as to ensure that they fully understand the concepts discussed and, so as they can participate fully in debates and discussions. This can be done via accessing the module specifications on-line or via Weblearn, and ascertaining the forthcoming weeks lecture content.

Tutors will provide an indication of forthcoming lecture content at the end of each preceding lecture. The student should then research articles and appropriate readings around these themes so as to contribute fully to discussions and inter-active Question and Answer sessions within the lecture.

Opportunities for reflective learning will be available throughout the module as students are given the opportunity to consider their approach to tasks and discussions whilst simultaneously having the opportunity to reflect upon informal feedback that may be given from lecturers on ideas and concepts spoken of in class and, on assessments submitted.

Upon completing successfully this module the student will demonstrate capability to:

1. To assess the role of pricing strategy in the balancing of airline revenue potential by understanding market trends and air travel demand characteristics (LO1).
2. Analyse and evaluate revenue management strategies that are appropriate to different airline business models and market environments (LO2).
3. Assess the new ancillary revenue opportunities for airlines and the de-bundling of the traditional airline products (LO3).

The assessment of this module will take the form of an individual presentation and a written individual report.

Assessment 1 – practical exam – deals with the issues of pricing management of an air travel market by analysis of activity of competitors in the market.

Assessment 2 – Individual report for the development of revenue management strategies linked to a new airline product in business or leisure travel long-haul etc.

The module’s assessment is passed on aggregate.

Recommended text
Özalp Özer and Robert Phillips (Eds.) (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Pricing Management , Oxford Press
Other sources
Belobaba, P., Odoni, A. & Barnhart, C. (Eds.) (2016) The Global Airline Industry (2nd ed.), Chichester: Wiley

Budd, L. and Ison, S. (2017) (Eds.). Air Transport Management: an International Perspective. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Boyd, E.A. (2007) The Future of Pricing: How Airline Ticket Pricing Has Inspired a Revolution, Palgrave Macmillan

Cento, A. (2010) The Airline Industry: Challenges in the 21st Century (Contributions to Economics) Physica-Verlag

Cook, G.N. & Billig, B. (2017) Airline Operations and Management: A Management Textbook, Abingdon: Routledge

Doganis, R. (2006) The Airline Business (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.

Philips, R. (2005) Pricing and Revenue Optimization, Stanford: Stanford University Press

Journals

Journal of Airline and Airport Management
Journal of Air Transport Management
Journal of Air Transportation
International Journal of Civil Aviation
International Journal of Transport Management

Examples of Industry Sources :
Air Transport World :  http://atwonline.com/ 
IATA :  International Air Transport Association :  http://www.iata.org
ICAO : International Civil Aviation Organization. https://www.icao.int/about-icao
MarketLine Airlines Industry Profile
Mintel  Academic: latest aviation industry analyses