Air Transport Operations

We focus on the different departments of a regulatory authority and understanding the requirements to establish an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and an Operating Licence (AOL), including ownership and control of the operation.

Topics include:

• Operational organisations
• Company types; “Nominated Persons”; operation structures; the interface between marketing, sales, finance, and engineering, combined with the importance of safety and safety management systems
• Operation departments, management functions, flight operations, selection of flight crew members and operational support experts
• Performance, management information and analysis
• Operations control
• Long-term planning process; scheduling for crew; flight schedules and charter operations; training and checking; ATC communications; and delay management
• Safety and Security
• Legal responsibilities; European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA); role of the “Accountable Manager”
• Accidents, incidents and occurrences; causes, investigation and follow-up.

Who is it for?

Those who want to gain insight into the special area of airline operations and its unique characteristics.

Timetable

Module teaching usually begins at 9am and finishes at 5pm each day, with time for breaks. If there is any change to these timings, you will be informed before the start of the module.

On successful completion of this module, you will be expected to be able to:

• Define and discuss air transport operation at a competent level
• Formulate and design an airline operation and critically appraise different requirements
• Critically analyse airline operation regulations to discuss current changes in aviation with senior managers and aircraft manufacturers.
• Formulate an air transport operation that would be legally acceptable to the regulatory authorities
• Develop competences for participation in future expansion, or change management, within the students’ current or future employment.
• Be critically aware of aspects required to develop new models of airline operations
• Be critically aware of issues surrounding airline operation topics with in-depth understanding of the factors and regional politics involved.

You will be asked to submit a reflective journal following completion of the module to illustrate your learning. You will not receive a mark for the reflective journal.

Following successful completion of the module, you will receive a certificate of participation.

This course is provided by the School of Science & Technology.

There is no prior knowledge required for this CPD module, other than a general awareness of the aviation industry practices. There is a pre-reading resource list that will help you prepare for the course.

Applicants are expected to have professional experience within the aviation industry.

English requirements

For those students whose first language is not English the following qualification is also required:

• IELTS: 6.5
• (A minimum of 6.0 in all four test components is preferable).

• Budd, Lucy and Ison, Stephen (2016) Air Transport Management, Routledge
• Doganis, Rigas (2010) Flying Off Course, Routledge
• Wensveen, J.G. (2015) Air Transportation: a management perspective, Ashgate
• Various up-to-date website references with the URLs published on the Airline Operations page in Moodle.

The URLs in the reading list are updated 6 weeks before each module.