MSc Aviation Management in the Digital Age

The module is intended to prepare students to critically read and evaluate research within their chosen field of study and then to design a research proposal for their business research project.

It will also provide a firm foundation in the philosophical and practical factors that characterise business research. It will provide the opportunity to critically analyse and evaluate recent research studies supporting the development of a research proposal.

This module will focus on the concept of e-commerce within aviation management and the impact of the digital age will continue to have on the strategic activities of airlines and airports.

The start of the e-commerce revolution was back in 1995 with the first innovators including Alaskan Airlines and British Midland developing their first web site booking engines.

Since this time the global online travel sector has grown to generate more than half a trillion dollars in revenue.

This module looks into some of the technologies that airlines are using in order to remain competitive. As social attitudes change and a new generation of travellers come online, there will be increased demands on airlines and airports to adapt their offerings.

The module explores the need for collaboration between people and automated technologies to boost efficiency, effectiveness and enhancement of passenger experience. There is need for the workforce to be flexible and responsive to demands of the fast-changing business environment.

There is no doubt that technology is driving the nonaeronautical revenues of airlines and airports.

This module will address the critical issue of how current thinking on sustainability will impact on Aviation businesses and organisation.

The need to create more sustainable organisations and businesses is fundamental to current and future organisational development strategies, and it is necessary for students to understand the growing influence of the sustainability agenda on industry.

This module aims to stimulate the student’s critical awareness and application of key leadership and strategic management theories to their own practice and develop their ability to evaluate current practice in the light of relevant academic theories.

It is expected that students will develop an increased awareness of the impact and influence of leaders and their own leadership development. This module also introduces the student to an understanding of the role of commercial planning in a digital age as critical to profitable airline operations.

Air routes are the life blood of airlines and assessing catchment areas and aircraft operations to satisfy demand is absolutely critical to airline and airport development.

This module introduces the vital appreciation of the management of airline costs as a key management skill for commercial airline managers. The airline industry in particular is highly volatile because of the complex costs of production of the service and is subject to violent external shocks on a regular basis.

A sound financial strategy is therefore vital to airline survival and the module introduces techniques and tools to assess the steps to take for long term profitability.

The module will equip the student with an understanding of the complexities of managing projects in an uncertain world. The student will become familiar with the project business case, the detailed planning and the use of ‘WBS’ and the ’OBS’, resources issues and their management, the timeline, budgeting and cash flow, risk and uncertainty, issues concerning multiple projects as well as the eventual monitoring and control of the project through methods of tracking and monitoring.

The student will study methods of managing people in the project with appropriate models of leadership, team behaviours and motivation and methods of conflict management and/or resolution.

This module builds on the module entitled Research Methods for Aviation Management, where students will have identified a suitable topic for research and produced a research proposal. Students will demonstrate an understanding the sector and the significance of issues within it via high level analysis, assimilation and interpretation of key information and statistics.

Students are expected, via independent research, to develop an awareness of the importance of rigorous investigative techniques, standards of data collection and analysis in business decision making. Students are to produce a project based, consultative postgraduate report and a summary of the research undertaken.

Both documents should be to a professional standard and suitable for both an academic and business audience.