Aviation Management Airline Analysis Reports Example

Executive summary

This report provides an in-depth analysis and evaluation of Virgin America Airlines’ airport operations
The methods and analysis utilized in the analysis and evaluation focus on the types of aircrafts being used in Virgin America Airlines’ hubs and airports, number of flights per aircraft, seating capacity per flight, seating capacity per airport, on-time departure performance, turn performance, among others. The airports that handle Virgin America’s flights were then ranked based on these airport operations performance metrics.
Results of the analysis showed that the six airports that have the best performance in terms of turn rates are SEA, EWR, AUS, DCA, PDX, and PSP; Virgin America has an overall first flight D0 rate of 35.3%; A319s have much better flight performance compared to A320s; the top 7 airports in terms of on-time departure rates are SEA, EWR, AUS, DCA, PDX, PSP, and PHL; and the top airports when it comes to seating capacity are SFO and LAX; and that the busiest airport in terms of flights handled are SFO and LAX again.
In conclusion, the results and findings suggest that the best airport have that Virgin America Airlines operates in is SEA as it has consistently gained a top spot in all the metrics used. Therefore, the management in that airport should continue to hold that status. All in all, the information presented in this report shall be of use for those who want to compare different airport affiliated with VA’s performance in terms of all the metrics used. The report also includes the bottom performers in terms of the same metrics. The recommendation for these hubs is to use the top hubs as a model and capitalize on how they conduct their operations.
Virgin America is a United States-based airline that began service on August 8, 2007. The airline's stated aim is to provide low-fare, high-quality service for "long-haul point-to-point service between major metropolitan cities on the Eastern and West Coast seaboards.
San Francisco International Airport is Virgin America's main hub, but the airline also has focus city hubs at Los Angeles International Airport and Dallas Love Field.

Virgin America’s fleet includes 10 A319-100s and 43 A320-200s.

Report:
Report is based on October/6/2014
Operated aircraft and aircraft types
Virgin America has 10 Airbus 319s and 40 Airbus320s as of October/6/2014.
For type of A319 aircraft, the average number of flights is 4.4 per aircraft.

There are 3 aircrafts that have 6 flights which is the highest; the N521VAs have 2 flights, the lowest on this day.

Tail number of aircraft:
Highest: N523VA, N526VA, N530VA
Lowest: N521VA
For A320 aircrafts, the average number of flights is 3.4 per aircraft. Each N639VA has 6 flights, the highest and there are 13 aircrafts that have 2 flights which is the lowest..

Tail number of aircraft:

Highest: N639VA
Lowest: N361VA, N626VA, N627VA, N630VA, N631VA, N634VA, N635VA, N637VA, N638VA, N640VA, N846VA, N848VA, N853VA

Stage lengths flown:

For A319 aircrafts, the average stage length flown is 4,159 miles per aircraft.
N524VAs have flown 5,875 miles which is the highest while the N523VAs have flown 2,550 miles which is the lowest.
For A320 aircrafts, the average stage length flown is 4,977 miles per aircraft.
N842VAs have flown 7,676 miles which is the highest while N639Vas have flown 3,101 miles which is the lowest.
Overall, The A320 type of aircrafts has better performance than A319 aircrafts.
Most served airports and routes by number of flights (Top 5)
SFO airports serve as the main hub for Virgin America. It comprises 31% of the total flights for a particular day. There are four other airports that have a comparable amount of flight numbers and statistics.

SFO: 50 flights

LAX: 38 flights
LAS: 13 flights
JFK: 12 flights
SEA: 8 flights
Since SFO, LAX and LAS are Virgin America’s biggest hubs, all routes to and from these airports often have biggest number of flights.

LAX-SFO: 9 flights

SFO-LAX: 9 flights
LAS-SFO: 8 flights
SFO-LAS: 7 flights
JFK-LAX: 6 flights
Most served airports and routes by number of seats (Top 4)
A319s have a maximum seating capacity of 156 and A320s have 180.
SFO and LAX airports have 8,640 and 6,600 seats respectively. The total passenger of these two airports comprise 53% of the total passenger capacity of all airports which Virgin America serves.

SFO: 8,640 seats

LAX: 6,600 seats
LAS: 2,244 seats
JFK: 2,160 seats
Most routes served by Virgin America have the same number of passenger seat capacity. SFO, LAX and LAS in particular are leading against other airports in terms of this category.

LAX-SFO: 1,548 seats

SFO-LAX: 1,524 seats
LAS-SFO: 1,368 seats
SFO-LAS: 1,188 seats
JFK-LAX: 1,080 seats
Analysis:
Best and worst on time departure airports (Top and bottom 6)
Top 6 airports that have 100% on time departure statistics: [ airport (# of flights) ]
SEA (8), EWR (6), AUS (2), DCA (1), PDX (1), PSP (1),
SEA airport is one of the biggest Virgin America0served airports; despite the large volume of flights they handle, it still has a 100% on time departure performance.

Bottom 6 airports have worst on time departure statistics. [ airport (% of on time departure) ]

MCO (0%), ORD (20%), JFK (25%), IAD (40%), BOS (40%) and SAN (40%)
MCO has the worst on time departure performance compared to the other airports which Virgin America serves.
It has only 1 flight and 0% on time departure performance. Specifically, flights are on average, 123 minutes delayed.
ORD has a 20% on time departure performance. Presently, 4 out of 5 of the flights it serves are delayed with an average flight delay time of 111 minutes.
JFK airport is a big problem for Virgin America airlines. It is one of the busiest hubs but has really poor on time departure performance. 75% of its flights depart on time with an average delay time of 410 minutes across 12 flights.

Best and worst on time arrival airports (Top and bottom 7)

Top 7 airports that have 100% on time departure statistics: [ airport (# of flights) ]
SEA (8), EWR (6), AUS (2), DCA (1), PDX (1), PSP (1), PHL(1)
SEA airport is one of the biggest hubs of Virgin America yet it still boasts of a 100% on time departure performance.

Bottom 6 airports have worst on time arrival statistics. [ airport (% of on time arrival ) ]

MCO (0%), FLL (33.3%), ORD (40%), LAX (42.1%), SFO (48%) and JFK (58.3%)

MCO has the worst on time arrival compared to all airports which Virgin America serves.

It has only 1 flight and 0% on time arrival performance with an average delay time of 113 minutes.
SFO, LAX and JFK airports are huge problems for Virgin America airlines. They are 3 of its biggest hubs but they have really poor on time arrival performance. SFO, LAX and JFK have 52%, 57.9% and 41.7% delayed arrival rates respectively.
ORD has a 40% on time departure rate with an average of 3 out of 5 flights delayed. Average delay time for ORD is 111 minutes.

Performance for the day

Overall airlines performance:
Airline performance per aircraft:
A319 has much better performance compared to A320.
A319 aircraft performance
A320 aircraft performance
Overall airlines first flight D0 performance:
Virgin America current has a 35.3% first flight D0 rate.

First flight of the day departure on time

First flight of the day departure delayed
Airlines first flight D0 performance by aircraft:
A319s have an 80% first flight D0 performance (8 out of 10 aircrafts). Only 2 aircraft were departure delayed for the first flight of the day. They are N524VA and N526VA.

A320s have a 60% first flight D0 performance (24 out of 40 aircrafts).

The tail number of delayed aircraft is
N622VA, N626VA, N628VA, N630VA, N631VA, N632VA, N633VA, N634VA, N636VA, N640VA, N642VA, N835VA, N837VA, N853VA, N854VA, N855VA

Overall Airlines first flight D0 performance by aircraft is 64%

Best and worst overall turn performance airports:
Top 6 airports which have the best overall turn performance are SEA, EWR, AUS, DCA, PDX and PSP.
Especially SEA and EWR airport, they have a100% turn performance for all aircrafts they handle.
SFO and LAS airports hold the 7th and 8th places for overall turn performance. But both of the airports are Virgin America hub airports and have 77% and 72% turn performance, respectively.

Bottom 5 airports which have the worst overall turn performance are MSO, ORD, JFK, IAD and BOS.

JFK airport is Virgin America’s most served airport number 4, both in terms of the number of lights and seats. But JFK airports overall turn performance is the 3rd worst. It only has 3 successful turn performance out of a total of 12 flights, which equates to 25% successful turn performance.
The MCO airport only has 1 flight but it did not make a successful turn performance.