Southwest - Frontier! What an Opportunity!

It is amusing to read the financial analysts take on the proposed buyout of Frontier Airlines by Southwest Airlines Co.. Even the pundits in the industry are hampered by the same lack of vision that the traditional carriers hold.

When I heard the news, my reaction was 'about time'. Partly selfishly of course with Southwest being my preferred US carrier and Frontier being a key link from my home to Denver. But there's more to this than meets the eye.

Southwest has never bought airlines to gain market share - they create their own market and always have. The closest to a me-too was the Morris Air acquisition. And would Southwest like to topple United? I'm not sure they care, so long as there is growth in their business model. They certainly won't want to fly Denver Tokyo, and quite frankly may eliminate Frontiers few international routes in favor of a Mexican low-cost carrier with whom they could partner (like the Westjet model in Canada).

You can look at this financially of course - the cost to access key gates at major airports that Frontier has is probably more than the entire cost of buying Frontier. They will get good prices for the A319 and A318s in Frontier's fleet. I would not be surprised if established carriers at current Frontier cities might be concerned - Atlanta perhaps?

When Frontier restarted a few years back, they were great. I became a top flier quickly and enjoyed their can do attitude. In the last four years they've gone so far downhill that I avoid them - even flying to Denver on United.

Overall, great business strategy for Southwest, great for travellers in and out of Denver. It just means that a few more of my trips will now operate on time.

Just Culture

It appears that the FAA is moving towards Just Culture at least as far as ATC is concerned. Hopefully this shift in Safety Culture will apply to all segments of the industry. However, it seems there is confusion about Just Culture non-blame and non-punitive aspects.
It does not mean if I report it I can get away with it. It was never meant to relieve people from their personal responsibility. It is meant to encourage people to report problems which are related to the organisation and the management system without fearing retribution, and it actually works.
There are several reasons why procedurers may not work, the most common is it was not communicated to everyone properly (training issue) or it could just be a bad procedure (wrong information, not effective, badly written etc..).

Just Culture will require extensive training at all levels for the cultural shift to happen. Mandating SMS (of which Just Culture is a part) will definitely help.

This will throw some light on the subject http://www.flightsafety.org/gain/just_culture.pdf

Transition from a Technical to a Management Position

This is a tough transition for all, I think the most important step one has to take is to move from micro managing a technical issue to macro managing the same issue. One needs to look at the big picture. One needs to restrain oneself from jumping in and fixing a problem for the team. How do you do that, listen to your team and to your peers, communicate what you want and need clearly and most importantly don't feel shy, it is your job. Most of all the team looks up to you to provide leadership and focus, to translate the company vision into a reality for them.

Having read a lot of management books since 1985, an individual's management style is the byproduct of his experiences both successes and failures alike (failures mainly, always look for the lesson learnt, and remember it). One has to find his own management legs so to speake.

Just be sensible, listen and communicate and enjoy the ride, you are in for the time of your life.

Auditing Suppliers

There are several types of suppliers in aviation (Service Providers, Parts Suppliers and Suppliers). The requirement to audit them is mandated by regulation. Basically, they should be an extension of one’s quality, safety and security requiements and processes.

In general all maintenance organisations are more or less certified and approved to the same standards. An operator's job is to make sure that they comply with the regulations and quality standards and where there are deficiencies bridge the gap.

As for aircraft parts suppliers and with the problem of Suspected Unapproved Parts (SUP), the main thing is “Know Your Suppliers” if the trust is there the job is much easier. SUP by definition may be a problem of lack of the correct paperwork or an actual replica. Proper certification paperwork is essential.

On the whole aviation maybe the easier sector when it comes to auditing because of the amount of regulations governing all its aspects

Safety and Production

Safety is a cultural issue and is an intuitive action in our personal life (crossing streets, driving, working at home etc...) which we tend to totally suppress when it comes to the workplace because we are busy doing something else (production). And of course it does not help much when senior management is more interested in production than its commitment to Safety (quality and trainning rank in the same category). Well as the saying goes if you think Safety is expensive, try the cost of an accident. Safety and Production are not necessarily at odds, and safety can be translated into production (less accidents, incidents, work stoppages etc..).
Safety Management System (SMS) is mandated across the aviation sectors in most countries whith remaining following within a few years. This is a traditionally "Safety" oriented industry but SMS formalises functions like risk assesments and mitigation and safety objectives, requiring a culture adjustment within the organisation. It will be very interesting to follow the implemetation of SMS and the organisational culture changes.

Going GREEN again

Discussion question on the Group Green on LinkedIn, "Is Man-Made Global Warming Real? - The Number of Skeptics is Swelling - Many Scientists Beg to Differ..." posted 3 days ago generated 90 responses. These responses ranged from

• Calling Man made Global Warming a religion
• This is a cycle and man has no or very little contribution (Mother Nature just being bitchy)
• Almost totally our fault
• Spending money and imposing taxes under the Energy Bill will undermine the US economy and freedoms among other things
  
• Others who say, well maybe it is not totally our fault but we did abuse the planet and we need to help fix it.

and on and on.

They all quoted science and media sources (of course accusations of bias were all over the place)

Well, certainly a very emotive issue and from the looks of it both sides are pretty much not budging from their respective positions (nothing new here).

Well, I am no climate change expert, all I know is we abused Mother Nature a lot in the last few decades and it is about time we do something to repair the damage and if this helps with global warming so much the better.

What amazes me that all the so called conservatives who believe we had nothing to do with global warming focus on the cost issue of the equation and refuse to acknowledge the long term effect of incentivising the current GREEN industrial base to transform it into a major segment of the economy thus expanding the opportunities for creativity and innovation and yes my dear friends making money (that can not be too bad). I suppose you have to spend money to make money, or do we all want to repeat history (steel, auto, and others) of those who failed to invest and are/were in dire straits.

Employee Sabotage

In the following link is an interesting discussion on why employees sabotage their companies. Any solution to the reduction in wrongdoing is only partially addressed by systems that allow the reporting of wrongdoing - the entire approach must take a look at very large institutionalised, and personal issues. 

To what extent do you feel these issues are directly addressable in preserving integrity in aviation? 

http://www.sharp-resources.com/userdown/Sabotage-Workplace.pdf 

The work is from: Why might some employees sabotage their companies? 
Published: July 01, 2009 in Knowledge@SMU.