Federal Contracting Activities

Federal Contracting Activities

Overview of the topic

In the United States, air travel is a huge part of the national economy. In 2009, civil aviation accounted for 5.2% of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2011 alone, US commercial air carriers flew over 9.5 million flights, and demand is projected to continue to increase. The Boeing 787 program, for example, was officially launched in 2004, and only just now are aircraft being delivered in 2012. Bio fuels also require more development before becoming a viable source of CO2 emissions reductions. According to Agusdinata, et al., bio fuels could become profitable after 2023, although bringing production up to significant levels requires additional time beyond 2023. However, the efficacy of these changes is not based solely on the efficiency of the technologies themselves. Airlines are businesses, so commercial viability must be a consideration. Therefore, all the issues and aspects related to the Federal Contracting Activities related to Boeing Airline will be discussed in detail.

Characteristics of Boeing Airline

The technology levels assumed this study are Representative-in-Class, Best-in- Class, and Equipped. Representative-in-Class aircraft are those with the most operations in their class in the year 2005, the baseline year used for most FLEET studies, based on data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. For example, class 3 contains most of the Airbus A320 family, the Boeing 737 family and the MD-80/DC-9 family. The Boeing 737- 300 had the most operations in 2005 of all aircraft in this class, so it became the Representative in Class aircraft. Best-in-Class are those operating in 2005 with the most recent entry-in-service (EIS) date. The Boeing 787 also appears in this Best-in-Class category, given its expected introduction to revenue service by US carriers in 2013. The author's simulations assume that all Representative- and Best-in-Class aircraft are not equipped to gain benefit from ATM improvements (Grimmett, 2010).

However, these aircraft types already owned by the airline could be retrofitted with advanced avionics, at a cost, if desired. The third technology level, Equipped Aircraft, assumes the same airframes and engines as the Best-in-Class, but these aircraft have advanced cockpit equipage to take full advantage of ATM technology improvements. This study assumes that any aircraft acquired after 2015 are these fully equipped aircraft. Using the same airframe and engine for Equipped Aircraft as the Best-in-Class Aircraft allows the study to focus on the near-term benefits of equipage improvements only, rather than combining those benefits with improvements from new aircraft models (for example, improved engines on a reengined 737 will reduce fuel consumption independent of improved equipage). These assumptions make the studies simpler to organize and execute (Hart, 2010).

Different Factors of the Airline Industry

The air transportation network modeled in FLEET is based on the WWLMINET 257, a group of airports considered to be the “most important” for air travel. From this group, only domestic routes or routes that include a U.S. airport are included. For example, the model includes the route from La Guardia to London Heathrow, but does not include the ...