Airport Practices for Onboarding a New Passenger Airline (2024)
Chapter: 2 Synthesis Development Method
CHAPTER 2
Synthesis Development Method
Literature Review
Before collecting data from airports on the topic of new airline onboarding, a comprehensive review of the literature was conducted. The literature review included numerous platforms, including Google, Google Scholar, OneSearch (powered by EBSCO), TRID (TRB’s database of worldwide transportation research), and the websites of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) which includes the Association’s Accreditation Papers library, and FAA guidance. Unlike air service development, for which there are textbooks, ACRP publications, and numerous articles, airline onboarding has not been widely studied. Despite the comprehensive review, the synthesis authors found little available literature on this topic.
Survey and Interview Methods
A questionnaire was designed for this synthesis. The “Airport Survey on New Airline Onboarding” consisted of nine open-ended and six closed-ended items. (The complete survey is provided as Appendix A.) It was anticipated that an online survey protocol would (1) result in a greater response rate and faster responses than printed mailed surveys and (2) be less costly and faster than telephone interviews. The questionnaire was distributed via email to airports in November 2023. Two follow-up emails were sent to non-respondents during the first two weeks of December 2023. The survey was closed on December 12, 2023, with no further responses possible at this point. Survey responses are presented in Chapter 5.
On the basis of survey responses (including the willingness to be contacted for follow-up), 12 participants were contacted via phone during January and February 2024. The intent of the phone calls was to better understand specific airline onboarding practices, including challenges experienced, at the selected airports in order to develop case examples for the report. A case example was developed for each of those airports (presented in Chapter 6).
The methods for analyzing survey data depended on the type of data collected:
- Quantitative data, mostly collected from closed-ended items, was analyzed using basic Microsoft Excel statistical analysis tools, as well as the SurveyMonkey data analysis tool. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Charts were created using Excel.
- Qualitative data, collected from responses to open-ended items, were manually tabulated and analyzed using content analysis. Themes were uncovered from the verbatim responses and presented to better understand common perspectives among participating airports.
Recipients and Participants
The population defined for this synthesis consists of U.S. airports that have welcomed a new airline within the past 3 years. Based on review, 50 airports were deemed to meet this qualification and were contacted for data collection.
To distribute the surveys, an email containing the survey link was sent to senior staff at the selected airports. After several email reminders, a total of 22 individuals responded to the survey. Given the small number of responses, it was not possible to synthesize information on airline onboarding nationwide from the survey results. However, the responses indicated which airports were vested in the project and potentially willing to be contacted for development of case examples. In this regard, the survey effort provided beneficial results.
