Analysis of Ground Services for Air Carriers: System Dynamics Approach

In the years when commercial flights started, airlines carry out their ground operations with their own means; with the growth of the sector, today they are mostly carried out by Ground Service Agents (GSAs). Airlines flying to hundreds of different destinations around the world carry out ground operations at airports in different countries, only by cooperating with local service providers. GSAs, which receive services in many areas such as Ground Operations, Passenger Services, Lost and Found, and Ticket Sales, directly or indirectly affect the profitability of the airlines as well as the quality of service provided. One of the biggest expenses of airline companies is fuel consumption. So, many studies are being carried out in the field of fuel saving, and airlines are implementing many new applications to reduce consumption. This study aimed to show that differences can be made by small contributions during the standard services given to an aircraft prepared for flight. The results obtained by using the system dynamics approach show that ground services personnel can contribute to fuel savings, due to reducing the difference between the average weight values and the real values, by updating the flight plan according to actual data and planning the load distribution on the aircraft in the ideal CG range. As a conclusion, it is aimed to show how much the study can contribute to the airlines with similar calculations to be made for different aircraft types and different flight routes, by revealing the average earnings that can be obtained per flight over the sample taken at the end of the study.