5th GARS Online Panel Discussion

Topic: ATM Reform and COVID-19 Panellists (in Alphabetical Order): • Nicole Adler Hebrew University, Jerusalem • Luis Barbero President of GATCO • Xavier Fron Eurocontrol • David McMillan Chair, ATM Policy Institute Moderator • Andrew Charlton Executive Director, ATM Policy Institute Aviation Advocacy, Geneva The 5th GARS Online Panel Discussion was held on 23 June 2020. It was jointly sponsored by the ATM Policy Institute, GARS, the European Aviation Conference, the Bremen University of Applied Sciences and Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Like all parts of the aviation ecosystem, ATM has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. But this might be a chance to make some much needed changes to a system that was already struggling and for which mis-matches of capacity and demand were common. This panel looked at a number of these issues. The recording of Online Panel Discussion is available now.

Hong Kong Nautical and Maritime Scholarship Scheme 2019/20 – Open for Application

Hong Kong Nautical and Maritime Scholarship Scheme 2019/20 is now open for application: The Hong Kong Maritime Scholarship The Hong Kong Seafaring Scholarship Please refer to the webpages of the respective scholarships for the details of the eligibility, selection criteria and conditions of award. Application: Completed application form and the Deed of Undertaking should be returned to the General Office of Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies (Room M628) in person or by email to brooky.chan@polyu.edu.hk by 12:00 noon, 15 July 2020 (Wednesday).

4th GARS Online Panel Discussion

Topic: Covid-19 and Trade War: Boom or Bust Situation for Air Cargo? Panellists (in Alphabetical Order): • Anne Lange University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg • Brian Pearce International Air Transport Association (IATA), Geneva • Cliff Sullivan Immediately-past Chairman HAFFA, Hong Kong • Alvin Tay Vice President APAC Sales & Marketing, Atlas Air Inc, Hong Kong Moderator • Achim I. Czerny The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong The 4th GARS Online Panel discussion was held on 9 June 2020. The discussion clearly highlighted how different passenger and air cargo markets have been affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. The strong reduction in air passenger demand, the grounding of aircraft and the corresponding drastic reduction in belly capacity together with the high demand for the transportation of, for instance, medical supplies lead to booming markets for freighter airlines. The growth of e-commerce is likely to support the air cargo business also in the future despite potential setbacks related to trade wars. The recording of Online Panel Discussion is available now.

A new take on the air traffic flow management problem by considering passenger itineraries (as opposed to flight itineraries only), using machine learning and optimization by Dr Alexandre JACQUILLAT (5 June 2020)

Title: A new take on the air traffic flow management problem by considering passenger itineraries (as opposed to flight itineraries only), using machine learning and optimization Speaker: Dr Alexandre JACQUILLAT, Assistant Professor, Operations Research and Statistics, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Date: 5 June 2020 Bio: Alexandre Jacquillat is an Assistant Professor of Operations Research and Statistics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on data-driven decision-making, spanning stochastic optimization, large-scale optimization, mechanism design and field experimentation. His primary focus is on problems of scheduling, operations and pricing in the transportation sector—with a particular interest in air traffic management and on-demand mobility. Alexandre is the recipient of several research awards, including the 2017 Best Paper Award from the INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society, the 2015 George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award from INFORMS, the 2015 Dissertation Award from the INFORMS Transportation and Logistics Society, the Milton Pikarsky Memorial Award from the Council of University Transportation Centers, and the L.E. Rivot Medal from the French Academy of Science. Prior to joining MIT, Alexandre was an Assistant Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. Alexandre also worked with McKinsey & Co. and Booz Allen Hamilton, advising leading companies and governmental organizations in transportation analytics. He received a PhD in engineering systems from MIT, a Master of Science in technology and policy from MIT, and a Master of Science in applied mathematics from the École Polytechnique.

3rd GARS Online Panel Discussion

Topic: Covid-19 and African Aviation Panellists (in Alphabetical Order): • Joan Miquel Vilardell ALG Global • Sanjeev Gadhia Founder & CEO Astral Aviation Ltd • Ogaga Udjo Managing Director ZA Logics Moderator • Andrew Charlton Aviation Advocacy, Geneva The 3rd GARS Online Panel Discussion was held on 4 June 2020 in 3rd Workshop on “Aviation in Africa”. The Panel of experts, moderated by Andrew Charlton, held a panel discussion regarding Covid-19 and African Aviation, at both a passenger and cargo level. A wide range of topics were debated, including the structure and status of African aviation – across different regions – prior Covid-19. The panel further discussed dynamics currently experienced within the African aviation context due to Covid-19, and respectively opined on what the future may possibly look like, in terms of market structure and ownership. The recording of Online Panel Discussion is available now.

HKSOA Student Exchange Scholarship 2020/21 – Open for Application

HKSOA Student Exchange Scholarship 2020/21 is now open for application. Value of Award: The value of award depends on the destinations which are listed below: Destinations Value of Scholarship for one semester (HKD) Chinese Mainland, Taiwan and Macau 15,000 Other Asian destinations 18,000 Non-Asian destinations 20,000 Eligibility: Outbound exchange students enrolled on BBA (Hons) in International Shipping and Transport Logistics offered by the Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies (LMS). Priority will be given to the LMS students who study in some maritime related programmes, or who take maritime related subjects in the collaborating universities in Semester 1 or 2 of 2020/21. The outbound exchange recipients of the scholarships are not allowed to hold other exchange scholarship(s) concurrently. However, they are allowed to receive subsidies from PolyU which cover part of the expenses of the exchange programme. Selection Criteria: The scholarships are awarded to students who have strong interest in maritime studies and developing career in shipping and maritime fields. The scholarships are awarded to students on the basis of applicants’ academic merit, extent of involvement in extra-curricular activities, community services and interview performance (if any). The applications will be forwarded to the Donor for final selection. Application: Details please refer to the flyer. To apply, please submit the application form to LMS General Office (M628) on or before 22 June 2020 (Monday).

2nd GARS Online Panel Discussion

Topic: The Coronavirus Outbreak & Aviation Bailouts: Pragmatism, Policy, Politics Panellists (in Alphabetical Order): • Peter Forsyth Monash University, Melbourne • Cathal Guiomard Dublin City University, Ireland • Peter Lewisch University of Vienna, Law School, Vienna • Brian Pearce International Air Transport Association (IATA), Geneva • Mike Tretheway InterVISTAS, Vancouver Moderator: • Andrew Charlton Aviation Advocacy, Geneva The 2nd GARS Online Panel Discussion was held on 27 May 2020. The Panel focused particularly on airline bailouts. It is clear that bailouts can take a number of different forms. Concerns were raised that the market would be distorted by indiscriminate bailouts. Further, there was concern that much of the hard-won industry reform of the last two decades is now at risk of being reversed in the space of two quarters. Whilst there are valid reasons and valid forms for focused bailouts, more work is required to ensure that bailouts do not create more longer-term issues than they resolve. The recording of Online Panel Discussion is available now.

Public Online Seminar: Airline Mitigation of Propagated Delays via Schedule Buffers: Theory and Empirics by Prof. Jan K. BRUECKNER (7 May 2020)

Title: Airline Mitigation of Propagated Delays via Schedule Buffers: Theory and Empirics Speaker: Prof. Jan K. Brueckner, Distinguished Professor, Department of Economics, University of California, Irvine Date: 7 May 2020 Abstract: This paper presents an extensive theoretical and empirical analysis of the choice of schedule buffers by airlines. With airline delays a continuing problem around the world, such an undertaking is valuable, and its lessons extend to other passenger transportation sectors. One useful lesson from the theoretical analysis of a two-flight model is that the mitigation of delay propagation is done entirely by the ground buffer and the second flight’s buffer. The first flight’s buffer plays no role because the ground buffer is a perfect, while nondistorting, substitute. In addition, the apportionment of mitigation responsibility between the ground buffer and the flight buffer of flight two is shown to depend on the relationship between the costs of groundand flight-buffer time. The empirical results show the connection between buffer magnitudes and a host of explanatory variables, including the variability of flight times, which simulations of the model identify as an important determining factor. Bio: Jan K. Brueckner is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of California, Irvine. He received an B.A. from UC Berkeley in 1972 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1976, and was a long-time faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before coming to UCI in 2005. He has served as visiting professor at UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego, and has been a visiting scholar at many foreign universities. Brueckner has published extensively in the areas of urban economics, public economics, housing finance, and the economics of the airline industry. He served as editor of the Journal of Urban Economics for 16 years and is currently a member of the editorial boards of 8 journals. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the US Department of Transportation, many of the major airlines, and other organizations.

Public Online Seminar: From Silver to Platinum: The Effect of Frequent Flier Tier Levels on Airline Demand by Prof. Jos van OMMEREN (5 May 2020)

Title: From Silver to Platinum: The Effect of Frequent Flier Tier Levels on Airline Demand Speaker: Prof. Jos van Ommeren, Professor, School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Date: 5 May 2020 Abstract: We estimate the effect of tier level within a frequent flier program on members’ demand by exploiting several thresholds corresponding to different tier levels. We demonstrate that members tend to increase demand at the end of the calendar year to reach a higher tier level. We also show that members do not manipulate demand in earlier months, which allows us to apply a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach to identify causal demand effects of higher tier levels. We show that obtaining a higher level induces members to increase their demand, but these results are tier level specific. The lowest tier level induces members to increase their annual demand by only one flight, while the highest tier level increases their demand with 7 flights. We show that tier levels create switching costs for high-demand members as these members are not affected by free flight awards. Bio: Jos van Ommeren (1966) is Professor of Urban Economics at the VU University. He studied Econometrics at the London School of Economics, United Kingdom and received his PhD in Economics at the VU University Amsterdam. His main interests are in the economic analysis of transport and urban issues, including company car taxation, agglomeration, spatial structure, infrastructure improvements, parking policy, congestion and Airnbnb. Jos has also worked at the Dutch Central Bank, the European University Institute, University College London, Cranfield University and Frisch Centre. He is a fellow of the Tinbergen Institute.

Public Online Seminar: Competition in Congested Service Networks with Application to Air Traffic Control Provision in Europe by Prof. Nicole ADLER (29 April 2020)

Title: Competition in Congested Service Networks with Application to Air Traffic Control Provision in Europe Speaker: Prof. Nicole Adler, Professor, Operations Research Department, The Jerusalem School of Business Administration, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Date: 29 April 2020 Abstract: We analyze how a network based market impacts competition, equilibrium charges and efficiency. We find that congested networks served by oligopolistic firms within a supply chain may be more cost efficient and offer lower prices under horizontal integration as compared to the competitive outcome. Furthermore, if a government is interested in encouraging technology adoption in order to increase capacity, this requires either hybrid price caps or vertical integration in order to share both the costs and benefits. The model is subsequently illustrated with a case study on air traffic control provision in Western Europe, in which it is shown that substantial changes in the regulation are required in order to create a more cost efficient sector with increased capacity. Bio: Nicole Adler is a professor and head of the Department of Operations Research and Operations Management at the School of Business Administration of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her major research interests include game theory and productivity estimation applied to the field of transportation. Her work has analysed huband-spoke airline competition and mergers, public service obligation tenders, airport productivity and recently, she has utilised game theoretic concepts in order to understand air traffic control markets. Nicole is currently an associate editor for Transportation Research part B: Methodological.