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"And you thought the passengers were mad. Airline employees are fed up, too-with pay cuts, increased workloads and management's miserly ways, which leave workers to explain to often-enraged passengers why flying has become such a miserable experience."—The New York Times, December 22, 2007
When both an industry's workers and its customers report high and rising frustration with the way they are being treated, something is fundamentally wrong. In response to these conditions, many of the world's airlines have made ever-deeper cuts in services and their workforces. Is it too much to expect airlines, or any other enterprise, to provide a fair return to investors, high-quality reliable service to their customers, and good jobs for their employees? Measured against these three expectations, the airline industry is failing. In the first five years of the twenty-first century alone, U.S. airlines lost a total of $30 billion while shedding 100,000 jobs, forcing the remaining workers to give up over $15 billion in wages and benefits. Combined with plummeting employee morale, shortages of air traffic controllers, and increased congestion and flight delays, a total collapse of the industry may be coming.
Is this state of affairs inevitable? Or is it possible to design a more sustainable, less volatile industry that better balances the objectives of customers, investors, employees, and the wider society? Does deregulation imply total abrogation of government's responsibility to oversee an industry showing the clear signs of deterioration and increasing risk of a pending crisis?
Greg J. Bamber, Jody Hoffer Gittell, Thomas A. Kochan, and Andrew von Nordenflycht explore such questions in a well-informed and engaging way, using a mix of quantitative evidence and qualitative studies of airlines from North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Up in the Air provides clear and realistic strategies for achieving a better, more equitable balance among the interests of customers, employees, and shareholders. Specifically, the authors recommend that firms learn from the innovations of companies like Southwest and Continental Airlines in order to build a positive workplace culture that fosters coordination and commitment to high-quality service, labor relations policies that avoid long drawn-out conflicts in negotiating new agreements, and business strategies that can sustain investor, employee, and customer support through the ups and downs of business cycles.
Reviews
"This refreshingly readable and persuasive book challenges the emerging orthodoxy that low-cost must mean low staff morale and low customer satisfaction. Drawing on examples from across the world, including ‘legacy’ airlines such as British Airways and new entrants such as Ryanair and easyJet, the authors analyse the competitive and employment-relations strategies that airlines have adopted. Outcomes for customers, employees, and other stakeholders are analysed. The authors categorise employment-relations strategies as either controlling employee behaviour, or aiming to foster commitment. . . . The authors suggest that the genuine partnerships should feature: joint commitment to the success of the enterprise; efforts to build trust; employment security in exchange for flexibility; quality training programmes; information sharing and joint problem solving with managers and employees."—Jim McAuslan, The Log (British Air Line Pilot’s Association), April/May, 2009 "The book provides a detailed overview of the recent evolution and transformation of the U.S. civil aviation industry, especially the impact of low-cost competition and September 11, and it includes a penetrating analysis of the relative performance of different airlines. It pays adequate tribute to the importance of the old ‘legacy’ airlines in the industry, many of which have been national flag-carriers, though it pays particular attention to new entrants. Although the focus is on the US, the analysis is extended to other markets in Europe and Asia to produce a comprehensive account of competition, business strategies and human resource management in the world airline industry. . . . On the whole, the book is intellectually stimulating and a pleasure to read. It asks the right questions and combines thorough empirical research and informed analysis to answer them. The ideas, arguments and empirical analysis presented merit close attention and wide discussion. The authors even offer a road map to success for consumers, employees, and investors. While the book makes a significant contribution to the literature on human resource management and employment relations in the aviation industry, it is also useful as a starting point for future research."—Stefan Zagelmeyer, Personnel Review, March 2009 " Up in the Air tackles the complex external and internal environments of the world’s airline industry. The authors are an impressive combination of Australian, European and U.S. employment relations scholars with significant research expertise in the airline industry. . . . This book is equally valuable in the classroom and the boardroom. The authors’ use of a comparative industrial relations approach enriches one’s understanding of the complex nature of employment relations. It would be a lamentable [not] to recognize that this book’s value extends far beyond airlines. The airline industry has a dynamic internal and external environment with employees spread around a nation or world; frontline employees make important decisions at any hour of the day or night. This book is instructive for successful employment relations strategy in a wide range of industries—particularly those with knowledge workers and/or dispersed frontline decision makers."—E. Patrick McDermott, Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 51, 2009
“ Up in the Air is a great read; it features fascinating data and persuasive arguments and is an important contribution to the literature on airlines."—Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management, Wharton School of the University of Pennyslvania " Up in the Air is a very useful compendium of data about and experience in the airline industry. Every political, union and industry executive concerned about the industry's fate will learn something from its pages, which include suggestions for bringing better labor-management relations into being."—Robert L. Crandall, Retired Chairman and CEO, American Airlines "The authors of Up in the Air ask all the right questions about this fundamental yet unstable industry. But they also offer a road map to success for the primary stakeholders—consumers, employees, and investors."—Patricia Friend, International President, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO "This book should be mandatory reading for management and unions, to help them to reformulate policies to achieve better industrial relations and support a stronger aviation industry."—Ingo Marowsky, International Transport Workers Federation, London "This is a timely and important text on the low cost carriers that have transformed air travel in recent years. Up in the Air is written in a lively, accessible, and engaging style with a clear structure and an easy 'flow.' Greg J. Bamber, Jody Hoffer Gittell, Thomas A. Kochan, and Andrew von Nordenflycht provide a detailed overview of the recent evolution of the U.S. civil aviation industry, especially the impact of low-cost competition and September 11, as well as a fascinating account of the relative performance of different airlines. This analysis is extended to other aviation markets around the globe to produce a comprehensive account of competition, business strategies and human resource management in the industry. The authors also offer a thoughtful prognosis and practical steps for the future, to which policy makers, airline managers, and trade unionists should pay particular attention."—Peter Turnbull, Cardiff University, Wales
About the Author
Greg J. Bamber is a Professor at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University of Newcastle, England. Jody Hoffer Gittell is Associate Professor in The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Thomas A. Kochan is George M. Bunker Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Andrew von Nordenflycht is Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University.
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