Buying the Big Jets ─ Fleet Planning for Airlines

Selecting the right aircraft for an airline operation is a vastly complex process, involving a multitude of skills and considerable knowledge of the business. Buying The Big Jets has been published since 2001 to provide expert guidance to all those involved in aircraft selection strategies.

This Third Edition brings the picture fully up to date, representing the latest developments in aircraft products and best practice in airline fleet planning techniques. It features a new section that covers the current and future aircraft programme strategies from both the airframe and engine manufacturer points of view. It also, for the first time, includes regional jet manufacturers who are now extending their product families into the 100-plus seating category. Engine options is another new topic within the book, as potentially game-changing technologies are about to come into service. Overall, the Third Edition looks at a broader selection of analytical approaches than previously and considers how fleet planning for cost-leader airlines differs from that of network carriers. Buying The Big Jets is an industry-specific example of strategic planning and is therefore a vital text for students engaged in graduate or post-graduate studies either in aeronautics or business administration.

The book is essential reading for airline planners with fleet planning responsibility, consultancy groups, analysts studying aircraft performance and economics, airline operational personnel, students of air transport, leasing companies, aircraft value appraisers, and all who manage commercial aircraft acquisition programmes and provide strategic advice to decision-makers. It is also a valuable tool for the banking community where insights into aircraft acquisition decisions are vital.

Paul Clark worked for more than 20 years at Airbus, then established and managed the AirBusiness Academy in Toulouse for three years. He spent almost two years at the helm of IATA’s global training operation based in Montreal, followed by four years in the United Arab Emirates where he ran an aircraft maintenance academy on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government. He is currently based in the UK, where he runs his aerospace consultancy called ’Through The Looking Glass Ltd’ (www.ttlglearn.com). Paul is a Visiting Professor at City University in the UK and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is the author of Stormy Skies and the creator of the SkyChess airline business simulation.