Customer Reviews

Air Transportation: A Management Perspective

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Air Transportation: A Management Perspective" by John G. Wensveen provides a good general background in most areas of commercial aviation activities, including airline operations, fleet planning, cargo operations, labor relations, and more. The book is quite easy to read and comprehend, though it might not be as quantitative or detailed as some advanced students (particularly MBA students) would like. If you do seek more detail, a good place to start is Rigas Doganis' "The Airline Business in the 21st Century" and "Flying Off Course."

The book is strongest in discussing managerial aspects of passenger airlines, and explains the basics involved in fair detail (e.g. differences between operating leases and capital leases are discussed.) Other aspects of the aviation environment are discussed but have become outdated since the book was written as this is a very fast-paced industry and change is constant. Sometimes the book fails to paint the whole picture, and the organization of the book is occasionally off-putting. Of course one book cannot cover everything in a subject this enormous, and further reading is required to understand the more subtle nuances of the industry.

The book is good at explaining advantages and disadvantages of various components of the industry (e.g. the hub-and-spoke system) and generally provides good historical perspective on important developments in the industry (e.g. the Railway Labor Act of 1926.) The book explains the contract negotiation process in commendable detail, and does cite damages done by managers like Frank Lorenzo and Carl Icahn while explaining the concept of pattern bargaining well. Clearly, deregulation is front and center in the book, and while the book explains that airline service has become a low-priced commodity with generally low service standards since deregulation, the impact on travelers is generally overlooked. While it may be outside the scope of a book on aviation management, future aviation managers need to understand how far service levels have fallen and why.

On balance this is a good book. It tries to be unbiased (though it is obviously from a managerial perspective) and explains the fundamentals of the industry well. The text sometimes wanders, and is often rather repetitive: I would appreciate the book more if it were edited tightly and condensed by about 100 pages. Still, if you need a general overview of commercial aviation, this is a good place to start.

I was required to buy this book for a college class. This book should have a different name. It didn't really come across as a management book, but more of a history book. I actually read this book from cover to cover. I enjoyed the history lesson of the airline industry.

It came fast and was very useful and helpful in my class. In very good condition also. I like it. A++

I found the Air Transportation first three charpters very difficult to read. Once one gets a better undersanding of the material it becomes easier. The book is very informative.

Plenty of good information for what its worth, but very poorly designed if you'll be reading most of the text. Each chapter seems to be designed without regard for the prior and hence they rehash tons of information you gathered in the prior chapters. I'd estimate that the book is probably 25% thicker than it would be if they didn't repeat information constantly. If the class picks and chooses chapters this format might be valuable, but reading every chapter for my class was annoying.

I will never buy from this seller again.seller claimed the book was in goog shape,when I got it,it was missing firtst 25 pages.It is rip off seller.