Article Synthesis, Article Review Example

In his article Bonsor (2008) provides full information on how airlines work from inside. He discusses various types of airlines, how they operate and what inner structure they have, and he also describes different pricing policies that airline companies may use.

According to Bonsor (2008) in the USA there are three main types of airlines – it is major airlines, national and regional airlines.  The main distinction between them is made on the basis of their annual revenues, number of employees and flying destinations that they offer. Thus major airlines mostly offer international routes, national airlines complete flights around the country and regional airlines service particular regions of the United States.

In his article Bonsor (2008) states that there two the most important elements in the structure of each airline – its airplanes and its people. An airline can have the best planes in the world, but without employees it can do nothing. There are four major groups of airline personnel. First of all, it is line personnel, including pilots, flight attendants, reservation clerks, etc. They make up 85% of all airlines’ staff. Then there are operations personnel, who are responsible for the preparation and conduction of the flight. For example, dispatchers. Third group of employees are maintenance personnel, who are responsible for maintaining and repairing airplanes if necessary. And the last group is sales and marketing personnel. Their responsibility is to set prices, make reservations, develop advertising, etc.

According to this article all major airlines today use the so called hub-and-spoke system to design their routes. “Hub” is a central airport through which all the flights must go. And “spokes” are the routes that go from the central airport. Bonsor (2008) draws such an example – if a person wants to go from Charleston, SC, to Memphis, TN, and there are no direct flights, the airline would take this person from Charleston to Atlanta (the hub) and from there to Memphis. Such a system helps airlines to save money.

In the next section of the article the author describes two types of airline tickets that exist today – paper tickets and electronic ones. Then he discusses the major factors that contribute to the price of the ticket. Those are: purchase date (the earlier- the cheaper); class of the seat; destination; flight date and time (the earlier in the day – the cheaper); fuel costs; competitors’ prices.

Bonsor draws a conclusion that there are a lot of things going on behind the scene and passengers of airlines don’t necessarily need to know all of the issues that are connected with their flights.