Improvement of aviation services operations : a benchmarking approach

Abstract

At present, the air transportation system is one of the most important industry segments that play an important role for the development of economic and social in Thailand. The success of air transportation in Thailand's economic and social development depends heavily on the safe and efficient operations of air traffic control services. Many countries in this region aim to be the leader in air transportation system and operate as the center of aviation in this region. Moreover, air traffic volume has increased continuously. Therefore, the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Ltd.(Aerothai) must improve its air traffic control system to make it safe and efficient with the potential power to be the aviation leader in the region. Benchmarking, a competitive and powerful tool widely-used for competitive companies worldwide to search for industrial best practices that lead to superior performance, can be applied for air traffic control services. The study presents the improvement of Aerothai's air traffic control services by using benchmarking as a methodology. The study compares Aerothai's service performance as well as service operations with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with focus on three main factors as follows: 1) quality of service 2) technological support and 3) human operations. The results of the benchmarking study give the comparative information and create the best practices that will assist Aerothai in improving its operations and lifting its level of services in its attempt to gain a competitive advantage as the aviation service leader.