ABSTRACT
Human resources play a critical role in air transport. The number of people directly employed in the air transport sector stands at around 10 million people, with a further 63 million jobs supported by aviation (ATAG, 2016). Moreover, people play a vital role in airline operations as the productivity of staff and/or the customer service performance of staff offers the airline a competitive advantage. As former airline CEO and aviation scholar Rigas Doganis succinctly put it, “labour is the key” to airline success (Doganis, 2006: 101). Consequently, effective human resource management (HRM) is crucial. This chapter documents the importance of HRM with reference to several critical incidents in the civil aviation industry. It begins with civil aviation liberalisation (see also Chapters 6 and 7) and focuses specifically, but not exclusively, on the low cost model – an airline business model (see also Chapter 8) developed by Southwest Airlines in the United States (US) and adopted (and adapted) to a greater or lesser extent by low cost carriers (LCCs) around the world. The chapter discusses the human resources (HR) practices associated with the low cost model and the impact of competition from these airlines on the HRM strategies of traditional full service or legacy carriers. The chapter proceeds chronologically and considers the influence of industry crises that followed: (i) the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001; and (ii) the global financial crisis. Recent HRM initiatives are documented, and the chapter ends with a discussion of what is the most enduring, distinctive and arguably the most successful HRM strategy in civil aviation.
