Thinking of fuel? Nope!
The fastest and
steadiest growing costs in airline industry are the costs of operational
disruptions, representing the mismatch between companies' plans and actual
results. They can reach up to 30 percent of operating costs (for major hub
carriers) – partly as an investment in punctuality through built-in buffers
meant to offset the negative effects of disruptions (additional block times,
more aircraft, more fuel, more crew, more ground personnel, more aircraft
stands, more spare parts, more equipment, more airport space, and more human effort), and partly
through daily disruptions. Almost every single cost item in financial reports
contains a part of these costs. Still, disruption costs are not officially
recognised as a cost category - not because they don't exist, but because their
multidimensional and dynamic nature doesn't fit into the linear frame of
inherited cost structures.
Inability to
understand origins of disruption costs is the main obstacle to the effective control of losses in cost and revenue and operational risk management. Being 'friends' with disruptions and understanding their messages
is a rare if not the only opportunity for planners and decision makers to tune
into reality.
