Operation Management Analysis: Oman Air and Emirates Airline Report

This report provides an executive summary and detailed analysis of operation management within the airline industry, focusing on Oman Air. The study explores key decision areas such as quality management, inventory management, and process design, while also comparing Oman Air and Emirates using the 4Vs framework (volume, variety, variation, and visibility). The report further examines strategies to enhance operational performance, including the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Statistical Process Control. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of effective operation management for meeting customer expectations, maintaining a competitive advantage, and maximizing profitability. Recommendations are provided to help Oman Air achieve operational efficiency and improve its market share. The report utilizes various academic sources to support its findings and conclusions.

OPERATION
MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The operation management process concentrates on designs, controls the process and redesigns
the operations of business concern to carry changes in the production of goods and services and
to bring higher level of efficiency. This study explains different operation management areas of
an organisation, i.e. quality management, stock management and layout or process design
departments. This research study also contains comparison between two airline companies,
Oman air and Emirates using 4 Vs i.e. volume, variety, variation and visibility. And further the
study gives some ways to improve operational performance of the organisation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
1. Operational Management's Decision Areas.......................................................................1
2. Comparison Between Oman Air And Emirates Using 4vs................................................3
3. Ways To Improve Operational Performance......................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is a management process which is concerned with converting
input to finished goods & services and to serve its customers effectively. The process
concentrates on designs, controls the process and redesigns the operations of business to bring
changes in the production of goods and services and to bring higher level of efficiency. Oman air
is the national airline operating regular domestic and international flights serving the passengers.
Oman air also caters regional air taxi services and charter flights. This study will research about
operation management's decision areas of Oman Air industry. This research will also include
ways to improve the operational performance of Oman air and a comparison with a competitor
will be done using 4Vs.
TASK
1. Operational Management's Decision Areas
A company utilises resources to transform it into goods and services. And operation
management is the process to design and establish a plan and control the process and also
maintains it and bring improvements in the process(Pettigrew, 2014). And in order to bring
improvements in the processes the operation management have to make certain decisions
regarding quality, stock management, layout or process design, location strategy, human
resource management, supply chain management, etc. The Oman air company providing airline
services also requires operation management to operates its business and decisions needs to be
made in respect to bring improvements in the operational processes to serve passengers
efficiently.
Quality:
Development of the airline industry forces operation management to improve the quality
of their services to gain competitive advantage. Improving the quality of services of Oman air
results in attracting the new passengers and retaining the current ones. Customer's satisfaction is
the service quality that is provided by airlines' company. Operation management aims at
providing best services to customers and focuses on meeting the needs and wants of customers.
The quality of services of Oman air improves by operation management's decision's on
providing on-time performance, avoiding mishandled baggage and resolving passengers

complaints(Albers and et.al., 2017). The operation management of Oman airlines services also
focuses on satisfying the passengers and improving the process by giving accident or safety
considerations. The quality of air lines services also includes financial stability of the company,
ability of airline to provide comfort and hassle-free services to passengers. Therefore, operation
management makes appropriate decision's regarding the quality of services being provided to
passengers as it influences the passenger's decisions and affects the business of airline.
Inventory management:
Operation management needs to maintain inventory as different market brings different
challenges and opportunities and therefore operation management need to make strategies and
plans to maintain and control the inventory of the company to sustain competitive advantage.
The operation management of Oman air focuses on maintaining its seat inventory in order to
implement the methodologies of airlines and to face the competition and sustain its place. Airline
industries offers wide range of fare tickets for seats in the flight. And decisions are made by
operation management to control the number of seats in different fare classes and also maintains
or controls the inventory(Bromiley and Rau, 2016).
The inventory management by operational department of Oman air manages and
distributes inventories through different sales channels and aims at providing the advanced level
of services at cheapest price. The operation management make decision in order to prevent the
cancellations and also adopts provision regarding delays and ensures the best use of maintenance
personnel. The aim of operation management in regard to inventory management is to provide
the best services at low cost and ensuring human resources i.e. maintenance personnel is utilized
effectively.
Layout or Process Design:
The process or layout design is a process focusing on developing a plan for production of
the product or services which are to be provided. It includes various points such as technology
used, customer's participation, personnel levels, stock requirements in order to determine the
smooth flow of materials, human resource and information. The operation management aims at
improvising the process design or layout in order to manage various processing requirements and
meet the needs and wants of customers(Castro, 2016).

The operation management of Oman airlines improves the process design to make sure
that the process performance is appropriate and it meets the expectations of customer and to
create value in their minds. The layout is designed in a way that it organizes everything and it
benefits the business through its appropriateness. The operation management of Oman air
improves the process design by making decisions regarding the schedule of flights for both
domestic and international flights. Operation management also focuses on execution of the
airline schedule planned and the execution of process design or layout. The process is designed
in such a way that it provides services as expected by the passengers at low price, so it
maximizes the revenue retention(Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2014). The operation management
of Oman air makes process design in order to improve and ensure the smooth flow of work or
operations using adequate resources and appropriate information which facilitate meeting the
expectations of passengers. The factor's personnel and passengers, resources and machinery are
integrated in a way that create well-functioning system plan which helps to meet the objectives
of the organisation.
2. Comparison Between Oman Air And Emirates Using 4vs
In airlines service industry, operation management's decision supports to improve the
system and process that facilitate in meeting the expectations of passengers. The operation
management uses 4Vs i.e. volume, variety, variation and visibility to ensures safe conveyance of
goods and passengers. The comparison between two airlines companies i.e. Oman air and
Emirates using the 4Vs is given below.
Comparison between Oman
air and Emirates using 4vs
OMAN AIR EMIRATES
Volume Oman air has fleet size of 53
and 50 destinations in 27
countries operating its
domestic and international
flights.
Emirates has a higher fleet size
of 257 and it operates its
domestic and international
services in 140 destinations in
over 70 countries(Leung, Chu
and Cheung, 2017).
Variety The Oman airline focuses on The Emirates aim at providing

bringing variety in services
through providing in-flight
experience such as latest
international films, TV news,
as well as music and
games(Jensen, 2017).
the best services to its
passengers through the
personnel of crew who can
speak over 60 languages
bringing diversity and variety.
Variation Oman air brings variation in
service provided in order to
attract the customer and
sustain competitive
advantage(O’Connor and
et.al., 2017).
Emirates fails to do so as it
focuses on maintaining the
current passengers and so fails
to bring variation in the
services offered.
Visibility Oman air maintains visibility
in its process which ensures
airlines safety in the minds of
the passengers.
Emirates fails to maintain
visibility in the minds of the
passengers as it is the big
airline industry operating its
business worldwide and so it is
difficult to maintain visibility.
3. Ways To Improve Operational Performance
The main aim of operation management is to manage the process of business in a way
that brings innovation which result in achieving the objectives of the organisation and to sustain
competitive advantage and earn profits. Therefore, operation management should aim at
improving the performance of operations which will benefit the organisation(Pettigrew, 2014).
And in order to meet the expectations of passengers, the operation management of Oman air
should use different strategies which are as follows.
Implementation of Total Quality Management(TQM) or quality assurance is the
process which includes all the steps taken by a company which ensures higher quality of goods
or services and it aims at meeting the customer's expectations(WHAT IS TOTAL QUALITY

MANAGEMENT (TQM)?, 2018). The TQM process should be used by operation management of
Oman air to ensure customer's satisfaction, involvement of employees in decision making and
which will benefit in continuous improvements in services offered.
Statistical Process Control is an approach used to improve the process and ensuring that
it is being made in accordance with predetermined specifications(Roy and Mukherjee, 2015).
The operation management of Oman air should focus on monitoring the process by testing the
output of the services offered.
The Oman air should focus on linking the operations of airline and passengers, so that
it makes a bridge between them which will make the passengers to easily understand the
operational process. The Oman air should further invest in technology to deliver the improvised
process and increase its profitability and sustain in the competitive market by meeting the
customer's expectations.
CONCLUSION
A proper management of operations system is required to make proper decisions to meet
the uniqueness of the business environment. The study highlights the importance of decision
making by operation management in business to meet the expectations of customers and to
uphold a competitive advantage in the market and increase profits. The operation management
focuses on identifying key opportunities from the business environment and improves the
operational process or performance in order to meet the expectations of customer's.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 Oman air's operation management should seek ways to acquire operational efficiency in
order to gain competitive advantage which will bring customer loyalty and profitability.
 Oman air's operation management should identify key problems which blocks the
organisation's performance and find measures to resolve it.
 Operation management of Oman air should use various strategies in order to increase its
profitability and market share.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Albers, S. and et.al., 2017. Strategic management in the aviation industry. Routledge.
Bromiley, P. and Rau, D., 2016. Operations management and the resource based view: Another
view. Journal of Operations Management. 41. pp.95-106.
Castro, R.B., 2016. Operations Management.
Jacobs, F.R., Chase, R.B. and Lummus, R.R., 2014. Operations and supply chain
management (pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Jensen, R.S., 2017. Pilot judgment and crew resource management. Routledge.
Leung, J., Chu, S.C. and Cheung, W., 2017. A Design Theory for Supply Chain Visibility in the
age of Big Data.
O’Connor, P. and et.al., 2017. Methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of flightcrew CRM
training in the UK aviation industry. Crew Resource Management: Critical Essays.
Pettigrew, A.M., 2014. The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
Roy, S. and Mukherjee, I., 2015. A framework for service quality improvement in multi-stage
processes. International Journal of Services and Operations Management. 21(2). pp.150-
174.
Online
What is total quality management (TQM). 2018. [ONLINE]. Available
through:<http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/total-quality-management/overview/
overview.html>