Commercial Challenges for Aviation: Innovations in Leadership & HR

This report discusses the commercial challenges facing the aviation industry, particularly in the context of global competition and leadership, using JetBlue as a case study. It highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on passenger demand and airline revenue, emphasizing the need for innovation to overcome these challenges. The report proposes two main themes for innovation: leadership and human resource management, and health, safety, and security management. In leadership and HR, the report suggests strategies such as employee engagement, effective leadership styles (particularly democratic leadership), empowering employees, online feedback mechanisms, and innovative motivation techniques. For health, safety, and security, the report emphasizes enhanced sanitation, COVID-19 testing, and employee vaccination programs to rebuild customer trust and ensure a safe travel experience. The report concludes that adopting these innovations is crucial for JetBlue and other airlines to effectively manage challenges and thrive in the post-pandemic environment.

Commercial challenges
for aviation

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Overview......................................................................................................................................3
Selection of innovation – Theme 1: Leadership and human resource management innovations4
Selection of innovation – Theme 2: Health, safety and security management innovations........7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
Books and Journals:.....................................................................................................................9
Online...........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Aviation industry is one of the industries that are world in itself. It is found that they have
a massive of force and also contributing a significant percentage in the economy of global
market. An aviation organisation is not starting their operations and it is possible only when the
put some innovation in their organisation. Human resources are the most important resource of
an organisation and that's why it should be motivated and encourage towards organisational
goals and objectives. There was growing until the pandemic hit. It is found after 18 months of
COVID-19 that aviation industry is badly impacted (Chatterjee and et.al., 2017). This report will
be discussing the challenges of aviation industry relation to airport management from the
perspective of global competition and leadership. In this context, JetBlue is undertaking which is
a major American low cost airline. Jet Blue is founded in 1998 and now they are doing business
since last 23 years. It is found that JetBlue Airways comes in the seventh largest airline in North
America. It is identified in 2020 that JetBlue is ranked on #394 in Fortune 500 list of United
States corporations. Every day the challenges for airline industry are increasing due to global
competition. It is crucial for aviation industry to take measures in order to deal with the
commercial challenges. This report will be discussed two robust sets of new ideas that support
commercial development of an airline.
MAIN BODY
Overview
In aviation sector, it is identified after 18 months of COVID-19 situation that they are
facing commercial challenges due to global competition and management system (OECD Policy
Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19) COVID-19 and the aviation industry: Impact and policy
responses, 2020). Commercial challenges are concerned with the challenges that impacts on the
business profitability and revenue (Wu, Molesworth and Estival, 2019). After crisis of COVID-
19, it is found that it provides an impact on passenger demand and airline revenue performance.
Due to crisis, aviation sector faces many problems and challenges such as price elasticity have
fluctuated wildly; booking curves have been compressed, etc. One more challenge which is
constant is determined in consumer willingness to fly and pay (Airlines' Commercial Challenges

& Opportunities in 2021 & Beyond, 2021). Every day the competition is increasing which
becomes a challenge for aviation industry especially for low cost airlines as they already have
not much profit margin as compared to other airlines. JetBlue is one of them which provide low
cost services to the customers. It is identified that JetBlue is doing business since 23 years as it is
founded in 1998. It is considered as the major low cost airline which provided very reasonable
prices of their services. It is also identified that they are operating 1000 flights on a daily basis.
They can reduce their challenges and overcome with them with the help of innovation. So that’s
why there are two important innovations which are mentioned below that helps JetBlue to
overcome the challenges.
Selection of innovation – Theme 1: Leadership and human resource management innovations
Leadership is the ability that possesses by leaders of the organisation. It is found that
leaders are playing very important role in the success and growth of an organisation. They are
the person who is responsible for motivation and encouragement of employees towards

organisational goals and objectives (Chiaramonti, 2019). Leaders are not only leading employees
but also satisfying in their job role. An organisation can become successful if they have effective
leadership style. That means an aviation sector needs to innovate their leadership in order to
motivate and encourage employees towards organisational performances. In addition to this,
leadership is responsible for effective management of human resource. Human resource is an
important and valuable asset for an organisation that generates values for company.
Human resource management is concerned with the management of HR functions in the
organisation. Human resource management is a process which used by an organisation in order
to generate profits. They are responsible for hiring and recruiting talented employees in the
organisation. One important challenge that faced by JetBlue is lack of skilful employees and
pilots. It is the responsibility of human resource management department to recruit talented
employees so that they are able to achieve their goals and objectives (Oliver, Calvard and
Potočnik, 2019). After pandemic, the prices are increases which give a great impact on the
management of employees. Employees are unable to perform their duty with effectiveness and
efficiency. That’s why it is necessary to innovate in leadership and human resource management.
There are some innovative ideas and mention below which helps to enhance the management of
employees:
 Employee engagement: It is concerned with the involvement of employees in the
organisation of operations and functions (Kefalidou and et.al). This is important for
JetBlue to make sure that their employees are engage in each and every activity so that
they can give their best in order to achieve organisational goals and objectives. It is found
that engagement of employees ensures the best performances of employees in the
organisation. That's why employee engagement is crucial in order to increase the
efficiency and effectiveness of employees.
 Leadership style: It is found that leadership styles are playing an important role in the
management of employees’ performances. There are many leadership styles available in
the market which uses by organisation. Some important leadership styles are democratic
leadership style, laissez-faire leadership style, autocratic leadership style, etc. After
COVID-19, it becomes very important for JetBlue that they should select an effective
leadership style so that they are able to increase engagement of employees. JetBlue

identified that democratic leadership style is effective in order to increase the contribution
of employees in the workplaces (De Giorgi and et.al., 2020). This will not only increases
contribution and engagement of employees but also increases their motivation factor.
This will result in achievement of goals and objectives effectively and also able to
overcome with the ongoing challenges.
 Make them responsible for the outcome: It is very crucial for JetBlue to empower their
employees so that they can take responsibility for their outcome. That means whatever
they contribute in the project, it is necessary to make them responsible for their outcomes.
This will encouraging in better performances and also motivates them to proactively
cultivate ways.
 Online feedbacks: After pandemic, it is identifying that employees are feeling the
satisfaction and also facing many problems and challenges in organisation as well as in
their home. It is very important for JetBlue to take feedback from the employees in order
to analyse their views towards organisational performance. Taking feedback is not easy if
they are using offline method so online methods are better in order to get information
about employees’ point of view.
 Motivation and encouragement: This is an important for the successful growth of an
JetBlue is to motivate each employee individually. For motivation purpose, JetBlue needs
to use some new innovative ideas that help them to motivate towards organisational goals
and objectives. There are two important types of motivation available in the market that
are intrinsic and extrinsic which are generally used by JetBlue. But JetBlue needs to
innovate the motivation idea such as they should motivate their employees with the help
of providing job security and other future benefits. This is really helpful for employees to
get motivated towards organisational goals and objectives. Every employee wants that
they should get a surety towards their job and if they get then it becomes very easy for
them to get motivated towards organisational goals. With the assistance of motivation
and encouragement, employees are not only performing better but also able to provide
innovative solutions so that JetBlue is effectively overcoming with the challenges.
 Effective management system: In order to make an effective management system,
JetBlue needs to put some innovative ideas in their management so that JetBlue is able to

enhance the performance of employees (Khanh, 2020). They have an option to introduce
some new technological management systems software which is highly upgraded in order
to record the data of all employees. They also are able to manage the work of each
employee.
Selection of innovation – Theme 2: Health, safety and security management innovations
It is necessary for a JetBlue that they should find some new ideas in order to enhance
management of employee. In addition to this, the idea should have a potential to ensures the
integrity of the JetBlue and also able to enhance the management of employees during the crisis.
JetBlue is the cost effective airlines that needs to identify ideas in order to enhance the
management of employees even in the crisis. It is one of the innovative strategies that must be
used by JetBlue airlines. The situation of covid-19 has impacted the airline industry in an adverse
manner. The most important point is the people are now more conscious about their health than
ever before. The situation of lockdown was so challenging for airline industry and JetBlue
airlines also faced losses due to the same (Karoly, 2017). It is necessary to know that if the
JetBlue will adopt changes and use new strategy then they will be able to come back in the
market. It is time to form strong strategies that can attract customers again. It is seen that the
airlines will be now more secure and safe. A proper facility for sanitizing the flights will be used.
Covid test report will be check before entering the airport as well as temperature will be checked
at regular intervals. It is seen that the food provided to the customers will also be checked and
fulfil the quality standards. It will help to keep the customers of the airlines safe. Along with that
the customers will also trust the organisation and will like to travel in the same.
It is necessary to know that employees are also an important part of the organisation. This
covid-19 pandemic has also impacted the working level of employees. It is seen that they are
demotivated and situation of log town has reduced their moral as well as confidence in work.
The company must provide vaccine to each and every employee as well as take proper care of
their health. The JetBlue will take care of sanitization facility and usage of mask in house as
well. A proper research is required so that the strategy is strong enough to beat the competitors in
the market. It is seen that the whole world has faced the issue of covid-19 but it is right time to
take suitable actions and come out of the situation (Myronets and et.al., 2021). JetBlue airlines
must work the health and safety of their employees. Jet blue airlines should understand the

importance of health and safety of their employees. Best innovation at today’s time is to be more
secure and safe. In relation to JetBlue airlines the company e is in need to accept the changes in
the condition of the world. All the organisations have faced losses so in order to overcome them
they have to bring innovation. The Best idea at this time is to become more aware about the
health and safety of the employees. If there will be healthy employees of the company then they
will able to achieve the goals in objective effectively (Zhongming and et.al., 2021). It is seen that
the JetBlue airlines must motivate the employees and provide them insurance facility so that they
are able to work with full confidence and try to develop relation with the customers. It is an
important aspect that must be considered by the company in order to provide protection against
the pandemic situation. It if seen that innovation does not come just in a day. There is need of
proper planning as well as implementation of strategy is that benefit all the stakeholders of the
company. This will help the JetBlue to earn the image again and serve the customers in such a
manner that is profitable for them and their health. This innovation is very helpful for JetBlue as
they are able to achieve their goals and objectives in an effective way.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that aviation industry is facing many
challenges due to the leadership and global competition in the market. After 18 months of
pandemic situation, it is identified that aviation organisation needs to formulate and innovative
ideas so that they can apply in the reality in order to deal with challenges. There are many
challenges found by an organisation which needs to resolve. This report discussed the challenges
of organisation as well as two important innovations that helps aviation industry to overcome
with the challenges. This is not an easy task for an organisation as global competition is
increasing rapidly.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Chatterjee, A., and et.al., 2017, November. Distributed location detection algorithms using IoT
for commercial aviation. In 2017 Third International Conference on Research in
Computational Intelligence and Communication Networks (ICRCICN) (pp. 126-131).
IEEE.
Chiaramonti, D., 2019. Sustainable Aviation Fuels: the challenge of decarbonization. Energy
Procedia, 158, pp.1202-1207.
De Giorgi, L., and et.al., 2020. Design of Innovative Environmental Control Systems for high-
speed commercial aviation (Doctoral dissertation, Politecnico di Torino).
Karoly, S., 2017, November. Technologies to counter aviation security threats. In AIP
Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1898, No. 1, p. 050002). AIP Publishing LLC.
Kefalidou, V.E., and et.al., Aviation industry recovery: rising confidence of air travel the key for
increase the load factor. In 9TH International Conference on Contemporary Marketing
Issues (p. 122).
Khanh, P.H., 2020. The assessment of AB company-commercial aviation: Chinese market
analysis.
Myronets, O., and et.al., 2021. Legal technologies as instruments of civil aviation safety
improvement in conditions of the fight against COVID-2019. Revista de la Universidad
del Zulia, pp.444-459.
Oliver, N., Calvard, T. and Potočnik, K., 2019. Safe limits, mindful organizing and loss of
control in commercial aviation. Safety Science, 120, pp.772-780.
Wu, Q., Molesworth, B.R. and Estival, D., 2019. An investigation into the factors that affect
miscommunication between pilots and air traffic controllers in commercial aviation. The
international journal of aerospace psychology, 29(1-2), pp.53-63.
Zhongming, Z., and et.al., 2021. Aviation leaders launch first in-flight 100 percent sustainable-
fuel emissions study on a commercial passenger jet.
Online
Airlines' Commercial Challenges & Opportunities in 2021 & Beyond, 2021. [Online] Available
through: <https://www.kambr.com/articles/airlines-commercial-challenges-opportunities-in-
2021-beyond>
OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19) COVID-19 and the aviation industry:
Impact and policy responses, 2020. [Online] Available through:

<https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/covid-19-and-the-aviation-industry-impact-
and-policy-responses-26d521c1/>