Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'South African Airways'

Bibliography: pages. 63-66.
This research consists of a wide literature review on deregulation and privatisation of airline business world wide. The emphasis is on the benefits of airline privatisation. The idea was to attempt to find out whether the deregulation of South African Airways (SAA) indeed brought about the changes that are expected of a commercial concern. These changes included cost cutting strategies and charging economically efficient fares as well as abandoning unprofitable routes. Some personal contact with the SAA Public Relations Officers in Cape Town and Johannesburg was used to gather the data used in the research. The Transnet and the Competition Board annual reports were other major sources of data. The analysis was accomplished by scrutinising the SAA financial statements as to whether SAA followed all the requirements implemented when deregulation was introduced. An econometric test was used to check whether there was any improvement in capacity utilisation at SAA as was expected to happen after deregulation. The findings from this research are that SAA did introduce new measures to try to be profitable and cut costs, such as, reducing the labour force and abandoning unprofitable routes. SAA also stopped cross-subsidisation practise, whereby loss making routes were financed by profitable ones. In general SAA introduced measures that can be expected from a profit maximising firm which is under pressure to tum profits. However, these changes have not yet produced consistent results as far as profit is concerned and is supported by the econometrics test which does not support the expected hypothesis that since SAA is now operated on commercial basis, should be able to tum profits and be efficient.

Many organisations are continuously searching for methods which can be used to improve performance. The balanced scorecard is a management system that enables organisations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. When fully deployed, the balanced scorecard transforms strategic planning from an academic exercise into the nerve centre of an enterprise. A prerequisite for implementing a balanced scorecard is a clear understanding of the organisations vision and strategy. The basis for the vision and the strategy should be the holistic view and the information management receives during systematic strategy work. The research study addresses the integration of South African Airways (SAA) strategy with the performance management system. A comprehensive literature study was performed on performance management and the balanced scorecard. Questionnaires, developed from the literature study, were distributed amongst randomly selected respondents, in order to establish the extent to which South African Airways manages performance. The opinions of the various respondents were compared with the guidelines provided by the literature study in order to identify the best approach of performance measurement to be implemented at South African Airways. The final step of this study entailed the formulation of recommendations. These recommendations are regarded as critical to ensure the successful implementation of a performance management system at South African Airways. The following main recommendations were made: Although the empirical study revealed that South African Airways shares its strategic objectives with its management, it is highly recommended that a balanced scorecard should be used as a measuring approach for performance at South African Airways; Before any organisation can start implementing a balanced scorecard it needs a clear understanding of its vision and strategy. It is the management’s responsibility to define a vision, formulate a strategy and set strategic goals regardless of a balanced scorecard being implemented; The implementation of a balanced scorecard should always be organised as a separate project. Several different procedures describing the building process of a balanced scorecard have been presented. The research shows that, to increase the chance of a successful scorecard implementation, regular feedback must be provided to all employees and managers must hold people accountable for using the system.

Revenue Management (RM) in the airline industry is the practise of selling fixed capacity as a service over a finite time horizon. The market is characterised by the customers’ willingness to pay different prices for the service. This creates the opportunity to target different customer segments and use price differential to attain the optimal passenger fare mix to maximise revenue. The aim is to maximise revenue and an airline can expect revenue increase of between 3 to 7 percent with the successful implementation of a Revenue Management system. The question of whether the revenue increase can be attributed to the RMS is crucial in determining its level of success and validating the optimisation strategy applied (Rannou and Melli, 2003). South African Airways (SAA) migration from Leg-based optimisation to Origin-Destination (O&D) network based revenue management optimisation created the opportunity for this study to measure and evaluate the RMS performance. Revenue performance measuring tools using inventory systems data to measure RMS performance, ASK (Available Seat Kilometre), RASK (Revenue per Available Seat Kilometre), CASK (Cost per Available Seat Kilometre), RPK (Revenue Passenger Kilometre) and cabin factor yield. The limitations relating to the performance measuring tools utilising inventory system data, is the inability for continuous measurement and the isolation of the impact to revenue due to the RMS on its own. In seeking to gauge the performance of the O&D optimisation, the Revenue Opportunity Model (ROM) is applied. ROM is a post departure measuring tool utilised to continuously measure and isolate the contribution of the RMS on SAA’s O&D network. The revenue opportunity achieved versus the potential revenue was assessed. A revenue comparison of the airlines 2014 and 2015 financial year is performed. The results of the analysis showed the O&D optimisation yielded positive revenue capture on routes that applied the correct optimisation strategy. Recommendations on the optimisation strategy to be applied on routes having average or low revenues captured are presented. The aim is to provide the SAA revenue management department with tangible solutions that would result in increased revenue for the SAA network.

Introduction: The skill of endotracheal intubation to achieve a definitive airway for critically ill and injured patients in the prehospital setting is frequently performed by advanced life support providers. Several methods may be utilised, including intubation without the use of medication, the use of sedatives or a rapid sequence intubation. There is a paucity of data available that assesses prehospital advanced airway intubation practices in South Africa. The aim of this study is to describe the advanced airway management practices of advanced life support providers across South Africa. Methods: A retrospective, observational study method was used (chart review). Electronic patient care records were sourced from private and public emergency medical services companies and collated accordingly. Results: A total of 704 cases were included. Intubation during cardiac arrest was the most common approach to airway management (n=280, 40%) followed by rapid sequence intubation (n=202, 28%), medication-facilitated intubations (n=152, 22%) and a nomedication approach (n=70, 10%). Successful intubation using an endotracheal tube was reported in 197 (98%) of rapid sequence intubation cases, 134 (88%) of the medication facilitated cases, 61 (87%) of no-medication cases and 228 (81%) of cardiac arrest cases. A first-pass success rate was described in 260 (79%) cases, with the cardiac arrest group having a first-pass success of 85%, followed by the rapid sequence intubation group (83%), the nomedication group (71%) and the medication facilitated group (61%). Hypotension and cardiac arrest were the most common adverse events. A total of 496 (70%) patients were alive at hospital handover. The average scene time and transportation time was 42 minutes and 24 minutes respectively for the rapid sequence intubation group, 42min and 27min for the medication facilitated group, 44min and 25min for the no-medication group and 57min and 16min for the cardiac arrest group. Discussion: The study described the prehospital airway management practices by advanced life support providers in South Africa. Rapid sequence intubation had the highest endotracheal intubation success rate overall and the lowest prevalence of adverse events. There was no statistical difference in survival between the rapid sequence intubation, medication facilitated and no-medication group. Due to a lack in standardised treatment guidelines, differences in fluid administration, post-intubation care, confirmation of placement and ventilation were noted. No standard approach to record keeping was found, with the quality of patient care records being variable. A standardised advanced airway management report would be beneficial as it would improve the quality of data recorded and allow for better comparisons to be made.

Background: The South African 2006 Advanced Life Support and Emergency Care Practitioner protocols do not currently reflect the latest, best evidence-based practices for emergency care, specifically regarding induction agents in head injury patients. Recent evidence has challenged some preconceptions regarding the use and safety of Ketamine in head injuries. In response to this, the Health Professions Council of South Africa Professional Board for Emergency Care (HPCSA PBEC) has requested a review of the emergency care protocols. Objectives: To determine the evidence of effectiveness and safety of intravenous/intraosseous (IV/IO) Ketamine as an induction agent for adult patients with traumatic brain injury, the authors aimed to determine the all-cause mortality at 30 days, adverse events/effects, morbidity and rate of successful intubation associated with ketamine administration, as compared to standard induction agents. Research Question: What is the evidence of effectiveness and safety of IV/IO Ketamine in adult patients with head injury, for pre-hospital induction in advanced airway management, compared to standard therapy? Methods: The review followed a tiered approach, where three different tiers of searches were performed for articles relevant to the research question. Two authors independently and in induplicate performed title, abstract and full-text review for each potentially included article, as well as critical appraisal of 3 CPGs found in the tier 1 searches. Tier 1 searched for Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs), tier 2 for Systematic Reviews (SRs) and tier 3 for Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) relating to the research question. No grey literature searches were performed, but reference lists of included articles were searched for relevant articles. Main Results: The authors could not find any studies to include (CPGs, SRs or RCTs) in this review which would answer the research question. However, several articles were found which describe ketamine use in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and surgical patients with regards to intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure and general haemodynamic effects. Another article (RCT) was found which used ketamine as an induction agent compared to etomidate to facilitate intubation in critically ill patients. These articles provide some helpful insights as to ketamine's effectiveness and safety for induction to facilitate intubation in traumatic brain injury patients in the pre-hospital setting. Conclusions: The authors could not make any recommendations regarding the research question, and the safety and effectiveness of ketamine for induction to facilitate intubation in adult traumatic brain injury remains unclear. A lack of empirical evidence at RCT level has led to substantial knowledge gaps regarding our understanding of Ketamine and its effects in traumatic brain injury patients.

M.Com. (Transport Economics)
It has been noticed that business class travel on South African Airways domestic services is continuously declining. In contrast to this, promotional! travel, that is leisure travel, is becoming more important and significant It is also suspected that the current domestic fares structure of South African Airways ignores certain market factors. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether or not the current domestic fares policy followed by South African Airways, which is reflected in the domestic fares structure, should be changed to the greater benefit of both the air transport user and South African Airways. The objective of establishing guidelines for a long-term fares policy, has been kept in mind throughout the study ....

M.B.A.
This study is concerned with an investigation into the manual labour reporting system as currently operated by South African Airways (SAA) Technical. This was necessary, as a large percentage of the time sheet hours were not being captured with the net result being that costs and the resultant effects were becoming distorted. The primary purposes of this research was to identify the reasons for the current difficulties being experienced with labour cost recovery within SAA Technical in order to propose changes to rectify the impasse. The following reasons for the labour hour losses were identified: • Ineffective operational control methods. • Deployment of geographically dispersed data capturers. • Computer programming errors in the transfer routines. These problems naturally lead to a loss of control. The following improvements after rectification were noticeable: • In January 1997, average labour hour under recovery was as high as 46%. After rectification, losses were down to 15% (cf. 4.3). • The management accounting reporting document was greatly revised; thus rendering improved service to and understanding by the users. • The automated labour reporting bar scanning system currently being implemented would also benefit from the rectified computer transfer program. It may thus be concluded that the research was beneficial to SAA Technical operation and provided solid reasons for the labour hour losses. If the recommendations as presented further on in this study are adhered to, there should be no reason for the present situation not to maintain or improve the current improvements.

Thesis (LLM. (Development and Management Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020
Corporate Governance refers to the manner in which companies are directed and controlled. It is concerned with striking a balance between economic and social goals and between individuals and communal goals. The South African Airways (SAA) has recently become one of the worst underperformers amongst the existing State-Owned Companies (SOCs). It has become evident that there was an extensive meddling in SAA’s day to day operations by its chairlady, who has been placing orders and making contractual commitments on the SAA’s behalf, as well as involving herself in managerial decisions in quite inappropriate ways. The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the SAA were changed within a period of four years. It had at some stage developed eight strategies within six years but implemented none of those strategies. The SAA also experienced board infightings which led to the firing of the entire board by the shareholders. The cause of these challenges, as argued in this paper, is poor interpretation and application of corporate governance principles in the SAA. This paper is intended to interpret the principles regulating corporate governance and the application thereof within the context of the SAA. In addition, the paper discusses the comparative analysis with reference to the corporate governance of South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK).

D.Com. (Transport Economics)
The international scheduled airfreight industry is showing a major discrepancy when compared to other public transport services namely that the demand and need for it is growing at a lower rate compared to that of passenger transport. Various factors are contributing to this phenomenon ...

碩士
大葉大學
國際企業管理學系碩士在職專班
94
The aviation industry is the most important international shipping industry in the 21st century, widely influencing international economic commerce, politics and culture. Also, this industry brings enormous and widespread benefits. Taiwan, being an island nation surrounded by the sea, naturally develops international trade. The airplane is the fastest transportation vehicle that connects Taiwan with the rest of the world. Therefore we must have a thorough understanding of this reality as well as communication with foreign national airlines. The primary purpose of this research is to study the relationship between "competitive strategy" and "operation performance" and to point out the connections between them. Faced with a rapidly changing environment, and having a need for different strategies for competition. Organizations such as airlines must give attention to ways to obtain the competitive advantage of being unique. Then the suitable choice of "competitive strategy" can be made. Finally, "operation performance" can evaluate whether the competition strategy is appropriate or not and explains the relationship connecting them. This research uses the electron particle materialization method of analysis, and uses the largest airline of South Africa as the research object to draw the conclusion: 1. For a foreign airline to enter the Taiwan aviation market, it must first consider its own organization ability to develop a competition strategy formulation. Having unique product features will be helpful to establish brand image in the Taiwan aviation market. 2. For the foreign airline to maintain global consistent service quality and image, the transport business uses its corporate headquarters to plan management, and uses various subsidiary companies to carry out strategic roles. The South African Airways uses the whole world as its market and its remarkable achievements prove this to be a road of success. 3. For foreign airlines to enter the Taiwan market as they want to do, they must have a clear understanding of three highly interconnected things, organization ability, competition strategy, and operation performance. A continuous review of this three item list will lead to the discovery of the most effective way of creating the highest operation performance.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014.
Corporate Risk management has become very important for firms who are exposed to markets risks. A firm that manages the market risks it is exposed to efficiently can ensure it remains solvent in times of extreme market volatility. This paper looks at the hedging activities of South African Airways over a 10 year period where the airline experienced significant losses due to volatility in the Rand Exchange Rate and Crude Oil prices.

Thesis ( M.A. ( Media Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2005
It is currently generally recognized that freedom of expression 1s a fundamental human right. In South Africa this recognition was realized with the advent of the new democratic dispensation in 1994. Freedom of the press in South Africa came as no coincidence - there had been long and concerted efforts to fight apartheid and its in-ward facing media legislation. These concerted efforts culminated in the "Jabulani: Open Airwaves: conference held in the Nederlands in 1993. This landmark conference undeniably laid a solid foundation for the media freedom South Africa enjoys today. Many would argue that South Africa is now finally entrenched in the libertarian viewpoint of the press, while others feel that the media should be moving beyond libertarianism towards social responsibility. Based on these press theories, this study reveals that there is need to strike a balance between the two in South Africa in particular and in Africa in gene ral. It is shown how libertarian theories are a far cry from the authoritarian and nee-communist media theories utilized by the former apartheid regime. Re press ive South African media laws are well documented, but a brief historical overview is given in the study to show the depth and the media engineered by the state. It also points out the gaps in journalism training, both in the past and at present this focus reveals that journalists are an important kingpin in press freedom. Their training and ideological orientation can either promote diversity or throttle it. It is for this reason that this research study was undertaken to endeavour to elicit in forma tion about the state of journalism 1n selected newsrooms by developing a questionnaire that could be mailed or used in structured interviews The study has revealed that many newsrooms are now run by youthful journalists, of whom a large number have inadequate education and training. This has affected the quality of information both the public and private sectors are broadcasting. However, the study ahs shown that some of the reasons for this poor performance seems to lie in the recruitment structures of newsrooms. In addition, effective induction is not given on appointment. Many organisations rely on external training, otherwise it is sink or swim. The study finally recommends a sound basic education for journalists in all possible languages. While it is important that journalism training at tertiary institutions in South Africa should include practical skills and standard training to enhance contextual knowledge in journalism programmes.

Upper airway endoscopy at rest has been the diagnostic method of choice for diagnosing equine upper respiratory tract (URT) disease since its development in the 1970´s. The development of high-speed treadmill endoscopy (HSTE) improved the sensitivity of URT endoscopy by allowing the examiner to observe the horse’s nasopharynx and larynx during exercise. However, the level of exertion achieved during HSTE may not always represent that achieved during normal exercise as surface, rider, tack, and environmental variables are altered. Recently, the development of dynamic overground endoscopy (DOE) has addressed some of those shortcomings. A retrospective study was undertaken to describe the upper airway abnormalities detected during DOE in horses presenting with poor performance and/or abnormal respiratory noise in South Africa. Patient records of Thoroughbred racehorses undergoing DOE from November 2011 to August 2012 by the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital were reviewed. Data collected included signalment, primary complaint, distance exercised, maximum speed attained, and dynamic airway abnormalities detected. XIII A second study was carried out to evaluate agreement within and among examiners of three grading systems for laryngeal function at exercise. The grading systems assessed were an existing system for grading axial deviation of aryepiglottic folds (ADAF), a modified system for grading recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) at exercise, and a proposed system for grading vocal cord collapse (VCC). For investigation of intra-observer variability, recordings were watched by two of the investigators at the same time, on two different occasions, in real time, slow motion, and at frame-by-frame speed. To evaluate inter-observer variability, recordings were watched by four investigators on one occasion, as described for investigation of intra-observer variability, and scoring sheets completed. Kappa agreement was calculated for both intra- and inter-observer sessions. Fifty-two horses that underwent DOE for investigation of poor performance and/or abnormal respiratory noise were identified. The main abnormalities detected included dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) (13/52 horses, 25%); recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) (17/52 horses, 33%); axial deviation of the aryepiglottic folds (ADAF) (21/52 horses, 40%) and vocal cord collapse (VCC) (18/52 horses, 35%). A total of 40 horses presented one or more abnormalities of the URT (77%). Fifteen horses (29%) had a single abnormality, and 25 horses (48%) had multiple abnormalities. Results at frame-by-frame speed from the intra-observer evaluations for all the conditions showed substantial agreement for RLN by both observers (K = 74 - 80). Intra-observer evaluations for VCC were moderate to substantial (K 53 – 63). ADAF was the most difficult URT abnormality to assess for both observers, and agreement within observers was only fair to moderate (K = 36 - 52). Inter-observer evaluations for RLN showed substantial to moderate agreement (K = 62). Inter-observer evaluations for VCC showed moderate agreement (K = 47 – 54), and inter-observer evaluations for ADAF showed only slight to fair agreement and were the lowest for all the conditions (K = 14 – 22). This study showed that DOE is a useful technique for providing valuable information about disease of the URT. Finding multiple abnormalities in 48% of horses examined using DOE suggests that DOE may be indicated even for those horses with an obvious abnormality found during resting endoscopy. The intra-observer evaluations showed that RLN had higher agreement values than those for ADAF and VCC at all speeds, and that ADAF had lower agreement values than those for VCC and RLN at all speeds. Inter-observer agreement was less than intra-observer agreement, presumably because more observers were involved in the inter-observer assessment.
Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2014
Companion Animal Clinical Studies
unrestricted