Air Transportation

This book has a long history and the 8th edition adds new content related to trends, globalization, impact of social media on the industry. The volume of content on aviation history is phenomenal and the book does a great job highlighting the main subjects related to aviation management. Professors have referred to the text as the "bible" of air transportation. Like all books, some of the content is now dated, particularly related to data but this is acceptable given how quickly data changes. Most books are outdated by the time they are published. What would be interesting is an online version that can be updated annually or even more frequently as the environment changes.

While the book is, in general, quite interesting, it does have two major flaws. First, it does have the wrong title. It is not about a management perspective of air transportation, at least not in the majority of this book. Rather, it is a history lesson about aviation in the United States - and pretty much nowhere else. As such, it is interesting for readers from the US, but does offer a very limited worldview for everybody else, as the focus of interesting market developments has clearly shifted away from America in recent years. Only within the second half the reader finds what he would expect on the basis of the blurb - but this stuff is covered in other textbooks in a much more agreeable and detailed manner. In turn, as a foreign reader you could care less about the details of the regulatory bodies within the US. This directly leads to the second, way larger issue with the book: It is poorly updated, incredibly so. Throughout the entire text you will find examples that remind you that this is the 15th edition of the textbook - and large chunks of the manuscript have apparently gone unaltered for years. The text refers to new aircraft types such as the 787 that "will come" into operation in a few years; new technology on the 777 such as foldable wingtips (not for the second generation, but the first!) which have never been ordered, and challenges "to come" with the 21st century. It is fairly obvious that only new material was added where deemed necessary, but in a very peace-meal way. There is hardly a word about the Middle East carriers, for example. While the text is fairly well written, many chapters provide a lot of information that is not well structured. To get an idea, cross-read the section on American aviation history. While there are dozens of airlines and mergers and new entrants and bankruptcies, this is never presented in a digestable manner, rather as a solid wall of text that is sometimes extremely precise and sometimes quite superficial. This leads to a text that is at times entertaining to read, but I would not want to be in the uncomfortable position of having to write an exam about it.

This is a good text to gain knowledge for those looking to enter the airport management or airline management professions. The well written follow provides for ease in comprehension. CH

Excellent- but check for most recent edition

Great book, barely read it. Used it mostly as a study guide. Very informative!