Theses supervised by Doç. Dr. Ali Osman Kuşakcı
16 theses · Ibn Haldun University
Ancillary revenue for airlines: Analysis of willingness to pay for ancillaries in terms of travel and customer attributes
Over the last decade, ancillary revenue has become very important for the aviation industry. Ancillary revenue shares have increased rapidly and contributed to the overall revenue stream: fluctuating fuel prices, operational costs, and the global economic recession challenge airlines. The high-cost structure and competitive market conditions pushed airlines to seek opportunities to generate additional income from nonflight-related services. Therefore airlines seek innovative approaches to gain more revenue from their ancillaries. Market research in Bahrain was conducted among travelers by asking about their previous purchase history and willingness to pay for unbundled ancillaries in their future travels. This study aims to examine whether a customer's annual income, travel frequency, carrier type (customer choice and attributes), duration of the flight, travel purpose, and cabin class (travel attributes) have an impact on the willingness to pay (WTP) of airline ancillaries. Also, the customer's past purchase behavior is studied to understand if there is any relation between the demographic profile of customers and purchase attitude. According to the results of the survey, it is found that there is a strong relationship between travel frequency and WTP for ancillaries. On the other hand, there was no direct relation between the purpose of travel and customers' purchase tendency. It is also found that there are differences in WTP for particular ancillary products and services based on the customer's annual income, carrier type, length of flight, and cabin class. Keywords: Airline Ancillary Revenue, Customer Purchase Tendency, Customer and Travel Attributes, Willingness to Pay.
The effect of blockchain awareness on passengers' intention to use biometric technologies at Istanbul Airport
This study measures the intention to use biometric technologies of passengers using Istanbul Airport and the effect of awareness about blockchain technologies on this intention. Biometric technology can be described as the technology to identify a person using biology. Biometric technologies can collect this information and create a person's natural identity card. This information created by biometric technologies is more natural, safer, and more accurate. As these technologies collect sensitive information, the security of these technologies has become just as important. At this point, blockchain comes to the fore to ensure the safety of these technologies. For this purpose, biometric applications in airports, their examples, and the development of these applications are emphasized. Afterward, the place and importance of blockchain technology in biometric applications are emphasized. In order to measure the users' intention to use these technologies, a survey study was conducted at Istanbul Airport, and the results were evaluated. There are several models developed to understand the link between individual acceptance and the use of information systems. Venkatesh et al.'s (2012) UTAUT2 model has been widely accepted. The model used in this research is based on Morosan's (2016) model created according to UTAUT2. Accordingly, it is asked about the performance expectancy of biometric technologies, the effort expectancy of biometric technologies, the privacy concerns of passengers, air travelers' information sensitivity, air travelers' compatibility, and air travelers' knowledge about blockchain. The effects of these concerns on the intention to use biometric technologies are evaluated. In order to assess the relationship between this information and intention, structural equation modeling is used.
Evaluation of service quality of Turkish Airlines: How significant are the generations?
Differences between generations are increasingly manifesting themselves over time. One reflection of this can be seen in the way service is perceived across generations. For airline companies, being able to provide services that meet the expectations of each generation, without disregarding this reality is of great importance, both in terms of satisfaction and customer retention. The purpose of this study is to examine the service quality of Turkish Airlines in the context of generations. Specifically, the relationship between the differences among generations, and its impact on an airline's service quality. This thesis is a quantitative study and is expected to pave the way for further research in the field. A two-stage questionnaire was created and distributed online to participants. The first part of the questionnaire is the Socio-Demographic Information Survey while the second part is the Service Quality Survey. The responses obtained from these surveys were analyzed based on six predetermined research questions and the results were associated with generations. According to the findings, the sub-dimensions of Trust, Reliability, Empathy, and Physical Attributes did not show significant differences about generations, while the sub-dimension of Enthusiasm did show a significant differentiation. Among Turkish Airlines passengers, it was revealed that the X Generation is the group that is most satisfied with the company's services in terms of Enthusiasm. Keywords: Customer Expectation, Customer Satisfaction, Generations, Service Quality, Turkish Airlines.
Sustainable aviation fuel production and aviation sector
Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) present a feasible solution to decarbonize modern aviation. In contrast to traditional jet fuels, SAFs are produced in a variety of ways, thereby making the choice of one of these processes a complicated Multi-Criteria Decision challenge that involves conflicting priorities. This study evaluates SAF production processes using a multicriteria methodology, PROMETHEE-2. Due to the initial phase of SAF technology advancement and the lack of data on these, several stakeholders in the aviation sector were enlisted to assist in the collection of data and preferences. The suggested framework's strength lies in its adaptability to suit the subjective opinions of diverse stakeholders, selection of ranking system, and robustness of outcomes. This research utilizes a set of stakeholders in a participative manner to rank 11 (A1 to A11) SAF production paths based on 24 parameters categorized into social, environmental, economic, and technological evaluation criteria. Industry professionals were given a form to rate SAF production methods according to a performance criterion. Data is validated using fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy VIKOR and PROMETHEE to reduce professionals' judgmental personal prejudice. The study shows that the optimal feedstock for SAF production is the direct transition process of CO2 to SAF (A11) in the gasification or Fischer-T synthesis group. Keywords: Aviation, Green fuel, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, PROMETHEE-
A public square management system model for local governments: The example of Uskudar Square
It is important to protect and sustain the areas (squares, parks, monumental areas, etc.) that form the image of cities with their presence in historical cities. The contribution of urban design projects prepared for such areas to these goals is an undeniable fact (Özalp, 2008). From the moment urbanization started, public squares have become a meeting point, a socialization area, and a service interface served by management units for the community. Considering the reason that make the squares so important, it is vital to define and measure the success criteria for their management. Undoubtedly, the satisfaction of those who use the squares is a priority from the perspective of local governments. From this point of view, the success criteria can be defined according to the main factors defining the main functions of city public squares such as transportation, security, environment, etc. The purpose of this study can be summarized under two points: (i) Firstly, to determine the criteria that make the management of a city square successful in the eyes of the public, and to propose a City Square Management System model. (ii) Secondly, to evaluate the urban space management performance of Üsküdar Square, with its very rich history one of the most important symbols of Istanbul, according to the proposed model. In this context, the renovation and infrastructure projects related to Üsküdar Square between 2016 and 2020 were evaluated with the relevant Directorate of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and the success criteria were determined through literature review and preliminary interviews. Then, experts assessed the importance of these success criteria with Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Next, questionnaire was designed in the light of the significance values obtained in the previous stage. Considering the significance scores, 'Square Usage' and 'Expectation from the Square' surveys were conducted. In the field study, opinions, satisfaction and expectations of the citizens regarding the use of the square were determined. Considering the results of the study, satisfaction from the redesigned Üsküdar Square was found to be acceptable. Especially the transportation infrastructure of the square, which has developed in recent years, has ensured the main criterion of the "Transportation" a high score. However, the square was found insufficient in terms of environment and aesthetics.
Impact of social sustainability on supply chain performance with mediating effect of differentiation
Sustainability which is often explained as meeting the present needs without compromising the ability of future's, considering its three pillars –Environmental, Economic and Social- has recently gained more attention due to the serious changes the world has been going through. Social sustainability takes into concern the human side of sustainability. Socially-sustainable supply chain (SSSC) addresses social issues related with all tiers of a supply network and may provide operational and strategic benefits as well as a positive impact on society. Many studies explore Social Sustainability Practices (SSP) in supply chain or their impact on supplier performance. However, within the literature review we have not been able to detect the presence of studies that investigate how supply chain key performance indicators (KPIs) are affected by the adoption of specific dimensions of social sustainability, nor had we observed the effect of competitive advantage on the relationship of social sustainability adoption and supply chain. Detecting this gap, we aim at exploring the impact of social sustainability on Supply Chain Performance (SCP) in terms of specific KPIs such as Perfect Order Measurement (POM), Order Fill Rate (OFR), and Cash-to-Cash Cycle Time (C2C) that were chosen using IT2F AHP, while trying to measure the effect of differentiation as a competitive advantage on that relationship. A further contribution of this study is trying to achieve is to explore this relationship in the Moroccan market that has not been approached before by any scholar. We collected data through surveys sent to Moroccan manufacturing companies in various industries. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS software has been used for data analysis and instrument measurement. Later we tested the mediating effect of Differentiation as a competitive advantage. This work's main finding is that there is a significant correlation between the SSP and the enhanced SCP in the light of the three mentioned indicators, also it has been found that Differentiation as competitive advantage has a total mediation effect on the two aforementioned constructs' relationship .
Digital transformation maturity of airline firms: A tool for self-assessment
Technological developments are in a rapid change. Market places are global and transparent. With digital transformation (DT), everything is connected and communicating. Manual processes are now automated for most of the businesses. Habits and needs are changing which, in turn, effects the conventional way that firms offer their goods and services to customer. Airlines have been pushed to this new journey as well. Those who adapt quickly to this new world will gain a greater share of the pie. However, most of the airlines have bulky and rigid systems that are designed based on strict rules and regulations of the industry. Thus, the transformation process required to adapt to the new era of digitalization is not a simple task staying ahead of aviation companies. Several interrelated factors, such as strategy, organization, customer, technology, operations, ecosystem, and innovation, have to be redefined to conceptualize a valid and functioning business framework. From passengers' perspective, on the other hand, connectivity and accessibility is the name of the game. They demand the processes that can be carried out on their digital and mobile devices in many areas from planning to the realization stage of travel. Acknowledging the necessities of the new era, the aim of this study is twofold: (i) to highlight the essence of DT by examining the role of DT's sub-dimensions in civil aviation industry, (ii) and propose a Digital Transformation Maturity (DTM) self-assessment tool for determining the DT maturity level of aviation firms.
Efficiency analysis of major airlines: exploring the effects of operational performance determinants
In a changing and increasingly competitive era, operational performance evaluation of airlines has become one of the most important research topics. Although there are many studies about the efficiency analysis of airlines in the literature, existing research on the effects of size, business model and alliance membership are relatively scarce. This study evaluates the performance of 38 airlines from different regions of the world between 2015 and 2019 assessing the effects of size, business model and alliance membership on the operational performance of the airlines. In this regard, first, constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS) input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) models with 3 inputs and 2 outputs were implemented. To discriminate between efficient airlines, input-oriented CRS model super-efficiency DEA was also used. The determinants of operational efficiencies were assessed applying Mann-Whitney rank-sum tests. The results of the analyses show that majority of airlines suffer from scale inefficiency. Additionally, it was found that the size of airlines measured in available seat kilometer (ASK) has no statistically significant effect on the performance. On the other hand, low-cost airlines were found to be more efficient than full-service carriers. Lastly, the airlines without alliance membership have performed better than the airlines with alliance membership.
The effects of consumer decision making styles on organic food purchase intention during CVID-19
This study aimed to profile consumer decision making styles (CDMSs) in the context of organic food and to examine the effect of CDMSs on organic food purchase intention (OFPI) of Turkish people during Covid-19. Furthermore, having healthy nutrition counseling, was investigated both in terms of CDMSs and OFPI during Covid-19. Consumer styles inventory (CSI) by Sproles and Kendall (1986) was adapted in the context of organic food with two more styles, health and environmental consciousness added to the study. The results, in which 369 people participated, showed that eight of the ten factors evaluated in total were validated by this study. When the effect of these eight factors on the intention to buy organic food was examined, seven factors were determined as effective: Perfectionism/High Quality Consciousness, Brand Consciousness, Confusion By Over Choice, Recreational/Hedonistic Shopping Consciousness, Impulsiveness, Health Consciousness and Environmental Consciousness. On the other hand, while Environmental Consciousness was found to be positively effective for having healthy nutrition counseling, Habitual/Brand Loyal Consciousness was found to be negatively effective. Additionally, having healthy nutrition counseling was found to be positively influencing OFPI during Covid-19.
Lean service operations and a lean management application at a foundation university
Lean service operations and lean management are becoming necessary for all service providers as much as tangibles/products providers. Most universities are not even aware of the concept of, lean thinking. However, universities and colleges can benefit from lean management in all their service areas such as admissions, the administration of research funds, hiring, and nearly any functional area where multi-step processes can be simplified and focused on the needs of the users served by the organization. Lean methodologies focus on reducing waste (Muda) and non-value-added activities by eliminating them or dealing with them to develop the performance of the process. This thesis aims to highlight the suitability of lean, which was developed in manufacturing, at a university's environment to enhance the efficiency of the operational tasks performed, and to provide suggestions for better performance. Lean methodologies were applied to two departments at a Turkish university, with the three most effective processes under these departments, to study the current state of the processes, and to provide suggestions and alternatives for the current issues faced, using Value Stream Mapping (VSM). As a result, Value-Added and Non-Value-Added activities were identified for each of the processes, with Indicative Ratios to compare the performance of the processes before and after applying lean. Overall, a proposal of the future state of the three processes was provided by the university's management.
Passengers' preferences and their association with perception on COVID-19 measures in airline market
People are continuously buying items whether these are luxury goods or basic items according to their needs. While making any purchase, consumers are going through a process of purchasing that consists of various approaches. The objective of studies of consumer behaviour is to learn the behaviour of the consumers before, during, and after such purchases. Today, the COVID-19 factor and the perception of the impact of the pandemic plays a crucial role in the choice of which airline to fly. Since COVID-19 spread all over the world, many entities, and especially airline companies, have developed a set of preventive measures against COVID-19 outbreaks. In this work, consumer purchasing behaviour in airline market and its association with COVID-19 measures have been studied. The relationship of the COVID-19 perception and several characteristics of airline services and effective choice factors are investigated from a practical point of view. To this aim, a survey has been designed to evaluate the perception of the passengers on airline services and COVID-19 measures.
A simulation approach for aircraft cargo loading considering weight and balance constraints
Air cargo transport is a growing industry in parallel with world trade growth and increasing e-commerce. It is performed by the passenger aircraft belly and the pure cargo air crafts, i.e., the freighters. Assignment of Unit Load Devices (ULDs) to the specific positions on the freighter is performed by loadmasters by manual or semi-manual methods. As the global air cargo transport traffic gets busier, the importance of timely loading with minimum error increases. Therefore, digitalization of the air cargo loading process is needed. This study aimed to write a program that automatically performs the ULD assignment by simulating the loading process performed by the experienced loadmasters and considering the weight and balance constraints. The SEMMA (sample, explore, modify, model, assess) model is used while analyzing the data. Fifty real-world setting data were used to evaluate the program. The ULD assignment by the program and the loadmasters by semi-manual loading were compared regarding time and center of gravity by the Mann Whitney U test. The results demonstrated that the program could load all the given sets of ULDs, as efficiently as a loadmaster with a similar center of gravity in a shorter period of time. In conclusion, digitalization of the ULD assignment is possible, which needs to be improved to cover all the constraints.
Sustainable aviation fuel production and aviation sector
Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) present a feasible solution to decarbonize modern aviation. In contrast to traditional jet fuels, SAFs are produced in a variety of ways, thereby making the choice of one of these processes a complicated Multi-Criteria Decision challenge that involves conflicting priorities. This study evaluates SAF production processes using a multicriteria methodology, PROMETHEE-2. Due to the initial phase of SAF technology advancement and the lack of data on these, several stakeholders in the aviation sector were enlisted to assist in the collection of data and preferences. The suggested framework's strength lies in its adaptability to suit the subjective opinions of diverse stakeholders, selection of ranking system, and robustness of outcomes. This research utilizes a set of stakeholders in a participative manner to rank 11 (A1 to A11) SAF production paths based on 24 parameters categorized into social, environmental, economic, and technological evaluation criteria. Industry professionals were given a form to rate SAF production methods according to a performance criterion. Data is validated using fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy VIKOR and PROMETHEE to reduce professionals' judgmental personal prejudice. The study shows that the optimal feedstock for SAF production is the direct transition process of CO2 to SAF (A11) in the gasification or Fischer-T synthesis group. Keywords: Aviation, Green fuel, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, PROMETHEE-
Büyük veri olgunluk ölçümü: DEMATEL temelli bir vaka analizi
Büyük veri iş açısından o kadar kapsamlı bir kaynak ki, bir kuruluşu ve şirketi nasıl etkileyebileceğini tüm yönleriyle öngörebilmek bazen zordur.Bu yüzden büyük verinin bir şirket veya kuruluş üzerinde nasıl bir dönüştürücü etki yaratabileceğiyle ilgili birçok senaryo mevcuttur.Büyük verinin birçok iş rolü için tanımlanan işin doğasını değiştirme ihtimali de yüksektir. Senaryoları gerçekleştirmek için gereken teknolojilerin her biri bugün mevcut olsa da, kuruluşların bunları uygulamasının birkaç yıl daha alacağı düşünülmektedir.Zorluklar sadece teknolojiyle değil, daha çok sistem entegrasyonunun-veri standartları geliştirmek ve gereken veriyi bir araya getirmek-doğasıyla ve işteki değişimle ilgilidir.Şirketler bu dönüşüm yolculuğuna şirketlerindeki büyük veri olgunluğunu ölçerek yola çıkmalıdır.Büyük veri olgunluk ölçümü ile şirketlerinin büyük veri alanındaki yetkinliğine dair büyük resmi net bir şekilde görme imkanı bulurlar. Bu araştırmanın amacı, Farklı alanlarda çalışması olan bir firmada (dağıtım, perakende, kargo, medya) büyük veri olgunluğu ile ilgili bir vaka analizi yapmaktır. Davenport'un büyük veri olgunluğu modelini kullanarak 13 kişiye anket yapıldı. Anket mail üzerinden gönderilmiştir. Davenport'un anket modelinde 6 ana başlık altında toplam 29 soru vardır. Bunlar; Veri, Kurum, Liderlik, Hedefler, Teknoloji, Analistler ve Veri Bilimciler şeklindedir. Bu 6 ana başlığın ağırlığını hesaplamak için ise bulanık DEMATEL temelli bir çalışma yapılmıştır. Bu çalışma 5 uzman katılımcı ile yapılmıştır. Çalışma dört bölümden oluşmaktadır. Birinci bölümde uygulama kısmının amacı ve sınırlılıkları incelenecektir. İkinci bölümde, büyük veri kavramları ve kullanım alanlarıda değinilecektir. Üçüncü bölümde, büyük veri olgunluğu ve metodolojik arkaplan ele alınacaktır. Son bölüm olan dördüncü bölümde ise "Davenport Modeli" çalışılarak liderlikte büyük verinin önemine uygun bir uygulama yapılmıştır.
Airline new route selection with pythagorean fuzzy ahp and WASPAS methods
Where to fly is one of the core decision problems of the airline industry. Many programs and tools are used to perform multiple route evaluations to select the optimum route. The previous studies on the subject of airline route selection have used varied methodologies to solve the problem. The airline route selection problem can be interpreted as a complex Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem because it concerns many conflicting criteria and alternative routes contradictory and complex judgments. To cope with these difficulties, a hybrid MCDM approach is proposed in this study by using Pythagorean FAHP and Pythagorean Fuzzy WASPAS methods. A decision analysis is applied for selecting a new route between different alternative routes by evaluating them with determined criteria. Pythagorean FAHP is used for weighting criteria, and Pythagorean Fuzzy WASPAS is used for assessing alternatives. According to the literature review and the experts' opinion, the selection criteria are determined as social/economic conditions, cost, demand, and competitiveness are the main criteria where city population, income and trade, tourism potential, distance, route cost, number of economy passenger, number of business passenger, number of connecting passenger, cargo capacity, number of competitor airlines, frequency of competitor airlines and price of competitor airlines are the sub-criteria of the study. The nine airline experts asked for pairwise comparison of these criteria. The pairwise comparisons of selection criteria are made using linguistic terms. After these linguistic pairwise comparisons are transferred into Pythagorean fuzzy numbers (PFNs) to weigh each criterion's importance. The results of these comparisons show that the main criteria cost (43% weight) and demand (33% weight) impact route selection decision more than social/economic conditions (15% weight) and competitiveness (9% weight). Regarding the criteria, the alternative five routes are evaluated by the route development experts and the best route is selected with Pythagorean WASPAS. This hybrid MCDM methodology presents a feasible solution to the problem.
The contribution of skills of humanitarian logistics workers to logistics performance in disaster relief
With the growing number of natural and man-made disasters happening in a world of uncertainty and rapid changes, the area of humanitarian logistics has recently received interest from researchers. It is crucial for humanitarian organizations to study logistics skills to help managers identify job requirements accordingly and find the right human capital, and be aware of the most relevant skills that contribute to the development of logistics performance. The purpose of this study is to reveal the most important skills for humanitarian logistics performance from the point of view of humanitarian logisticians who are engaged in the disaster relief operations in Türkiye. Additionally, this study aims at testing whether there is a relationship between the perceived importance of general management and functional logistics skills and some demographic variables. To achieve this aim, a self-administered questionnaire is distributed to humanitarian logisticians who are engaged in disaster relief operations in different humanitarian organizations in Türkiye. A sample of 230 responses was collected. With the help of SPSS 25, descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Post Hoc tests are used to analyze the data. The study finds that the importance of the functional logistics skills perceived by humanitarian logisticians working in disaster relief operations in several humanitarian organizations in Türkiye varies significantly across different years of work experience. Moreover, the results indicate that the importance of the general management skills perceived by humanitarian logisticians varies significantly in terms of the international character of duties and among different job positions. Keywords: Disaster Relief, Humanitarian Logistics, Logistics Performance, Logistics Skills.