INDICATOR: International and National Developments In Collaborations relating to Air Travel and Operational Research

Lead Research Organisation: Loughborough University
Department Name: Civil and Building Engineering

Abstract

The INDICATOR (International and National Developments In Collaborations relating to Air Travel and Operational Research) proposal is in response to the EPSRC 'Collaborating for success through people' call. This proposal has been tailored to meet the strategic needs of the single academic researcher, Dr Tim Ryley, to build and develop his research team. The people-based activities outlined in the INDICATOR proposal are for nine months, from October 2007 until June 2008. The activities complement ongoing EPSRC Propensity to Fly project research; the collaborations developed in INDICATOR will be relevant to the modelling and analysis of the Propensity to Fly survey data.The UK research team (Dr Tim Ryley & Dr Lisa Davison), based at Loughborough University, will collaborate with a highly-renowned US research team that has strong links with a major industrial player (Boeing); they will also develop UK collaborations in air travel and operational research. The US research team is across multiple universities and organisations: Professor Frank Koppelman (Northwestern University, Illinois), Dr Laurie Garrow (Georgia Institute of Technology), Dr Greg Coldren (Coldren Choice Consulting) and Roger Parker (Boeing).The INDICATOR proposal includes two people exchanges. The first, a two week activity in April 2008, is a study visit of the UK research team to the Georgia Institute of Technology, the employer of the primary US contact, Dr Laurie Garrow. All of the US research team will be present. The study visit will include presentations by both research teams on their work, discussion meetings on research linkages, and brainstorming sessions on future research and collaborations. The second is a return visit of two US research team members to the UK in May/June 2008.In addition to the people exchange components, INDICATOR includes the following four outreach events for the UK research team, in chronological order:1. UK collaboration visits / October-December 2007. Two week-long tours for the UK research team to visit and develop collaborative links with potential UK industrial and academic partners in air travel and operational research. 2. Research study visit to Transportation Research Board (TRB) conference and Washington DC contacts, Washington DC, January 2008. The UK research team will make initial contact with the US research team; attend presentations on the latest aviation issues and operational research; present some of their early Propensity to Fly research; network with other attendees; and visit the US FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). 3. 'Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Demand and Market Shares' (DCA) course, Lausanne / March 2008. Dr Lisa Davison will attend this one-week course, assisting in her training and development. The DCA course provides the basis for the methods utilised in the air travel and operational research work undertaken by the US research team. 4. Multi-disciplinary INDICATOR workshop, Loughborough / June 2008. The final activity will be a two-day, high profile, multi-disciplinary INDICATOR workshop to be held at Loughborough University. This activity will bring the INDICATOR activities together, provide a direction for future research, and represent knowledge transfer between academic and user organisations.
 
Description The INDICATOR (International & National Developments In Collaborations relating to Air Travel & Operational Research) project, October 2007 - June 2008, was in response to the EPSRC 'Collaborating for success through people' call.



INDICATOR activities complemented the ongoing EPSRC Propensity to Fly project, also led by Dr Tim Ryley. The UK research team (Dr Tim Ryley & Dr Lisa Davison, Loughborough University), collaborated with a highly-renowned US aviation OR team, across multiple universities and industry: Prof. Frank Koppelman (Northwestern University), Dr Laurie Garrow (Georgia Tech), Dr Greg Coldren (Coldren Choice Consulting) and Roger Parker (Boeing).



INDICATOR concerned two people exchanges. The first consisted of two week-long activities for the UK team to visit the US. The first week, in April 2008, was a study visit to Georgia Tech, Atlanta, the employer of Dr Garrow. It included research team presentations (plus other Georgia Tech academics e.g. Prof. JP Clarke, Director of the Air Transportation Laboratory), discussions, and brainstorming sessions. The second week, in May 2008, was to the AGIFORS (Airline Group of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies) Strategic & Schedule Planning annual meeting, at Southwest Airlines HQ, Dallas. There was a range of airline OR presentations; Dr Ryley presented on air travel consumer choice analysis from East Midlands survey data. There were also separate Dallas meetings with OR specialists from American Airlines and the primary US aviation consultancy, Sabre Consulting.



The second people exchange was a return visit of two US team members (Dr Garrow, Dr Coldren) to the UK, June 2008. This included the INDICATOR workshop and a supplementary two-day training event at British Airways (BA), run by Dr Garrow and Dr Coldren for the UK team and BA staff, on the development of air travel choice models using airline datasets.



There was also a survey budget within INDICATOR. Accent conducted an East Midlands flight choice survey of 500 residents in Spring 2008; Resource Systems Group Inc collected airport choice survey data for 500 residents in 'East coast' USA, enabling interesting comparisons with the UK survey data.
Exploitation Route The INDICATOR project included the following four outreach events for the UK team to non-academic stakeholders, demonstrating the potential use:

1. A series of UK collaboration visits, Autumn 2007 / Spring 2008: Transport & Logistics Consultancy (a small airports OR consultancy), British Airways, Cambridge University (Dr Houyuan Jiang), Cardiff International Airport (interviews with senior management personnel), and BAA.

2. Research study visit to Transportation Research Board conference, Washington DC, January 2008: the UK team made initial contact with the US team, presented some of their Propensity to Fly research (a focus group based paper); and networked with other aviation-related attendees.

3. 'Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Demand & Market Shares' course, Lausanne, March 2008: Dr Davison attended this one-week course, on the methods utilised in the aviation OR work undertaken by the US team. Dr Davison also attended several other UK training events: a 'Demand Analysis & Capacity Management' three-day aviation course at Westminster University, and an 'Aviation & the Environment' Royal Aeronautical Society seminar, both in Autumn 2007.

4. Multi-disciplinary two-day INDICATOR workshop, Loughborough University, June 2008, entitled 'Aviation futures: air travel and operational research'. Presentations were given by British Airways, Department for Transport, Sustainable Development Commission, Transport & Logistics Consultancy, and the INDICATOR team (US & UK). Potential exploitation includes taking the research findings to the stakeholder links generated through the INDICATOR outreach events.
Sectors Environment

Transport
 
Description A range of stakeholders were engaged throughout and after the project including airports (e.g. East Midlands airport), airlines (e.g. bmi baby), Government (e.g. Department for Transport) and other bodies (e.g. Sustainable Development Commission, East Midlands Tourism). The modelling effort was developed further using the same travel behaviour methodology (segmentation; choice modelling) as part of two further EPSRC projects (FUTURENET, ABC project).
First Year Of Impact 2009
Sector Environment,Transport
Impact Types Policy & public services