Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Passenger is Flying the Plane is the fourth in a series written at the encouragement of practitioners in the global airline industry. Core customers are beginning to seize control of the direction of the industry from airline management. Customers are doing so due to deep dissatisfaction with what is being offered by traditional carriers across all areas, including network, product, price, customer service and the distribution system. New airlines have clearly focused business designs with the discipline to reject non-valued products or services. In the US, new airlines score higher in customer satisfaction, offering lower fares and making larger operating profits. This book is about customer behaviour and how to address it. It provides detailed but easy-to-read practical discussion of the changes required on the part of airline management not only to think boldly, but also to execute courageously and relentlessly, ground-breaking strategies to fly ahead of their customers. As with previous books written by Nawal Taneja, the primary audience continues to be senior level practitioners within the global airline industry - in both traditional carrier and low complexity carrier segments. The approach is impartial, candid and pragmatic, based on what is happening in the actual market place rather than theoretical business models.

Airlines willing to develop insight from foresight relating to the expected ’step phase changes’ will eventually improve their margins. However, the backward-looking airline, managed using old strategic levers and short-term metrics, will cease to exist, merge, shrink, become more dependent on government support, or become irrelevant. ’Management innovations’ are not going to deliver the required improvements; innovation within management is essential for airlines' survival. In Flying Ahead of the Airplane, Nawal Taneja analyzes global changes and thought-provoking scenarios to help airline executives adjust and adapt to the chaotic world. Drawing on his experience of real airline situations worldwide, the author concludes that there is a gulf between what executives are doing now and what they need to do to stay ahead of the curve. To close this gap, the author suggests that airline executives focus on just three relevant initiatives: a) aligning business and technology strategies, b) redesigning organization structures to centralize the role of the scheduling function, and c) developing relevant brands that integrate social networking technology. To support this third initiative, the book provides insights on branding from 20 fascinating non-aviation case studies from around the world. Flying Ahead of the Airplane will assist practitioners in airlines of every size to integrate future trends into their mainstream thinking and launch flexible business models to manage risk and compete effectively in the ’flattening world’.

The Richest Family in the World is the fictional tale of the Goodwins, a hard-working, God-fearing family whose deep spirituality serves them well, especially during times of crisis. Like many families around the world, the Goodwins rely on their faith in God to guide them through their many adventures. John and Sarah Goodwin, a farming couple with eight children, have been happily married for forty-two years. All eight children helped work the farm when they were younger; however, much to their father's disappointment, as adults, they have no interest in taking over the family business. As a result, John and Sarah Goodwin must face the biggest heartbreak of their lives-losing the farm. Another tragedy strikes the family when Sarah travels to visit the brother she never knew existed and is critically injured in a plane crash. The richest family in the world is the family that loves, respects, and helps one another, especially through controversy and difficult times. Through the roller coaster adventures of the Goodwins, The Richest Family in the World demonstrates that there are no perfect families-just families who share the faith that, through it all, they will survive and hope and love will prevail.

Many business sectors have been, and are being, forced to compete with new competitors-disrupters of some sort-who have found new ways to create and deliver new value for customers often through the use of technology that is coupled with a new underlying production or business model, and/or a broad array of partners, including, in some cases, customers themselves. Think about the disruption created by Apple by the introduction of the iPod and iTunes, and by Netflix within the entertainment sectors using partners within the ecosystem; think of Uber that didn’t build an app around the taxi business but rather built a mobility business around the app to improve customer experience. Airline Industry considers whether the airline industry is poised for disruptive innovations from inside or outside of the industry. Although airlines have a long history of continuous improvements and innovation, few of their innovations can be classified as disruptive innovations. The few disruptive innovations that did emerge were facilitated, for example by new technology (jet aircraft) and government policy (deregulation). Now there are new forces in play-customers who expect to receive products that are more personalized and experience-based throughout the entire journey, new customer interfaces (via social media), advanced information systems and analytics, financially powerful airlines based in emerging nations, and the rise of unencumbered entrepreneurs who think differently as well as platform-focused integrators.

Airline business models continue to be shaped by powerful forces relating to customers, complexities and regulators. However, at the same time, there are emerging technologies that can help airlines cater to the needs of their changing customer bases and manage the complexities of the business. In his previous books, Nawal Taneja has deliberated on these forces and how the airline industry is poised for disruptive change that could come from within or outside of the industry. He also discussed the point that the airline planning systems and process in use are neither contemporary nor sufficiently integrated to meet the changing needs of customers who now are looking for outcomes, not products. In Re-platforming the Airline Business: To Meet Travelers' Total Mobility Needs, Taneja not only reiterates the need for transformation of the airline business but provides a map of the transformational process. This book proposes that different sectors of the aviation industry, particularly airlines and airports, should consider using not just a wide array of technologies (Artificial Intelligence, biometrics, blockchain, and the Internet of Things), but also specifically-designed customer-centric platforms to make informed decisions and to develop and implement transformative strategies to meet travelers’ total mobility needs. These technologies and platforms can enable airlines and airports to achieve scale and scope as well as agility and flexibility (through strategic partnerships) to offer intelligently aggregated travel-related services right now. Subsequently, they will enable various members in the travel chain to provide solutions to travelers’ global mobility requirements, effectively and with better experiences.

Designing Future-Oriented Airline Businesses is the eighth Ashgate book by Nawal K. Taneja to address the ongoing challenges and opportunities facing all generations of airlines. Firstly, it challenges and encourages airline managements to take a deeper dive into new ways of doing business. Secondly, it provides a framework for identifying and developing strategies and capabilities, as well as executing them efficiently and effectively, to change the focus from cost reduction to revenue enhancement and from competitive advantage to comparative advantage. Based on the author’s own extensive experience and ongoing work in the global airline industry, as well as through a synthesis of leading business practices both inside and outside of the industry, Designing Future-Oriented Airline Businesses sets out to demystify numerous concepts being discussed within the airline industry and to facilitate managements to identify and articulate the boundaries of their business models. It provides material from which managements can set about answering the key questions, especially with respect to strategies, capabilities and execution, and pursue an effective redesign of their business. As with the author’s previous books, the primary audience is senior-level practitioners of differing generations of airlines worldwide as well as related businesses. The material presented continues to be at a pragmatic level, not an academic exercise, to lead managements to ask themselves and their teams some critical thought-provoking questions.