Airline Simulation Activities & Analysis Rubric Category Excellent Good Fair Poor Introduction (10 points) Mission and vision statements clearly reflected the demonstrated airline activities (8-10) Mission and vision statements were in-line with the demonstrated airline activities (5-7) Mission and vision statements vaguely related to demonstrated airline activities(3-4) Mission and vision statements had no relation to demonstrated airline activities(0-2) General strategy (20 points) Simulation procedures were well executed and strategic decisions discussed (18-20) Simulation procedures were usually well executed and strategic decisions were plausible for the type of operation (14-17) Simulation procedures were executed with limited competence and/or strategic decisions were at times questionable (10-13) Simulation procedures were not followed and /or there appeared to be a lack of strategy (0-9) Performance metrics and financial results were thoroughly discussed and analyzed (42-50) Performance metrics and financial results were satisfactorily discussed and analyzed (35-41) Performance metrics and financial results were somewhat discussed and analyzed (20-34) There appeared to be little or no analysis of airline performance and/or financials (0-19) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and rivalry were clearly identified and discussed (24-30) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and rivalry were adequately identified and discussed (18-23) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and rivalry were vaguely identified and discussed (10-17) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and rivalry were not identified and /or discussed(0-9) Advice for future management was convincing (18-20) Advice for future management was plausible (14-17) Advice for future management was questionable (8-13) No or limited advice for future management was presented (0-7) Airline performance & Financial analysis (50 points) Competitive forces/ SWOT (30 points) Conclusion (20 points) Airline Simulation (82823.1) Writing & Formatting (20 points) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting are of high-quality (18-20) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting are satisfactorily (14-17) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting reveal major deficiencies (8-13) Team: ____________________________________ Score from competition _________pts Points possible remaining ____________pts Score from write-up__________/___________pts Cumulative Score___________/200pts Airline Simulation (82823.1) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting are unacceptable (0-7) Score: ________ / 200 AIRLINE SIMULATION ACTIVITIES & ANALYSIS • Demonstrating your ability to manage an airline ASSIGNMENT 1 You were introduced to airline simulations as part of the course activities in Airline Administration (AVS4270). For students who have had limited or no exposure to web-based airline simulations, I encourage you to make best use of the first few weeks of the course to become familiar with the interface and the platform. The same holds true for students who may be lacking in the areas of Finance and/or Marketing. Assignment Activities For this senior project assignment, you have been assigned a team and together you will create and operate a competitive passenger airline carrier within the simulation environment. This exercise will reintroduce you to the essential components of airline operational design and will make you work successfully to fight off the competition in the simulation environment. There will be a limited number of teams this semester so I have restricted the number of airports that you can operate from. Expect the competition to be fierce! You need to get out of the gate quickly and stay on the ball to be successful otherwise your competitors will eat you alive! The simulation will open on the announced date (online announcement) and each student will then set up their airline. Each airline will be provided with $20,000,000 seed money and to get your enterprise off the ground as well as gather realistic data. We will only be operating a limited variation of aircraft. I will provide you with the login and password via email. Please note that this exercise progresses throughout the entire semester. Your write-up(s) and analysis is due at midnight on the date stated in eLearning Course Schedule. The batch results will allow each student to get the necessary data to complete this assignment. To facilitate operations, and to complete this project on time you need to assign specific tasks and execute. Prior to starting you should run a rough SWOT analysis, which will be included in your paper, to assess the market. Additionally, you should choose a strategy that fits your goals and identify metrics to measure success. After these tasks are done, you essentially have much of the paper done other than assessing how the plan actually worked and providing advice for future management using the data collected from the simulation. For the write-up you are expected to reflect on your past performance and add structure and meaning to your airline. What type of carrier did you operate? Did you follow a low-cost leadership, niche, or differentiation strategy? Then, analyze your activities and outcomes for each quarter. Don’t just provide me with a bunch of numbers from the simulation reports but focus instead on the analysis.. Airline Simulation – Assignment (82823.1) Paper Outline Your assignment write up should contain the following sections and address the listed questions: Introduction (10 points) How would you define your carrier based on recent activities? Create a mission and vision statement (see the PowerPoint concerning the competition). Don’t provide cookie cutter airline statements you can find on the internet but be creative and reflective. What was your airline about? Where is your carrier going? General Strategy (20 points) What was your initial strategy? How did you set up your airline? What changes did you make along the way? Did it work out? Why or why not? • Right home base? Route structure? • Proper aircraft selection? Operating strategy? • Leasing versus buying decision making? The correct choice? Appropriate configuration? Service level? • Fitting airline schedule? Right advertising campaign? • How productive was your workforce? Airline Performance & Financial Analysis (50 points) Review each quarter and address the following questions: • • • • • • • Appropriate airfares? Why or why not? Was your airline able to turn a profit from the start? Why or why not? If there were major changes to performance (i.e. a large increase in profit) in a specific quarter, identify the root cause. Review load factor and on-time performance. What was your liquidated value over the course of the different quarters? Assess each quarter and focus on the results of your main routes. Review your analyst section and address how things change over the course of the simulation? How did you manage your cash flow? Airline Simulation – Assignment (82823.1) Competitive Forces and SWOT (30 points) • Identify your immediate competitors. What was your competitive advantage? • Conduct a SWOT analysis for your own airline. Conclusion (20 points) • You decide to sell your airline. What would be your advice for future management? Submission Quality (20 points) • Spelling, grammar, structure, and formatting of the document should be of senior level quality. Four pages (a minimum not a limitation), single spaced, font 11, title page (not included in the four page minimum). Use the underlined headings provided in the outline above but keep a logical flow through within each topic. Grade Considerations This project is worth a significant amount of your grade (150 points) and is expected to be a senior level (professional level) quality project. Since this is a competition, your final grade for the project will take into account the results of Airline Online. This means that a significant part of you grade will come from the Airline Online results. The first place team will receive an automatic 80% on the project and the remaining 20% will come from the submission of the write-up. For example, the first place team would get 160 out of 200 possible points (80%) for the entire project without even submitting a paper, leaving 40 pts for the paper. If they submit a paper and got a 75% they would receive a weighted score of 190 out of 200. For each place lower than first the grading scale shifts. Each lower place results in a two percent weight shift. Second place will receive an automatic 78% with 32% being contingent upon the paper, third place a 76% with 34% contingent upon the paper, and so on. With this weighted format everybody still has a chance to get 100% but as you move closer to the bottom your final score depends more on the paper. Submissions will be made via the E-learning dropbox. Airline Simulation – Assignment (82823.1) https://www.airlinemanagementsim.com/ 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 2 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 3 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 4 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 5 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • Page 6 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 7 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 8 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • o o o • o o o Page 9 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 o o o o o o o • o o o o o o o o o o • o o o o o o o o Page 10 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 11 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • • • • • • • • • • • • Page 12 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 13 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 14 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 15 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • o o o o o o o • • Page 16 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 17 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 18 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 19 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • • Page 20 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • Page 21 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 22 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 23 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 24 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 25 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 26 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 27 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 28 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 29 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 30 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • • • Page 31 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • o • o Page 32 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 33 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 34 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 35 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 36 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 37 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 38 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 39 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 40 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • o o • o o o • o o Page 41 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 o Page 42 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 43 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • o o o o • o o Page 44 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 o • o o o o Page 45 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • o o o o o Page 46 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 o o • o o • o • o Page 47 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • Page 48 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • Page 49 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 Page 50 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • • • • Page 51 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • • Page 52 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 • o o • o • o o o o • o o o o • o o Page 53 / 54 30.8.2023 Start Mode 1 Revision 8 o o o Page 54 / 54 Additional Information Objective: In this module the students and their respective teams will create a passenger airline carrier in an online simulation against peer groups. This is a competition, so play-to-win. The markets will be limited. The cities will be unique ranging from small, mid and large markets - chose wisely. You will pick a home base and run your operations from there to expand into whatever markets you choose. The airline with the highest liquidated value at the end will receive a boost to their grade. Key Simulation Setting: • • • • • The markets will be limited to promote competition. You will be allotted $20 million starting capital. There will be no cargo ops, just passenger travel. There will only be a limited number of aircraft types available. The simulation runs continuously as in the real-world. Simulation Login Credentials: • Links, username and passwords are provided to assigned groups via e-mai. End Goals: After the full-semester simulation has run, the students and their teams will conduct a write-up following the guidelines forth by the PDF file below - It is essentially a summary of the routes you took to success. There will be a midsimulation 'investor update' to provide a status to your investors on your progress thus far. This paper(s) will cover: • • • • The information gathered from the SWOT analysis you conducted of the market prior to entry Competitive advantages that you attempted to achieve or did achieve throughout the semester span The general strategy that was used The financial metrics you used to measure success You should watch the video below titled, "Strategy, Mission, Vision" for a refresher on some of these concepts. Useful Readings: Beyond the video you should read chapters 7 & 8 from the "Wheels Up" text for help with the mission and vision statement. Additionally, the PDF titled, "MIT Airline Data Project Glossary" will provide help in setting defining and setting financial metrics. The SWOT template will provide a brief overview of a number of strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats that are important to identify as a start-up. Pegasus Airlines investor report Introduction Pegasus Airlines is a low-cost airline based in New York City, New York. At Pegasus Airlines, we believe the world is to be explored, so, we provide low ticket prices and exceptional services. Our mission is to provide everyone the same opportunity to travel via any of our offered routes. Our vision is to be the airline that the world trusts with their travel. General strategy We have developed three areas of focus at Pegasus Airlines: operating strategy, route planning, and marketing strategy. Attention to detail and focus on each one of these areas helps us to stay oriented and successful. Our operation started with two aircraft, both from the Boeing 737 family; the idea is to have two medium-sized planes to carry all economy-class passengers. We choose to lease aircraft that were modern, economical, and in good condition. The idea here was to have a smaller fleet initially so that operating costs would stay down until the airline was able to post a profit at which point, we can expand. Our plan worked very well initially, and we were able to post a profit and then expend but we experienced difficulties when we purchased additional aircraft. We may have expanded so soon because when faced with challenges such as worker strike shortly after the purchase of additional aircraft, our airline ultimately went into debt, and we are currently considering bankruptcy. We opened routes that had the most Y-class (economy) passenger demand. This resulted in destinations such as Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, and Miami. As stated previously, our airline was doing good at first and we believe that the route selection worked well and can be carried over to the new strategy when we restructure. As for our marketing, we have been running a campaign domestically in the United States. We primarily focus on billboards and Internet marketing. We have found that marketing via the internet has been one of the best ways to do it due to it because of the low associated cost. While this has been the preferred method, putting up billboards helped increase our demand as well. Future Improvement Currently Pegasus Airlines is not doing well. This has been the result of a chain reaction of events that started with us expanding our fleet before we had a good handle on all of our expenses. We saw that we were making a profit, and everything appeared to be going well but we jumped the gun before really having a grasp on the totality of the airline. Our plan is to declare bankruptcy and restructure the airline using the things we learned in this next attempt. High operational expense and low passenger were the problems, but it is more important for us to look at what caused those problems to learn appropriately. Company image was an issue, and we are going to improve that first and foremost by adjusting our wages to avoid the threat of strike like before; and second, adjust our marketing strategy to be more effective. Some positive aspects that we are going to keep when we restructure include our route selection and initial gameplan with aircraft leasing. Airline Simulation Activities & Analysis Rubric Category Excellent Good Fair Poor Introduction (10 points) Mission and vision statements clearly reflected the demonstrated airline activities (8-10) Mission and vision statements were in-line with the demonstrated airline activities (5-7) Mission and vision statements vaguely related to demonstrated airline activities(3-4) Mission and vision statements had no relation to demonstrated airline activities(0-2) General strategy (20 points) Simulation procedures were well executed and strategic decisions discussed (18-20) Simulation procedures were usually well executed and strategic decisions were plausible for the type of operation (14-17) Simulation procedures were executed with limited competence and/or strategic decisions were at times questionable (10-13) Simulation procedures were not followed and /or there appeared to be a lack of strategy (0-9) Performance metrics and financial results were thoroughly discussed and analyzed (42-50) Performance metrics and financial results were satisfactorily discussed and analyzed (35-41) Performance metrics and financial results were somewhat discussed and analyzed (20-34) There appeared to be little or no analysis of airline performance and/or financials (0-19) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and rivalry were clearly identified and discussed (24-30) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and rivalry were adequately identified and discussed (18-23) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and rivalry were vaguely identified and discussed (10-17) Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and rivalry were not identified and /or discussed(0-9) Advice for future management was convincing (18-20) Advice for future management was plausible (14-17) Advice for future management was questionable (8-13) No or limited advice for future management was presented (0-7) Airline performance & Financial analysis (50 points) Competitive forces/ SWOT (30 points) Conclusion (20 points) Airline Simulation (82823.1) Writing & Formatting (20 points) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting are of high-quality (18-20) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting are satisfactorily (14-17) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting reveal major deficiencies (8-13) Team: ____________________________________ Score from competition _________pts Points possible remaining ____________pts Score from write-up__________/___________pts Cumulative Score___________/200pts Airline Simulation (82823.1) Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and formatting are unacceptable (0-7) Score: ________ / 200 AIRLINE SIMULATION ACTIVITIES & ANALYSIS • Demonstrating your ability to manage an airline ASSIGNMENT 1 You were introduced to airline simulations as part of the course activities in Airline Administration (AVS4270). For students who have had limited or no exposure to web-based airline simulations, I encourage you to make best use of the first few weeks of the course to become familiar with the interface and the platform. The same holds true for students who may be lacking in the areas of Finance and/or Marketing. Assignment Activities For this senior project assignment, you have been assigned a team and together you will create and operate a competitive passenger airline carrier within the simulation environment. This exercise will reintroduce you to the essential components of airline operational design and will make you work successfully to fight off the competition in the simulation environment. There will be a limited number of teams this semester so I have restricted the number of airports that you can operate from. Expect the competition to be fierce! You need to get out of the gate quickly and stay on the ball to be successful otherwise your competitors will eat you alive! The simulation will open on the announced date (online announcement) and each student will then set up their airline. Each airline will be provided with $20,000,000 seed money and to get your enterprise off the ground as well as gather realistic data. We will only be operating a limited variation of aircraft. I will provide you with the login and password via email. Please note that this exercise progresses throughout the entire semester. Your write-up(s) and analysis is due at midnight on the date stated in eLearning Course Schedule. The batch results will allow each student to get the necessary data to complete this assignment. To facilitate operations, and to complete this project on time you need to assign specific tasks and execute. Prior to starting you should run a rough SWOT analysis, which will be included in your paper, to assess the market. Additionally, you should choose a strategy that fits your goals and identify metrics to measure success. After these tasks are done, you essentially have much of the paper done other than assessing how the plan actually worked and providing advice for future management using the data collected from the simulation. For the write-up you are expected to reflect on your past performance and add structure and meaning to your airline. What type of carrier did you operate? Did you follow a low-cost leadership, niche, or differentiation strategy? Then, analyze your activities and outcomes for each quarter. Don’t just provide me with a bunch of numbers from the simulation reports but focus instead on the analysis.. Airline Simulation – Assignment (82823.1) Paper Outline Your assignment write up should contain the following sections and address the listed questions: Introduction (10 points) How would you define your carrier based on recent activities? Create a mission and vision statement (see the PowerPoint concerning the competition). Don’t provide cookie cutter airline statements you can find on the internet but be creative and reflective. What was your airline about? Where is your carrier going? General Strategy (20 points) What was your initial strategy? How did you set up your airline? What changes did you make along the way? Did it work out? Why or why not? • Right home base? Route structure? • Proper aircraft selection? Operating strategy? • Leasing versus buying decision making? The correct choice? Appropriate configuration? Service level? • Fitting airline schedule? Right advertising campaign? • How productive was your workforce? Airline Performance & Financial Analysis (50 points) Review each quarter and address the following questions: • • • • • • • Appropriate airfares? Why or why not? Was your airline able to turn a profit from the start? Why or why not? If there were major changes to performance (i.e. a large increase in profit) in a specific quarter, identify the root cause. Review load factor and on-time performance. What was your liquidated value over the course of the different quarters? Assess each quarter and focus on the results of your main routes. Review your analyst section and address how things change over the course of the simulation? How did you manage your cash flow? Airline Simulation – Assignment (82823.1) Competitive Forces and SWOT (30 points) • Identify your immediate competitors. What was your competitive advantage? • Conduct a SWOT analysis for your own airline. Conclusion (20 points) • You decide to sell your airline. What would be your advice for future management? Submission Quality (20 points) • Spelling, grammar, structure, and formatting of the document should be of senior level quality. Four pages (a minimum not a limitation), single spaced, font 11, title page (not included in the four page minimum). Use the underlined headings provided in the outline above but keep a logical flow through within each topic. Grade Considerations This project is worth a significant amount of your grade (150 points) and is expected to be a senior level (professional level) quality project. Since this is a competition, your final grade for the project will take into account the results of Airline Online. This means that a significant part of you grade will come from the Airline Online results. The first place team will receive an automatic 80% on the project and the remaining 20% will come from the submission of the write-up. For example, the first place team would get 160 out of 200 possible points (80%) for the entire project without even submitting a paper, leaving 40 pts for the paper. If they submit a paper and got a 75% they would receive a weighted score of 190 out of 200. For each place lower than first the grading scale shifts. Each lower place results in a two percent weight shift. Second place will receive an automatic 78% with 32% being contingent upon the paper, third place a 76% with 34% contingent upon the paper, and so on. With this weighted format everybody still has a chance to get 100% but as you move closer to the bottom your final score depends more on the paper. Submissions will be made via the E-learning dropbox. Airline Simulation – Assignment (82823.1) 
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