How Major Airlines Are Structured航空公司的結構

金琬玉　王營營

Airlines are most often represented in public by those employees who have the most contact with travelers， such as pilots and flight attendants， but there are many more airline employees working behind the scenes. Larger airlines may employ more people， but the employee categories are generally the same no matter what the size of the airline. Here are the various types of employees in an airline：

Line personnel

These include everyone directly involved in producing or selling an airline’s services—the mechanics， who maintain the planes; the pilots， who fly them; the flight attendants， who serve passengers and perform various in-flight safety functions; the reservation clerks， airport check-in and gate personnel， who book and process the passengers; ramp-service agents， security guards， etc. Line personnel generally fall into three broad categories： engineering and maintenance， flight operations， and sales and marketing. These three divisions form the heart of an airline and generally account for 85 percent of an airline’s employees.

Operations

This department is responsible for operating an airline’s fleet of aircraft safely and efficiently. It schedules the aircraft and flight crews and it develops and administers all policies and procedures necessary to maintain safety and meet all FAA operating requirements. It is in charge of all flight-crew training， both initial and recurrent training for pilots and flight attendants， and it establishes the procedures crews are to follow before， during and after each flight to ensure safety.

Dispatchers also are part of flight operations. Their job is to release flights for takeoff， following a review of all factors affecting a flight. These include the weather， routes the flight may follow， fuel requirements and both the amount and distribution of weight onboard the aircraft. Weight must be distributed evenly aboard an aircraft for it to fly safely.

Maintenance

Maintenance accounts for approximately 11 percent of an airline’s employees and 10-15 percent of its operating expenses. Maintenance programs keep aircraft in safe， working order; ensure passenger comfort; preserve the airline’s valuable physical assets （its aircraft）; and ensure maximum utilization of those assets， by keeping planes in excellent condition. An airplane costs its owner money every minute of every day， but makes money only when it is flying with freight and/or passengers aboard. Therefore， it is vital to an airline’s financial success that aircraft are properly maintained.

Airlines typically have one facility for major work and aircraft modification， called the maintenance base; lager airlines sometimes have more than one maintenance base. Smaller maintenance facilities are maintained at an airline’s hubs or primary airports， where aircraft are likely to be parked overnight. Called major maintenance stations， these facilities perform routine maintenance and stock a large supply of spare parts.

A third level of inspection and repair capability is maintained at airports， where a carrier has extensive operators， although less than at its hubs. These maintenance facilities generally are called maintenance stations.

Sales and marketing

This division encompasses such activities as pricing， scheduling， advertising， ticket and cargo sales reservations and customer service， including food service. While all of them are important， pricing and scheduling in particular can make or break an airline， and both have become more complicated since deregulation. Airline prices change frequently in response to supply and demand and to changes in the prices of competitors’ fares. Schedules change less often， but far more often than when the government regulated the industry. Airlines use sophisticated computer reservation systems to advertise their own fares and schedules to travel agents and to keep track of the fares and schedules of competitors. Travel agents， who sell approximately 80 percent of all airline tickets， use same systems to book reservations and print tickets for travelers.

Reservation and ticketing

There are major changes in air transportation， which simplify the process for airline passengers to make a reservation and to purchase a ticket. Electronic commerce is playing a significant part in the airline industry. In addition to the paper tickets issued in the past， all of the major airlines are now offering electronic ticketing for domestic and international air travel. Electronic ticketing allows an airline to document the sale and track the usage of transportation. Passengers no longer worry about carrying flight coupons or losing their tickets. Passengers have the ability to shop for the lowest priced transportation， make or change a reservation， request refunds etc.， not only from their travel agent but from their own personal home computer or from a telephone， on the way to the airport. The number of air travelers shopping， making reservation and purchasing electronic tickets using the Internet is increasing daily. Self-service automated ticketing machines are also widely available at major airports around the country.

Major airlines have also automated the check-in procedure. Electronic self-service check in computer kiosks at major airports are available for most passengers using electronic tickets. Self-service machines enable passengers to verify their itinerary， obtain class of service upgrades， select specific seat assignments， check baggage with bar-coded baggage tags and obtain their own boarding passes.

Staff personnel

These include specialists in such fields as law， accounting， finance， employee relations and public relations. Their function is to support the work of the line personnel， so that the airline runs efficiently and earns a profit. For the most part， staff personnel work out of corporate headquarters and fall into seven broad job categories typical of major corporations; finance & property， information services， personnel， medical， legal， public relations and planning.

Finance & property handles company revenues and finances. In addition， it oversees all company property and the purchase of food， fuel， aircraft parts and other supplies needed to run an airline. Information services designs and maintains the company’s internal computer systems， used to store and analyze data needed for operations and planning. At an airline， this includes the important function of fleet planning.

Subcontractors

While major airlines typically do most of their own work， it is common for them to farm out certain tasks to other companies. These tasks could include aircraft cleaning， fueling， airport security， food service and in some instances， maintenance work. Airlines might contract out for all of this work or just a portion of it， keeping the jobs in house at their hubs and other key stations. However， whether an airline does the work itself or relies on outside vendors， the carrier remains responsible for meeting all applicable federal safety standards.

公眾場合最常見的航空公司人員是那些與旅客接觸最頻繁的員工，比如飛行員和乘務員，但還有更多的航空公司員工在幕后工作。航空公司越大，雇員可能就越多。但公司規模無論大小，雇員類別都大致相同。以下是一個航空公司的各類雇員：

運行人員

運行人員中的每個人都直接參與到航空公司服務的生成或者銷售當中——機修工，負責維護飛機;飛行員，負責駕駛飛機;乘務人員，負責服務乘客并履行飛行途中的安保職能;票務預訂員、登機手續辦理人員和登機口檢票員，負責為乘客預訂機票和安排登機;此外還有停機坪服務人員、保安等。運行人員一般分為三大類：工程維修、飛機運行和銷售營銷。這三類人員是航空公司的核心，通常占航空公司雇員的85%。

運行部門

這個部門負責安全有效地運行航空公司的機群。該部門職責包括安排飛機和機組人員的行程，并且制定和執行所有必要的政策和程序，以維護安全并遵循聯邦航空局所有的操作要求。它還負責機組人員的培訓，包括飛行員和乘務員的基礎培訓和日常培訓，并制定機組人員飛行前、飛行中和飛行后應遵循的程序，以確保安全。

調度員也是運行部門的一員。他們的工作是排查所有影響飛行的相關因素，然后放飛。相關因素包括天氣、可能的航線、燃料需求以及機上載荷的總量和分布情況。載荷必須均勻地放置到飛機上才能保證飛機的安全運行。

維修部門

維修部門人員數量約占航空公司雇員的11%，其維修費用占運營費用的10%到15%。維修工作使飛機處于安全的工作狀態;確保乘客舒適;保護航空公司寶貴的有形資產（飛機）;并確保飛機性能良好，以最大限度地利用這些資產。一架飛機時刻都要耗費公司資金，但只有飛機運送貨物和/或搭載乘客時才能贏利。因此，飛機的妥善保養是航空公司贏利的關鍵。

航空公司通常有一個負責重要維修和飛機改裝的場所，稱為維修基地。較大的航空公司擁有的維修基地有時不止一個。在飛機可能夜間停泊的航空樞紐或主要機場，有一些較小的維修設施，這些設施稱為主要維修站，執行日常維護工作并儲存大量備件。

普通機場都具備三級檢查和維修能力，航空公司在機場一般都有大量工作人員，不過比樞紐少。這些維修設施通常稱為維修站。

銷售及營銷

市場營銷部門的業務包括定價、航班安排、廣告宣傳、機票和貨運艙位預訂以及客戶服務（包括餐飲服務）等。這些都很重要，而定價和航班安排對航空公司的成敗尤為重要，自從放松管制以來，二者變得更加復雜。飛機票的價格由于供求關系和同行票價的改變而頻繁調整。航班安排雖然變動小，但遠比政府進行行業監管時頻繁得多。航空公司使用先進的電腦預訂系統向旅行社提供自己的票價和航班安排，并且對同行業的票價和航班安排跟蹤記錄。大約80%的機票由旅行社售出，他們均使用此系統為旅客預訂并打印機票。

機票預訂

航空運輸發生的重大變化簡化了旅客預訂和購票的流程。電子商務在航空業中發揮著重要作用。 除了過去發行的紙質機票外，所有主要的航空公司現在都提供國內和國際航空旅行的電子票務。電子票務使航空公司得以記錄銷售情況及跟蹤運力使用情況，因此乘客不必再煩心要隨身攜帶乘機票根和擔心機票遺失。乘客可以選購最優惠的出行方案、訂票、改簽或要求退款等，而這些不僅可以通過旅行社，還可用家中電腦或在去機場的路上用手機實現。使用互聯網購物、訂票和購買電子票的航空乘客與日俱增，自助售票機也在全國各地的主要機場廣泛應用。

大型航空公司已實現登機手續辦理自動化。各大機場已配備電子自助檢票亭，為大多數使用電子機票的乘客提供服務。乘客可以借助自助服務機核對行程、獲得服務升級、選座、通過條形碼識別標簽托運行李及領取登機牌。

專業人員

這些成員由法律、會計、金融、員工關系和公共關系等不同領域的專業人員組成，其職責是支持運行部門的工作，使航空公司高效運轉并贏利。大多數情況下，專業人員在公司總部工作。大公司通常包含七大部門：財務與產權管理、信息服務、人事、醫療、法律、公共關系和策劃。

財務部負責公司的收入和資金，此外，還負責監管公司的所有財產及運營所需的食品、燃料、飛機零部件和其他物資的采購。信息服務部門設計和維護公司內部的計算機系統，該系統用于存儲和分析運行、規劃所需的數據，包括航班安排這一重要職能。

分包公司

盡管大型航空公司的大部分業務一般由自己完成，但它們也常常會把一些工作分包給其他公司。這些工作包括飛機清理、加油、機場安保、餐飲服務，有時還有飛機保養。航空公司可能把這些工作的全部或者一部分外包出去，請外包公司在樞紐站或者其他主要站點進行室內作業。然而，無論航空公司是自己完成還是外包，都要保證達到美國聯邦安全標準。

（譯者單位：鄭州商學院）