How Major Airlines Are Structured航空公司的结构

金琬玉　王营营

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.

公眾场合最常见的航空公司人员是那些与旅客接触最频繁的员工，比如飞行员和乘务员，但还有更多的航空公司员工在幕后工作。航空公司越大，雇员可能就越多。但公司规模无论大小，雇员类别都大致相同。以下是一个航空公司的各类雇员：

运行人员

运行人员中的每个人都直接参与到航空公司服务的生成或者销售当中——机修工，负责维护飞机;飞行员，负责驾驶飞机;乘务人员，负责服务乘客并履行飞行途中的安保职能;票务预订员、登机手续办理人员和登机口检票员，负责为乘客预订机票和安排登机;此外还有停机坪服务人员、保安等。运行人员一般分为三大类：工程维修、飞机运行和销售营销。这三类人员是航空公司的核心，通常占航空公司雇员的85%。

运行部门

这个部门负责安全有效地运行航空公司的机群。该部门职责包括安排飞机和机组人员的行程，并且制定和执行所有必要的政策和程序，以维护安全并遵循联邦航空局所有的操作要求。它还负责机组人员的培训，包括飞行员和乘务员的基础培训和日常培训，并制定机组人员飞行前、飞行中和飞行后应遵循的程序，以确保安全。

调度员也是运行部门的一员。他们的工作是排查所有影响飞行的相关因素，然后放飞。相关因素包括天气、可能的航线、燃料需求以及机上载荷的总量和分布情况。载荷必须均匀地放置到飞机上才能保证飞机的安全运行。

维修部门

维修部门人员数量约占航空公司雇员的11%，其维修费用占运营费用的10%到15%。维修工作使飞机处于安全的工作状态;确保乘客舒适;保护航空公司宝贵的有形资产（飞机）;并确保飞机性能良好，以最大限度地利用这些资产。一架飞机时刻都要耗费公司资金，但只有飞机运送货物和/或搭载乘客时才能赢利。因此，飞机的妥善保养是航空公司赢利的关键。

航空公司通常有一个负责重要维修和飞机改装的场所，称为维修基地。较大的航空公司拥有的维修基地有时不止一个。在飞机可能夜间停泊的航空枢纽或主要机场，有一些较小的维修设施，这些设施称为主要维修站，执行日常维护工作并储存大量备件。

普通机场都具备三级检查和维修能力，航空公司在机场一般都有大量工作人员，不过比枢纽少。这些维修设施通常称为维修站。

销售及营销

市场营销部门的业务包括定价、航班安排、广告宣传、机票和货运舱位预订以及客户服务（包括餐饮服务）等。这些都很重要，而定价和航班安排对航空公司的成败尤为重要，自从放松管制以来，二者变得更加复杂。飞机票的价格由于供求关系和同行票价的改变而频繁调整。航班安排虽然变动小，但远比政府进行行业监管时频繁得多。航空公司使用先进的电脑预订系统向旅行社提供自己的票价和航班安排，并且对同行业的票价和航班安排跟踪记录。大约80%的机票由旅行社售出，他们均使用此系统为旅客预订并打印機票。

机票预订

航空运输发生的重大变化简化了旅客预订和购票的流程。电子商务在航空业中发挥着重要作用。 除了过去发行的纸质机票外，所有主要的航空公司现在都提供国内和国际航空旅行的电子票务。电子票务使航空公司得以记录销售情况及跟踪运力使用情况，因此乘客不必再烦心要随身携带乘机票根和担心机票遗失。乘客可以选购最优惠的出行方案、订票、改签或要求退款等，而这些不仅可以通过旅行社，还可用家中电脑或在去机场的路上用手机实现。使用互联网购物、订票和购买电子票的航空乘客与日俱增，自助售票机也在全国各地的主要机场广泛应用。

大型航空公司已实现登机手续办理自动化。各大机场已配备电子自助检票亭，为大多数使用电子机票的乘客提供服务。乘客可以借助自助服务机核对行程、获得服务升级、选座、通过条形码识别标签托运行李及领取登机牌。

专业人员

这些成员由法律、会计、金融、员工关系和公共关系等不同领域的专业人员组成，其职责是支持运行部门的工作，使航空公司高效运转并赢利。大多数情况下，专业人员在公司总部工作。大公司通常包含七大部门：财务与产权管理、信息服务、人事、医疗、法律、公共关系和策划。

财务部负责公司的收入和资金，此外，还负责监管公司的所有财产及运营所需的食品、燃料、飞机零部件和其他物资的采购。信息服务部门设计和维护公司内部的计算机系统，该系统用于存储和分析运行、规划所需的数据，包括航班安排这一重要职能。

分包公司

尽管大型航空公司的大部分业务一般由自己完成，但它们也常常会把一些工作分包给其他公司。这些工作包括飞机清理、加油、机场安保、餐饮服务，有时还有飞机保养。航空公司可能把这些工作的全部或者一部分外包出去，请外包公司在枢纽站或者其他主要站点进行室内作业。然而，无论航空公司是自己完成还是外包，都要保证达到美国联邦安全标准。

（译者单位：郑州商学院）