Value for Money

By Ingo Marowsky

Labour costs in aviation are not so great, when you consider the value of the investment.

Labour is up to 30% of the expenditure in running an airline but a glance beyond the figures to consider other crucial factors - including risk assessment and the role of labour as an asset for aviation - sheds a different light on the labour cost issue.

US low cost carrier Southwest Airlines has never lost a single day in industrial action. Not because of a cowed workforce but because management accepts trade unions as the true representative collective voice of workers. The atmosphere of trust that results has been built up by both sides over time is reflected in the success of the airline.

(Transport International; issue 20, July-September 2005)