This book is about change, about its challenges and the talent necessary to drive it through. Specifically, it is about transforming the world's most important and event-shaping industry - aviation. Giovanni Bisignani became Director General of IATA (International Air Transport Association) in June 2002, just after 9/11, which created one of the greatest threats ever to the aviation industry. IATA is the central body of the world's airlines, responsible for its financial ($300 billion/year) clearing system, ticketing, government lobbying, passenger safety policies, landing rights and the future of commercial flying. During his 10 years as Director General, Bisignani implemented and oversaw enormous and controversial changes in aviation. This book is the inside story of the struggle for survival in one of the world's most dynamic industries.

"On the Ground" charts labor relations in the airline industry, unraveling the story of how baggage handlers--classified as unskilled workers--built tense but mutually useful alliances with their skilled coworkers such as aircraft mechanics and made tremendous gains in wages and working conditions, even in the era of supposedly "complacent" labor in the 1950s and 1960s. Liesl Miller Orenic explains how airline jobs on the ground were constructed, how workers chose among unions, and how federal labor policies as well as industry regulation both increased and hindered airline workers' bargaining power.

Air law has recently grown in significance. Drawing on international and national instruments and a wealth of case law from many jurisdictions, including the International Court of Justice, this book covers the role of international law in such matters as legal consequences arising from the use of automation in civil aviation, the carriage of the elderly and disabled by air, unlawful interference with civil aviation, protection of the environment, and the legal management of aviation security. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

The third Monitoring European Deregulation report looks at recent developments in the European airline industry following liberalization. It assesses the impact on consumers and firms so far and compares developments in Europe to the U.S. experience. Using an analytical framework for assessing the degree and nature of competition in airlines, the authors examine the direction in which the industry is currently headed before concluding with an assessment of what is needed in terms of European policy.

The European airlines industry went through deregulation relatively early. This report, therefore, offers a good case study for exploring the effects of liberalization and assessing who the winners and losers of deregulation really are.