Flying Off Course Third Edition

Since my early days in the aviation industry in the mid-1980s, the first edition of "Flying Off Course: The economics of International Airlines" was the only comprehensive book I had covering the major aspects of airline economics. When the second edition was printed in 1991, I eagerly got myself a copy as the book was an indispensable item in my library.

I am very gratified to have the third edition as a lot has happened since the first two editions. Low cost airlines came on the scene in a big way, modelled along the lines of the highly successful Southwest Airlines in the USA. The phenomena of major airline alliances and mergers also expanded greatly as well as more widespread liberalisation of the industry. All these and many other facets of this fascinating industry have been updated by one the most renowned and respected experts in the field, Professor Rigas Doganis.

The book is presented in clear simple English enabling it to be easily understood by anyone with an interest in aviation. This book is a must to read by airline practitioners and those interested in a serious study of the subject.

This is the best introduction to the fundamentals of airline economics that I have ever read. Doganis, an analyst and teacher these days, is able to take all his years in industry (including a stint as CEO of Olympic Airways of Greece) and distill it into a useful text full of real world examples. The third edition is updated to include new developments like Internet ticketing, and was written post-9/11, so that sections dealing with issues such as security are up to date.

The book has complete sections on airline, aircraft, and route planning and forecasting, and related subjects such as yield management, marketing, and charter operations. Of particular note is the chapter on pricing policies and fare structures; it is clear that Doganis completely understands the significance of the low cost carriers and the future of yields throughout the different regions of the world.

I always enjoy reading Doganis, and vastly prefer this updated version of "Flying Off Course" to the pre-9/11 "The Airline Business in the 21st Century" (although I do recommend that book as well.) This is a great book, and should be read and understood by airline managers everywhere. My only caution is that though it is not the most mathematically exhaustive book on the subject, casual readers may not enjoy the book inasmuch as it is quite weighty and the chapter on forecasting demand is fairly mathematically rigorous.

Having worked in airports for the past 10 years, and now moving to the airline side, I wanted a broad overview of airline economics. The book did a first rate job.

The only criticism would be that if you have a few years of experience and know your way around the basics of financial analysis, some of the examples and explanations will be a bit of a waste of time.

The book is well structured and about as interesting as a book on this subject can be (be realistic, the subject has it's limits...). A great novice book, a good one for those already airside.

If you need a quick insight into airline business - BUY THIS BOOK. Rigas did a great job in explaining the difficult world of airline business to a dummy like me. Now, having a quite deeper knowledge, I am missing some in-depth information about the commercial side and route planning. Overall: a best buy.

I am an airline analyst and this book give me some background info on different aspcet. It gives you basic understanding on how the industry works and I personally learn a lot from this.

The problem is that it is a bit out of date and so I need to spend a lot of time verifing the data. Other than that, this is a very good one for beginners.