Because of the pandemic, flights that have not been canceled at all are only operated with a couple of passengers on board.
Apart from obvious financial losses and environmental concerns, flying on empty aircraft causes other problems. For example, purely physical problems – related to weight and balance.
When only a few people fly, passengers are either evenly seated in the cabin or added to the luggage compartment to balance their weight.
In a highly simplified scheme, the aircraft is arranged like a giant swing. By default, the center of gravity of the aircraft is near the main landing gear. But in fact it turns out that the center of gravity of a particular aircraft on a particular flight can shift – because of the passengers, luggage, fuel. The center of gravity changes even during one flight.
Before departure the operator calculates the take-off weight – he takes into account the weight of the empty aircraft, passengers, luggage, cargo and fuel. This is to determine the center of gravity of the aircraft as accurately as possible.
For example, the Embraer E175 has engines in front of its wings, so its center of gravity is closer to the front of the aircraft. As the fuel burns, it shifts towards its tail.
Before departure, the airline’s dispatcher gives the pilot a special uniform that indicates how many passengers will fly, in which part of the cabin – front, middle or rear – they will sit, how much luggage they have and where exactly they will load it. Taking all this information and many other important factors (e.g. the angle of flap deviation) into account, the computer calculates the centre of gravity and take-off speed. Large aircraft such as the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 usually have no weight or balance problems even when the aircraft is almost empty – if passengers are evenly distributed throughout the cabin. But crews of not so big cars quite often have to transfer passengers.
As a continuation of the topic of public transport, which I mentioned in a previous article, there are also points in Valencia where you can rent transport to move around the city. It is not considered public, but is controlled by the city council. They are the ones who decide whether to issue a permit and establish zones and a rental locations.
A long and familiar Valenbisi bike chain. A total of 2,750 bicycles are available to users distributed in 275 Base Stations strategically distributed throughout the city. Until recently, the network had only ordinary bicycles at its disposal, updated its stations, and now you can also find electric bikes around the city.
In order to rent a bike, you need to register on the site, buy a card and check in every 30 minutes at the rental office, otherwise additional funds will be charged.
It should be noted that the bicycle network influences a great importance in the life of the city, but with the arrival of electric motorcycles in the market, more and more loses its relevance.
Leased the electric motorcycle have become very popular. The companies providing this service have made it as easy as they could to rent such a vehicle. All you have to do is download an application, upload a photo of your driver’s license, and once the information has been quickly verified, you can already enjoy the bonus minutes given by almost any company that has entered this market.
It good to say it is a very convenient and fast way, which partly helps save time and money. One trip for two people is sometimes cheaper than on public transport for two. But you also get the time savings mentioned above. The electric motorcycle can be left absolutely anywhere in the city where motorcycles are allowed to park, so they have very easy access.
Let’s talk about the new fashion of electric scooters. It is one of the latest transportation trends in the world. It really is a scooter as we know it but it is powered by an electric motor and a rechargeable battery. Unlike a normal one, it propels you without moving your feet.
In Valencia, unfortunately, the electro scooters were not approved by the local authorities. So let’s look at the example in Madrid.
Madrid is an good city to get around on an electric scooter. It has slopes, large streets in many areas and distances that are not saved in “two steps”. Although it is true that it does not have as many bike lanes that could be adapted for scooters as other Spanish cities, it is a city with space for everyone and, in addition, pollution would be reduced with this mode of transport, or so say the promoters of the electric scooter in Madrid.
The truth is that the companies behind the electric scooters in Madrid have encountered very restrictive regulations in the capital, and it is not easy to get around Madrid. The city has very limited areas where we can move in this type of transport, but the truth is that licenses have been granted to 18 companies, for a total of 8,160 new scooters, so it is to be expected that It is easier to see them in Madrid.
The conditions of the APPs of electric scooters are quite simple. Basically, it is about making an account with an associated email, as well as associating a payment method (PayPal or card). In the APP we locate the scooter and, once we have it in our possession, we unlock it using the camera to scan the QR code.
Using an electric scooter is very convenient. I tried this type of transport in Portugal, which helped me a lot in the absence of a driver’s license.
Comparing these three types of transport, which now exist on the market of provided services, instead of public transport, electric scooters obviously benefit. If you do not have the right to drive such a vehicle, you can rent an electric bike or an electric scooter. Each of these modes of transport has its pros and cons, but it serves as one of the solutions to the problems that currently exist in connection with the city’s traffic with private vehicles.
I have been watching Inditex for a long time and after coming to Spain, I was wondering how the strategy of this company was arranged.
On the logistics side, I decided to look at one of the brands that I have been watching in Russia, Zara. It’s quite an interesting fact that in Spain this brand is considered a mass market, and in Russia it is often equated to middle class due to its retail prices and European origin.
The Spanish sewing empire Inditex has been improving its marketing strategy “Fast Fashion” for many years, often violating the generally accepted rules of retail.
The data I managed to find so far is that the company’s capitalization is huge and Inditex founder and owner Amancio Ortega, with his fortune of $62.7 billion, is the sixth richest man in the world after Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and other celebrities.
By introducing elements of Lean Manufacturing and Theory of Constraints, Ortega with Inditex has incredibly accelerated the process of manufacturing, distributing and selling clothing for the mass market and made it more fashionable and affordable.
Let’s look at their approach to logistics.
In logistics, Zara uses Toyota’s “just-in-time” (JIT) principles. The products are also distributed centrally: stores around the world receive their products from central warehouses in Spain. But it is “his” models, sizes and colors that are sent to each store. They are ordered in advance by the sales managers. The delivery system is worked out so clearly that new products arrive at European stores within 24-48 hours, and in the U.S. and Asia – within 48 hours. This speed could not have been achieved without cargo aviation. It is expensive. However, small, fast-selling lots of goods give buyers a sense of exclusivity.
This is probably one of the reasons why in Russia, for example, Zara is considered a mid-sized segment.
That is why the company encourages quick purchases: do not put off for later, the next visit of a favorite thing in the store will not be anymore.
As a rule, Inditex competitors sew their products in China, using cheap labor. But about two-thirds of Inditex products are made in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, especially if they are expensive or complicated in style. Own factories in Europe allow you to win on time and not overpay for delivery of goods from Asia. Given the frequency of updating the range, the savings on transportation costs are huge.
Previously, Inditex was financed by commodity credits from its suppliers. The company bought raw materials with a delay of payment for 12-16 weeks, manufactured products in 1 week and sold them within 2-4 weeks. Thus, by the time of payment with suppliers the company had time to work out 3-4 full production cycles and earn not only on the raw materials, but also to postpone the development.
The principles of Lean Production and Theory of Constraints are also used in the organization of retail trade. Zara stores had no storage space and had to sell their entire collection in a month. And the company managed to reduce the production and distribution cycle of the new collection to 10-15 days.
Nowadays, the transportation and distribution of their products is undertaken entirely by external contractors – but they still play an active role in trying to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions involved.
As written on the company’s web page, they have developed a tool to measure emissions based on different means of transportation in line with international standards laid down in the GHG Protocol, so that they can track progress, and offer improvement plans for their distributors to make reductions.
According to the topic that we discussed in the last lesson, I would like to touch on the topic of queues, traffic and the problem of public transport that exists.
From my own experience, I can describe what problems a resident of Valencia expects if he is suddenly lucky to get a job over Valencia city in one of the places where are concentrated more than 1600 organizations, 3 industrial zones, 5 technological institutes and also cafes, restaurants, hotels and many establishments related to the business area.
The busy life in this business city starts at about 9 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m.
The problem, which is so acute that it has been repeatedly written about in all media sources, is as follows:
– almost complete lack of public transport. There are 2 buses circulating about 1 time per hour, in the morning and evening hours. In the middle of the day, there are only 3 bus.
– Queues to enter the park can reach waiting times could be about 20 minutes, and after entering you will be expected to move around the park at a speed of 5-10 km / h
– lack of parking spaces. Not all organizations have their own parking lots, so the time spent on parking can be safely added to the additional time of stress of the driver.
So, we will consider the 2 most popular options, to get to the technology park if we say you live on Benimaclet: by car and by bus, we will take the average value. For the average, let’s go to Google:
In the first picture we can see that the time could be from 18 to 45 min. Almost true with the experience which I have. It possible to get there in 20 min if you go in August or in Saturday. And you will get about 45 min, but probably more if you want to go there on Monday morning. Do not forget to add the time to search for parking, which at such a time you can hardly find. In total we have about 1 hour of the route.
In the second picture we can see that in public transport we have to change tram to bus, and expecting time of all route is about 50 min, but you will arrive in your job a little bit early (we don’t have another options) but only in case if the bus don’t be in a traffic with another cars. Also, we need to get more time for the situation if the tram late a little bit, so you lose your bus. Do not forget to add the time to get to Benimacet (in our case), because any case we don’t live exactly on the tram stop. So, in total with the time to get to your job could be about 1h30 min
picture 1
picture 2
The problem still doesn’t solve. It was different activities to resolve the problem:
– in 2009, when the number of organizations had not yet reached that number, this problem already existed. Various organizations were involved that were supposed to participate in the development of a solution to the problem.
The Technological Institute of Packaging, Transportation and Logistics (Itene) is immersed in the development of this project, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Itene leads this project, which also includes two other research organizations (Cenit and ZLC), and has the experience of three technology companies specialized in the development of mobility applications (BIT Carrier, Palma Tools and ITS Spain) and with the support of entities such as Fivec and eTM.
In fact, some recommendations for the improvement of public transport can be extracted from the survey, among which the existence of more direct buses or a greater frequency in the service are the most valued by respondents.
The last news about the situation was in November 2019. The Generalitat will launch a pilot program of transport shuttles that will connect the city of Valencia with seven industrial parks and parks in the metropolitan area, which will be launched during 2020 and will serve 34,500 users.
But nowadays, if you have a job in this place the best way to you, to have a car or sharing a car with somebody. With all problems is the better that use the public transport where you can lose 3 hours daily just for the route.
I want to share with you the situation which took place in January in Russia in flight from New York to Sofia via Moscow.
Passenger Maxim Chumachenko handed over the carrying with three cats to the luggage compartment in accordance with Aeroflot rules. Based on the norms, it is forbidden to take animals with you into the cabin, whose weight together with the container exceeds 8 kilograms.
When unloading luggage at Sheremetyevo, ”, another passenger flying the same flight told Chumachenko that cats were “thrown. He ran to the Aeroflot counter and asked where the animals were. He also asked why the cargo was not served one of the first, even though he paid for this service. “There they mumbled something to me that our animals were the last to board,” he said.
Chumachenko received broken carryings with cats from warehouse employees: one of them had a “bottom gone to the ceiling,” so they tied it up with a rope on top. The passenger was allowed to take cats into the cabin, but they died anyway: one on a plane from Moscow to Sofia, the other on the table at the veterinarian after landing.
According to preliminary conclusions, both pets died from internal hemorrhage, which provoked injuries received during transportation.
The third cat flew a transfer from New York to Sofia, so the owner did not know about her fate. She survived, but, judging by the diagnosis from the veterinarian, she received a frostbite.
Russian airline Aeroflot has become a target for social media criticism. The airlines themselves began to criticize airport workers, because it was, they who transported from one plane to another.
In addition to the disgusting treatment of animals by both guilty parties, they are trying to shift responsibility to each other.
Based on the method “problem/not a problem” analysis performed in the class, you can clearly see how this problem was not a significant problem until a tragic incident occurred.
Passengers have always talked about the incredible difficulties in transporting animals related to documentation, booking a seat in the cabin or in the luggage compartment, with a considerable amount of information and requirements for carrying the animal.
In response, the owner of an animal did not receive the necessary information about where and how the animal is transported, never were published some photos of the place of animals in the airplane and never were published the conditions in which the animal is during the trip.
In the modern world, according to statistics, every second habitant of the planet has a cat or dog. And it is accurate and understandable that they have the right to be transported under conditions, if not equated to human, then at least in those that do not threaten their life and health physical and psychological.
After the cats’ deaths, Russian users took to Aeroflot’s social media pages to leave negative comments, many of them were deleted. Soon, the comments transformed into a flashmob of photos showing pets in suitcases next to a sign saying “I’m not luggage. I’m a passenger!”
I can describe my experience with transporting my cat to Valencia. We flew three times with 2 different airlines, one of which was Aeroflot. 3 times I was presented with 3 different rules on the characteristics that a cat carrier should have so that I can take it with me to the salon. And if in the case of the S7 airline, which we flew twice, the airline’s employees were sympathetic to the fact that it is impossible to place an adult cat with the declared 20 cm, which should be a box for the cat , even if it is up to 4 kg, then in the case of Aeroflot wanted to put on a flight. Since the cat, along with the carrying, did not exceed the norm for carriage in the salon (up to 8 kg with Aeroflot), I refused to send him in luggage. During long negotiations and calls to the support service, and without having received permission to go through, I bought the 3rd carrier at the airport from the airline, which has an international standard for its branded transportation boxes for animals. However, this standard did not meet the Aeroflot standard, but it corresponded to the international standard, I managed to get into the salon with such a transfer and place it under the seat in front of the standing chair.
– All airlines set their own standard for transporting animals on an airplane, both for the cabin and for the luggage compartment, which they themselves do not always adhere to.
– Although you pay for the transportation of the animal, the animal is perceived as well as luggage, and also stands as an additional “non-standard baggage”.
-For the transportation of an animal, a lot of certificates should be presented, both at the exit and at the entrance, subject to its health, i.e. if the animal is sick, then it cannot move with its owner. While for people there is absolutely no medical check before boarding a flight.
Even in the course of the situation with coronavirus escalated in Europe, on the day this post was written 24/02/20 in Spain and in particular in Valencia there is not a single control over visitors. In this example, I can only note this airport, since it was precisely today that my friend flew from Russia to Valencia.
The blog of Logistics at MGEPS at UPV 