Departments

Airplane taking off from the airport - Institut of Air Transport
The Institute of Air Transport researches the interconnections of the air transport system in four departments with different focuses: Air Transport Development, Air Transport Economics, Air Transport Management, and Flight Operations Concepts.
Credit:

Lukas Gojda – stock.adobe.com

The four departments of the Institute of Air Transport are distributed across the Hamburg and Cologne locations, which, due to their proximity to airports, airlines, regulatory authorities, and aviation networks, provide an optimal environment for research and development work. Their expertise significantly contributes to increasing the sustainability and efficiency of air transport by providing insights into development pathways, economic aspects, and operational measures.

Department Air Transport Development

The department of Air Transport Development investigates possible future developments of air transport via forecasts and scenarios and analyses its capabilities and impacts on different temporal and spatial levels (global, national, regional, airport specific). Hereby all kind of air transports and vehicle types including their technical developments are considered and quantified regarding their transport role and mobility share.

Department Air Transport Economics

In the Air Transport Economic department, the economic capabilities of an aviation economics competence centre are being established within DLR. Economic analyses of the air transport system and - in cooperation with DLR’s transport institutes - of ground transport and inter- or multimodal transport concepts provide essential information, for example, to assess options for the introduction of innovative technologies and regulatory measures, or to evaluate economic, ecological and social impacts of the (air) transport system.

Department Air Transport Management

In the Air Transport Management department, the business and management competences of an economic competence center within DLR are being set up with a focus on the players in the aviation industry. Questions covering all modes of transport are being examined in cooperation with the DLR transport institutes. The relevant research includes the analysis of airlines and airports as entrepreneurial units, the development of processes, business models and strategies as well as the economic evaluation of innovations from the operator's point of view as a contribution to the impact assessment.

Department Flight Operations Concepts

In the Flight Operations Concepts department, the focus is on identifying and developing operational innovations at mission and network level. This includes new flight procedures and, in particular, climate-friendly approaches that are evaluated under realistic operational conditions. This results in requirements for new technologies and processes from the operator's point of view as a contribution to the impact assessment at fleet level and globally.