see below

ANALYZING MANAGERIAL DECISIONS: United Airlines

The WSJ recently presented data suggesting that United Airlines was not covering its costs on flights

from San Francisco to Washington D.C. The articlequoted analysts saying that United should discontinue

this service. The costs per flight (presented in the article) included the costs of fuel, pilots, flight

attendants, food, etc. used on the flight. They also included a share of the costs associated with running

the hubs at the two airports, such as ticket agents, building charges, baggage handlers, gate charges,

etc. Suppose that the revenue collected on the typical United flight from San Francisco to Washington

does not cover these costs. Does this fact imply that United should discontinue these flights? Explain.

After looking for the original source document that was referred to in the case to no avail, I am going to provide you with my introduction to this case. The case is really asking you to consider if United Airlines should shut down one of its flights because it is not meeting its cost on that flight (i.e. marginal analysis). You could consider this from both a short and long-run perspective. Over the short-run, the easy answer might be yes, when we are just looking at the one flight and not considering that there could be connections occurring outside of this flight that could be profitable. In addition, you may want to consider the sunk costs that are embedded in this case. So, on one had you have to discuss the point-to-point flight and, on the other, you have to consider any additional profits that this firm might make as a result of keeping the flight.  

All assignments must be completed as Word documents. If you do not have Word you

can use Microsoft WordPad and use the rich text format (.rtf extension)

All assignments must be prepared in the APA format, including references.

Cover page.Use a single cover page that contains the title of the assignment and

your name

.

Margins.All page margins should be the default margins for your word processing

program. Use only the LEFT margin justification setting.

Page numbering.Please use page numbering for all pages except the cover page.

Spacing/Font.All papers should be single spacedonly (this includes spacing between

paragraphs) and a 12 point font

Direct quotes/ paraphrasing.Direct quotes and paraphrasing MUST be referenced

and cited using APAguidelines. Although there is no limit on how many citations are in

the paper, there is a limit of 15% for quotations and 25% for unoriginal wording for this

course. When more than one quarter of a paper seems to be unoriginal, it usually

indicates a problem. Even if sources are properly cited and some of the words are

changed, it raises the question of how much original thinking went into the paper. There

is a big difference between starting with a blank page and writing your own thoughts,

and building the paper around quotes, paraphrased sources, and the altered wording of

another author. You are encouraged to use textbook concepts as you attempt to explain

in your own words the answers to the assignments rather than relying heavily on quoted

material. Try to think about how you would explain your answer to someone who has not taken a managerial economics class. High scores on the originality report in Turnitin.com are not just a result of plagiarism; they can also result from an incorrect quotation/citation

methodology or from using words that have been rearranged from your sources. If you

use someone else’s work you must cite and reference it appropriately.

References

. You must include a separate References page in APA format with each

paper. Any source that is used to develop your paper must be included in this section.