Please answer all question with any graphs needed. thank you !
THE WESTERN-EASTERN AIRLINE In 2019, Western Airlines merged with Eastern Airlines to create the fourth largest U.S. carrier. The new West-East Airline inherited both an aging fleet of Boeing 737-200 aircraft and Sam Rutherford. Ruth was a tough former secretary of the navy who stepped in as new president and chairman of the board. Rutherford's first concern in creating a financially solid company was maintenance costs. It was commonly believed in the airline industry that maintenance costs rose with the age of the aircraft. Rutherford quickly noticed that, historically, there has been a significant difference in reported B737200 maintenance costs (from ATA Form 41s) both in the airframe and engine areas between Western Airlines and Eastern Airlines, with Eastern having the newer fleet. On November 12, 2019, Rutherford assigned Page Young, vice president for operations and maintenance, to study the issue. Specifically, Rutherford wanted to know (1) whether the average fleet age was correlated to direct airframe maintenance costs and (2) whether there was a relationship between average fleet age and direct engine maintenance costs. Young was to report back with the answer, along with quantitative and graphical descriptions of the relationship, by November 26th. First, Young had her staff construct the average age of Western and Eastern B737-200 fleets, by quarter, since the introduction of the aircraft to service by each airline in late 2011 and early 2012. The average age of each fleet was calculated by first multiplying the total number of calendar days that each aircraft had been in service at the pertinent point in time by the average daily utilization of the respective fleet to total fleet-hours flown. The total fleet-hours flown was then divided by the number of aircraft in service at that time, giving the age of the "average" aircraft in the fleet. The average utilization was found by taking the actual total fleet-hours flown at September 30, 2019, from Western and Eastern data, and dividing by total days in service for all aircraft at that time. The average utilization for Eastern was 8.3 hours per day, and the average utilization for Western was 8.7 hours per day. Because the available cost data were calculated for each yearly period ending at the end of the first quarter, average fleet age was calculated at the same points in time. The fleet data are shown in the following table. Airframe cost data and engine cost data are both shown paired with fleet average age. West-East Airline Data for Boeing 737-200 Jets Year Western Airlines Data Eastern Airlines Data Airframe Engine Average Airframe Engine Average Cost per Cost per Age Cost per Cost per Age Aircraft Aircraft (hours) Aircraft Aircraft (hours) 2014 S51.80 $43.50 16,612 S13.29 $18.86 5,127 2015 54.95 38.60 8,405 25.15 31.55 18,155 2016 69.70 51.50 11,079 32.18 40.43 17,370 2017 68.90 58.75 11,719 31.78 23.10 5,883 2018 65.78 45.50 13,279 25.34 19.69 17,170 2019 84.75 50.28 15,224 32.78 32.58 9.374 2020 78.76 79.65 18,397 35.56 38.07 8,289 Dates and names of airlines and individuals have been changed in this case to maintain confidentiality. The data and issues described here are actual. Discussion Question 1. Prepare Page Young's response to Sam Rutherford. West-East Airline Data for Boeing 737-200 Jets Year Western Airlines Data Eastern Airlines Data Airframe Engine Average Airframe Engine Average Cost per Cost per Age Cost per Cost per Age Aircraft Aircraft (hours) Aircraft Aircraft (hours) 2014 $51.80 $43.50 6,612 $13.29 $18.86 5,127 2015| 54.95 38.60 8,405 25.15 31.55 8,155 2016 69.70 51.50 11,079 32.18 40.43 7,370 2017 68.90 58.75 11,719 31.78 23.10 5,883 2018] 65.78 45.50 13,279 25.34 19.69 7,170 2019 84.75 50.28 15,224 32.78 32.58 9,374 2020 78.76 79.65 18,397 35.56 38.07 8,289
