Aviation logistics courses at UNT give students the practical application and critical thinking to have their very own airline take flight.

Each semester, Dr. Timothy Kincaid challenges his class to engage in a ten-week, online airline simulation project. Splitting up into teams of three or four, students are tasked with turning around a small, struggling airline by making critical operational and strategic decisions on a weekly basis.

The catch? For the past three years, Southwest Airlines (SWA) has been upping the competition with a team of their own.

“For the past three years, a ‘phantom’ team from Southwest Airlines Network Planning has also played, surprising students each semester by showing up for the last class for the simulation debrief,” explained Kincaid.

From deciding on which routes to fly and how to invest in their aircraft, to determining fare costs, and stock sales, the challenge merges theory with practical application, forcing participants (both from Kincaid’s class and from SWA) to make challenging decisions that will ensure a smooth flying, profitable airline.

And while SWA usually gives students a run for their money, they don’t always land the top spot in the competition.

Olivia Wattman, 2023 aviation logistics major, was part of the Fall 2022 winning team.

“I learned a lot about many decisions that go into a regional airline, firsthand. One of the biggest things I learned from this is to be patient and really watch where you spend your money,” said Wattman. “One of my biggest challenges, however, was that my team was composed of logistics and aviation logistics majors, so none of us knew a lot about stock and loans.”

Similarly, SWA participants came from varying backgrounds, each bringing different strengths/weaknesses to the competition, but ultimately pulling together to gain a better understanding of the industry as a whole.

“The simulation helps our participating employees understand all of the facets of running an airline,” explained Jenise Holland, Southwest Airlines senior manager of network planning communications. “They learn a little bit from each other, because they're all coming from different teams within Southwest that have different responsibilities… so they're learning a little bit more about network planning at Southwest by working with people that that they wouldn’t normally work with every day.”

Other teams also learned how small changes can make a big impact in the airline industry.

MaKayla Dorrough, 2022 logistics and supply chain management major, helped her team earn the distinction of “Best Turnaround”—converting their overall net profits from -$957,973 to $1,304,252 in just ten weeks.

“In the beginning, my team's airline made big changes every quarter; such as exchanging aircraft, changing multiple routes, and even changing from a luxury airline to a discount airline... I think once we started letting the major decisions take effect, and only making small changes to the simulation, we started to see a major increase in our profit,” said Dorrough.

The applied knowledge students gain from this unique virtual simulation not only gives them unparalleled insight into the airline industry, but also a leg up on their job-hunting competition.

Holland, who also frequently serves on hiring committees at SWA, notes that students who participate in, and are highly engaged in, Kincaid’s class stand out in their interviews.

“The project simulates real-world application in aviation management and when I see students truly learning from what’s going on and making decisions, and then speaking to those decisions in an interview, it’s like gold,” explained Holland. “It’s hard to see how someone is going to operate in the real world when their experience is so heavily academic; so, these types of projects are significant.”

Partnerships developed between companies like SWA and UNT give students invaluable opportunities. From speaking engagements in the classroom to leveraging job openings after walking the stage, these relationships are what help UNT’s Aviation Logistics program rise in the ranks. Today, the program stands at first in the nation for median earnings for alumni after graduation (according to GradReports.com).