United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? Net Present Value (NPV) / MBA Resources

Introduction to Net Present Value (NPV) - What is Net Present Value (NPV) ? How it impacts financial decisions regarding project management?

NPV solution for United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Ryan W. Buell, Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel. The United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? (referred as “Routing Airlines” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Technology & Operations. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Managing organizations, Strategy, Supply chain.

The net present value (NPV) of an investment proposal is the present value of the proposal’s net cash flows less the proposal’s initial cash outflow. If a project’s NPV is greater than or equal to zero, the project should be accepted.

NPV = Present Value of Future Cash Flows LESS Project’s Initial Investment

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Case Description of United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? Case Study

The case looks at United Airlines when it is facing a decision on whether to shift its aircraft routing to more "out-and-back" routing in order to try to improve its on time performance. As one of the world's largest airlines, United had a very large fleet and hub-and-spoke network that provided passengers with a wide range of destination choices, but as with any complex system unless everything ran perfectly all the time, it inevitably faced cascading delays and missed passenger connection problems. While out-and-back routing tended to isolate operational issues, more traditional linear routings tended to offer high equipment utiization. The case offers students an opportunity to examine the effects of variability on different routing strategies.

Case Authors : Ryan W. Buell, Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel

Topic : Technology & Operations

Related Areas : Managing organizations, Strategy, Supply chain

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10014519)	-10014519	-	-
Year 1	3459472	-6555047	3459472	0.9434	3263653
Year 2	3973547	-2581500	7433019	0.89	3536443
Year 3	3938516	1357016	11371535	0.8396	3306854
Year 4	3249729	4606745	14621264	0.7921	2574090
TOTAL			14621264		12681039

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2666520

In isolation the NPV number doesn't mean much but put in right context then it is one of the best method to evaluate project returns. In this article we will cover -

Different methods of capital budgeting

What is NPV & Formula of NPV,
How it is calculated,
How to use NPV number for project evaluation, and
Scenario Planning given risks and management priorities.

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Capital Budgeting Approaches

Methods of Capital Budgeting

There are four types of capital budgeting techniques that are widely used in the corporate world –

1. Payback Period
2. Profitability Index
3. Net Present Value
4. Internal Rate of Return

Apart from the Payback period method which is an additive method, rest of the methods are based on Discounted Cash Flow technique. Even though cash flow can be calculated based on the nature of the project, for the simplicity of the article we are assuming that all the expected cash flows are realized at the end of the year.

Discounted Cash Flow approaches provide a more objective basis for evaluating and selecting investment projects. They take into consideration both –

1. Timing of the expected cash flows – stockholders of Routing Airlines have higher preference for cash returns over 4-5 years rather than 10-15 years given the nature of the volatility in the industry.
2. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Routing Airlines shareholders have preference for diversified projects investment rather than prospective high income from a single capital intensive project.

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Formula and Steps to Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) of United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?

NPV = Net Cash In Flowt1 / (1+r)t1 + Net Cash In Flowt2 / (1+r)t2 + … Net Cash In Flowtn / (1+r)tn
Less Net Cash Out Flowt0 / (1+r)t0

Where t = time period, in this case year 1, year 2 and so on.
r = discount rate or return that could be earned using other safe proposition such as fixed deposit or treasury bond rate. Net Cash In Flow – What the firm will get each year.
Net Cash Out Flow – What the firm needs to invest initially in the project.

Step 1 – Understand the nature of the project and calculate cash flow for each year.
Step 2 – Discount those cash flow based on the discount rate.
Step 3 – Add all the discounted cash flow.
Step 4 – Selection of the project

Why Technology & Operations Managers need to know Financial Tools such as Net Present Value (NPV)?

In our daily workplace we often come across people and colleagues who are just focused on their core competency and targets they have to deliver. For example marketing managers at Routing Airlines often design programs whose objective is to drive brand awareness and customer reach. But how that 30 point increase in brand awareness or 10 point increase in customer touch points will result into shareholders’ value is not specified.

To overcome such scenarios managers at Routing Airlines needs to not only know the financial aspect of project management but also needs to have tools to integrate them into part of the project development and monitoring plan.

Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 15%

After working through various assumptions we reached a conclusion that risk is far higher than 6%. In a reasonably stable industry with weak competition - 15% discount rate can be a good benchmark.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 15 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10014519)	-10014519	-	-
Year 1	3459472	-6555047	3459472	0.8696	3008237
Year 2	3973547	-2581500	7433019	0.7561	3004572
Year 3	3938516	1357016	11371535	0.6575	2589638
Year 4	3249729	4606745	14621264	0.5718	1858043
TOTAL					10460490

The Net NPV after 4 years is 445971

(10460490 - 10014519 )

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 20%

If the risk component is high in the industry then we should go for a higher hurdle rate / discount rate of 20%.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 20 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10014519)	-10014519	-	-
Year 1	3459472	-6555047	3459472	0.8333	2882893
Year 2	3973547	-2581500	7433019	0.6944	2759408
Year 3	3938516	1357016	11371535	0.5787	2279234
Year 4	3249729	4606745	14621264	0.4823	1567192
TOTAL					9488727

The Net NPV after 4 years is -525792

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9488727 - 10014519 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Routing Airlines to discount cash flow at lower discount rates such as 15%.

Acceptance Criteria of a Project based on NPV

Simplest Approach – If the investment project of Routing Airlines has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Routing Airlines can ACCEPT the project, otherwise they can reject the project. This means that project will deliver higher returns over the period of time than any alternate investment strategy.

In theory if the required rate of return or discount rate is chosen correctly by finance managers at Routing Airlines, then the stock price of the Routing Airlines should change by same amount of the NPV. In real world we know that share price also reflects various other factors that can be related to both macro and micro environment.

In the same vein – accepting the project with zero NPV should result in stagnant share price. Finance managers use discount rates as a measure of risk components in the project execution process.

Sensitivity Analysis

Project selection is often a far more complex decision than just choosing it based on the NPV number. Finance managers at Routing Airlines should conduct a sensitivity analysis to better understand not only the inherent risk of the projects but also how those risks can be either factored in or mitigated during the project execution. Sensitivity analysis helps in –

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

What are the uncertainties surrounding the project Initial Cash Outlay (ICO’s). ICO’s often have several different components such as land, machinery, building, and other equipment.

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

What are the key aspects of the projects that need to be monitored, refined, and retuned for continuous delivery of projected cash flows.

What will be a multi year spillover effect of various taxation regulations.

Some of the assumptions while using the Discounted Cash Flow Methods –

Projects are assumed to be Mutually Exclusive – This is seldom the came in modern day giant organizations where projects are often inter-related and rejecting a project solely based on NPV can result in sunk cost from a related project.

Independent projects have independent cash flows – As explained in the marketing project – though the project may look independent but in reality it is not as the brand awareness project can be closely associated with the spending on sales promotions and product specific advertising.

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Negotiation Strategy of United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?

References & Further Readings

Ryan W. Buell, Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel (2018), "United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.