But it is actually a delicate balancing act, we discover, when talking to a procurement director at British Airways. Weighing up the level of quality you can obtain against the price that you are being asked to pay enables you to calculate the real cost of the service you want to obtain.

Also in this issue, three of the world’s low cost airlines state their belief that quality need not always come with a high price, as they explain how their ‘low fat’ business models and active staff training schemes ensure that the passenger gets good value when they buy a ticket.

How do they manage it? Well, the correct implementation of the right type of IT systems will steer any airline down the right path to success, discovers journalist Marcia MacLeod as she looks at how modern technology is helping those who know how to make the best use of it.

Widely acknowledged as the most successful investor of recent times, American business magnate Warren Buffett said: “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

It all stacks up to an interesting and high value read in this issue of Airline Ground Services.