Tag: airline scheduling

OM in the News: Southwest and Boeing’s Problems Collide

Southwest Airlines is pulling out of some airports and cutting costs as it grapples with delays of new Boeing planes dim its prospects for the year, reports The Wall Street Journal (April 26, 2024). Southwest said it now expects to receive just 20 new Boeing planes this year— well below the 79 total 737 MAX deliveries it had expected.

Southwest, which flies only Boeing planes, is exposed to the manufacturer’s struggles.

The delays will thwart Southwest’s growth ambitions this year, damping revenue and leaving it overstaffed and on the hook for higher costs. The firm had already said it would stop bringing on more pilots and flight attendants as it adjusts to the jet delivery setbacks. Hiring is virtually frozen.

Under pressure to get a handle on quality problems, Boeing is building fewer of its 737 MAX jets—something that has complicated plans for several carriers. The slow down comes as it faces increased scrutiny from the FAA and Justice Department. Boeing shipped just 17 MAX jets in February, eight fewer than in January and half as many as it delivered in November and December.

Southwest, which flies only Boeing planes, is one of the hardest-hit airlines. It is closing its operations at four airports: Cozumel in Mexico; Bellingham in Wash.: Syracuse, N.Y.; and Houston’s Bush.  Southwest rarely exits airports and hasn’t done so since 2019, when it dropped its struggling operation in Newark, N.J., from its route map during a previous grounding of the MAX. It also plans to “significantly restructure” other markets, including slashing flight numbers at Atlanta and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

“I won’t downplay the challenges from the Boeing issues—they’re a big deal,” said Southwest’s CEO. “Redoing schedules and staffing forecasts is a costly effort that pulls people away from their work and creates a significant financial drag.”

United Airlines also lost money in the first part of the year because of the grounding of the 737 MAX after the January Alaska door-plug incident.  UAL is pausing pilot hiring for two months and hunting for new planes from Boeing rival Airbus to fill the gap. And Alaska Air said its plans for the year are also in flux as a result of uncertainty on Boeing deliveries.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What options do airline operations managers have when delivery of new planes are delayed?
  2. Why doesn’t Southwest spread its supply chain risks by splitting new plane orders? (Refer to Figure 2.8 in your Heizer/Render/Munson text).

OM in the News: What Went Wrong in Airline Operations?

Airlines are struggling through one of the most severe and persistent mass-cancellation events of the past decade, reports The Wall Street Journal ( Jan. 8-9, 2022). Covid-19 infections surged too quickly for carriers to manage without upending holiday travel, wreaking havoc on already-stretched airline workforces. Now carriers are assessing how to better manage what could continue to be a difficult period, at least for the next few weeks.

A packed Miami International Airport on Jan. 3.

Airlines have canceled more than 1,000 daily U.S. flights for 13 straight days, including over 2,600 on January 7, as another winter storm brought snow to Boston and New York. Flights scrubbed from Christmas Eve through Jan. 6 exceeded 24,000, roughly 7% of the number airlines had planned to fly.

For airlines, the upheaval of the pandemic is heading into a new phase. Unlike in early 2020, when terrified passengers canceled trips in droves, new variants dent but don’t decimate appetite for travel. But airlines are still rebuilding their operations. The twin challenges of rising numbers of employees calling out sick after being infected or exposed to Covid-19, and a series of severe winter storms that hit major hubs, created the perfect conditions for travel chaos.

The trouble spiraled as more workers became infected. Entire crews were testing positive–and when they’re out of the country, there’s no way to get that aircraft back.  In December, airlines asked the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to consider halving its recommended 10-day isolation period for fully vaccinated people who come down with Covid-19, citing potential workforce shortages.

“What we learned is you might need a little more resources to fly that same schedule because of all the other things that are in play,” said American’s COO. Airlines operate under strict safety rules that can leave them little recourse but to cancel flights when they are short of staff in the right places. Pilots aren’t always trained to fly multiple aircraft types, for example. Regulations dictate how much rest crews must get between shifts. And employees such as flight dispatchers and mechanics can take on only so much extra work safely.

Recall that we open Chapter 15 (Short Term Scheduling) with the story of how Alaska Airlines deals with weather delays. This WSJ article makes a good complement, with the Covid addition.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What could operations managers have done to prepare for the current crisis?
  2. Which of the options for managing capacity noted in Supp. 7 apply to airlines today?

OM in the News: The COVID-19’s Effect on Flight Capacity

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the travel world into a tailspin, with a staggering impact on the $880 billion global airline industry. The earliest pains were felt in February, as flight capacity in and out of China dropped 71% compared to 2019. Flight capacity for Hong Kong went down by 92%. Flights to and from Italy plummeted 89%, while Germany and Spain have 93% less capacity as of this month.

So it is no surprise that airlines have been forced to ground a significant portion of their fleets, reports Forbes (April 4, 2020). Large aircraft like the superjumbo A380 were some of the first to be grounded, with diminished demand for the seats. However, whether it’s widebodies or narrowbodies, airlines still have the issue of where to store these planes. Delta and American are each parking about half of their fleets – or more than 1,200 aircraft. Tulsa Airport has been able to close a seldom-used runway to fit about 50 American Airlines planes, charging them about $150 a day to store. American also parked 100 planes in New Mexico, 50 in Pittsburgh, and more in Mobile and Greensboro. In addition to the cost of parking, a facility may charge maintenance costs that begin at about $2,000 per plane a month. Every day, each plane needs to have its engine run, has to taxi far enough for the tires to rotate fully, and has to have its hydraulics, avionics, and electronics checked.

A grounded fleet of British Airway planes sit on the runway at Glasgow

Capacity planning, the topic of Supplement 7, is difficult enough during normal times. But look at the capacity cuts made these 6 airlines: Ryaniar, Flydubai, and Spice Jet, 100%; American, 80%; United, 65%; Southwest, 60%. And on Sunday, April 12th, 122,029 travelers flew through U.S airports–compared to 2.5 million on the same day a year ago!

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What is the difference between demand management and capacity management?
  2.  How does this differ from the capacity issues faced in the recession (2008-2010) and the 9-11 terrorist attacks?

OM in the News: The Airlines’ On Time Flight Game

Today’s pop quiz: If Delta and American both have flights from Dallas to Detroit leaving at 11 a.m., and both flights take 2 hours, 53 minutes to get to the gate in Detroit, which one is late? The answer: American Flight 43. American schedules that trip at 2 hours, 38 minutes. Delta Flight 653 is scheduled to make the trip in 2 hours, 47 minutes, with 9 minutes of extra cushion. The same travel time could leave American 15 minutes late—tardy in DOT statistics. Delta, only 6 minutes overdue, would be considered on time.

“Every airline gives itself extra cushion in its schedule to account for weather delays, mechanical repairs, air-traffic control slow-ups and a thousand other things that leave planes and passengers stewing,” writes The Wall Street Journal (June 29, 2017). In 2016, 86.5% of Delta domestic flights arrived on time under the DOT’s definition, which is at the gate within 14 minutes of scheduled time. That was best among the 4 biggest U.S. carriers. This on-time performance is a competitive battle. Reliability matters to frequent fliers. Several airlines pay employees bonuses based on on-time arrivals.

This year, Delta’s flights have been scheduled about 9 minutes longer than they actually took, on average, a 6% cushion. In 2009, Delta’s scheduled just 2 minutes of padding, or 1.4%. That year only 78.6% of Delta flights arrived on-time. Better-managing maintenance and employees played a major role.

The airline says it increased scheduled time and decreased ground time for planes. Often airlines bolster ground time, so a 15 minute delay doesn’t impact the next flight. Delta chose the opposite approach: increasing scheduled time– called “block time,” so 80% or more of its flights arrive exactly on schedule, then shortening ground time between flights.

Every minute added to schedules can increase costs: higher crew pay for trips at many carriers, more planes and gates needed to fly the same number of trips. Adding one minute to every flight costs about $10 million in annual expenses.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What OM tools can be used to deal with airline scheduling problems?
  2. Why do airlines increase their block time?