Tag: airplane turnaround

OM in the News: Read this Blog Before You Fly!

Last month, 2 people with measles flew into O’Hare Airport

Is there anything air travelers despise more than a flight delay? Perhaps sitting in a dirty airplane or next to someone who is coughing, sneezing or worse. Passengers have experienced all kinds of affronts to personal health and hygiene in the tight quarters of an airline cabin.

Now, imagine the complex choreography involved in cleaning a Boeing 737 with more than 160 seats in just the few minutes between the plane’s arrival at the gate and its departure, writes The New York Times (Feb. 6, 2018). It’s a grueling task, and the stakes are high.

A passenger’s greatest health risk on an airplane may come from exposure to fellow travelers. And the risk of spreading diseases increases if surfaces in cabins and bathrooms are not adequately cleaned. Airlines typically hire outside companies to perform “quick turns” (the cleaning between flights) and overnight cleaning, as well as deep cleaning, which occurs about once a month.

But cabin cleaners describe a work environment where pay is at or near the minimum wage, morale is low and turnover is high. “To clean, we need 10 to 15 minutes, but they give us 6 or 7, or even less time for quick turns,” says one crew chief. A 2015 GAO report states:  “the U.S. lacks a comprehensive plan aimed at preventing and containing the spread of diseases through air travel.” Part of the problem is that airlines have created an incredible disincentive for travelers to alter their travel plans when they are sick by charging high change fees, so people who are sick fly. The CDC says “the greatest risk for the spread of infectious disease on airplanes was from passengers.”

What can you do? Take cleaning matters into your own hands. Buy medical-grade hand sanitizers and carry a travel package of disinfectant wipes to wipe down the seat and surfaces that you touch.

Classroom discussion questions:
1. How is this an OM issue?

2. What suggestions do you have for improving the quick turn process?

OM in the News: How to Get Passengers to Board the Plane Faster

In Chapter 15, we discuss Southwest’s strategic advantage in being able to turn around its planes faster than competitors. Part of that process means getting passengers on board and ready to go as quickly as possible. Yet, as The Wall Street Journal (July 21,2011) points out, “Boarding an airline can be a bit like the after-Christmas sale at Wal-Mart.  Passengers jockey to get better positions in line. The aisles become clogged with travellers stuffing luggage the size of a 4th-grader into overhead bins”. To address the problem at American, that airline just finished a 2-year study to try to speed up its boarding.

The result: AA rolled out a new strategy–randomized boarding. Travellers without elite status now get assigned randomly to boarding groups instead of filing onto planes from back to front. American says the new system can shave 3-4 minutes off the average 20-25 minutes. And every minute cut saves the airline $30/flight.

After first observing 1,000’s of arrivals and departures to see where the process slowed down, American found that one time factor was baggage–more bags are being carried on to avoid fees. “Back-to-front” slowed because only 2 people on average got to their seats at a time, while everyone else standing and waiting filled bins at the front of the plane —and was the most time-consuming. ( Alaska Airlines, US Airways and Continental all use “back-to-front”, by the way).

Computer simulations revealed that “window-middle-aisle” (used by United Airlines and Delta) –meaning boarding passengers in window seats 1st, followed by middle  and then aisle–was faster.  But randomized boarding worked even better. Multiple passengers got to their seats at the same time. Bins filled more evenly. The process reduced the number of bags that needed to be checked at the gate by 20% because more overhead space was available. And, the system proved calmer when tested on real flights.

Discussion questions

1. Why do the airlines use such diverse boarding systems?

2. Why does Southwest, which uses a “1st-to-check-in” boarding system, turn its planes around faster than other airlines?