inform-measuring and monitoring aircraft turn operations v3

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Measuring and Monitoring

Aircraft Turn Operations

David Foster

2014 AGIFORS Ops Study Group

Panama City, Panama

@DMartinFoster

#AGIFORS


Motivation and Background

Aircraft Turn Process

Monitor and Control

Measuring and Monitoring Aircraft Turn Operations


Introduction

Robustness is as important as efficiency for airline operations

All components are connected to form a network

A disturbance (i.e. delay) that occurs in one component can influence

an entire network

4

“There are a lot of side benefits to running

a good, clean operation” David Holtz, VP of Operations Control,

Delta Air Lines (WSJ 01/05/2012)


History

Academic focus on predicting push-back time as a stochastic

process

Bayesian forecasts using available or elapsed ground time

(Carr, Theis, Clarke, Feron 2005)

Status of independent stochastic sub-processes

However, goal should be to reduce variability and promote

consistency

Eliminate the need for “buffer” time

5

Deplaning

Servicing

Boarding


History

Operational focus on post-operation analysis

Delay Codes

Root cause hard to determine

Short failures (1-5 minutes) can be the result of a disruption anywhere in the

process

Short failures can be masked by down line processes making up time

Specific divisional focus

Limited process scope and understanding of the overall process

Industry-focus on reducing ground time

“… it can be difficult for airlines to achieve turn-time reductions if they

don’t fully understand the factors influencing airplane turnarounds.”

(Troy Barnett, Principal Maintenance Engineer, Boeing)

“Boeing offers a service that analyzes turnarounds and provides

recommendations to reduce turn-times…”

6


History

Corporate emphasis on schedule reliability

Block time forecasts

Taxi-time forecasts

Minimum Objective Ground Time

IROP recovery and management

7

Graph sources: Idris, et al. 1998 and Kim & Feron 2013


En Route

ATC

Taxiing

Ground

Movement

Area

Airport/

ATC

Take

Off

RWY

ATC

RWY

Landing

ATC

Taxiing

Ground

Movement

Area

Airport/

ATC

Gate

Apron

HandlerHandler

End of

Handling

Apron RWY

Take

Off

ATC

Surface Turnaround Departure/AirAir SurfaceDeparture ArrivalTurnaround


As part of A-CDM

Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM)


Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM)

Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) objectives:

Reduce delays

Improve system performance

Maximize resource utilization

A-CDM Methods:

Accurate Data

Estimated Arrival and Departure Times

Data Sharing

Airline Decision Communication

Flight Delays or Cancelations

Rescheduling with priorities

9




Monitor and Control




Seven things you must have before a flight can depart

Airplane

Flight Crew

Cabin Crew

Passengers

Baggage

Fuel, Food, Drinks, etc.

Air Traffic Environment

11



Operational Departments/Organizations

Airline

Internal

Operations

Customer Service

Check In

Lounge

Gate Agents

Ground Handling

Bag room

Drivers

Load/Unload

crews

Aircraft

Appearance

Cabin Cleaning

Lavatory Service

Water Service

Maintenance

Line Maintenance

Base

Maintenance

External

Fueling Catering Special Services

PRM

Unaccompanied

minors

12


Typical B737NG Turn-Time Servicing Arrangement

13

Source: www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine



Turning a flight at an airport

Tasks

Expected Start and End

Expected Durations

Task Dependencies

Resource Assignments

Ownership

Status (Started, in-progress, completed)

In this way it is not dissimilar

to a project

PERT Chart

Gantt Chart

Critical Path

14


Process Dependency Network


Process Gantt Chart

16

Source: www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine


Calculate the earliest start time and latest finish of each task

Establish Critical Path

Ground Handling Processes




Monitor and Control



Monitor & Control

Once a plan is in place, it must be monitored for compliance

Disruptions proactively managed

However, ground controllers traditionally have limited

observability of the states of sub-processes

Pull information

Departure Control System

Flight Operations System

Voice phone call or radio

Look out window

Deicing

Fueling

Catering

19


Real Time Monitoring


Real Time Gantt Chart


HubControl

RT Hub

Monitoring and Steering

RT Staff

Resource Management System

Allocation

Mobile Communication

Status Information

Interfaces and Communication

Boarding Fuel CateringLoading Ramp Agent

DB


Airport Map and Surface Survalience

for operational transparency


Airlines With Monitoring Systems

Hub Control Centers

No Windows!


Conclusion

Robustness is as important as efficiency for airline operations

Need to fully understand the factors influencing turnarounds

Focus on sub-processes and clearly script the steps required

Make sure everyone knows:

What needs to be done

Who needs to do it

When it must done

Why it must be done

Where to do it

How to do it

Measure and monitor

Be proactive in managing process disruptions

Identify frequent offenders

25


Source of images: INFORM GmbH and www.pixelio.de

For more information, contact:

David Foster

E: [email protected]

T: +1 (404) 333-0234


References

27

Barnett, Troy, “Improving Ramp/Terminal Operations for Shorter Turn-Times”,

www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine

Busby, Scott, “Delta Air Lines Aircraft Turn Operations in Atlanta”, 2010 INFORM Users Conference, Aachen,

Germany.

Carr, Francis, Georg Teis, John-Paul Clarke and Eric Feron, “Evaluation of Improved Pushback Forecasts Derived

from Airline Ground Operations Data”, Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information and Communication, Vol 2.

January 2005.

Idris, Husni R., Bertrand Delcaire, Ioannis Anagnostakis, William D. Hall, John-Paul Clarke, R. John Hansman, Eric

Feron, and Amedeo R. Odoni, “Observations of Departure Processes at Logan Airport To Support The Development

of Departure Planning Tools”, 2nd

USA/Europe Air Traffic Management R&D Seminar, December 4, 1998.

Kim, Sang Hyun, Eric Feron, John-Paul Clarke, Ande Marzuoli and Daniel Delahaye, “Airport Gate Scheduling for

Passengers, Aircraft and Operation”, January 17, 2013.

Kim, Sang Hyun, and Eric Feron, “Numerical Analysis of Gate Conflict Duration and Passenger Transit Time in

Airport”, Preprint submitted to Transportation Research Part B, August 29, 2013.

McCartney, Scott, “Ranking Airlines by Lost Bags, Canceled Flights”, Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2012, p. D3.

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