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Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2001
- Posts
- 6,137
Looks like Delta has some plans for more effficient utilization of their airplanes, crews and gate resources. Go Delta!
At least we can start the fighting over who is flying who's routes in a couple of days. Initially it looks like the MD88's are going to fly more - Good! Give us some more airplanes to fill with passengers off RJ's and we can all be happy.
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Delta Finishing Schedule For January 'Big Bang' At Atlanta By Steven Lott 10/12/2004 09:01:18 AM
Delta by midweek hopes to finalize a radical schedule and network change that will eliminate all 12 connecting banks at its Atlanta hub as part of a plan to boost utilization and productivity and create more flights at the world's busiest airport.
CEO Jerry Grinstein last month told executives that Jan. 31 is the day of the "big bang," when the carrier will restructure 51% of the network. Executives expect to complete the schedule midweek and load it into the reservations systems next weekend. Two of the top executives working on the implementation team told The DAILY that Delta is breaking new ground with the January change and it goes far beyond American's "rolling hub."
"Nothing of this size and scale has ever been attempted," said Doug Blissit, VP-network analysis. "It will be the first time a major carrier has transformed one of the largest hubs in the world into a true continuous operation." After the changes, the Atlanta plan, to be unveiled in a matter of days, will grow to 1,051 daily flights from 970. Delta will offer service every hour to 1.5 hours to 37 "pillar" markets and add 95 flights to 63 existing destinations.
The Atlanta plan -- internally dubbed "Project Morpheus" -- has been in the works since April 2003, according to Rich Cordell, senior VP-airport customer service. He told The DAILY that Delta conducted a test 18 months ago at its Raleigh/Durham station to find ways to turn aircraft faster. Using MD-88s, the airline tested zone boarding, as well as "parallel processing," where passengers boarded the front of the plane while cleaners were still working in the back.
The airline also worked with ground crews, the local fuel vendor and the caterer to turn the planes faster. The carrier realized during the RDU test that it could turn the MD-88s in 45 minutes, which could free up the equivalent of an extra aircraft every day to make another trip. The RDU test was followed by similar trials at Norfolk and Pittsburgh. The three tests proved to executives that the faster turn times freed up seven narrowbodies to fly extra segments each day.
"We realized there was tremendous potential that would bring great benefits to the airline and the executive team embraced the concept," Cordell said. With the green light from Grinstein and senior executives, a team of planners started working toward the "big bang," described "taking the sharp peaks and valleys and smoothing it all out," Blissit said. The current schedule has flight banks with 80-90 hourly departures. At the same time, some planes are held on the ground as long as one hour and 20 minutes to enable passengers to connect in a specific bank.
As a result, the airline flooded its Atlanta gates during busy times but left many gates empty at other times, leading to long delays during the peaks and an inefficient operation during the valleys. Under the new "continuous" operation, the banks will yield to a regular flow of flights without banks, peaks or valleys. This will give Delta an average of about 66 departures per hour and turn times of about 50 minutes at Atlanta and 45 minutes at the "out stations."
Shortly after the Jan. 31 change, Blissit expects aircraft utilization to grow by about 8% as the number of turns per gate will increase from 7.5 to 8.5 daily. He expects similar improvements in employee productivity and fewer delays. Under the current network structure, aircraft leave Atlanta for one of the "spoke" cities and continue on to another hub or spoke. Under the new plan, about 90% of the aircraft will leave Atlanta for another city and immediately return to Atlanta, enabling the airline "to manage through disruptions" more easily.
At least we can start the fighting over who is flying who's routes in a couple of days. Initially it looks like the MD88's are going to fly more - Good! Give us some more airplanes to fill with passengers off RJ's and we can all be happy.
~~~^~~~
Delta Finishing Schedule For January 'Big Bang' At Atlanta By Steven Lott 10/12/2004 09:01:18 AM
CEO Jerry Grinstein last month told executives that Jan. 31 is the day of the "big bang," when the carrier will restructure 51% of the network. Executives expect to complete the schedule midweek and load it into the reservations systems next weekend. Two of the top executives working on the implementation team told The DAILY that Delta is breaking new ground with the January change and it goes far beyond American's "rolling hub."
"Nothing of this size and scale has ever been attempted," said Doug Blissit, VP-network analysis. "It will be the first time a major carrier has transformed one of the largest hubs in the world into a true continuous operation." After the changes, the Atlanta plan, to be unveiled in a matter of days, will grow to 1,051 daily flights from 970. Delta will offer service every hour to 1.5 hours to 37 "pillar" markets and add 95 flights to 63 existing destinations.
The Atlanta plan -- internally dubbed "Project Morpheus" -- has been in the works since April 2003, according to Rich Cordell, senior VP-airport customer service. He told The DAILY that Delta conducted a test 18 months ago at its Raleigh/Durham station to find ways to turn aircraft faster. Using MD-88s, the airline tested zone boarding, as well as "parallel processing," where passengers boarded the front of the plane while cleaners were still working in the back.
The airline also worked with ground crews, the local fuel vendor and the caterer to turn the planes faster. The carrier realized during the RDU test that it could turn the MD-88s in 45 minutes, which could free up the equivalent of an extra aircraft every day to make another trip. The RDU test was followed by similar trials at Norfolk and Pittsburgh. The three tests proved to executives that the faster turn times freed up seven narrowbodies to fly extra segments each day.
"We realized there was tremendous potential that would bring great benefits to the airline and the executive team embraced the concept," Cordell said. With the green light from Grinstein and senior executives, a team of planners started working toward the "big bang," described "taking the sharp peaks and valleys and smoothing it all out," Blissit said. The current schedule has flight banks with 80-90 hourly departures. At the same time, some planes are held on the ground as long as one hour and 20 minutes to enable passengers to connect in a specific bank.
As a result, the airline flooded its Atlanta gates during busy times but left many gates empty at other times, leading to long delays during the peaks and an inefficient operation during the valleys. Under the new "continuous" operation, the banks will yield to a regular flow of flights without banks, peaks or valleys. This will give Delta an average of about 66 departures per hour and turn times of about 50 minutes at Atlanta and 45 minutes at the "out stations."
Shortly after the Jan. 31 change, Blissit expects aircraft utilization to grow by about 8% as the number of turns per gate will increase from 7.5 to 8.5 daily. He expects similar improvements in employee productivity and fewer delays. Under the current network structure, aircraft leave Atlanta for one of the "spoke" cities and continue on to another hub or spoke. Under the new plan, about 90% of the aircraft will leave Atlanta for another city and immediately return to Atlanta, enabling the airline "to manage through disruptions" more easily.
