AIRPORT PEAK RATIONALIZATION
Airport peaks are a often hidden cost factor. Schedule Consult helps to rationalize the peaks in your schedule; sharp where needed, de-peaked where possible.
The home base airport is the centre-point of operations and there are a lot of specific
concentration issues involved.
The costs involved with the home base alone can easily exceed 15% of the total (ground
handling, catering handling, line maintenance, costs of congestion, etc.). So better efficiency at
the airport has direct impact on profits.
With Airport Peak Rationalization, we get you:
- CLARITY ON COST IMPACT: Traditional allocation of handling costs conceals the true impact of schedules on costs. Schedule Consult’s evaluation methods cover the entire picture.
- MAXIMALLY EFFICIENT PEAKS: As long as the extra revenues justify the extra costs, there is nothing wrong with peaking.
- DE-PEAKING WHERE BENEFICIAL: Critical review of each flight and its alternative planning possibilities; de-peaking where it improves profits.
- EFFECTIVE USE OF SLOTS: At more and more airports, slots are a critical resource. Our approach makes a direct link between available airport capacity and profit optimization.
- READY-TO-IMPLEMENT SCHEDULE: Consolidation of improvement options in comprehensive new schedule. Financial evaluation.
THE STEPS OF AIRPORT PEAK RATIONALIZATION
We bring optimization of airport peaks in four steps:
2- VALUATION OF FLIGHT PEAK COSTS
3- REVIEW OF ALTERNATIVE PLANNING OPTIONS
4- TRADE-OFFS AND CONSOLIDATION
In this process we make use of Schedule Consult’s Airport workload calculation module which evaluates the changes in profits of each schedule alternative.
AIRPORT WORKLOADS
Handling costs, line maintenance and airport facilities are important cost components. The
schedules directly affect these costs. There is no linearity between hub handling costs and the
number of flights. Three flights that need to be handled simultaneously are more expensive than
three flights that can be handled in sequence.
Thus the impact of the schedule can be a factor 300% on these elements of the cost level. Our analysis methods distinguish multiple threads of affected cost elements and give immediate feed-back on the effect of every variation in the schedules.
Our expertise on rostering helps to find the right balance between the commercial needs of the airline and the possibilities for airport departments to achieve the best efficiency of a given schedule.
DE-PEAKING THE SCHEDULE
There is always pressure on network planners to spread the peaks from airports, from sales,
from the environment. The disadvantages of congestion are always more visible than the
advantages.
A good schedule makes a trade-off between the benefits of a peak and the benefits of an even spread at the airport. This should include thorough analysis of the profitability of each traffic flow, detailed evaluation of the effects on airport workloads and quantification of the punctuality effects.
Our trade-off formats provide an answer to this dilemma: in which situations is de-peaking desirable?
SLOTS
Working with slot restraints at the home base is an extremely complicating factor in schedule
design. However, our Slot Evaluator provides solid support in finding openings under all kinds of
slot regimes.
Maximizing the use of the available possibilities under a slot regime starts with the design of the network concept. A solid network concept ensures that fleet rotations, commercial interests, connections and airport capabilities (including slots) are harmonized into the best possible basis for company profitability.
GROUND HANDLING PROCEDURES
Coping with the challenges of airport workloads must be a mix of measures in the schedules
and measures in the aiport procedures. Our integrated approach is the best remedy against
sub-optimization of the commercial aspects of the schedule, but also against sub-optimization
of various operational departments.
This involves optimization of the aircraft turnaround process, handling of transfer flows, punctuality planning, etc.
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