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Dynamic Fleet Planning - a Regional Application

Written by Courtney Miller
Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Page 6 of 9 4.0 Dynamic Fleet Planning Applied to Comair Airlines Comair Airlines operates a fleet of 150 Canadair Regional Jets headquartered in Cincinnati with operational hubs that include Cincinnati, Atlanta, New York LaGuardia, and Washington National. Operating three configurations of the aircraft with a 40, 50 and 70 seat version, Comair reaches many markets East of the Mississippi River. Purchased by Delta Airlines in 1999, Comair’s last quarterly report showed operating revenues at $216,061,241 with a net income of $34,649,052. Categorized as a national carrier by the Department of Transportation, Comair carried 7,933,000 passengers from January to November 2002. The size, and network layout of Comair Airlines makes it a perfect candidate for DFP. Fleet – Comair’s fleet distribution fits into DFP’s requirements with one hiccup. While the fleet composition is not ideal, it does contain the characteristics required for DFP. Of its 152 aircraft fleet, 63% are configured as 50-seaters, 19% as 40-seaters and 11% are of the 70-seater type. Using the 50-seater as a base aircraft, the 40-seater represents a 20% decrease in capacity and the 70-seater represents a 40% increase in capacity, with only a 20% increase in operating cost, which is in-line with the 20% optimum capacity difference for DFP. The 40 and 50-seat aircraft differ in only their configuration, as they are the same aircraft with only a difference in capacity and acquisition(fixed) costs. The 70-seat version a high commonality with the 40/50 in spare parts and crew qualifications, unfortunately union contracts prevent crew swapping between the 40/50 and the 70-seat aircraft. While it is definitely preferable to have the additional crew scheduling flexibility that comes with common type-ratings, the problems can be overcome. Network – Comair operates a hub-and-spoke network centered around the previously mentioned cities of Cincinnati, Atlanta, New York and Washington D.C. This offers an ideal platform from which to launch DFP, due to the high traffic flow through the swap points. Figure 4 – Comair Airlines route map as of September 1, 2003 Figure 5 – Swapping points available in Comair’s route structure This structure maximizes the ability of DFP to be successful at Comair Airlines. With 483 departures and 486 arrivals at the swapping points, almost all flights either depart or arrive at one, allowing for flexibility in the system. << Start < Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next > End >>