AE 413 - MODULE 4

AE 413 - MODULE 4

by Jahaziel Vargas-Herrera

Multiple Choice

In planning, questions like "What type of aircraft to acquire, when and how many of each?" falls under _________.

• Route Planning

• Fleet Planning

• Schedule Development

Multiple Choice

In planning, questions like "Where to fly the aircraft profitably, subject to fleet availability constraints?"

• Route Planning

• Fleet Planning

• Schedule Development

Schedule Development​

​How frequently and at what times on each route should flights be operated, subject to operational and aircraft limitations

​ROUTE PLANNING & EVALUATION CONSIDERATIONS AND IMPORTANCE

Considerations: Route planning and evaluation selects routes flown for a given fleet using three considerations:

​

• ​Strategic Considerations

• ​Economic Considerations

• ​Practical Considerations

• ​STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE: Strategic considerations may override profit concerns (example: market presence or long term goals)

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• ​ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE: The major economic criterion for selecting a route is its potential to increase profitabilitt in the short-term against the opportunity cost of taking aircraft from another route.

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• ​PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE: Considers airline's key internal factors

Multiple Choice

The following are the external factors in the scheduling development process except:

(1) Travel Agents

(2) Local Communities

(3) Airport Authorities

(4) Flight Operations

• 1 and 2

• 3 only

• 4 only

• 2 and 3

Multiple Choice

The following are the internal factors in the scheduling development process except:

(1) Equipment Maintenance

(2) Facility Constraints

(3) Airfreight Shippers

(4) Marketing Factors

• 1 and 2

• 3 only

• 4 only

• 2 and 3

Holloways Schedule Development Process​

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Multiple Choice

There is a daily limitation of _______ hours maximum flight duty time for pilots on a two-person crew, unless, prior to exceeding 16 hours, a rest period is provided of no less than 10 hours.

• 16 hours

• 20 hours

• 24 hours

• 28 hours

Multiple Choice

Duty time includes:

(1) planned flight time

(2) taxi time

(3) known delays

(4) debrief time.

• 1 and 2 only

• 1, 2 and 4 only

• 2, 3 and 4 only

• 1, 2, 3 and 4

Multiple Choice

Flight crew members must have had at least _____ hours of rest in any 24-hour period that includes a flight time

• 2 hours

• 4 hours

• 6 hours

• 8 hours

Multiple Choice

TRUE OR FALSE. Flight crews may not exceed a maximum of 40 flight hours during any seven consecutive days. Release from all duty for 24 hours must be granted to each flight crew member during any seven-consecutive-day period

• TRUE

• FALSE

​An extra section is an additional aircraft assigned to handle a particular flight because of an unusually large number of passengers.

Line reserves are extra airplanes stationed at major terminals to be called on in the event of a problem with a scheduled flight.

The principal advantage of skip stopping is to provide fast service to intermediate stations; the principal disadvantage is in not providing service between consecutive cities​'

The principal advantage of local service is that it provides fast service between small intermediate stations and terminal points; the principal disadvantage is the change of planes involved.

Cross-connections (hub and spoke) are frequently used in schedule planning by all airlines.

An example of a route over which this can be accomplished is the United Airlines route serving the principal cities shown in Figure.

The principal advantage, particularly if one of the flights is the only one to serve one or more of the stations; principal disadvantages are the change in planes and the congestion of traffic.

Actually, all airlines have used and will continue to use all four major schedule types with variations to fit their individual needs.

​

The types most adapted to a fleet of same range airplanes are skip stopping and cross-connections; for a fleet of at least two general types of airplanes, all four schedule types can be used, with perhaps more emphasis on local service and nonstops.

• From the passenger’s viewpoint, the goal is safe, speedy, dependable, and comfortable service from point A to point Z.

• Safety is the overriding and controlling factor in all airline operations.

• To gain the other three in the greatest possible measure, the passenger naturally prefers

• (1) a nonstop flight from point A to point Z, or (2) if that service is not available at a convenient time, a through flight, or (3) if the journey can be speeded, a connecting flight with adequate connecting time to ensure dependability and with fast equipment and as few stops as possible.

• From an airline standpoint, the desire to meet every individual passenger’s needs must be weighed against profitability.

• A nonstop flight costs less to operate from point A to point Z than one on the same type equipment that makes intermediate stops.

• If sufficient traffic demand is not available to justify nonstop operation, through service means that each passenger is handled only once and therefore costs are lower than they are on connecting service.

In hub-and-spoke systems, several points of departure are fed into a single airport (the “hub”), from which connecting flights transport passengers to their various destinations (along the “spokes”).​

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​The main advantage of the highly developed airline hub-and-spoke operation is that it provides an enormous “multiplier” effect as to the number of city-pairs an airline can serve with a given amount of flight mileage.

• ​With the permutation of routings possible via the hub, there would now be a total of 24 city-pairs served

• The 16 city-pairs obtained by the connection linkage of each of the four eastern cities with each of the four western cities,

• Plus the linkage of the four eastern and four western cities to the hub city itself.

• Obviously, this multiplication of traffic greatly increases the chances of obtaining strong load factors.

  Full airplanes result in lower costs, which permit lower fares, and these savings have also allowed the airlines to increase the frequency of flights.

• ​Hubbing also offers advantages to travelers. Passengers flying in low-traffic markets might not enjoy low airfares or fly in large jets if the airlines were to fly them nonstop between the end cities.

• Small planes cost more per seat-mile to operate and may require multiple stops for refueling.

• ​Through multiple-hub systems, passengers from small cities can fly to any small or large city in the world with relatively low airfares.

• ​By connecting at a hub, passengers can also enjoy the convenience of frequent flights to and from that hub.

• This usually results in lower schedule delay, which is defined as the waiting time between a passenger’s most desirable departure time and the actual scheduled flight.

• The use of large jets also increases travelers’ chances of finding a seat on their desired flight.

DISADVANTAGES - CONGESTION DELAY

• ​As aircraft volume approaches the capacity of the hub airport, congestion delay increases rapidly, which may outweigh some of hubbing’s benefits to both airlines and passengers.

• ​This additional delay increases passengers’ total travel time and adds to the airlines’ operating costs (for example, wages for the crew and fuel and maintenance expenses for the airplane).

• ​Congestion during peak periods also puts a tremendous strain on airport and airline personnel. It requires maximal staffing for each 45-minute peak-staffing at the gate, on the apron, at the ticket counter, and at curbside.

• Moreover, for each city feeding into the hub, a separate gate is required, and adding more cities requires more gates.

DISADVANTAGES - CONGESTION DELAY

• ​Still another problem is baggage. Most complexes provide between 30 and 45 minutes for passengers to make their connections.

• When flights are late, however, there is very little leeway for the baggage to make the same connection. Passengers simply walk from one gate to the other and board their new flight.

• Baggage, on the other hand, must be off-loaded, sorted, transferred, and loaded aboard the new aircraft.

• When off-schedule operations occur, the 30- to 45-minute connecting time guarantees a high mishandled baggage expense.

DISADVANTAGES - CONGESTION DELAY

• ​Congestion delay also creates additional work for air traffic controllers and increases their stress levels. It may require upgrading the ATC facilities and adding more personnel at the ATC centers and airport towers.

• Finally, excessive aircraft concentration at the hub can have adverse environmental impacts, such as noise and pollution.

• These negative economic effects of aircraft concentration must be taken into account when conducting cost-benefit analyses into building or expanding major hubs.