ABSTRACT
Scheduling choices determine frequencies, departure timings, passenger and aircraft routings and, particularly over hub-based networks, the extent of connections between points served. An airline's schedule is its core service attribute insofar as safe, reliable delivery of a schedule is what satisfies customers' most basic air travel need: the need to be somewhere else by a certain time. Because of its impact on aircraft choice and on the utilisation of equipment, staff, and other resources, a schedule is also - along with network design - a critical cost driver. Scheduling therefore lies at the interface between the revenue and cost sides of an airline's income statement.
