ABSTRACT
Chapter Overview
Scheduling choices determine frequencies, departure timings, crew rosters, 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 and revenue driver 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.
This chapter will look at scheduling as a response to demand, to the economics of supply, and to external constraints. It will then consider hub-and-spoke scheduling, and scheduling tactics. The final section will draw together Chapters 6 and 7 to consider the interface between network management and fleet management. Fleet management is the subject of Chapter 8.
We will begin by considering a typical schedule development process.
