Air Transport Operations and Management ContentsIntroduction2Fleet Assignment2Aircraft Rotation3Aircraft Route5Crew Scheduling7Ground Operation and Maintenance8Revenue management and Marketing:13Conclusion15Bibliography16APPENDIX 117

IntroductionPhoenix Airlines is a domestic low-cost carrier (LCC) operating in the United Kingdom, connecting three countries i.e. England, Scotland and Northern Ireland at Stansted (London), Edinburgh and Belfast respectively. The airliner uses two different types of aircraft for its five routes. Airline operation has three major cost drivers airplane, fuel and crew.Fleet AssignmentWhich type of aircraft to operate is a core activity of any airline business? As this airline is a Domestic LCC, the aircraft fleet chosen to operate are narrow bodied, single class (economy) consisting of two A319-100 and three A320-200. The main reason selecting these aircrafts is their performance in previous years. Also one of the best advantage of selecting aircrafts of same family is that it saves maintenance costs as most of the systems on both the type of aircrafts are same. The details about the fleet are mentioned below:

(Joe, 2013) Table 1: A319-100 and A320-200 ComparisonThe route decided for this fleet has two similar types of routes, while one has a route having different starting points each day. Hence, the aircrafts to be used on the routes are shown in the figure, while the on the consecutive day, the aircrafts exchange their routes:Figure 1: Aircraft Fleet Management.

Aircraft RotationThe A320-200s that operate between EDI and BFS have higher passenger capacity than the A319-100s operating between EDI and STN. Thus to ensure maximum utilisation of aircrafts, both types of aircraft are swapped with their routes. So the routes operated by FM301 and FM302 (A319-100) on a day, would be operated by FM201 and FM202 (A320-200) on the next day and vice-versa. The FM401 (A320-200) operating on the BFS to STN route, rotates between its destinations. This means that if the FM401 will start its operation will be BFS STN BFS STN and then STN BFS STN BFS. This cycle will is carried on till 52 weeks or till any of the aircrafts undergo C-Check.

Figure 2: Aircraft Route and Operation on a specific day.

Figure 3: Aircraft Route and Operation on the NEXT DAY.Aircraft RouteAs our airliner is a new company with just five aircrafts in service, its better to have fewer destinations to serve for densely populated routes. Thus, we have selected the two capital cities of the states; i.e. Edinburgh (EDI), Belfast (BFS) and a secondary airport Stansted (STN) in England for the best connections possible. The aircraft routing involves a lot of planning and optimisation of the operations. According to the regulations in CAP 371, the aircraft can only fly for a maximum of 35 hours a week, so the routes are decided keeping in mind the maximum utilisation of each aircraft.

(Schickinger, 2008) Figure 4: Optimisation AlgorithmThe aircraft scheduling means defining a specific schedule for an aircraft to a specific route. In our airways, we have a total of five aircrafts of which the two types are used for three different routes namely, the EDI BFS route, the EDI STN route and the BFS STN route. The aircrafts are assigned according to the booking of a certain route, which is possible at any time because all the aircraft start from only one hub i.e. Edinburgh except one A320 which keeps on rotating from Belfast to Stansted. The flight plan initially is submitted by the pilot to ATC tower for permission to fly for the said route and the timing by which the pilots have to abide by for the rest of the flight. The table below shows the timings for all the routes of the airline:

Table 2: Aircraft Schedule

Figure 5: Route AssignmentThe image above shows the connections of the routes between Edinburgh, Belfast and Stansted. Crew SchedulingAlso, a major requirement for an aircraft is crew members which should be in proportion to the number of passengers and the type and size of the aircraft. For e.g. the A319 and A320, we require two pilots and four cabin crew. According to the CAP 804, all the airlines must have the same number of cabin crew as the doors in the aircraft. Thus for our airline we employ a total of 40 cabin crew and 10 pilots and 10 co-pilots for the operation of the five routes, where the crew members are working every alternate days.

Figure 6: Crew SchedulingThe crew will be following the route as shown in the image above and will be back to their starting destination by the end of the day.Ground Operation and MaintenanceAirport Ground operation is also one of the most important parameter in airline management. Our airlines have time effective ground handling system. Ground operation includes the passenger terminals (arrivals and departure), baggage handling, Maintenance, Ramp services and Gate assignment (landing slot assignment). Our Airliners basic requirements on the ground are:-1. Ensure safety of aircraft and avoid damage.2. Reduce ground time3. Avoid delays by managing handling activities.

Turnaround time for every flight is about 20-30 minutes, which includes the following activities as shown in the below table:-

(Boeing) Figure 7: A319/320 Turn-around timelineOur passengers have a benefit of using the online check-in facility or check-in machine which helps them to reach the boarding gate on the time. Our Ground operation personnel uses the equipments like trolleys, re-fuelers, tugs and tractors for carrying out operations like refuelling, toying and cargo handling respectively. Air Bridge and mobile stairs are used for Deplaning and boarding of passengers. Although, air bridge are most costly then the stairs but advantages of using air bridge is passengers can change aircraft more quickly and other services like refuelling and ramp services can be carried out simultaneously.

(Antonin kazda, 2007) Figure 8: Boarding BridgeOur airlines do daily routine checks like pre- flight inspection in morning and overnight maintenance at the end of the working day, which ensures that aircraft is operating accordance to the standards. We collaborate with other airlines for any maintenance required during day time operation which will reduce the cost of the maintenance personnel and Equipments. All major maintenance is done on the maintenance base i.e. at Edinburgh Airport.Fuel managements system is very important as it helps to manage maintain and control the fuel consumption per miles by the aircraft. During seat assignment normally passengers are distribution all over the aircraft which maintain the Centre of gravity of aircraft. Fuel consumption is depending upon the position of the CG from front of aircraft.

Our airlines uses Genetic Algorithms for gate assignment management system which will issue the gate to every flight depend upon the arrival, departure and any delay in the other flights. Gate assignments systems consider the aircraft size, flight crew and aircraft rotation and reduce the inconvenience to passengers and operating costs.

(Sussex, 2008) Figure 9: Gate Assignment

(Wright, 1979) Figure 10: Baggage HandlingDuring the ground operation, our aircraft uses the GPU and other ground power sources for operations. As soon as the aircraft is parked the engine are shut down. Reducing the use of APU will helps us to reduce the aircraft noise and emission of the harmful gases from the engine like NOx, CO2. Banning the use of APU on the airport and proper maintenance of aircraft will reduces 10% of pollution in the airport promises.Revenue management and Marketing:Our revenue management (RM) provide us with a very effective and profitable pricing policy. Depending on the demand of the routes, seat prices are decided accordingly (70% normal fares, 30% high fares). For instance, if the same strategy is used during low demand periods the seats might remain empty since there is no demand so there is no point in paying more fare. Profits are made through flying passengers who fly out and back on a single route than flying to connect long haul carriers. The RM provides means to make more profits by selling seats for higher fares during buoyant times with high load factor, on the other hand if the demand falls; immediate remedial actions are taken to avoid losses through offering reservations thus selling seats at a lower fares to avoid loss of revenue. Often revenue is gained through forcefully raised prices because of poor profitability may also lead to loss of revenue because of increased uncontrollable costs like fuel prices and landing fees that are unavoidable which directly affect the revenue generated. The labour costs are managed by rotating the flight and cabin crew and also hiring a limited number of maintenance personnel since our fleet contain only two different types of aircrafts which are leased.It is important for our airliner to be cost-efficient for which we use limited aircraft types, short-hauls, fly to secondary airports and point-to-point destinations. Efficient pricing system that clearly explains the passengers that "Get what they pay for" (YouSigma, 2008). Our ticket and seat bookings are all done directly through internet without involvement of any travel agent. Our main priority is given to safety and also the quality of training provided to pilots, cabin crew and maintenance personnel's. We (Phoenix airlines) are UK based Low Cost Carriers aiming to become one of the leading LCC in UK and in Europe thereafter. Ryan Air and Easy Jet being one of the leading LCC in Europe presently is a great threat to any newly established airliner, and we are no exception. To be a worthy competitor we need to manage our fleet with worthy routes during peak times to produce enough revenue to improve on the fleet and the quality of the service provided.According to the calculations shown in Appendix 1 our airliner has made a net profit of 2986.714 for a single flight from Edinburgh to Stansted (London).

ConclusionFrom the above analysis, we come to know that aircraft fleet planning and scheduling is the most important part for a domestic LCC. Ground services, crew management, ATC interactions consume a lot of time. Hence, with efficient monitoring and planning, this time can be reduced to small time slots, which collects to become a big time slot. This time slot when used with efficient aircraft rotation can contribute more to the company revenue. The maximum utilisation of the aircraft generates maximum revenue. Co-ordination in aircraft fleet planning, flight operation, maintenance systems, schedule planning, ground operations and passenger reservations including ATC interactions and airport contributes towards efficient aircraft utilisation. Time is such an important factor in aviation that efficient use of small periods of time can yield good benefits.

BibliographyAntonin kazda, R. E. (2007). Airport Design and Operation. In R. E. Antonin kazda. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Boeing. (n.d.). Ramp Terminal Operation. Retrieved 2013, from Boeing: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_4_08/pdfs/AERO_Q408_article04.pdfCheap Flights. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/flights/Stansted/Edinburgh/Joe. (2013). http://www.aviatorjoe.net/go/compare/A319/A320-200/. Retrieved from http://www.aviatorjoe.net: http://www.aviatorjoe.net/go/compare/A319/A320-200/Leeham News and Comment. (2012). Retrieved from http://leehamnews.wordpress.com/tag/a319/Schickinger, D. T. (2008, 07 13). lhsystems. Retrieved 2013, from http://www.lhsystems.com/fileadmin/user_upload/files/en/information/LH-Symposium-2008-Aircraft-Routing.pdfSussex. (2008, march). Engineering: Air-Traffic Optimization. Retrieved from Sussex: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/ezequiel/research_atc.htmlWright, A. a. (1979). Airport operation. Mcgraw hill.YouSigma. (2008). Retrieved from Southwest Airlines Marketing Strategies: http://yousigma.com/benchmarking/southwestairlinesmarketingstrategy.html

APPENDIX 1 Flight Route:EDI to STNAircraft:Airbus A319-200 Tickets Purchased:80 (before 1 month), 18 (before 3 days)Cost per ticket:68 (before 1 month), 95 (before 3 days) (Cheap Flights, 2013)Fuel cost:0.909/lbAircraft Lease:107.303/hr (Leeham News and Comment, 2012).Fuel consumption:6 lbs per Kilometre (579.348*6*0.909 = 3159.76)Crew wages/day:467 (cabin crew and flight attendants)Revenue earned through selling tickets:7150 (80*68 = 5440 (before 1 month, 18*95 = 1710 (before 3 days)Profit earned:7150-(3159.76-536.526-467) = 2986.714

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