Air cargo and passenger demand have never been so unpredictable. Passenger demand has virtually disappeared on many routes and is expected to only return gradually over the next years. Air cargo demand has risen dramatically on some routes due to medical supply shipments but is expected to level off. At the same time, the supply of cargo space has substantially decreased across the globe and the traditional hub-and-spoke network based on passenger demand may not be sufficient to cope with current cargo demand.

 There is an opportunity to improve asset utilization by changing the fleet configuration to (1) carry cargo only, (2) cargo in cabin or (3) a mix of passengers and cargo.  However, all these developments require a new approach to fleet and network planning.

We understand that operational planning of logistics goes hand in hand with planning the workforce. Workforce planning offers your organization a solution for planning these key business operations:

• Generating shift requirements to cover the demand
• Creating cyclic rosters and assigning these rosters to employees
• Publishing employee rosters such that employees can view their schedules on their mobile app and request for leave, shift swap, etc.
• Assigning activities to employees and manage day of operations
• Processing timesheets

Start with embedding and aligning your workforce planning into the planning to ensure an optimized integrated operations planning is driving your margins and reduces operational costs.

Every day, ground services at an airport provide services for the airlines. These are mission critical services with specific turnaround times tied to planned arrivals and departures. Living up to agreed quality and performance levels is a daily challenge, both in terms of economics and in terms of planning.

Timely performance is measured in terms of minimizing  turnaround time and the delay of aircrafts, which involves a collection of dependent services that must be executed in a specific order. For example, an aircraft’s push-back from the gate can only be started when all other services are completed. An important
limitation to note is that aircrafts cannot be fueled and catered at the same time.

We have an overall, integrated vision for joint planning and scheduling of multiple ground services processes and are keen to introduce you to our solutions that help you solve these planning puzzles efficiently.

Read how KLM Catering Services combined demand and staff information to gain the optimal distribution of staff over the various workplaces based on a large set of business rules.

In a ground handling operation speed and flexibility are essential to deliver high-quality service to airlines and airport. How are your planners coping with this requirement for speed and flexibility?