Client Situation:
We had a project with a regional airline with 55 aircraft (AC) feeding United Airlines in the southern US.
​Challenge
The problem was 10-13 planes would come in each night for routine line maintenance, and two would be late for the 6 AM start.
AC late for the first-morning flight ran late all day with passengers running for connections, missed flights, re-bookings and lost bags which you get penalized for by United.
The “real” problem was the maintenance system did not meet the complex needs of scheduling 40 mechanics.
Here is what we found:
- Maintenance work not estimated
- Mechanics assigned to AC often had too much or not enough work
- The supervisor had no visibility on work progressing during the night – until it was too late to intervene and resolve.
Solution
We taught the planners to estimate work orders
We planned AC repairs with the required mechanics
Supervisor monitored real-time progress and moved mechanics as required by AC.
Results
Increased AC availability, on-time departures, improved customer service and better use of available mechanics.
