When Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in 2004
decided to split the company in regional units,
SAS Denmark had to build up a crew planning department from scratch.
As in most other airlines, crew
planning at SAS is non-trivial
and affects bottom-line results
directly. Just a few percent of
lost crew productivity due to
non-optimal planning can translate
to millions of DKK of extra
costs.
After setting up the planning
department and operating on
its own for a while, SAS Denmark
engaged Carmen to train
planners to help compensate
for the inevitable lack of crew
planning and system experience
in Copenhagen.
Lars Frausing, SAS Analyst,
who has led the development
project, said, “The main focus
of the project was – and still is
– to increase planner’s skills
with regards to Carmen’s pairing and rostering
tools. However, we have of course also taken any
opportunity to improve both the planning process
and the quality and productivity of our schedules.”
Kim Riis Sørensen from Carmen’s Copenhagen
office said that the development project is a mix of
on-the-job training and tailor-made courses.
“Sitting with crew planners during
production is a very efficient
way of identifying improvement
potential, implementing better
processes and system support,
and improving planner skills,”
he said. “We’ve definitely come
a long way since we started.”
And this effort has obviously
paid off. Due to the realignment
of both planning process and
systems, crew productivity has increased
significantly according
to Lars Frausing. “Let’s just say
that the investment in the development
project was a sound
one – also from a strictly financial
point of view,” he said.
Equally important, SAS planners
have generally improved
their skills dramatically. According
to Kirsten Hansborg, Planner at SAS, “I now
produce better results faster than ever before, and
the tailor-made pairing course was really an eyeopener
for me,” she said. “Also, having a Carmen
consultant at hand during production has been a
great help. Soon, however, we have the skills to fly
on our own!”
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