Air Transat Uses ALTITUDE to Manage Its Aircraft Routing, Crew Pairing, and Work Assignment

Jacques Desrosiers, Arielle Lasry, Daniel McInnis, Marius M. Solomon and François Soumis
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Jacques Desrosiers: GERAD and École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H3T 2A7
Arielle Lasry: École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal
Daniel McInnis: Ad Opt Technologies, Montréal, 4824 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Suite 202, Montréal, Canada H3V 1G4
Marius M. Solomon: College of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, and GERAD
François Soumis: GERAD and École Polytechnique de Montréal

Interfaces, 2000, vol. 30, issue 2, 41-53

Abstract: Air Transat operates charter flights to vacation spots. In 1993, it had an opportunity to expand, but its manual planning and scheduling system could not support rapid growth. Air Transat acquired the airline operations management system ALTITUDE, a three-module optimization package for aircraft routing, crew pairing, and monthly work assignment. The system helped the airline to streamline planning and scheduling and to focus on its core business and expansion rather than internal operational problems. By reducing the planning cycle, increasing operational flexibility, and supporting marketing, the system helped the company to become the largest charter operator in Canada. ALTITUDE ensures cost-effective solutions by optimizing planning and scheduling problems and allowing easy interfacing among them. It saved the company an estimated eight to 12 percent of total costs during the first year and over a million dollars during the second year in operation.

Keywords: TRANSPORTATION—SCHEDULING; PERSONNEL; TRANSPORTATION—SCHEDULING; VEHICLES; NETWORKS/GRAPHS—MULTICOMMODITY (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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