How Does Airline Scheduling Work?

Have you ever noticed how flights depart and arrive at very specific times? Why is a plane scheduled to take off at 11:33 rather than 11:30 or 11:40?

And why are some destinations only available at certain times of the day or certain days of the week?

In fact, flight scheduling isn’t just made randomly: it is precisely orchestrated by airline companies.

Entire teams are dedicated to engineering flight schedules by applying advanced mathematical calculations according to a number of variables.

In this article, we’ll review exactly how airline scheduling works. Read on!

Departure and Arrival Times

Contrary to what you may think, the departure time isn’t the moment the plane takes off, but when your plane pushes back from the gate.

Similarly, the arrival time isn’t the moment your plane touches down the runway, but when it pulls into the gate.

Besides departure and arrival times, there is a third component to your block time – the duration between your departure and arrival times – that is the en route or flight time.

Airlines have software that receive all the flight data. They take into account all past flights for each route on a specific day and time to create a suggested schedule for any given flight.

What Determines a Flight Schedule

To determine the block time along with specific departure and arrival times of your flight, airlines have to take many factors into account.

The Airport

The airport itself is an important variable. Some airports are very busy whereas others have limited numbers of slots. Airlines also may only have a specific number of flights they’re allowed to schedule in a given time period.

The airport’s infrastructure matters a lot, such as the number of gates available and at what times, the flow of traffic from all the flights, the number of runways open, and any other factor that limits the number of flights.

Connecting Flights

Airlines also have to consider connections. Flights coming in should arrive at an appropriate time to link up with important connecting flights.

Generally speaking, airlines take into account the time needed to deplane and reach their connecting gates and schedule their flights accordingly.

Another important factor in the flight scheduling process is the turn time. The turn time includes how long it takes to empty the plane of passengers as well as how long the crew needs to clean up and board the next flight.

Duration of the Flight

Naturally, the time spent in the air matters. Different air routes might be more or less busy, which impacts flight scheduling.

For instance, the connection between New York and Florida is much more congested than say, between Omaha and Phoenix, especially if you’re flying during rush hour.

As a result, flight schedules can be affected depending on the estimated traffic. Less traffic means a shorter flight while more means a longer one.

If the traffic is overwhelming, airlines might try to schedule flights during less busy times of day or night.

How Marketing Affects Flight Scheduling

When it comes to what determines a flight schedule, marketing might not be the first thing you think of, and yet it certainly factors in.

Competition Between Airlines

Some airlines favor certain destinations over others to help build their brands. They try to corner the market on popular routes. For example, American is extremely prominent in Miami.

Furthermore, airlines calculate their flight schedules to get the most customers while avoiding excessive competition.

For instance, they won’t schedule a flight when there are a large number or concurrent flights. They’ll prefer to schedule it a bit earlier when there are only a couple of other flights to compete with.

The Destination

Flights are also scheduled depending on the reasons why people fly to a certain destination.

Departures to vacation destinations tend to take place in the morning, while returns arrive in the afternoon. These times are the most attractive for vacationers to make the most of their trips.

On the other hand, people coming back home from work might be more willing to take night flights.

How Airlines Schedule Their Flights

There are no absolute rules as to how airlines decide to schedule their flights. The technical aspects can’t be bypassed. Flying entails constraints.

Flight scheduling is thus a balancing act between these technical needs and the commercial goals.

Delays

Flight schedules are created several months in advance by the schedule planning teams using a variety of engineering calculators.

This means that factors such as bad weather, construction works, or any type of unexpected event might alter departure or arrival times.

Airlines usually have employees monitoring real-time changes to make any adjustment as needed as the flight gets closer.

Alternatively, they might look to the flight dispatchers who work in the system operation center.

Why Your Flight Is Early

Airlines tend to add extra time to the flight schedule or block time as a safety net to help bolster their on-time arrival statistics.

These statistics are monitored by the federal government and play a role in rankings and awards.

Popular airlines pad their block times with an extra half-hour to account for any unanticipated delays. These padded block times often allow their flights to still arrive on-time despite real-time difficulties.

So, if your flight arrives a little earlier than what your ticket says, your flight may not actually be early. It might simply be arriving at the exact time calculated by the planning team without having to use the padded time.

The Flight Scheduling Process

All in all, the flight scheduling process isn’t as easy as airlines deciding random times that sound good. There are dedicated teams of professionals that design these schedules based on a number of precise metrics.

These professionals make their calculations many months in advance, however, there are other staff members to monitor factors that might affect a flight as it gets closer.

In addition to the technical aspects of flight scheduling, the commercial angle is essential. These two components have to be reconciled to have a thriving airline.

Don’t hesitate to consult our business section to learn more about how businesses work and what mistakes not to make.