Scheduling and Strategic PlanningDelegates study the process of schedule development with an emphasis on developing techniques and systems to minimize fleet requirements and other scheduled related costs, maximize revenues and analyze punctuality profiles of proposed flight schedules. This group now includes Corporate Planning, which is concerned with strategic decision making, fleet selection, fleet assignment, route planning and medium to long term financial planning, as well as airspace and airport capacity issues. Revenue Management and DistributionAll topics in the area of revenue management systems and distribution activities are covered by this Study Group of AGIFORS. These include revenue optimization, overbooking management, demand forecasting, choice modeling, dynamic pricing, bundling, distribution and to a lesser extent marketing. Recent presentations have included topics such as ML and AI-based revenue management, quantum computing in RM, ancillary bundle pricing using techniques involving Markov chains or explore/exploit experimentation, dynamic / continuous pricing, forecast accuracy, and the measure of RM efficacy. Special Session Aircraft Maintenance OperationsThis Special Session discusses all aspects of commercial aircraft maintenance operations by airlines, original equipment manufacturers, and third party vendors. The topics include maintenance planning and scheduling, aircraft reliability, fleet performance, operational efficiency, asset management, spare parts planning, manpower planning and training. We also discuss topics related to aircraft data management and predictive maintenance. | Crew ManagementThis group addresses planning and management topics related to cockpit and cabin crew. Discussion concentrates on topics related to planning crew pairings or rotations or pattern construction, and to crew assignments, crew rostering or development of bid lines. North American and European approaches to crew assignment both receive attention at this study group.
Airline OperationsAll aspects of Flight Operations, Ground Resources, and Maintenance are covered. Flight Operations - These including dispatch, flight planning, flight watch, weather data provision, operations control, ground to air communications and integration with crew, schedules and maintenance planning. Gate allocation, slot control, ATC and airport management can also be covered. There is increasing use of simulation and expert systems, for the management of irregular operations. Ground Resources - The use of management science techniques in reducing costs or increasing the effectiveness of manpower has been the concern of this group. Topics addressed include determination of operational manpower requirements, optimal task allocation, production of efficient roster patterns, planning of employment, annual leave, training, reward systems and strategic planning of recruitment. There has been some considerable interest in personal computer applications with demonstrations of systems under development. |
Sergey Shebalov