Airline Flight Scheduling

Elements

Flight scheduling is at the core of what makes our modern air travel systems work. Scheduling, and many other functions of modern air travel, must take into account departure and arrival times. Additionally, each airline possesses only so many vehicles of each model. Thus, aircraft availability must be taken into consideration in flight scheduling models.

We live in a capitalist society, and the air travel industry is likewise oriented toward capitalist goals. Within the realm of capitalist-oriented transit systems, the ultimate goal of maximizing profits is met by matching seat capacity to passenger demand. By keeping seats at maximum possible capacity at all times, airlines seek to reduce costs. For this reason, airlines focus on fuel consumption and maintenance per passenger in the name of maximizing profits. In this way, when flight scheduling takes into consideration distance between destinations, desirable flight times, operating restrictions, aircraft operating costs, and staffing considerations, airlines are able to achieve their profit goals while getting passengers where they need to go.

Passengers at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, consult a flight information display showing dozens of cancelled flights caused by the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjöll volcano in April 2010.

Staffing considerations are a complex and multi-factoral element of flight scheduling. The crew of each vehicle requires a number of critical personnel. These on-board personnel include pilots and flight attendants. These personnel are regulated by various interests, including corporations, federal agencies, and labor unions.

A standard flight requires two or three fully qualified pilots to fill the positions of captain, first officer, and flight engineer. The captain is the individual who actually flies the plane and is ultimately responsible for the craft. Additionally, she makes all major command decisions. She also manages emergencies with both the aircraft and the passengers. The first officer serves as the second in command of the craft. He has access to controls identical to those of the captain. Furthermore, he has the same level of training as the captain. The primary role of the first officer is that of safety; he provides second [Page 82]opinions on piloting decisions and seeks to prevent pilot error. Depending on the model of the aircraft, the plane may or may not have a flight engineer. Flight engineers are fully trained pilots. Under typical nonemergency circumstances, flight engineers do not fly. Their role is to monitor the plane's instruments; in newer planes, such monitoring is performed by computerized systems. It is likely that the role of flight engineer will be phased out entirely in the near future.

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