PIEDMONT AIRLINES FLIGHT OPERATIONS OPTIMIZATION ANALYSIS

This thesis discusses how American Airlines and its’ wholly owned regional partner Piedmont Airlines could improve schedule options by optimizing its existing operations enabling Piedmont to operate more flights with the same number of airplanes. This thesis uses data exclusively from Piedmont Airlines’ September 2019 Schedule, and focuses on operational improvements through minimizing downtime for aircraft both at hubs and outstations.

In the hubs, it was found that there was significant room for optimization to ensure that the aircraft are truly being used to their full potential versus long ramp wait times between flights. When looking at outstations, planes typically only spent the minimum required amount of time on the ground. The exception is if the plane was going to Remain Overnight (RON), however this also meant it was the last flight of the day, and it arrived in the evening or later. The thesis specifically looks at the flows for the week of September 14-20, 2019.