ASCEND I INDUSTRY
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Open-Line Communications
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Central
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By Kyle Phelps | Ascend Contributor
Managing A World-Class OCC
Most airlines staff their OCCs with representatives from dispatch, maintenance, crew
scheduling, air traffic control coordinators and
revenue management. It is also important to
include experts from flight, flight service and/
or customer services. With the various groups
represented in the OCC, the floor plan needs to
accommodate the communication flow among
the groups that interact frequently.
Open lines of communication among
these groups are critical to running a smooth
operation. While various departmental
representatives provide input into the decisionmaking process, the final decision rests with
the MOD. Therefore, clear guidelines must
be in place to establish ownership, roles and
responsibilities among departments to avoid
overlap and confusion.
The MOD oversees the big picture, considering the impact of decisions on crew availability,
maintenance, hub resources, dependability and
passengers. Once a decision is made, the
MOD communicates the plan to all responsible
departments involved with the execution of
the plan.
Technology
Airlines spend millions of dollars on the
design, construction and equipment for their
OCCs. These operations centers are no
doubt state of the art when initially occupied.
However, as technology changes, airline investments in their OCCs must continue to ensure
infrastructures do not become outdated, leaving the airline at a competitive disadvantage.
System performance as well as airline
operations may be impacted as an airline adds,
expands or consolidates solutions. Technology
that distributes timely and accurate information
to decision makers is a must. Airlines can
control upgrade costs by designing OCCs that
are flexible enough to add new positions or
relocate positions as requirements change.
Data Management/Systems
Integration
The continuing consolidation of the
worldwide airline industry has given rise to
several mega-carriers. This trend has considerably changed the structure of the traditional
OCC. Some mega-carrier OCCs now manage
more than 900 mainline aircraft that serve more
than 2,500 daily departures with 12,000 pilots,
20,000 flight attendants and multiple hubs.
The amount of data collected and evaluated is
overwhelming, making it all the more critical
that the MOD has the necessary technological
and human resources in place to successfully
manage the OCC.
In addition to overseeing routine scheduled
operations, the MOD is also responsible for the
airline’s quick reaction to unexpected events
caused by thunderstorms, maintenance or air
traffic control. At other times, the MOD has
days to develop a plan for events such as an
impending hurricane. Routinely, the MOD will
evaluate multiple options of crew and equipment changes before moving to a solution
involving extensive cancellations and delays.
The proper tools enable the presentation of
data in a timely manner using what-if scenarios
from which the MOD can select the best solution, balancing the priorities of passengers,
crew and equipment. With integrated systems,
all departments are notified immediately of the
plan and can react quickly to address the problem network wide versus having cancellations
trickle in one at a time.
For example, the knowledge of something as
simple as a revised estimated time of departure
(ETD) is powerful information. When a revised
ETD is entered into the airline’s movementcontrol system, the updated information is
shared with the various systems throughout
the airline such as reservations, crew scheduling, maintenance and revenue management.
These individual systems accept the new ETD
or OOOI (out, off, on, in) update, perform an
analysis and alert the individual users who can
react to the changes in a timely manner with a
solution beneficial to the airline’s operation as
a whole.
With the trickle approach, department
representatives risk making decisions in
isolation, such as moving equipment and reaccommodating passengers or crews, that may
negatively impact the entire network.
Most OCCs are equipped with a combination
of legacy and commercial-off-the-shelf systems,
which were designed to solve individual issues.
Instead, the sharing and integration of information through data layering has proven to be a
more-effective method for distributing data
Photo: Michael Mulcahy
n airline’s system operations
control center is similar to a
human body’s central nervous
system, which is the core component of the nervous system
that integrates the information it receives
from and coordinates the activity of all parts
of the body. Like the central nervous system,
the OCC ensures that all applicable departments across an airline are aligned so, despite
irregularities, an airline can perform at top
efficiency, with all necessary components
working together like a well-oiled machine.
Managing a world-class OCC, first and foremost, takes skilled people who are empowered
and prepared to make difficult decisions that
will impact tens of thousands of passengers as
well as the bottom line of the company.
In other words, the airline’s OCC manageron-duty (MOD) has the authority to cross all
organizational lines when making decisions and
possesses the training and experience to make
informed decisions.
Rarely are the MOD’s decisions made in
isolation. Therefore, it is critical that the OCC
is equipped with the optimal tools and the best
possible support team to assist him or her in
making timely, informed decisions.
Command Center Critical to an OCC, a command center is activated when events such as an incident
involving injuries or a labor action that may result in schedule disruptions occurs. At this point, all eventrelated information is redirected through the command center where decision makers gather to focus
on the event.
ascend 13
ASCEND I INDUSTRY
across various systems. Data-layer integration
ensures consistency in back-end data among
different users in different applications. This
approach ensures consistent data is shared in
a timely manner as well as avoids a potential
duplication of data (see related article, “The
Same Wavelength,” in Ascend, 2013, Issue
No. 1).
Dual-Strategy
Airlines
Disaster Recovery/Business
Continuity
Because the OCC is an airline’s nerve
center, it is imperative that carriers invest in
disaster recovery sites and in the development of business continuity plans. A disaster
recovery site should be identified in advance
of a catastrophic event. The site should be
far enough away from an airline’s primary
OCC site to be on a different power grid and
communications switch. All mission-critical
business processes should be replicated at
the backup site and have adequate space
to accommodate all OCC personnel for an
indefinite period of time. If the primary OCC
becomes uninhabitable, processes and personnel are transferred to the disaster recovery
site to avoid a lengthy disruption to the
airline’s operation.
HIGHlight
Managing a worldclass OCC, first
and foremost, takes
skilled people who
are empowered and
prepared to make
difficult decisions
that
will impact
tens of thousdands
of passengers as well
as the bottom line of
the company.
Business continuity plans must also be in
place in the event that individual pieces of the
OCC, such as the communications system
or individual operational-critical applications,
become inoperable. Both the business continuity plans and disaster recovery site should
14 ascend
Photo: Shutterstock
By Lauren Lovelady I Ascend Staff
Disaster Recovery Site It is essential for airlines to invest in a disaster recovery site that is a good distance away from their primary OCC site and runs on a different power grid and communications switch
from that of the OCC. The site should have ample space to accommodate all OCC personnel for the
foreseeable future.
be exercised regularly to ensure they are
functional and up to date and the workforce is
properly trained. The backup plans or systems
should be similar or identical to the production
system to minimize the training and maintenance of these systems.
Command Center
An OCC needs a command center where
the airline’s decision makers gather to focus
on significant events that impact the operation
of the airline. Events such as an incident involving injuries or a labor action that may result in
flight schedule disruptions are sometimes
part of an industry with many uncontrollable variables. Once the decision is made to
activate the command center, pertinent airline
personnel are notified by the MOD and eventrelated information is then redirected through
the command center.
This activation allows the MOD to continue to focus on the daily operations. Since
command-center activations may occur at any
time, preplanning must be ongoing and should
include:
Maintenance of contact information for
command-center occupants and their designated backups;
Clear definition and documentation of roles
and responsibilities;
Establishment of a process for capturing
and disseminating status updates to airline
personnel;
Execution of testing, training and exercises
to support the activation.
Front And Center
Because the OCC is at the center of an
airline at all times, its personnel, processes
and technology should remain at the forefront
of airline operations. Weaknesses, such as
limited human resources, inadequate training,
outdated technology, dated processes and
insufficient communications, are detrimental
to this nerve and may negatively impact the
entire operation. a
Kyle Phelps is senior consultant in
the operations consulting group for
Sabre Airline Solutions. He can be
contacted at [email protected].
Network Carriers
Introduce Low-Cost
Subsidiaries To
Better Compete
The advent of numerous low-cost carriers and
hybrids have given traditional network carriers
cause to find new ways to effectively compete. As
such, several airlines have introduced their own
budget airlines to reach a segment not possible
with their long-haul, full-service models.