Planning Callout Reserves for Aircraft Delays

The problem dealt with in this paper is that of the number of reserve crews required for aircraft delays callout. The objective to be achieved in this respect is the minimization of the total costs of both the reserve crews and overnight delays. The two costs are inversely related, i.e., as the number of reserve crews is increased, the likely overnight delays and costs are decreased, but the cost of the crews staying idle increases. A good compromise between the two kinds of costs will be that which produces the minimum total costs. The analytical techniques used are those of conditional probabilities. They take into consideration the type of aircraft, union regulations, cabin crew patterns, and the future flying programme. The paper explains the steps of the analysis of the problem, the various reserve policy options and conclusions.

The recommendations arising from this paper have been accepted and implemented by management in the financial year 1976/77. This resulted in a total savings of about AUST. $600,000. The method developed in this paper to determine reserve crew level has also been accepted as the planning procedure to be used in future cabin crew budget planning.