The "New Normal" in Airline Operations - Part 2
Daniel Stecher
Beyond the Gantt Chart | Airline Ops & Crew Stories That Matter | The Aviation Community Builder | Pipeline Accelerator | Airline Crewing Enigma Solver | Moderator
The global airline industry has been hit by a new virus and is going through its biggest crisis ever. Several airlines went into bankruptcy or voluntary administration and some may not survive. State owned airlines will get government financial support. The silver lining might be a ?new normal“ in airline operations with several changes for the future.
Some weeks ago, I started to write my thoughts on the future of airline operations.
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/new-normal-airline-operations-daniel-stecher/
CHANGES IN OPERATIONS
A good industry friend once said ?People don‘t know what they don‘t know“ while speaking about ?Management by Exception“ in an airline Operations Control Center. I believe that this quote is especially true for the current crisis where virus experts and politicians learn new things every day and change their government recommendation from yesterday. Nobody knows exactly when the crisis will be over and nobody knows when the next crisis will hit the industry again. In certain countries politician say publicly that ?one has to live with the virus“ and ?this situation will last till 2022.
Important is to learn from the current crisis and change the limiting factors and be prepared for the next crisis.
PILOT SHORTAGE
Pilot shortage was big topic in certain regions of the world and some airlines were fighting for their cockpit resources by offering a sign-up bonus or very much higher salaries than other airlines in the same region. Shrinking airline fleet and bankruptcy of airlines will changes from pilot shortage to pilot over-supply. This will help airlines to negotiate upcoming business models with unions and pilot councils. This might lead to a more collaborative relationship between airlines and pilots and crew members. The former saying while meeting with airlines ?our unions is the most special in the world and we have the most rules and difficult planning requirements“ will be gone away.
Before the crisis, airline pilots and cabin crew only changed from one airline to another airline once their employer went bust or while flying for an LCC the workload was not bearable anymore. Fatigue Risk Management (FRM) was necessary because rosters were getting tighter and tighter for pilots and cabin crew.
Unions called for industrial actions and pilots strikes were very costly and destroying passenger travels plans in the past.
PILOTS ON DEMAND
The current crisis is the potential for a new normal and more flexible working model for pilots and cabin crew. Pilots and cabin crew on demand could be the new normal allowing airlines to respond more flexibly on up and downs in passenger travel demands. What is creating a buzz in pilots and cabin crew member unions might be the better future than having many union members laid-off forever. If ticket prices increase and airlines agree on a higher pay of e.g. cabin crew members, the higher flexibility is not purchased on the backs of the working force.
?Pilots and cabin crew member on demand“ will require new flight regulations and flexible international working permissions. Pilots licenses and recency requirements need to be monitored cross airlines, in order to meet global aviation safety requirements. This requires a global exchange of data and will require to replace the current legacy IT systems in place. The modernization of infrastructure will save costs and increase the degree of digitization within the industry.
Requesting pilots and cabin crew for flights will require a steady check of human fatigue levels which is possible by using digital technology. Wearables at human’s wrists will steadily monitor the health of pilots and cabin crew, not only in regards to virus protections, personal life and national health system requirements, but also to prevent pilot fatigue.
Eye tracking technology will measure pilot fatigue in cockpits and mitigate the risk of letting a pilots to fly too many legs per day. The fatigue risk mitigation will also have a positive impact on personal life style and pilots and cabin crew rosters will not perceived as ?too tightly and fatiguing planned from the airline.
COLLABORATION 2.0
The future collaboration between airline’s resource planning department and pilots and cabin crew will be based on trust based on data, personal lifestyle and flexible working patterns. Strict and inflexible unions rules will not limit the airline business requirements and not be necessary anymore. The strict union rules which were making it difficult to airlines to temporarily reduce their flying workforce or quickly get additional pilots and cabin crew if the demand was increased in peak season were limiting factors in the past.
National flight limitations will be globally harmonized and be integrated in the global health monitoring system which is is established for passenger and airline workforces supporting the new normal.
Pilots and cabin crew will provide their availability, language capabilities and desired flight times via an app which is connected to the global airline operations and crew management Digital platforms. The same true when we need a taxi and share ride when we just an app to get quickly the drivers details. The same app opened a complete new opportunity to people to provide share rides on demand at a reasonable price and earn their living.
In the coming weeks, I'm going to touch in part III
- Operations Control Center
- Process Changes
- Digitization
- Digital Potential for Airlines
- Cost Savings
- Outlook
Part 3
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/new-normal-airline-operations-part-3-daniel-stecher
Read also about the Virtual Happy Hour
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
While visiting globally 121 airlines and their OCC's Daniel is exploring airline IT environments and processes. As Vice President and Head of Global Sales for Airline Operations he is responsible for global sales and business development of the brand new airline operations digital platform "iFlight". Daniel has more than 25 years of experience spanning over the logistics industry (e.g. courier, express, parcel, air cargo, airport ground handling, freight forwarder, cargo carriers, airlines) and has been traveling almost two million miles, in order to meet with industry experts and customers from the air cargo industry and airline business IT solutions industry.
The Most Reliable Way to Predict the Future Is to Create It.
4 年Very rosy thoughts, Daniel Stecher! I wish you offered them after the last crisis when I was new to the industry. Then my reply would have been different than the bucket of cold water I will offer here: If history is any basis for what will happen,we can agree that: 1) technological tools to implement your ideas have existed and have been used for a reasonable amount of time, 2) for airlines changing anything does not make sense until it's unavoidable for financial reasons, and 3) willingness to change comes from having the skills to initiate and manage it. This defined changes in 2010 and (I am willing to bet money) will be true at the next downturn in 2029. I don't see your suggestions being implemented on an industry-wide scale given those three pre-conditions. I would like to reiterate that the first roadblock is money, the second is lack of skills, and the third is the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it." managerial approach. It's not straightforward to quantify a company's gain from automated employee well-being monitoring and that's leaving aside all the privacy issues to be addressed. Even if collaboration were somehow convertible into cash, willingness and capability to execute need to track closely behind (see, for example, implementing evidence-based pilot training or using pilots for flying duties in peak season and for office work in low season). Let's set a review date for this claim on 10 June 2029 and I hope I will be wrong!
Global Change Catalyst | AI & Ethical Leadership | Aerospace Innovation | Aviation Safety | Advanced Air Mobility | Strategic Consultant | Exponential Organizations | Sustainability | Fighter Pilot Mindset |
4 年Very good approach Daniel. I believe most of the airlines have to think on how they can move from the reactive to the proactive mode with the whole team. There are a lot of anxiety, fear and stress causing lack of motivation. Many people in the aviation supply chain are in the survival mode because they are reacting. When you move to the proactive mode you will find your own solutions to have the COVID19 as a friend not as an enemy.
Captain A330/350 Iberia Airlines
4 年Really interesting Daniel Stecher lots of sinergies to obtain, just a “but”: Nowadays I think that employees attitude, involvement with Company’s Brand, showing your best beyond labour contract, empathy with passengers...also is an added value often more appreciated than any publicity campaign. Wonder if it can be reached when working for different airlines, will be really hard to feel the colors of your Team to give your Best? At Aviation continuos exceptions are part of normal procedures at cockpit and what gives more confidence to passengers is an “open cockpit”, sharing info. In some occasions when I fly as a passenger and see lack of information over delays, technical issues...even lack of smiles, always think that crew are just workers, not Airline ambassadors. ?? Take care, see you soon at VHH ??
TheAirPro1
4 年People don’t know what they have until the lose it!
Getting things done. SME for aviation, especially marketing & distribution, IT, A-CDM, disruption management, sustainable aviation.
4 年I happen to disagree very much. Pilots also need a "social security". if you only hire them for seasonal use, you logically must pay more during the seasonal demand. Subcontracted, temporary work has been a means to pay substandard. When I did my education on whole-sale and foreign trade economics, temporary workers were a solution in between the own workforce (normal pay) and consulting (surplus pay). You paid more for using them as they ran the higher risk of unemployment. And you paid (and should pay) your employed pilots less for the job security than you pay a temporary pilot. Then using temporary pilots doesn't make much commercial sense. And given "social responsible management", this idea is a barrel burst. In addition, I expect the economy to take time to recover, yes. But soon enough, in three, four years, this crisis will be nothing but a bad dream, we will have survived and pilots will be in demand again. How you treat them in the crisis will have an impact on your future access to that workforce. Food for Thought.