How airline chaos shone a light on critical operating staff
In a modest office building on the outskirts of Luton airport, a team of 30 people work in near silence to keep easyJet’s operations moving. The casually dressed and often strikingly young staff are responsible for managing more than 1,000 daily flights across Europe, including co-ordinating aircraft, crew and communication with customers round the clock. With voices low and lights dimmed, it is a calm setting for people who have been on the front line of handling the disruption that has gripped the aviation industry this year. “It is an incredibly complex ecosystem and there are lots of things that come at you, some of which are completely beyond your control,” said David Morgan, easyJet’s interim chief operations officer. Chief operating officers at airlines and their staff normally have a low-profile job, overseeing complex logistics and handling the everyday problems that hit schedules, from strikes to snowstorms. But the role has become one of the most pressured in corporate Europe this year, as millions of passengers travelling on nearly every airline have faced delays and cancellations because of chronic staff shortages across the aviation network, leaving executives fighting a daily battle just to keep passengers moving. Just under 4,100 flights from UK airports were cancelled in the last week of June as the industry buckled under the weight of returning passengers, according to industry data company OAG. Passengers complained of ruined holidays, hours long queues and mountains of lost luggage as companies struggled to cope. Reliability quickly improved as new staff started work, airports brought in passenger caps and airlines cut down their schedules. Between 0.5 and 1% of flights were cancelled in August. In Luton, the most striking part of the operation is that the team deals with disruption manually as it occurs. There is no algorithm to change staff rosters to replace people who have worked beyond their hours, or to suggest switching aircraft when things slip out of place. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2022-09-20/general/how-airline-chaos-shone-a-light-on-critical-operating-staff
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How airline chaos shone a light on critical operating staff
In a modest office building on the outskirts of Luton airport, a team of 30 people work in near silence to keep easyJet’s operations moving. The casually dressed and often strikingly young staff are responsible for managing more than 1,000 daily flights across Europe, including co-ordinating aircraft, crew and communication with customers round the clock. With voices low and lights dimmed, it is a calm setting for people who have been on the front line of handling the disruption that has gripped the aviation industry this year. “It is an incredibly complex ecosystem and there are lots of things that come at you, some of which are completely beyond your control,” said David Morgan, easyJet’s interim chief operations officer. Chief operating officers at airlines and their staff normally have a low-profile job, overseeing complex logistics and handling the everyday problems that hit schedules, from strikes to snowstorms. But the role has become one of the most pressured in corporate Europe this year, as millions of passengers travelling on nearly every airline have faced delays and cancellations because of chronic staff shortages across the aviation network, leaving executives fighting a daily battle just to keep passengers moving. Just under 4,100 flights from UK airports were cancelled in the last week of June as the industry buckled under the weight of returning passengers, according to industry data company OAG. Passengers complained of ruined holidays, hours long queues and mountains of lost luggage as companies struggled to cope. Reliability quickly improved as new staff started work, airports brought in passenger caps and airlines cut down their schedules. Between 0.5 and 1% of flights were cancelled in August. In Luton, the most striking part of the operation is that the team deals with disruption manually as it occurs. There is no algorithm to change staff rosters to replace people who have worked beyond their hours, or to suggest switching aircraft when things slip out of place. <br/>
