Sunday, January 30, 2005
Schedule change may save millions
'Operation Clockwork' set to get under way Monday
By James Pilcher
Enquirer staff writer
Delta Air Lines' overhaul to its huge Atlanta operation could have repercussions throughout the industry. Here, a Delta jet departs Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The Associated Press file
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It's considered the biggest single-day change to any airline schedule in history.
Monday's launch of "Operation Clockwork" by Delta Air Lines will add only a handful of flights and destinations at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Yet the carrier's overhaul to its huge Atlanta operation could have repercussions throughout the industry.
Delta's gamble could pay off through big leaps in productivity. The new schedule going into place will give the Atlanta-based airline the equivalent of 19 new planes that can spark new revenue at a time when the airline is bleeding cash.
Most important to travelers is that the massive overhaul could help solve delay problems at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport - known for its congestion problems and a key cog in the nation's air traffic system.
Atlanta ranked third worst among the nation's 31 busiest airports for on-time performance for the first 11 months of last year.
In essence, the airline is:
Turning its hub in Atlanta - the nation's busiest airport - into a nonstop operation by doing away with the old "bank" system that relied on tightly scheduled bunches of flights at peak hours to make connections.
Closing its hub in Dallas-Fort Worth and shifting those flights to other hubs such as Cincinnati (Delta's second-largest) and Salt Lake City. The local airport will get 22 more flights and seven new destinations Monday, with five of those directly related to the restructuring.
Revamping 51 percent of its overall schedule and relying more on flights to and from its Atlanta hub, thereby reducing impact on the rest of the system when things go bad.
Improving productivity by significantly reducing the amount of time from when an airplane lands to when it takes off again, called a "turn time."
"It's really surprising that more airlines haven't done this already because the one they're all chasing, Southwest, has been doing this for years," says Barb Fritsche, an aviation consultant with the Anderson Township office of consulting firm Wilbur Smith. "What they are doing is using their equipment, gates and personnel at their convenience instead of bunching everything up at different times for the convenience of the passenger.
"It works on paper and Southwest has made it work - we'll see how much they can fulfill on their promises."