Automating the slot coordination process:

The Challenge:

At Calgary Airport the slot coordinators were faced with several challenges caused by an outdated slot coordination process. The main challenge was many manual processes which, combined with many incoming slot requests, took far more time to process than the time available.

Due to the vast number of manual processes, the airport was reliable on a single individual to handle the slot coordination making it difficult to cover vacation periods, and increasing the risk to the operation, if that individual decided to leave. To cope with the lack of time to handle the many slot requests, the airport was forced to focus on peak weeks when considering their capacity availability. In turn, that increased their risk of turning away flights, which could have fit the schedule.

Combining Better Airport and Airport Hive for a Flight Schedule Management and Seasonal Planning solution

The solution delivered by software companies Copenhagen Optimization and Azinq automatically translates airline slot request messages into a flight schedule and then evaluates resource availability using proven optimization methods. Through this, impact across the whole airport operation is assessed.

Where operational challenges surface, changes to the allocations / plans can be made swiftly to understand if a few operational changes can make the flight fit. The airport can then make informed decisions on the best feedback to a slot request which is then automatically sent to the airline in an SSIM message.

The new solution for Flight Schedule Management and Seasonal Planning is based on Copenhagen Optimization’s software solution Better Airport® and Azinq’s software solution Airport Hive®.

Outcome achieved:

The automated solution creates an efficient workflow that makes you capable of evaluating slot requests in less time, considering more input variables, and looking across the whole season – ultimately allowing you to accept more flights in less time.