Scott Vlasek

Aviation

2008 Airline Online Symposium

The 2008 Airline Online Symposium was an applied information based training session. The session was broken into two parts over two days. The first part of day one was just getting to know the company and the software. They talked about how they have grown from an internet based publicly open software game to now a purchased based educational and training based program. Simulate is the name of the company that owns and operates Airline Online and they are based out of Sydney, Australia.

The first part of the training session revolved around the Online Manager Control Panel. This is the control panel that the instructor uses to setup the simulation. We went over templates, scenarios and did a step-by-step setup process. Our next session was on the user interface. Again, we did a step-by-step setup from the student’s perspective which will be described in more detail below. The final session for day one was to have two faculty members talk about their experience in using Airline Online. Dr. Gerry Fairburn of Westminster College in Utah talked about how his school and Daniel Webster did a competition between the two schools. The experience was very different then what we would use it for but if added an additional element of having that second school in the mix. Dr. Mary Menchick talked about how she has utilized the program in her graduate Air Transportation class and the success that she had with it. Another item that Mary talked about was having the students develop a business plan at the beginning of the semester to determine what type of operation the students wants to have, mainline carrier, low cost carrier, regional carrier, or cargo. One point that Mary talked about regarding this was to have the review the plan several times throughout the semester to see if what they proposed is working or if they need to make changes to their operation.

On day two, two employees of Simulate showed us how they use and test the system. Both of these users are experts at the system and are heavily involved in the development of future additions and options. They went into great detail on multi point flights and setting up code sharing operations. These are two new features that will be coming out in the next edition of the program. The second session of day two was talking about how to integrate Airline Online into a syllabus or curriculum. Mr. David Pethick talked about how the company is willing to work with the instructors to setup their course and simulation. They have worked with companies and universities from around the world and they feel that it is very important for an instructor to send them a copy of their syllabus and objectives of what they want to get out of the simulation. Based on that information they will provide guidance on how the simulation can best be utilized to accomplish the goals. The final session was a round table discussion on what students felt of the program. Students from Arizona State University talked about how they liked the program and how it gave them a better idea of all that is involved in operating an airline.

In terms of the program, it is a very dynamic and powerful training tool. As mentioned above the instructor will setup the simulation based on a number of criteria. The first decision the instructor must make is to what extent you want to use the simulation. It can cover the entire world, just the US, a particular region or state, or just a few airports. This will give the students the basis for their simulation. The instructor has two other major decisions that they must give the students. First, how many and what type of aircraft will be available to them and second if they are going to give the student capital to start with or must they raise money through the sale of stocks and bonds. In our simulation we were give $500 million to start with so we had enough money to do a lot of different things.

Once the students have been given access then they need to look at the available cities and determine a home base. This will serve as their headquarters and most likely their maintenance base. In order for the airline to operate the student must establish a maintenance base and must match it up with their flight schedule and the aircraft they select. The next step for the student is to staff the airline. Based on the number of aircraft they are operating they will hire pilots, maintenance staff, and administrative personnel. They do have the option to add additional staff at a cost but it can cut down on down time for the aircraft later. It is also recommended that they hire a market analysis and marketing company. This will give them the best information on city pairs and what type of marketing they should be doing. If they do not hire one or both of these individuals then they will need to determine this information on their own and could very well miss something. The next step the students will take is to determine what aircraft are available on the market. They will have the option to buy new, lease new, or buy used. The longer they wait to do this the less available aircraft will be and they will have to wait until the system adds additional aircraft. Once the students have selected the aircraft they must them determine how they plan to configure the aircraft. This will involve determining if they are going to offer just one class of seating or multiple classes, what services will they offer in the different classes, and in economy seating what will the pitch depth be between the seats.

Now that they have aircraft they must begin the process of scheduling their operations. Based on the city pairs and maintenance of the aircraft they will need to establish a schedule that fits their needs and wants. If a schedule does not match up to the maintenance schedule of the aircraft then at some point the flight will stop and the students will need to deal with the consequences of the problem. There are four levels of maintenance the student will need to contend with A checks, which are first day operations and do not require a maintenance base, B checks, which will require the aircraft to be down for a short time usually overnight, and C & D Checks, which require more time and the aircraft to be out of service. This is where having additional maintenance staff can help speed up the process and reduce the amount of time the aircraft is out of service. The next process will be to establish the fares for the flights. They will be given suggestions if they hired a market analysis otherwise they will need to determine for themselves what the fares should be. The simulation will look at the market pairs, their fares, and their competition to determine how many tickets are purchased on their flights. Once they have their fare information they can begin to work on their marketing campaign. If they hired a marketing company this information will be provided as a suggestion otherwise they will need to determine how much money they will need to spend on marketing and what forms of marketing they will use. While it is not part of the simulation, my plan would be to have them develop the marketing materials and include them in their final report.

Now that the student has set everything up it is time to start the simulation. The instructor controls the simulation through running a batch. Each batch that is run is equal to a three month or quarterly process. Each time a batch is run the student will get a report has to how profitable they were in that quarter, what their load factors are, and be given a comparison as to what their competition has done. With this information they will be able to go back into the simulation and make adjustments and correction to their airline. Based on the companies recommendation it is best to wait three weeks to run the first batch, let the students get things setup and become familiar with the software. Then over the next 12-15 weeks run 1 or 2 batches a week, this will give them data for a 3-5 year simulation. At the end of the semester the students will submit an annual report to the board of directors or share holders discussing the information obtained from the simulation.

I found this symposium to be very helpful and feel that this is something that we must bring into our program. I am going to be proposing to develop a course around this program that our students will take as a senior towards the end of their program. The cost of the program is $850 per semester per class and I have already begun discussion with our director to look for funds from Technology Fee money, possible grant opportunities, or the use of department funds to pay for the simulation. Another option is to have the student pay a portion of the cost as a book through the UNO Bookstore. These are details that I still need to look at and see what options are available. The simulation puts together a lot of the information that we talk about in other classes and brings new information that we do not touch on. I am very excited about the use of this program in our curriculum and am very thankful for having the opportunity to go to the symposium and wish to thank UCAT for funding my trip.

If you have any additional questions or need any additional information please feel free to contact me at 554-3785 or svlasek@unomaha.edu. I also have a temporary account established with the company that I would be happy to give a demonstration of its capabilities.

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