America West Airlines : Staffing Issues Presented By Derrick David Masafumi Ishii

Project Outline  Introduction of the Ramp operation at PHX, America West’s major hub airport  Identify problems that discovered through field experience & given information  Suggestion of possible solutions that enable to achieve the task assigned  Possible obstacles for those obstacles

Company Sponsor  Mr. Mike Garland - Senior Manager PHX Hub Fleet Services - Senior Manager PHX Hub Fleet Services Mike Garland

Daily Ramp Operation  6 areas (R1, R2, R3, R4, HA, BA)

Ramp’s Defined Ramps One, Two and Three

Ramps Defined Ramp 4, International, British Air, and Hawaiian

Agent Assignment  Every ramp workers bid their work schedule quarterly  Bids are awarded based on the employees seniority  Employees are assigned a work station (or gate) on sign in.  During times of difficulty, Ramp Managers can reassign employees based on need.  Union contract states that every employee will have 30 minutes of uninterrupted break time during each shift

Aircraft Operations  Per HP Operations –Minimum Turn Around Time  35 min. – B &-300, A319  40 min. – A 320  45 min. – B –Minimum Turn Crew  2 persons - B &-300, A319 & A320  3 persons – B

Problems Associated with Current Work Procedure  Each ramp must be minimally staffed even if there is little flight activity from time to time.  Difficult to move people from one ramp to another without holes in coverage.  Hard to effectively staff each gate  High ratio of full time workers vs. part time workers (Ave. 4:1) → Inducing higher costs  Strict limitation among workers due to labor union  Airport Operations looking to cut costs

Possible Solutions  Elimination of Multi-Zone Bidding System  Development and use of Crew Tracking System  Using Rolling Employee System

Define Elimination of Multi Zone Bid  As stated before, America West has 6 distinct bidding zones (Ramp only) –R1 : Ramp One : ZA –R2 : Ramp Two : ZB –R3 : Ramp Three : ZC –R4 : Ramp Four : ZD –BA : British Airways –HA : Hawaiian Airlines

HA and BA  The Hawaiian Air Flights 35 and 36 have a dedicated team provided from America West, which positions are bid out for 1 year.  The British Airways Flights 288 and 289 also have a dedicated team provided from America West, bid out for 1 year.

So That Leaves 4 Ramps Right?  Right  This is where the Crew Tracking System comes in to play.

What Is Crew Tracking?  Crew Tracking is a system that keeps track of every agent working and effectively staffs each flight based on aircraft type and load.

How does it work?  Clock In –1 Team Lead and Two/Three Agents Grouped Together at Clock In..

Work Cont. –Team Information is loaded in to a computer in “roster” format.  Program tracks and automatically dispatches employees using current computer systems like GateView and GateManager –Programs like Sabre AirOps Ground Manager also offer such support. –Program dispatches employees starting from the top of the roster and working its way down.

Why Roster Format?  Assures that flight and work load is evenly distributed among work force.

Work, Cont.  Operational Control, supervises the automatic assignment of teams to flights and changes assignments based on current need.

Work Cont.  Team Works Assigned Flight

Work Cont.  When “Team” finishes flight, the team lead “clocks out” the team from the flight on the computer.  The computer puts them at the end of the “roster” –Where they are assigned a new flight to work in the future. –Or they are assigned a “30 minute uninterrupted break time” as provided in the union contract

Work Cont.  At end of shift, team can be signed out of the computer, and be removed from the roster.  Or if one or two employees leave, team can be assigned a new employee just starting shift.

Wait One Minute…  Didn’t America West try a system called “Flight Following” a few years ago which didn’t work? –Yes, to both questions, but where “Flight Following” failed, “Crew Tracking” will succeed.

Reviewing “Flight Following”  Flight Following was a similar system to Crew Tracking, but Flight Following had one major flaw. –Once assigned, FF was difficult to change.  Changes due to Irregular Ops, Heavy Loads, etc.

Reviewing “Flight Following”  Since “Crew Tracking” is fully interactive, Operations Mangers in the SOC can change assignments –Example  Heavy load, 757, quick turn flight –Manager can assign two teams to one flight.

But what about the system now?  While the current system allows for managers to move based on need, they need to constantly be in contact with other managers to coordinate efforts and loads.  The new system only requires 1 manager

Ramp’s Defined Review Ramps One, Two and Three

Ramps Defined Review Ramp 4, International, British Air, and Hawaiian

Elimination of Multi-Zone Bid  If the proposed system is implemented, there would be no need to bid out multiple ramps.

Advantages : Multi-Zone Bid  Simplifies bidding process without major change  Provides for greater flexibility when employees bidding for times rather than ramps.

Advantages : Crew Tracking  Ensures that every employee is working and working equal amounts  Every employee is accounted for  Avoids “minimum staffing issues” by only having to staff one ramp.  Employees with a tendency to “disappear” during shift are quickly identified reducing labor cost  SYSTEM REMAINS FLEXABLE!

What Is Minimum Staffing?  Ideally each gate would have a staff assigned to it.  Because this is not ideal, there are several people assigned to each ramp, which the ramp manager places at his/her discretion.  This means that when some ramps are experiencing a heavy load, and others are not, some flights are short staffed, while other rampers don’t currently have anything to do.

Operational Tests  Taking survey from ramp agents –35 Employees Randomly Surveyed  30 out of 35 would choose days and times on/off work rather than which specific ramp they would work.

Operational Tests Review Airport Operations to gain a better understanding of how the America West functions Flight At Gate Bags Being Unloaded and Loaded

More Pictures Masafumi Lends a Hand Pre Flight …And gets a closer look

So How Does This Cut Costs?  If America West can staff its ramp more efficiently, then it will require fewer employees to work the same number of flights.

Rolling Employee System  Also with greater efficiency, America West can expand its base of part-time employees. –Using the theory behind a rolling hub operation, HP can do the same thing with employees.  Employees constantly clocking in, employees constantly clocking out.

Advantages : Rolling Employee System  Ensures that employees coming in are fresher due to reduced workload  Provides greater scheduling flexibility.

Costs…  Also with greater efficiency and using a rolling employee system, it is theorized that employees will be more likely to stay on, reducing the turn over rate.

Current Disadvantages  Union and Employees are currently very distrustful of any change to management or process status quo. –So a great deal of communication and caution must be taken prior to the implementation of any of the above solutions.

Questions? HI !