1. Operational Research at British Airways
Stefan Jackson
Susannah Martin
Operational Research Consultants
Hello & welcome

2. Introduction Objective
Help you to understand what it is like to work in OR at BA
Agenda
BA & its OR department
The perspective of a new joiner

3. My background Warwick University BA since 2000 BSc MORSE (1996-1999)
MSc MSOR ( )
BA since 2000

4. British Airways One of the world’s longest established airlines
Industry-leader
Last year, BA had
> 36 million passengers
Turnover >£7,500m
47,000 staff employed
British Airways’ worldwide route network covers some 341 destinations in 106 countries

5. BA’s daily Operation is huge
Our current LHR operation is very constrained. We will move to a new Terminal T5 in 2008.

6. BA organisation Willie Walsh CEO Commercial Planning Commercial
Customer Service and Ops
Investments and Alliances
Finance IM
General Counsel
People Department

7. OR provides consultancy right across BA
Willie Walsh
CEO
Commercial Planning
Commercial
Customer Service and Ops
Investments and Alliances
Finance
Yield
E2E Scheduling IM
OR Projects
General Counsel OR
People Department

8. Range of different roles Flexible resourcing
Working in OR
50 people
Range of different roles
Flexible resourcing

9. My background Nottingham University Warwick University
BSc Mathematics with Statistics ( )
Warwick University
MSc MSOR ( )
Joined BA 6 months ago

10. A typical day in OR at BA Each day is different Likely to include:
Project work
Client meetings
OR meetings
Planning and communication

11. Network planning & scheduling OR projects
Forecasting Competitor Growth
3 month MSc summer project
Forecasting where competitors will put their planes over the next 15 years
Improving punctuality
Calculating the optimum time to give an aircraft between flights
Estimating numbers of transfer passengers for Terminal 5
To help with staffing decisions in the new terminal

12. In our department we use various OR techniques
Forecasting
Problem
Structuring
Statistical
Analysis
Optimisation
Spreadsheet
Modelling
Simulation

13. But some things are different compared with uni
Problem structuring
Who should you talk to ?
Data is not always available
“We need the answer yesterday please …”
Don’t always believe what you see
Politics within the organisation

14. Fun and Varied Environment
Working in OR at BA
Friendly and helpful people
Awaydays and socials
Clubs and societies to join
Modern offices – lots of facilities
Flights
Line roles + +
Flights
Flights
Fun and Varied Environment
Flights
Flexi-time

15. Any Questions?