New Lufthansa Systems crew optimizers increase productivity by up to five percent

Crew costs are among an airline’s largest areas of expenditure. Yet, carriers can reduce their costs and increase efficiency in this field with NetLine/Crew, the crew management solution from Lufthansa Systems. Using the latest generation of crew optimizers, airlines can plan and control the deployment of their pilots and flight attendants by making the best possible use of available resources. NetLine/Crew is part of the Integrated Operations Control Center (IOCC) Platform from Lufthansa Systems.

Crew costs include the monthly pay of pilots and flight attendants as well as hotel and transfer costs and expenses. Airlines seeking to reduce these costs are bound by a variety of legal, logistical and contractual requirements. The process also grows more complex with an increasing number of crew members. The crew optimizers from Lufthansa Systems take all of these factors into account.

The latest generation of optimizers comprises the NetLine/Crew Pairing xOPT rotation optimizer as well as the NetLine/Crew Fairness xOPT and NetLine/Crew Preferences xOPT roster optimizers. These new optimizers lower crew costs, increase efficiency and reduce planning complexity even more than their predecessors.

With NetLine/Crew Pairing xOPT, airlines can generate anonymous, optimized, cost-efficient rotation plans. The roster optimizers then assign these rotations for a fixed planning period to crew members who are actually available. Depending on an airline’s philosophy, certain employee preferences may be taken into account (NetLine/Crew Preferences xOPT) or all crew members may be treated equally (NetLine/Crew Fairness xOPT).

"The economic benefits speak for themselves: With NetLine/Crew products, airlines can increase their productivity by up to five percent, which results in savings of up to 10 million dollars a year for a medium-sized airline,” explained Dr. Ulrike Gall, Senior Vice President Airline Management Solutions at Lufthansa Systems. In addition, the optimizers offer operational advantages by reducing the likelihood of disruptions through fewer aircraft changes and by including reasonable buffer times. Airlines can simulate various scenarios and choose the most beneficial one overall. This eases the strain on crew planners and increases their productivity, while airlines benefit early from the advantages thanks to the short implementation time.