Spirit Airlines incorporates new flight scheduling technology

Spirit Airlines is investing in the passenger with Amadeus SkySYM technology to help optimize its flight schedule and maximize reliability for upcoming travel seasons. The state-of-the-art solution takes a wide range of operational data and creates a virtual representation in parallel that highlights
trouble spots in the operation for the network planning team to analyze as it creates efficient schedules for the airline.

Spirit continues to grow rapidly, adding new aircraft and launching more destinations, and as airlines grow, so do their flight schedules. These schedules, which are the core of the airline, are the result of a complex system designed and managed by the Network Planning team, which analyzes a multitude of operational, personnel, environmental and other factors.

"Large commercial airlines like Spirit operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and working with interruptions is part of life in our industry, whether it's due to weather impacts, traffic control related restrictions and various other events that can arise in airspace or at airports," said John Kirby, Vice President of Network Planning. "SkySYM helps us proactively identify potential operational hot spots and minimize impact through better design of
scheduling. Our team does a phenomenal job planning our network, and investing in new cutting-edge tools will help us continue to provide a great travel experience for our Guests."

Small changes to a large-scale operation can make a significant difference to our Guests and Team Members, especially during peak periods like the busy summer travel season. Below are general examples of how Spirit is using this solution to aid programming development:

- Analyze the historical performance data of our flights and suggest improvements for future programming. Some examples are the detection of trends, the identification of cascading effects in flights and the recommendations on adjustments in the rotation or block time.
- Examine shipping forecast data, such as load factors and connections, and incorporate it into future schedule recommendations. An example is changes in connection times or ground time depending on load factors and the popularity of the route.

"There are hundreds of variables that make up a successful airline schedule, and optimizing this complex puzzle requires the latest data science capabilities," said Renzo Vaccari, Senior Vice President, Sky Suite, Amadeus. “By applying AI to schedule simulations, Spirit gains a deeper understanding of where delays are likely to occur so it can take preventative action, such as reallocating buffer time from one part of its schedule to another.”

Amadeus SkySYM is part of the Amadeus Sky suite, a portfolio of five solutions that use artificial intelligence to help airlines develop the most robust and profitable network strategies.