This starts with customer demands such as passenger numbers, the existing fleet capacities, routes and slots (for airlines, pathways for rail and delivery windows for road haulage). Seasonal factors, public holidays and period of higher demand are also taken into account. The system performs a fleet assignment using optimization algorithms to maximize load factor and/or profitability and then calculates KPIs. These include load factor, profitability, utilization factor and spare capacity. A budget can be created from expected values of KPIs.

The schedule can be fine tuned and optimized to maximize load factor and take competitor activity and into account. For example, the timetable could be compared to a competitor or checked with a partner, such as a code share operator, or checked for connecting flights. Robustness and reliability can be investigated and enhanced by analyzing turn-round times, interaction between sectors and spare capacity.

It is also possible to start with an earlier schedule, say for last month or last year, and modify based on changes of routes, competitor schedules and/or customer demands.

Once the schedule or timetable is tuned it can be published to all interested parties such as sales, marketing, customer services, operations etc. If necessary this can be done privately initially for any last minute comments and then publicly.

Schedules are subject to change for a variety of reasons. Expected demand may not materialize, it could exceed expectations, elements of the fleet may become unavailable, etc. The Changes Manager deals with the process of re-optimizing, re-tuning and publishing the changes.