OR Presentation

1
Operational Research at British Airways Stefan
Jackson Susannah Martin Operational Research
Consultants
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
• BSc MORSE (1996-1999)
• MSc MSOR (1999-2000)
• BA since 2000

4
British Airways

• One of the worlds 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
BAs 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
Working in OR

• 50 people
• Range of different roles
• Flexible resourcing

9
My background

• Nottingham University
• BSc Mathematics with Statistics (2000-2003)
• Warwick University
• MSc MSOR (2004-2005)
• 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
Spreadsheet Modelling
Optimisation
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
• Dont always believe what you see
• Politics within the organisation

14
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?