What savings can Carmen Crew Pairing deliver?

Of course the amount saved depends on how effective the user’s current process is. Initial savings at our clients typically range from 3% to 15%. The savings can be obtained by reducing the crew costs or by increasing the crew productivity. It is also possible to reduce direct costs (e.g. hotels, passive travel and per diem). Savings can be obtained for both short-haul and longhaul operations.

In addition to this there is also a second saving phase. When planners become skilled in controlling the system, it is possible to fully exploit the simulation potential, e.g. in agreement negotiations, or when providing the commercial department with feedback about a change request. This phase is harder to measure, since it is about avoiding cost increases from a new and expensive agreement or from not being able to meet promised delivery capacity. Based on feedback from clients we estimate that the savings from the simulation potential are comparable to the initial savings.

What problem size can Carmen Crew Pairing handle in one optimization run?
We can handle challenges from the largest airlines in the world. We already assist some of the largest carriers with their optimized planning. A wide variety of planning concepts are supported, including daily and weekly solutions and dated solutions from scratch. Our clients currently solve up to 25,000 dated flights, directly from scratch. Daily solutions with 1,500 flights are not a problem. Mixed short-haul and long-haul operations for large cabin population are also planned by our existing clients.

Can Carmen Crew Pairing handle complex, or even multiple, agreements?
Yes, Rave makes it possible to handle any agreement structure. We currently handle clients with many different union agreements in the same fleet. We also have clients where each individual crew member can choose between different agreements. Can Carmen Crew Pairing obtain proper crew quality? In our experience the definition of crew quality varies a lot between operators. During implementation, Carmen’s staff works closely with expert planners (and sometimes with crewunion representatives) to define exactly what crew quality means for the client. The crew quality criteria are then modelled in the Carmen Rave language.

Since most of the quality criteria are not stated on paper, but are rather a result of company culture, this process requires a lot of communication with the airline’s experts. As a result, the airline’s management receives documentation exactly of how the quality policy really is applied. After implementation the modelling of the quality criteria is taken over by the airline, ensuring that quality criteria always match the company’s policy.

How does Carmen Crew Pairing deal with solution robustness?
There is a wide range of tools to ensure that the proper robustness can be achieved. The detailed robustness criteria are modelled in Rave. The optimization tools also support concepts such as base distribution (moving production between bases to match real crew availability), base variants (ensuring that a certain percentage of the pairings can be easily moved between bases), crew synchronization (keeping different crew categories together during the entire duty or during critical connections) and many more means for achieving solution stability. It is also possible to let Carmen Crew Pairing feed a fleet product, such as Carmen Tail Assignment, with suggestions on critical crew connections that must be respected.

How does Carmen Crew Pairing deal with changes (new aircraft type, changed agreements, new bases, changes in surrounding systems, etc)?
All our systems are designed to handle real changes and support what-if scenarios. The access to Rave and the Carmen Rave Publisher makes it easy to change bases, fleet structure, union agreements and quality or stability criteria. The flexible design of the graphic user interface also makes it easy to change interfaces to surrounding systems or to modify the planning process itself.

The Process Specification and Options Basic Functionality Questions & Answers Screendumps Product Sheet (pdf)

If you have any questions about Carmen Crew Pairing, please contact us at [email protected]

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