Abstract:
A method for scheduling airplanes. Eastbound and westbound flights are scheduled to arrive to and depart from an airport within a small period of time (e.g., 5 minutes). By now scheduling both eastbound and westbound flights to arrive to and depart from an airport within a small block of time, the flow of air traffic is smoothed. Further, the scheduling structure of the present invention allows the passenger's connect time profile to be the same for all the passengers thereby extending the minimum connect time to a greater number of passengers. Further, the scheduling structure of the present invention allows staggered gating (gates are paired in such as a manner as to function as a single gate) thereby expanding gate separation as well as allowing a reduction or an elimination of the gap in times in the services being performed above and below the wings of an aircraft.