Case ${?}^{1,2}$ prepared by Jacques ROY, ${?}^3$ Corrie PICKERING, ${?}^4$ and Martin BEAULIEU ${?}^5$

To address capacity issues at Heathrow Airport, Normand Boivin and his team worked to improve

various procedures. Although implemented with a view to finding short$-$term solutions, these new

measures aimed to optimize logistics flows in sectors where capacity was low. The team knew that,

since they could not immediately increase capacity, they must focus on reorganizing the flow of

passengers and planes.

Improving logistics flows

One of the first steps taken by Boivin was to bring all of the services, including meteorology, gate

assignment, and NATS, together in one control room, so they could work side by side and more

easily share information. If a weather event threatened to disrupt airport operations, for example,

Boivin could ensure that everyone knew about it$,$ including the airlines, which were consulted. If

airport capacity were affected, which aircraft and connections should be prioritized? Passengers

could be advised to stay home and, instead of dealing with long lines of exhausted travellers,

resources could be devoted to serving passengers who would actually fly that day. Coordinating the

activities of all stakeholders was in the best interests of both the airport and the airlines.

Airline gate schedules were adapted to optimize runway and gate capacity, ensuring that incoming

aircraft had enough room to land, that they could taxi to gates with sufficient capacity, and that there

were enough ground personnel to handle the aircraft.

Since airline schedules were not always in sync with the airport's landing and takeoff capacity,

Heathrow worked with the airlines to develop schedules that harmonized terminal and taxiway

capacity. They not only staggered arrival and departure times but also revised schedules to better

meet the airport's needs.

A study demonstrated that improving some of the practices of ground personnel $-$ those involving

operational readiness, for example $-$ could reduce delays by an average of five minutes per aircraft.