| |
New flight schedule : Constant and step by step improvement
 www.airtahiti.com > New flight schedule : Constant and step by step improvement
Air Tahiti’s new flight schedule is in effect since April 1st. It remains valid until October 31st, 2006. Since the creation of Air Tahiti in 1987, the twice-yearly change of schedule punctuates the life of the airline and its passengers. Explanations about these changes that are essential to air service in French Polynesia and to its improvement.
 If passengers think in terms of flights that allow them to get from one place to another, Air Tahiti reasons in terms of “rotations” (consecutive legs in operational sequence between the departure and arrival at station of origin of any flight) that can include from 2 to 7 flights. An example : an ATR 72 taking off from Tahiti-Faa’a to go to Rurutu, then Rimatara, before coming back to Papeete is doing one rotation. Passengers can take, on that rotation, five different flights : Papeete-Rurutu, Papeete-Rimatara, Rurutu-Rimatara, Rurutu-Papeete or Rimatara-Papeete. Every day, Air Tahiti’s planes complete an average of 20 rotations that differ from one day to the next. All these, repeated every week, make up the basic flight program, to which extra flights may be added. For passengers, this flight program is materialized by the schedule. This program is not set in stone. On the contrary, it must evolve to adapt to changes in both the airline and its environment
The airline must first of all establish two different flight programs : one for summer and one for winter, in order to reflect the seasonal variations in demand on its routes. In 2005 Air Tahiti carried about 732 000 passengers, among which 492 000 were residents of French Polynesia and 240 000 were visitors. Between the month of lowest activity, generally February, and the peak months of July and August, the number of passengers carried monthly doubles ! In these conditions Air Tahiti has to adapt the number of flights. Another important factor to take into account is the higher number of tourists between June and September. And those tourists are to be found on a few routes to the most visited islands such as Bora Bora, Raiatea, Rangiroa and Huahine. Service to these destinations must therefore be considerably increased during the period.
Another factor calling for flight program modification is the change of operations days or schedules of international flights serving French Polynesia. These changes also incur changes in Air Tahiti’s schedule as our airline wants to offer arriving or departing visitors fast connecting flights to or from the islands. This is why Air Tahiti’s flight schedule changes are synchronized to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) seasonal calendar. Most airlines in the world change their schedules on the same dates.
Adapting to international flight schedules
In order to participate efficiently in the development of Polynesian tourism, Air Tahiti also modifies its flight program to take into account the opening of new tourist infrastructures. Since April 1st, 2006, the airline has thus considerably reinforced its offer to Bora Bora following the opening of two new hotels. The growth of tourist activity in the country’s different islands and archipelagos leads Air Tahiti to increase flight frequency, which also benefits the residents of the islands.
Air Tahiti also has to factor in events such as the opening of new runways. In less than a year, three new islands have thus been opened to air traffic : Raroia and Niau in the Tuamotu, and Rimatara in the Austral Islands. In addition, existing runways can change, allowing the landing and take-off of larger aircraft such as the ATR. In this respect too, there have been many changes since April, with four new runways in the Tuamotu being made accessible to our airline’s ATR 42s.
Internally, the flight program may be strongly impacted by the evolution of our fleet, such as new aircraft being put in service. The arrival of the Beechcraft King Air 200 to replace the Dornier plane has led to an important overhaul of the flight program in eastern Tuamotu. Other changes in regulations regarding aircraft maintenance or crew’s flight time are also taken into account by the airline.
Regular flights for better service to visitors
“The establishment of a new flight program is contingent on two golden rules : improvement and stability”, explains Patrick Martineau, Air Tahiti’s commercial director. “Improvement, as change is a one-way street : once we decide to increase flight frequency to a given island, it will be very difficult, later, to backtrack and decrease the frequency”. With more than 19 years’ experience, Air Tahiti has mastered this difficult task and, with very few exceptions, new service has not been cancelled later. As for regularity, “today’s service is made up of a fixed canvas with, for instance, three to six flights a day to Bora Bora , two to three to Huahine, as well as inter-island flights to help the establishment of circuits. People need to be able to always count on these flights”. This stability allows French Polynesia’s residents genuine mobility, and it also is essential to the development of tourism. The tour operators and travel agencies that create and commercialize tours in Polynesian islands can rely on stable service. No way can this canvas be completely changed every six months.
Facing economic reality
 However, when changing its program, the airline must keep an eye on economic reality. “We cannot add flights all the time, as flights need to have a decent occupancy level”, says Patrick Martineau. To do this, the airline’s managers use simple markers such as seat occupancy : if all 48 seats on an ATR 42 are filled on each flight, the seat occupancy factor is 100%. If the plane is half full, it is 50%. Average seat occupancy is very regularly measured on the whole network. It must be above a certain level for any service to a destination to reach break-even and for the airline not to operate at a loss.
The Austral archipelago is now linked to Tahiti by six weekly flights, against five formerly, representing a 20% increase in available seats. Because the number of passengers will not suddenly increase by 20%, the seat occupancy factor on flights to the Austral Islands will, at first, decrease, as passengers will distribute over all the flights on offer. It will take a certain time a few years_ before the increase in passengers is significant enough to lead the seat occupancy factor back up to its previous level. The airline must therefore carefully calculate and anticipate in order not to face problems due to the launch of too many new flights. “We can satisfy all the demands that are put to us, notably by the mayors of some islands, only over time” sums up Patrick Martineau. And in spite of all these constraints, spectacular progress has been made. Today, with the new flight program, 46 islands in French Polynesia enjoy air service, against only 11 in the early 1970’s!
Racing the clock
The elaboration of a new flight program is a long and exacting task. For the summer program that goes into effect on April 1st, Patrick Martineau writes a report in December, recapping all the major changes, such as the opening of new runways. Problems such as over-capacity demand and the ways to remedy them are also addressed. This document serves as the basis for flight rotations. This “commercial request” is then transferred to the operations department that makes sure the proposed flight program is feasible, taking into account constraints imposed by air regulations, crew’s flight time and aircraft performance. After another consultation with the commercial department, the project is validated. Then starts a true race against the clock : the new schedule booklet that is distributed to clients must be printed. Another considerable task is the modification of passenger reservations. Trips proposed to external visitors may include flights that are being modified in the new program. Tour operators must therefore be informed of all changes. The new schedule is also entered in the international computer booking systems. All this before D-day, on which the new flight program comes into effect, an important moment in the life of the airline and its passengers.
| |
print this page
Version française
top