Resumen
Adverse weather conditions, strikes, political reasons and other different causes can impact the long-term success of an airline. An effective Disruption Management System can predict the occurrence of these events and assist by reducing the impact on the operations. The paper offers an overview on what is considered a disruption for airlines and analyses the state-of-the-practice of airline operation control centers. Traditionally, Operations Control Centers (OCCs) are mainly composed by aircraft dispatchers, maintenance operators, and other operational personnel. Currently, there is a tendency to integrate into this control centers other departments critical for the decision making, such as commercial department, social media, ground operations, etc. However, we propose an analysis of what other data is required to provide fact-based decisions during Irregular Operations (IROPS). The need for implementing these decisions, requires a promptly access to real time data by frontline and operational staff. The paper also offers an understanding of this required data. Furthermore, one of the indicator to measure the long-term success of an airline is the number of passenger flown by year and their engagement to continue flying with the airline in the future. This aspect is not always considered during disruption, therefore decisions are taken based on previous operational experience without considering real long-term impact on value of passengers. The paper explores some of the solutions to personalize passenger preferences in case of disruptions. Specifically, we look into self-serve options to provide the passenger with the sense of control of the situation. Lastly, the complexity of Disruption Management in airlines is motivated by the lack of resources (aircraft, crew, etc.) and limited transportation options. An assessment is conducted on the Meta-CDM project which incorporates rails and buses as an alternate mode of transportation.