Fligence Planning also features a Flight Time Evaluation tool, which analyzes selected flights to offer recommendations on the most favorable departure times. The tool can be activated during the scenario execution process by selecting the Flight Time Evaluation option. For airline users, this option only appears after you click the More Options button, as shown in the Figure 1 below.
Flight Selection
To prepare for the flight time analysis, navigate to the Host Schedule table and mark the flights you wish to evaluate by checking the corresponding box in the TIME_EVAL column. If your analysis should factor in codeshare contributions, ensure to select those flights as well. A streamlined method for including all relevant flights—both organic and codeshare—is to utilize the Batch Update feature, accessible via the 
button located in the top-right corner of the interface.
For instance, in Figure 2, we set the Time_Eval field to True for all entries where the operating flight number (field Opt_Flight_No) is 353, 240, or 253.
Flight Time Set up
Prior to initiating the evaluation, it’s important to set the incremental time interval, with 60 minutes being the default. This means the system will explore alternative flight times at 60-minute increments from the original departure time, continuing for a 24-hour cycle. Flight AD5062, as an example, departs at 6:00 AM on weekdays and at 8:35 AM on Sundays; thus, the system will generate and assess new departure times like 7:00 AM, 8:00 AM, and so on for weekdays, and 9:35 AM, 10:35 AM, etc., for Sundays, based on the original schedule, as shown in Figure 3.
Our system allows evaluating multiple flights concurrently. Nevertheless, new connections are only established between flights with revised departure times and those with their original times. For example, if we concurrently assess flights 123 from JFK to DEN at 9:00 AM and flight 345 from DEN to LAX at 2:00 PM, any new connections will be formed between the newly timed flight 123 and the unchanged flight 345 at 2:00 PM, provided the connection times are feasible, and vice versa.
Time Evaluation Reports
After the scenario has been executed, the results can be reviewed in two detailed reports by navigating to Planning > Analytical Reports > Time Evaluation and Time Eval Compare. The Flight Time Evaluation report, as shown in Figure 3, delineates the segment and system revenue contributions of the selected flights across various alternative timings, as predetermined by time increments assigned on the scenario execution screen. This report identifies the flights marked in the Time_Eval field and calculates potential revenue based on local market predictions and single connection forecasts, which include online, codeshare, and interline connections.
On the other hand, the Comparison of Optimal Flight Time vs. Original Schedule report, displayed in Figure 4, explains why the optimal times leads to higher traffic and revenue by showing detailed contribution from different itineraries. For example, in Figure 4, the newly assigned departure time at 7am may be better than the original schedule at 6am because it will enable more connections, such as MAB-CNF-GRU and CNF-GRU-CGB.
Time Evaluation Data Structure
Table 1 below outlines the data structure of the Flight Time Evaluation table, with the data metrics aggregated by the combination of fields with a key icon (
).
| Field | Description |
| Org | Origin airport of the evaluated flight |
| Dst | Destination airport of the evaluated flight |
| Mkt_AL | Marketing airline of the evaluated flight |
| Opt_AL | Operating airline of the evaluated flight |
| Opt_Flight | Operating flight number |
| Opt_Days | Operating day of week (1: Monday, 2: Tuesday, …, 7: Sunday) |
| Flight_Time | Flight time (Local departure time – Local arrival time + arrival offset day) |
| Pax | Number of passengers carried on the flight |
| Revenue | Prorated revenue generated by the flight |
| Pax_Local | Number of local passengers on the flight |
| Rev_Local | Revenue generated from local passengers on the flight |
| FlightID | An unique ID for the original flight |
| Time_Eval_Seq | Index of flights with alternative departure times |
Table 2 below outlines the data structure of the Flight Time Evaluation Comparison table, with the data metrics aggregated by the combination of fields with a key icon ().
| Field | Description |
| Flight | Operating airline and operating flight number of the evaluated flight |
| Org | Origin airport of the evaluated flight |
| Dst | Destination airport of the evaluated flight |
| Opt_Days | Operating day of week (1: Monday, 2: Tuesday, …, 7: Sunday) |
| Old_Time | Original flight time (Local departure time – Local arrival time + arrival offset day) |
| New_Time | Alternative time of the optimal flight |
| Type | Itinerary Type: NS: non-stop OS: one-stop CS_NS: codesharing non-stop CS_OS: codesharing non-stop OL_Sng: online single connection CS_Sng: codesharing single connection IL_Sng: interline single connection |
| Route | Itinerary route (origin airport – connecting airport, if any – destination airport) |
| Mkt_AL | Marketing airlines on all flight segments concatenated with ‘/’ |
| Opt_AL | Operating airlines on all flight segments |
| Old_Pax | Number of passengers carried on the original flight |
| New_Pax | Number of passengers carried on the optimal flight |
| Old_Rev | Prorated revenue generated by the original flight |
| New_Rev | Prorated revenue generated by the optimal flight |
For a more comprehensive forecast, you can take the optimal timings identified and conduct a full-system forecast to fine-tune the forecast further.