Flight cancelled due to alligators

[Parvaz]

You have heard the story about alligators the size of motor homes
stalking the dark recesses of the sewer system beneath New York City
haven't you? These beasts started out life as pets, abandoned by
their owners who supposedly flushed them down the household toilet.
Instead of dying, the alligators grew to enormous size and are posing
great hazards to the unfortunate utility worker whose job forces them
into the subterranean domain of the colossal killers. Also you have
heard that the reason airlines cancel flights is because that flight
is not full. They are not making money on that flight. So, to avoid
losing money, they just post a "cancelled" notice thereby solving
their immediate problem. You can almost see them giggling at the
consternation of the paying passenger who is left to twist in the
wind. Both of these "stories" are believed by many people. Both are
nonsense!
The traveling public is angry and it is easy to gravitate to some
idea if it gives a plausible explanation for a point of irritation
especially if it serves to further vilify the already hated airline
industry.
The "airline" is a never sleeping complex commercial enterprise. It
is a "system" of human and mechanical resources in constant motion.
Flight cancellations are more accurately viewed as chest pains,
symptoms of a more serious problem, rather than financial boosts.
Financially bad things happen when the airplanes stop moving.
Fixed Costs. The airline does not escape its fixed costs for the
flight when your flight cancels. They still have to pay the lease
payment on the jet as well as the insurance costs. And, the crew will
be paid for the trip, even if the flight doesn't depart (at most but
not all airlines). It will be expensive in the terms of the dollars
to keep the airplane idle. The aircraft generates income when it is
moving not when it is sitting idle at some gate. When the flight
cancels and the jet sits at the gate it is nothing but expense!
A Single flight is not a valid economic sample. The airlines are not
looking at your 8:00 AM Tuesday August 14th flight from Chicago to
Charlotte in isolation. Each specific flight is evaluated over the
course of weeks or months to see if it is a profit center; any one
given day is not significant in terms of valid economic analysis. If
the flight doesn't make money, over the course of time, it will be
dropped from the schedule. Much the same way a professional baseball
player will be cut from the roster if he doesn't produce over whatever
time limit is used for his evaluation. The decision to cut that
individual from the roster isn't made based on how he reacted to a
single pitch in the 4th inning of an early game in July. As a
passenger it is difficult not to view your trip as the sole reason for
the existence of the entire airline structure, but it is not. No
disrespect intended.
Domino effect. When your flight cancels it not only strands you, it
also strands everybody else that was scheduled to fly on that
airplane. If you thought that was an obvious statement and that I was
referring to your fellow passengers, scheduled on the same flight you
were which was just cancelled, you are missing my point. Usually, you
can't cancel a single flight without it having a serious negative
consequence for many other flights. Those flying machines spend more
than half the available time in the air. It is common for them to
land at six, eight or even more cities in a given "day". Depending on
when that flight cancels it could affect hundreds of people. If that
airplane doesn't fly from city 4 to city 5 then it isn't going to be
at city 5 to fly to city 6 and so on.
Additionally the pilots and flight attendants were probably scheduled
for more work at the end of the cancelled flight. Because of the
cancellation, the crew isn't where they are supposed to be. Without
them the next airplane doesn't move either. If they were scheduled to
change planes now the airline has two airplanes that aren't moving.
Matching qualified aircrews with airplanes is a complex job. Your
pilots can only fly one "type" of airplane (normally). For example I
am a Boeing 737 Captain. I am not qualified to fly an Airbus 320, a
Boeing 757 or a MD-80. Airline crew scheduling must match properly
qualified crews with the jets that are available. This is an
elaborate scheduling dance and properly matched "partners" are
essential. Flight cancellations cause mayhem in this area. It is
expensive to fly crews around in the back of airplanes (You have seen
those uniformed flight crewmembers sitting in the back of a flight -
it's called "deadheading.") to reposition them to where they should
have been in the first place. It is a domino effect, and it is all
expensive and negative.
Gate congestion. The cancellation of a flight places a jet where it
isn't supposed to be-stuck at a gate. In many airports gate space is
at a premium. Not having a gate available becomes another headache
for the ground operations crew who has to scramble finding places to
put jets that are already in the air, and headed for the gate, that is
now occupied by the cancelled flight. At major hubs it is common for
the gates to be scheduled all day long with as little as 15 minutes
between flights.
Maintenance requirements are another deterrent to cancelling
flights. Often airplanes are scheduled for some inspection or the
replacement of some specific time limited part to take place at the
completion of its flight. This necessary work cannot be done, most of
the time, while the airplane is in revenue service (flying paying
passengers & freight). The maintenance of the fleet is an ongoing
process and much of it happens between the hours of midnight and 6 AM
when aircraft utilization is lower. Part availability and the
availability of skilled labor to do the required maintenance task
require a specific airplane to be at specific airport at specific
times. If your flight cancels, then it doesn't get where it needs to
be to have the required maintenance done. If that maintenance is not
done then the airplane is not legal to fly the next day. Cancelling
flights often disrupts the intricate placement of the jets necessary
for ongoing maintenance.
If the reasons not to cancel a flight are so compelling why then does
it happen with such frequency? Remember my analogy of chest pains
being a symptom of deeper problems? If your carrier is cancelling
lots of flights regularly it is most likely a symptom of much deeper
problems.

End of part 1 of 2.