Continuing pursuit of excellence with Widerøe

With 34 destinations in Norway, 5 destinations in Northern Europe and 300 daily departures, Widerøe's flyveselskap is one of the most important transport companies in Norway. Widerøe is continuously concerned with improvements by more optimal planning and co-ordination of operations. In this way, Widerøe consolidates its position as an airline with an attractive flight schedule, punctuality, uncompromising safety and good economy.

During winter 2001, the Department of Optimisation analysed planning processes in close collaboration with key personnel at Widerøe. A report that describes strengths, weaknesses and recommended changes to planning processes was the main deliverable. Last summer, Widerøe and SINTEF signed a contract for a follow-up project. The goal is to specify and evaluate tools that will assist human planners in generating valid, robust and cost-effective rotation plans for crew, so-called crew pairings. Potential benefits are believed to be high, both in terms of plan quality, capacity for evaluating alternative scenarios, and employee satisfaction. According to plans, Widerøe will start implementing new crew pairing tools that will improve their excellent performance even further, in the beginning of 2003.