All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been fully operating its “AI Scheduler,” an automated scheduling system for flight crew members, since April.
The system was jointly developed through R&D and an approximately four-year proof of concept. It checks conditions including qualifications, aviation regulations, internal rules, fatigue risk management standards, and vacation requests to create proposed schedules for approximately 2,000 flight crew members. The algorithm also incorporates and replicates considerations previously based on experience, such as balancing individual crew schedules and taking fatigue into account.
The system can complete a task that previously took several weeks in just a few hours, and is expected to reduce work time by 6,300 hours annually, or 525 hours per month. AI handles routine constraints, while staff address individual circumstances and unexpected exceptions, improving both workability for flight crew members and operational efficiency.
