Keeping Planes in the Air is an Around-the-Clock Job

Mar. 24 -- TULSA -- It's 7 a.m. and the earliest of travelers are just boarding their flights around the nation, but workers at American Airlines' Maintenance Operations Center haven't stopped from the day before.

They won't stop. They can't stop. It's up to them to find out what mechanical issues the airline had the day before -- the issues that caused delays, or even worse, cancellations -- and find out how to resolve the problem and get the airplanes back in service. It's a round-the-clock job, one that doesn't stop when the plane lands.

"If an airplane is not flying, it's being worked on," said Al Degan, center managing director, located at American's Tulsa Maintenance Base. "The airline is 24/7."

Although the MOC never stops, a new day begins at 7 a.m. when Degan and a handful of other MOC employees conduct the daily teleconference that sets American Airlines' pace for the day.

The call begins right on the hour. From Kansas City to Boston to Dallas, the MOC gets a mechanical update from about 90 locations.

"Good morning," a voice says over the speaker. "Latin America is in full service this morning."

MOC manager John Ferrante congratulates the team in Latin America and quickly prompts other locations to give their update.

"Over to you St. Louis," Ferrante said, following it up with a prompt to Kansas City, Tulsa, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Goal is no delays

A damaged door on an aircraft in Dallas, an overhead duct problem on the east coast, a possible oil leak in Los Angeles and a shortage of mechanics in Orlando are maintenance issues MOC must try to resolve to ensure passengers reach their destinations. In the meantime, the issues result in cancellations and delays -- not the start Degan was hoping for.

"I'm starting the day with 13 cancellations right off the bat," Degan said. "That's not good. That's not a good way to run an airline."

Degan knows those delays and cancellations can increase throughout the day. The day before, American hoped for no more than 79 mechanical delays, but had 111. The number may not seem alarming to the average ear, considering the airline had 2,139 departures, but to Degan, one delay or cancellation is one too many.

"Our goal is to reduce this out of service number to zero," said Degan, who is also American's maintenance director. "Our goal is to keep our airline running smoothly and getting our travelers where they need to be."

Real time tracking

Getting travelers where they need to be starts inside MOC's Command Center, where aircraft routers work to put an airplane on a specific trip, and the managers take about 1,000 calls around the clock concerning maintenance, security and other issues that could result in a delay or cancellation.

A stack of maintenance requests -- from a minor tear in an armrest to the more serious engine break down -- await tech manager John Baron. Baron, who has been with the MOC for 14 years, said technology has changed the way the center tracks outof-service planes.

"When we started, we had Mac screens," he said, now surrounded by walls covered with LCD screens capable of tracking maintenance and overhaul projects in real time. Baron said the center will receive about 300 serious maintenance reports a day. He said the target is for no more than 200.

"While everybody's sleeping, we are either flying someone or working on a plane," he said.

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