Celebrating our MP² customers: Cebu Pacific

Since its first flight in 1996, Cebu Pacific has rapidly grown into the Philippines’ largest low-cost carrier. Today its biggest hub is at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino airport. In 2019, the airline carried over 22.4 million passengers on an extensive network spanning domestic points and select international destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cebu Pacific operates a modern fleet consisting largely of Airbus A320 series narrow bodies and A330 wide bodies. Its CebGo subsidiary operates a fleet of ATR-72 turboprops.

Cebu Pacific prides itself on being the airline for every Juan, as Filipinos like to refer to themselves. With its emphasis on keeping costs down, Cebu Pacific has been able to offer very competitive fares to passengers, bringing air travel within the reach of ever-increasing numbers of people.

Did you know? Cebu Pacific is a founding member of the Value Alliance, the world's largest alliance of low cost carriers.

Cebu Pacific is celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary during 2021. We want to wish everyone in the Cebu Pacific family a very happy anniversary! Industrial Optimizers look forward to working with you in the years ahead.

Celebrating our MP2 customers: SJ

SJ is Sweden's national passenger railway operator. It offers train travel across a network that spans the nation. SJ serves 160 stations every day – including international services that reach Oslo and Narvik in Norway and the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

SJ prides itself on offering climate-friendly travel solutions. It purchases electricity solely from renewable wind and hydropower sources, its electric trains generate zero emissions during journeys. On many routes, it is possible for SJ’s train drivers to “freewheel”, i.e. the driver does not use the train engines to propel the train forward – but gravity. On some routes, altitude differences between stations allow freewheeling for distances of more than 100 kilometres.

Did you know? SJ’s first train operated in 1856 leaving from Sweden’s west coast city of Gothenburg for the small factory settlement of Jonsered. On arrival, the exhilarated passengers reported how they had been “hurled forward” at speeds of thirty kilometres per hour. Today, SJ’s high speed services travel at up to 200 kilometres per hour.

Pictured: One of SJ’s X2000 high speed train sets hurtling through a Swedish summer landscape, credit: Stefan Nilsson, SJ press service.

Celebrating our MP2 customers: Philippine Airlines

Philippine Airlines (PAL), founded in 1941, is Asia’s oldest airline still operating under its original name. From its hub in Manila, PAL operates to a network of domestic, Asian and intercontinental destinations.

PAL is a full-service carrier – the only airline offering business class cabins on domestic services in the Philippines. It has a modern fleet with the Airbus A350 being the most recent addition.

During the current pandemic, PAL has helped to maintain crucial connectivity to, from and within the Philippines. PAL has played a major role in the transportation of vaccines, other medical supplies and medical staff.

Did you know? PAL was the first airline in Southeast Asia to fly to Europe. In 1947, PAL started a DC-4 service to Rome, Madrid and London. The flight took two days with stops in Kolkata, Karachi and Cairo.

PAL’s frequent flyer programme is called “Mabuhay Miles”. Mabuhay is a common Filipino greeting meaning literally “live!”. It is often used as the equivalent of “long live!”, “cheers!” or simply as a celebratory “hurrah”. So, ‘Mabuhay Philippine Airlines’ for being one of Industrial Optimizers’ oldest customers!

You can find more details about MP2’s packages for airline scheduling, network planning and much more by visiting the relevant pages on this website - just use the menu on the left.

Celebrating our MP2 customers: Widerøe

Widerøe is vital in keeping Norway’s communities connected. In this nation of mountains and fjords, air travel is often the only realistic way to get about. Widerøe operates a fleet of Dash 8s and Embraer 190s on a largely domestic network.

For much of 2020, Widerøe was one of Europe’s biggest airlines, operating almost 200 daily flights and consistently at least 70-80% of its pre-pandemic capacity. In the last few months, Widerøe has reached 97% of 2019 seat capacity. One might say that Widerøe has been Europe’s most resilient carrier.

Did you know? Connecting some of Norway's most remote settlements, some Widerøe flights are only hops of a few minutes by air – but would involve journeys of hours by road or ferry, especially in winter.

Widerøe is also a pioneer in zero emissions aviation, aiming to launch commercial flights using P-Volt electric aircraft in 2026.

How will you plan and process your slot portfolio in the future?

MP2 Slot Management is an efficient and cost effective way to handle slot requests.

We are all aware the airline industry is going through one of the most difficult periods in its history. There are some green shoots of recovery and airlines are considering how they will operate in the future. They will look at:

• Available staff resources

• Costs

• Potential efficiency measures

• Network to be operated

One of their considerations will be their slot portfolio. IATA's Head of Worldwide Airport Slots Laura Maughan recently said, "The last thing we need as we come out of the crisis is airlines being unclear on how they can reconnect city pairs, you need to know you've still got that [slot] structure for your network in place."

Among the features of the MP2 Slot Management tool are:

• Full compliance with IATA SSIM chapter 6 requirements

• Production, preparation, distribution and receipt of all slot-related messages between Coordinators/Schedules Facilitators

• Historical slots tracking

• Identification of slot requirements in future schedules, used and underused slots

• Real-time alerts for pending and denied slot requests and for discrepencies between your schedule and slots held

• 80/20 rule monitoring and alerts

MP2 Slot Management helps an airline when they are considering costs, available resources, efficiency measures and their optimal network profile.

The MP2 Slot Management tool includes all functionality required to efficiently plan and process slot requests and is available standalone or as part of the MP2 AeroScheduler Plus package,

To find out more about MP2  Slot Management or any of the other ways that MP2 can deliver more efficient working practices, contact us for a demonstration today: info@industrialoptimizers.com.

MP2: A Tool that Never Stands Still

Industrial Optimizers’ fully in-house Development Team work constantly to ensure that our MP2 tool is improved and enhanced. This includes developing new features, improving and widening existing functionality, as well as enhancing system performance.

In 2020 alone, this resulted in 22 new versions of MP2 being launched: some of these were released to all MP2 users, while others included client-specific customizations. All MP2 customers get at least two updates per year.

Before any new version of MP2 is released to our customers, our in-house team conduct rigorous quality assurance testing. In 2020, approaching 4000 hours were spent on testing MP2.

What are our Development Team working on right now?

Here is some of the functionality our team are working on right now, with releases including these features scheduled during the next few weeks:

• MP2 for Airports

Our team are working on a dedicated MP2 version for airport aviation development teams and infrastructure planners.

• MP2 Marine

The dedicated MP2 version for the shipping industry is being refined with new functionality, including improved route plotting and mapping.

• MP2 AeroCrew

Our crew pairing optimizer’s performance is being enhanced with further granularity around crew qualification handling.

• MP2 AeroScheduler/AeroScheduler Plus/AeroStrategizer/AeroFleetAssigner: Aircraft Assignment

Additional functionality and performance improvements for the tail assignment feature.

• New Gantt charts

The Gantt functionality in MP2 will be upgraded to a new dynamic Gantt chart feature.

Additionally, Industrial Optimizers will shortly be making an announcement regarding emissions reporting and emissions-based fleet assignment in order to help transport organizations address issues surrounding sustainability.

To find out more about any of the functionality within MP2, contact your local Industrial Optimizers office.

Do you have the right tools to maximize cost savings?

“Deliver increased cost savings and maximize revenues with MP2.”

The global transport industry has taken a hard knock during the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak. As the world starts moving again, close management of costs will be more important than ever.

Make sure you have the right tools to ask the right questions and get the right answers:

• How can we easily analyze and report revenue and cost performance of our operation?

• How can we decrease costs while maximizing revenue?

• Which destinations should we serve?

• How should we assign our fleet to maximize profitability? 

• Which routes are least profitable?

• How can we optimize rotations for the schedule?

• How many crew do we need for our new schedule?

• Can we improve the connectivity of our new schedule?

• How do we syncronize and communicate schedule changes with partners?

• Do we have the tools to do the required analysis at this time?

• Could MP2 deliver greater ROI as well as more functionality than tools we have today?

These questions may be front of mind now - but the answers are important at any time.

Equip yourself with the tools that support the best decision making to return to profitability.

Request a demonstration of MP2 today: email info@industrialoptimizers.com.

Message to MP2 Users: Novel Coronavirus COVID-19

Our industry is currently dealing with the unprecedented challenge of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

At Industrial Optimizers, we are able to provide extra support to our MP2 users at this time.

We recognize that our airline partners may be considering larger volumes of schedules changes than normal. There are many budget analysis and optimization tools within MP2 that can be used to inform this process.

MP2 has tools for identifying weaker performing flights, including based on changes in demand. MP2 can be used to roll out mass schedules changes in a time efficient way.

Please contact us via support@industrialoptimizers.com if you require assistance or tips on how to use MP2 to best inform your decision making at this time.