KLM to optimise flight simulator capacity with Quintiq

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) has extended its partnership with Quintiq, a Dassault Systèmes brand, to optimise its flight simulator capacity.

KLM’s has eight Amsterdam-based simulators dedicated to the ground training of pilots and other crew, which can accommodate approximately 15,000 training sessions each year.

To minimise idle time, identify extra capacity that may be rented out to other airlines and better manage the maintenance of the simulators (most of which takes place overnight), Quintiq is to provide the airline with a new simulator planning solution.

The solution will replace KLM’s current planning methods, which involve manual planning and the use of a legacy system from the 1990s. While the legacy system’s simple algorithm automatically allocates simulator slots, it cannot incorporate collective labor agreement (CLA) rules, templates for transition training and differing session durations for external parties.

Robert Kunen, VP Cockpit Crew Services at KLM, explained, “The combination of our crew planning system and this new simulator capacity optimiser, both developed by Quintiq, will enable us to maximise the use of our simulator capacity. We can better match supply and demand, and predict constraints and opportunities in the longer term. As a result, we can facilitate crew training more efficiently, resulting in well-trained cockpit crew that will continue to deliver the safe, reliable service KLM is known for.”

KLM first partnered with Quintiq in 2014 on the rollout of a pilot transition planning solution. Its new simulator planning solution will fully align with the pilot transition planning solution, ensuring training demand information is up-to-date at all times and conflicts are immediately spotted and resolved.