Delta's Winter Prep: Inside the OCC

Behind the Scenes at Delta's OCC

Delta's frontline employees are akin to athletes on the field, while the Operations & Customer Center (OCC) functions as the coaching staff. In this framework, the OCC Duty Director acts as the head coach, ensuring that the team collaborates effectively and providing everyone with the necessary tools to make informed decisions.

Pete Sansom, one of the six OCC Duty Directors, discussed his role in overseeing operations within the OCC. His responsibilities include providing oversight and direction, offering guidance, and collaborating with experts from 36 different departments to make critical daily decisions.

“Working in the OCC can be like solving a big puzzle; a piece is missing just when you think you have it figured out. The challenge is replacing that missing piece,” Sansom said.

“You have to figure out how to get people to their destination while keeping our customers and employees safe and protecting the Delta brand.”

The OCC is currently preparing for winter, one of Delta’s busiest travel seasons. Although not everything can be anticipated, the team works diligently to ensure the airline operates smoothly.

Deicing 

Each year, the Operations Management team convenes with local airport stations and Delta’s hubs in the northern U.S. for a pre-winter deicing summit. During this meeting, the teams determine the number of planes that can be deiced per hour, taking into account various levels of freezing precipitation. They also assess the ramp area to identify where planes can be parked for the deicing process.

“During winter weather events, we refer back to the numbers each station gives us for how many planes they can handle per hour, and then based on what our meteorology team forecasts, we will adjust our schedule to meet what those stations can handle,” said Sansom.

“It’s not always perfect, but it’s pretty close.”

Making Plans and Calling Audibles

While some irregular operations (IROP) can be anticipated, such as hurricanes or de-icing events, thunderstorms present a unique set of challenges that require the operations control centre (OCC) to be both prepared and adaptable.

The team can generally predict when thunderstorms associated with weather fronts will affect a specific station. However, thunderstorms that arise from 'airmass' systems or 'pop-up' storms are much less predictable. The Operations Control Center (OCC) usually has a general idea of when these storms may occur, but the precise locations and intensities remain uncertain. To manage this unpredictability, the team prepares for potential disruptions by planning for delays at the destination and ensuring that nearby alternate airports are informed about possible diversions.

“When conditions make it unsafe to land at the scheduled destination, a diversion is our biggest safety lever we can pull,” Sansom said.

“We do it for the protection of our customers, employees and aircraft. Diversion is not a failure – it’s almost like a punt in football. You can’t always dive for the touchdown; sometimes, you refuel and regroup for the next attempt.” 

There is a different plan for each IROP, which requires the team to package together changes to the flight schedule to manage different scenarios. For example, a package may be built based on removing a certain number of flights during a deicing event when a station can only handle 30 flights per hour. Depending on the intensity of the situation, that package will be fine-tuned.

The challenge is that each region presents a unique set of obstacles, making each IROP plan dynamic and always changing.

“At the OCC, we come up with what we think will happen and then when something else occurs, we have to adapt to it very much like a football team,” said Sansom.

“Defense plays one way, so you have to run the ball instead of pass it.”

One key asset of the Operations Control Center (OCC) for ensuring smooth operations during winter travel is its in-house meteorology team. This team continuously monitors the weather and provides forecasts for each Delta flight to the OCC, dispatchers, and flight crews. This information enables them to make informed decisions about the routes for every flight.

When winter weather affects a city, the Operations Control Center (OCC) aims to minimize the impact of that weather event. They collaborate with teams at the affected station(s) while ensuring that the rest of the airline continues to operate smoothly. For instance, if airports in New York City are experiencing irregular operations (IROP), the team will strive to maintain as many flights as possible throughout the rest of the system. This requires quick thinking and decisive action from the Duty Director and the rest of the OCC, especially when situations do not go as planned.

“Just know that when you’re airborne sitting in seat 28A, there is a team of professionals doing all we can to get you to your destination as quickly and safely as possible,” said Sansom.