Any airline "operational researchers" out there?

wanted to explore this field and wondered if airlines have their own OR departments or buy it in as needed?

See AGIFORS (http://www.agifors.org/index.jsp) , the Airline Group of the Operational Research Society...

I know that BA used to have one of the top OR groups in the UK, but my impression is that in a lot of other carriers the "operational research" work is carried out on an ad hoc basis by people in Network Planning, Fleet Planning, Crewing, etc etc (or indeed as part of research commissioned from external consultants) rather than by dedicated "OR people" in a central unit.

C.

Thanks for the reply Cyrano.