Allocation of Aircraft to Flights

[airsmiles]

I've always wondered how long before a flight would an airline allocate specific aircraft to each flight. Obviously maintenance issues will change the plan but, generally, would they be allocated for the coming week, the day before or even 3 or 4 hours before.

I would guess aircraft allocated to regional airports would be assigned to flights for a week or two ahead. For major airlines with big hubs, do they review actual pending arrivals (i.e. taking into account known delays) and then allocate incoming aircraft to planned departures later in the day? BA could probably do this for 'pools' of B747's of different configurations perhaps.

airsmiles

[airsmiles]

Thanks for this. I realise there are a myriad of possible delays, but I was wondering what the normal scheduling/allocation procedure might be. Hopefully somone working in an airline may respond with a specific example.

airsmiles

[TurningFinals]

We normally get the flight allocation sent through the evening before by the airline's ops (a mayfly).

This can often change though due to tech issues, delays etc.

[TCX69]

bmi allocate A/C to flights 7-8 days in advance, A/C have currently been allocated up until the 11th Sept. The registrations are only sent through to the Handling Agents the night before however. Guess airlines with a bigger fleet don't do it so far in advance.

[airsmiles]

Thanks for the information. Its just one of those things that goes through the mind when on a long flight.