Latest update July 15.
American continues to add resources and team members to better support our operation. That support starts at DFW where 40% of our aircraft pass through each day and 17% remain overnight. That’s why we’re putting more team members in place, streamlining processes and speeding up delivery of critical equipment and aircraft parts — making DFW more efficient and strengthening the operation across the network.
Streamlining maintenance processes at DFW
Recognizing the crucial role the hub plays in our system, Tech Ops opened the
DFW Maintenance Control Center (DMCC) earlier this year. The 24/7 center is staffed with experts from across the department who can make decisions quickly, ensuring we have the right people and resources in place to minimize maintenance delays.
Putting people in place
AMT Keith Hayes writes information in the logbook of a Boeing 737 at DFW.
Ahead of summer, Tech Ops onboarded more than 200 new aviation maintenance technicians (AMTs) in DFW. With the larger team in place, we now have the ability to assign a dedicated AMT to nearly every mainline flight at the hub. Positioning maintenance at every gate helps save time, reduce delays and deliver what our customers want most — a reliable operation.
Traditionally at DFW and other hubs, Tech Ops dispatches team members after maintenance is requested. But now, AMTs meet mainline flights arriving at the gate and can take immediate action to minimize potential delays. They’ll be on-site to speak with pilots and ensure the aircraft is ready for gate agents and flight attendants to begin boarding the next flight. The dedicated AMT will also be at the gate at least 15 minutes before the aircraft departs, ready to address issues that might delay the flight.
“At DFW, every second counts,” Senior Line Maintenance Manager Liz Wroten said. “By reducing maintenance time at our largest hub, we can improve operational reliability and the customer experience across the system.”
Reducing wait times for parts
When we think about reducing the time an aircraft is on the ground, having access to parts when our AMTs need them is crucial. To make this process as seamless as possible for our largest hub and the central region, American is building a 365,000-square-foot Central Fulfillment Center (CFC).
The size of six football fields and located next to our Cargo facility at DFW, the building will be filled with a maze of racks stocked with aircraft parts. Robotics and autonomous forklifts will retrieve parts for prioritized aircraft on the ground, nightly aircraft maintenance and rapid replenishment services.
“Today’s system is very transactional and was built more than 50 years ago,” Director of Stores Ryan Duft said. “But we’re upgrading to a warehouse management system that will act as the brain of the facility, bringing a lot of automation and new technology to a key Tech Ops function.”
The Central Fulfillment Center will open next year.
The CFC is strategically located near our Cargo facility at DFW.
Serving as the primary and centralized location for housing and distributing our aircraft materials and parts, the CFC will be an addition to our current fulfillment centers at CLT, PHX and TUL.
The new fulfillment center will cut supply chain and inventory costs as well as the time it takes to deliver parts to aircraft at DFW — from 20 to 30 minutes down to around five minutes.
“When you look at the data, about half of the work we do in DFW is to support the DFW operation and the other half is distribution across the network,” said Paul Hill, Senior Manager of Stores and Project Manager for the CFC.
With the CFC’s proximity to our Cargo facility and updated automation systems, we can quickly and easily move parts to our other fulfillment centers and hubs. All these efforts are designed to improve on-time departure and turn performance, but Wroten believes the most important metric is how we measure up to our customers.
“Every minute an aircraft is delayed on the ground reduces the likelihood a customer will come back,” said Wroten. “We want to keep customers flying with us, and the way we do that is through a reliable operation.”
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