Ken Janssen
BS ISE 2004
American Airlines
Dallas, Texas

American Airlines is the world's largest airline. American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection airlines serve 250 cities in over 40 countries with more than 3,900 daily flights generating over $20B in revenue. The combined network fleet numbers more than 1,000 aircraft.

American Airlines’ Airport Consulting Group provides technical support to airport management on work standards. These standards include (but are not limited to) passenger boarding rates, baggage loading rates, pilot and flight attendant minimum connect times, ticket counter arrival curves, aircraft cabin service (cleaning), minimum ground time, and immigration and customs processing times. The standards are paired with flight schedules to align airport staffing based on forecasted baggage and passenger loads.

Personally, I manage two software applications used to manage operational resources by applying the above standards to real-time flight data. The application creates various “tasks”, which are then optimally assigned to employees based on utilization, travel time, and/or qualifications (e.g. language speakers). I am also responsible for ad-hoc projects as requested by executive management and/or stations.

In this position, the skills I learned in school that are important include Statistics & work measurement, plus operations research to a lesser extent. All the Excel calculations and PowerPoint presentations for projects helped build a core skill set for the computer applications that I use daily. Project-based course work kept things interesting & fresh, while simultaneously developing valuable time-management skills.

One of the things that I like most about my career as an ISE is the variety of projects our group works on. I enjoy working in the customer service industry and analyzing passenger behavior patterns, and the inherent challenges that accompany them. It is very satisfying to work closely with others who approach processes with curiosity and are enthusiastic about generating new ideas.

As an ISE student at OU, I appreciated the relatively small class sizes that allowed me to build strong relationships. Students had a closer relationship with their peers and their professors than my friends in other departments and colleges, which led to open discussion and sharing of ideas.