Welcome to PODS Research LLC

Revenue management systems present airlines with complex and interrelated questions – technical, procedural and organizational. With the emergence of international mega-carriers, intricate alliances and growing low-cost carriers, the RM questions facing airlines raise the stakes in an increasingly competitive environment:

  • What kind of revenue management system fits our needs?
  • What traffic and revenue impacts will a new revenue management system produce?
  • How can we improve our current forecasting methods and optimization algorithms?
  • How can we compete effectively with our competitor’s fares and fare products?
  • How can we improve the traffic and revenue performance of our alliances?
  • How can we develop schedules that leverage the capabilities of our revenue management system?

PODS Research has unique qualifications to help answer these questions for our airline clients

The Passenger Origin/Destination Simulator (PODS) tests ideas, concepts and proposals in a computational environment that reflects the fundamental dynamic of air transportation – airlines define the available network alternatives (itineraries/products/fares) and passengers pick and choose amongst them.

The principal consultants, Dr. Peter Belobaba, Principal Research Scientist at MIT, Dr. Bill Brunger, former Senior Executive from Continental Airlines, and Craig Hopperstad, retired mathematician and scientist from Boeing, have seasoned knowledge of the industry and bring a wealth of practical, conceptual and theoretical experience to help airlines understand and solve their revenue management and planning issues.

CONSULTING

PRL has worked with a full range of clients from very large to medium to small airlines. The clients represent a variety of sophistication levels and belong to all the major alliances. PRL has worked with many different vendor and homegrown RM systems, processes and with a variety of reservations interfaces. Typical projects include:

  • Comparison of revenue management algorithms
  • Analyses and evaluations of RM model elements: e.g. Forecasters, Unconstrainers, Optimizers, Processes, etc.; and tuning of RM algorithms
  • Understanding of the impacts of User Process on RM models and results
  • System search and planning for RM System transition, particularly from leg-based to O&D systems
  • Evaluation of RM models and process alternatives during merger integration
  • Diagnostics to understand the causes of observed phenomena
  • Studies of potential impact of fare changes and their effect on RM models
  • Tuning of alliance coordination, for example, by implementation of bid price sharing or availability adjustment

  • Evaluating the effect of schedule change on RM efficiency

Consulting clients have included large and small North American, European and Middle Eastern airlines, airframe manufacturers and airline system providers.