Case StudyjetBlue Uses Hypercast Aviation to See weather other solutions miss
After testing ClimaCell’s solution for six months, JetBlue saw results that led to their decision to roll out the solution in all of its top ten airports.
The Challenge
Since its founding in 1998, JetBlue has earned a reputation as an airline that is committed to customer experience and safety. JetBlue carries more than 40 million customers a year to 102 cities in the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America with an average of 1,000 daily flights. Like most major airlines, one of the biggest challenges JetBlue faces is how to operate safely and efficiently in difficult weather conditions, particularly as it operates in the northeast, one of the most congested airspaces in the U.S. This challenge is made more difficult because of the gaps in traditional weather forecasting tools which can sometimes misread certain situations leading to unnecessary weather delays or cancellations that impact passengers. To address this challenge, JetBlue has looked to continually add new innovative weather solutions to their operations, with a special focus recently on solutions that help ground operations with decision support. They turned to ClimaCell to help them maximize the amount of data their teams have at their fingertips so that they can make the most informed decisions to emphasize safety and customer experience.
Climacell’s Solution
In June 2017, JetBlue first started using ClimaCell’s HyperCast™ Aviation solution at its operations center in Boston’s Logan Airport (KBOS). From the start, the operations team members saw data that they hadn’t seen in other weather solutions. As part of the program, JetBlue also received meteorology consulting services which included email forecasts before big events and emails or text message alerts at the time that weather conditions hit a certain threshold.
This program also included live support from ClimaCell’s team of meteorologists, support that often helped to bring clarity to complicated weather situations that could have affected passengers. After testing ClimaCell’s solution for six months, JetBlue saw results that led to their decision to roll out the solution in all of its top ten airports.
“I’ve personally witnessed ClimaCell pick up ground-level weather systems that no one else could observe. Since I’ve put the ClimaCell tool in the hands of our managers, I get non-stop requests from leaders who want access, from ops managers, de-icing leaders, to ground operations duty managers. This tool was designed with an understanding of the decision-making pressure airport leaders face every day. JetBlue is looking forward to expanding our use of ClimaCell’s solution.”
Ian Deason, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, Jetblue
Results
Safety
First and foremost, the ClimaCell solution could lead to a safer workplace and safer travel for passengers. Whether it’s using ClimaCell’s lightning alerts to keep crew and passengers safe or using ClimaCell’s precipitation and temperature data to help shape decisions on timing of take-offs or de-icing protocols, safety continues to be the No. 1 priority.
Improved Decision Support
The JetBlue team has seen many cases when ClimaCell provided information that wasn’t available from other weather solutions. For example, one morning in February 2018, every major weather company was saying a snow storm over Logan Airport in Boston would end around 11:00 AM, while ClimaCell predicted it would end closer to 8:00 AM. This information saves the airline from having to make cancellations that can cost the it tens of thousands of dollars per cancellation and can disrupt the travel of loyal passengers.
Cost Savings
Overall, JetBlue estimates that ClimaCell has the potential to save them as much as $25K-$50K per month per hub during inclement weather months (summer and winter) by assisting with better operational decision-making at the top ten hubs. The data from ClimaCell could help reduce costs associated with unnecessary cancellations/delays, or from spending on other single-purpose weather solutions. In Q1 2018, JetBlue experienced 791 cancellations in Boston due to weather. ClimaCell is best positioned to help influence decisions within the six hour window of the flight time, which would potentially represent 75% of the cost savings, but also save passengers from having to make last-minute plan changes.
JetBlue Employee Trust
ClimaCell has become an indispensable source for the KBOS operations team and engagement with the tool has increased over 700% since they first started using it in June 2017. ClimaCell’s HyperCast™ Aviation interface now appears on one of the overhead screens in the operations room as the primary weather solution visible to the whole team. JetBlue has also now expanded its implementation of ClimaCell to the ten largest airports in its network.
Customer Happiness
JetBlue relies on ClimaCell to help them limit the amount of time passengers have to spend waiting on the tarmac or at the gate due to weather conditions, and maximize the time they are moving towards their destination.