Delta has achieved another operational milestone: the airline has conducted flights on  185 days so far this year during which no flights were canceled for maintenance reasons.

Put another way: That’s more than half of the total days in 2015, a record for the airline. And  more than 70 days remain in the year to extend that record.

“It’s an amazing achievement, and one I know is done with an uncompromising stance toward safety,” said Don Mitacek, Senior Vice President-Technical Operations. “Aviation is the ultimate team sport and every role at TechOps-- no matter if in components, distribution, line maintenance, planning or base maintenance--is important to making this happen.”

The milestone adds yet another operational highlight during 2015, during which so far 118 days without any mainline cancels for any reason – including weather -  have been achieved along with industry-leading on-time performance as measured by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

How do Delta TechOps maintenance teams pull off this statistical – and logistical - feat? Mitacek said there are several key factors:

•         Ensuring that the number of aircraft unexpectedly out of service at any given time is low. That takes a lot of maintenance know-how.
•         Making sure the right aircraft parts are in the right places at the right time, using analytics to anticipate aircraft maintenance problems before they occur.
•         Relentless execution by the TechOps teams to drive top-notch performance when repairs or maintenance are needed.

“Much of the work we do goes unseen by customers but we take great pride in ensuring that we have a ready airplane for our customers and our other colleagues before every flight,” Mitacek said. 

- Morgan Durrant