Deutsche Flugsicherung is responsible for air traffic control in Germany. The company's headquarters are located in Langen, near Frankfurt. DFS is represented at 19 international and regional airports throughout Germany. The remaining airports also operate under the supervision of DFS.

DFS went live with the Quintiq planning & optimization solution in Bremen in April 2008. Together with CONET Solutions GmbH, one of Quintiq's implementation partners in Germany, the solution was successfully integrated with the existing DFS infrastructure. Operational planning at DFS deals with a wide variety of constraints. To ensure safety, air traffic controllers keep an intricate schedule to coordinate different aircraft movements and short breaks. The controllers have different skills, competencies and certificates. Furthermore, all trainee controllers have to work with an experienced coach. The planning at DFS also has to comply with regulations and be flexible to deal with changes. DFS uses the Quintiq solution for the daily, monthly and yearly planning of air traffic control staff schedules. The organization expects to be able to deploy staff more efficiently as the new Quintiq system provides DFS with real-time insights into daily schedules and the consequences of necessary adjustments.
    
"Quintiq shows us in a capacity chart where there is a personnel shortage. During shift planning, planners can view on one display where there will be a shortage of controllers, a day, month or year ahead. The fact that the capacity is shown clearly in one display makes the planning much easier".
Ralf Schlingmann,
Project Manager,
DFS