University of New Haven-United Partnership Shows Value of Data Analysis in Airline Industry

A partnership between the University and the world’s third largest airline is featured in a Chicago Tribune story about how the airline industry is using data to improve performance and the experience of passengers.

Since creating an internship program with United a few years ago, University of New Haven students have seen firsthand the impact of data – and the powerful stories it can tell.

As part of their responsibilities that brought them to airports around the globe, the students created a data visualization project that links information about employee injuries and aircraft damage and presents it visually in a way that makes it easy to spot clusters of incidents or links connecting them.

The result?

Incidents of preventable aircraft damage are down 25 percent from 2015, and employee injuries have dropped by 13 percent, according to United.

When it’s displayed visually, "You say, ‘Oh my god, what’s going on on the north side of C Concourse? It’s easily digestible, and anyone from front line to the CEO can say, ‘Why is that dot red?’" JJ DeGiovanni, a managing director with United’s corporate safety team, told the Chicago Tribune in a feature about how the airline industry is using data to improve performance and the experience of passengers.

The efforts resulted in United earning the 2016 Green Cross for Safety Innovation award from the National Safety Council.

The partnership between the University’s Center for Analytics and United was spearheaded by Michael Quiello ’74, a member of the University’s Board of Governors and United’s vice president of corporate safety.

"I feel I have an obligation to give back, especially to an institution that was so pivotal in my life." Michael Quiello ’74, University’s Board of Governors and United’s Vice President of Corporate Safety