Abstract: A method for scheduling airplanes. Eastbound and westbound flights are scheduled to arrive to and depart from an airport within a small period of time (e.g., 5 minutes). By now scheduling both eastbound and westbound flights to arrive to and depart from an airport within a small block of time, the flow of air traffic is smoothed. Further, the scheduling structure of the present invention allows the passenger's connect time profile to be the same for all the passengers thereby extending the minimum connect time to a greater number of passengers. Further, the scheduling structure of the present invention allows staggered gating (gates are paired in such as a manner as to function as a single gate) thereby expanding gate separation as well as allowing a reduction or an elimination of the gap in times in the services being performed above and below the wings of an aircraft.

Abstract: The described embodiments of invention comprises a method and an apparatus for regulating access to objects by authorized entities. Authorized entities are entities authorized for access by either an owner entity of the regulated object or an entity authorized to authorize access to the regulated object. Each user, which may be a physical person or another information system, is identified using standard user validation techniques. When an object is first created or introduced to the system, that information is associated with an owner, who is one user on the system. The present embodiment allows the owner to define relationships with other users, either generally or regarding a particular object. The owner may or may not have trusted relationships with other users. A second user that has a trusted relationship with the owner automatically has access to the object without additional intervention by the owner. In addition, the second user may have a trusted relationship with another user.