The Manning-led effort began in Atlanta where the airplane was housed early Saturday, with about 20 employee-volunteers from AirTran Airways, flying a mostly empty aircraft to Indianapolis, Indiana, to pick up the supplies.

CNN: Manning brothers team up for Katrina relief

Getting the scheduling wrong imposes a heavy cost: flying half-empty planes or leasing extra aircraft is an expensive business.

ECONOMIST: Algorithms

Without spare pilots or airplanes in New York, the airline decided to fly passengers to Atlanta to swap aircraft and crew rather than fly an empty plane to New York.

WSJ: Flight Nightmares Overshadow Airlines�� Improving Record