Faster matching code - excel

Question

I have a code that takes a list of Airline flightlegs and matches them up to give me full lines of flight. The code works but..... it takes a very long time (45-60 min for just 35,000 rows) due to the amount of data it has to go through. This is compounded and the overall code takes about 2 hours to run. Is there a faster method to get the same results?
Here is my current code that really bogs down the entire process:
Sub BuildingLines()
'strings together segments into trip
Dim i As Long
Dim z As Long
Dim T As Long
Dim c As Long
Dim a As Long
Dim f As Long
Dim l As Long
Dim g As Long
Dim y As String
Dim b As String
Set ref = Sheets("Ref")
With Sheets("MoveData")
z = .Cells(1, 1).End(xlDown).Row
x = .Cells(2, 1).End(xlToRight).Column
Range(.Cells(1, 3), (.Cells(z, x + 3))).Clear
z = .Cells(1, 1).End(xlDown).Row
g = ref.Cells(24, 1).End(xlDown).Row
For a = 24 To g
If ref.Cells(a, 2) = "" Then GoTo nexta
f = ref.Cells(a, 2)
c = ref.Cells(a, 3)
l = ref.Cells(a, 4)
Set LegTable = Range(.Cells(f, 1), .Cells(l, 1))
For i = f To l
Application.StatusBar = "Progress: Step 5 of 20 - Building lines for " & ref.Cells(a, 1) & " (" & (a - 23) & " A/C types of " & (g - 23) & ") : " & (i - f) + 1 & " Legs of " & c & " analyzed. (" & Format(((i - f) + 1) / c, "Percent") & ")"
DoEvents
'On Error GoTo NextI
If IsError(Application.Match(.Cells(i, 2), LegTable, 0)) Then
GoTo nexti
Else
y = Application.Match(.Cells(i, 2), LegTable, 0) + f - 1
.Cells(i, 1).End(xlToRight).Offset(0, 1).Value2 = .Cells(y, 2)
Do
'On Error GoTo NextI
If IsError(Application.Match(.Cells(y, 2), LegTable, 0)) Then
GoTo nexti
Else
b = Application.Match(.Cells(y, 2), LegTable, 0) + f - 1
h = .Cells(b, 2)
.Cells(i, 1).End(xlToRight).Offset(0, 1) = h
y = b
End If
Loop
nexti:
End If
b = ""
y = ""
Next i
nexta:
Next a
End With
End Sub
The data is all string data of about 50+ chars.
Thank you for any recomendations.

Answer 1

Thank you very much A.S.H. with your help, I not only learned alot about using arrays, but also ended up cutting my runtime from about 90 minutes to just over 3 minutes. This is my final working code that used a combination of your suggestions.
Sub BuildingLines()
'strings together segments into trip
Dim i As Long
Dim z As Long
Dim c As Long
Dim f As Long
Dim l As Long
Dim LegTable As Range
Dim TurnTable As Range
Dim FirstTurn() As Variant
Dim NextTurn() As Variant
Dim y As String
Dim b As String
Dim FTtext As String
Dim wb As Workbook
Dim ref As Worksheet
Set wb = ThisWorkbook
Set ref = wb.Sheets("Ref")
With Sheets("MoveData")
z = .Cells(1, 1).End(xlDown).Row
x = .Cells(2, 1).End(xlToRight).Column
Range(.Cells(1, 3), (.Cells(z, x + 3))).Clear
z = .Cells(1, 1).End(xlDown).Row
g = ref.Cells(24, 1).End(xlDown).Row
For a = 24 To g
If ref.Cells(a, 2) = "" Then GoTo NextA
f = ref.Cells(a, 2)
c = ref.Cells(a, 3)
l = ref.Cells(a, 4)
Set LegTable = Range(.Cells(f, 1), .Cells(l, 1))
Set TurnTable = Range(.Cells(f, 1), .Cells(l, 2))
FirstTurn = TurnTable
.Sort.SortFields.Clear
.Sort.SortFields.Add Key:=LegTable, SortOn:=xlSortOnValues, Order:=xlAscending, DataOption:=xlSortNormal
With .Sort
.SetRange TurnTable
.Header = xlNo
.MatchCase = False
.Orientation = xlTopToBottom
.SortMethod = xlPinYin
.Apply
End With
For i = f To l
Application.StatusBar = "Progress: Step 5 of 20 - Building lines for " & ref.Cells(a, 1) & " (" & (a - 23) & " A/C types of " & (g - 23) & ") : " & (i - f) + 1 & " Legs of " & c & " analyzed. (" & Format(((i - f) + 1) / c, "Percent") & ")"
DoEvents
y = 0
b = 0
y = Application.Match(.Cells(i, 2), LegTable, 1)
If .Cells(i, 2) <> FirstTurn(y, 1) Then GoTo NextI
NextLeg = NextLeg + 1
ReDim Preserve NextTurn(0, 1 To NextLeg)
NextTurn(0, NextLeg) = FirstTurn(y, 2)
Do
FTtext = FirstTurn(y, 2)
On Error GoTo errhdlr
b = Application.WorksheetFunction.Match(FTtext, LegTable, 1)
If FTtext <> FirstTurn(b, 1) Then GoTo NextI
NextLeg = NextLeg + 1
ReDim Preserve NextTurn(0, 1 To NextLeg)
NextTurn(0, NextLeg) = FirstTurn(b, 2)
y = b
Loop
errhdlr:
Resume NextI
NextI:
If NextLeg > 0 Then Range(.Cells(i, 3), .Cells(i, NextLeg + 2)).Value = NextTurn
Erase NextTurn
NextLeg = 0
Next i
Set LegTable = Nothing
Set TurnTable = Nothing
Erase NextTurn
Erase FirstTurn
NextA:
Next a
End With
End Sub
I first tried using just the arrays, but the Match function was WAY SLOWER in the arrays. So I ended up using the Match to find the index and then grabbed the data from the array to build my second array which then became my output. I can't wait to adapt my new found knowledge with the rest of this project and cut my runtime from 2+ hours to just minutes!! Thanks, again!!!