IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v115y2024ics0969699724000024.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using constraint programming to address the operational aircraft line maintenance scheduling problem

Author

Listed:
  • Sciau, Jean-Baptiste
  • Goyon, Agathe
  • Sarazin, Alexandre
  • Bascans, Jérémy
  • Prud’homme, Charles
  • Lorca, Xavier

Abstract

Maintenance plays a major role in air transport management. Airlines are looking to reduce aircraft unavailability. Optimizing maintenance is a perspective to increase the operational potential of aircraft and offers novel managerial implications. Maintenance tasks are traditionally organized in periodic blocks of activities. In the modern aviation, more and more maintenance jobs can be performed between two flights, which is called Line Maintenance Scheduling Problem (LMSP). The expected goal of our paper is to propose an operational schedule that can be directly executed by maintainers, i.e. assigning a start time to each elementary activity and a resource to perform it. This new problem is named Operational Aircraft Line Maintenance Scheduling Problem (OALMSP). A scheduling assistant could help airlines to reduce maintenance costs and resource management. Planners have to respect task deadlines imposed by regulations, precedence constraints between certain operations and also ensure the availability of resources in order to perform specific actions. This problem is an extension of a Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP). In this article, we propose an industrial application of an automatic aircraft line maintenance scheduler based on a Constraint Programming (CP) model. The flexibility of our approach means we can easily adapt to airline use cases without changing the properties of the model. The optimization problem is generally made up of several objectives ordered according to their importance. The objectives are respectively to plan as many tasks as possible according to their priority, then to minimize both the use of resources and the deviation time between scheduled dates and target dates of tasks. The lexicographical order enables the use of human reasoning and the management of business priorities. A constructive search strategy is designed to compute a satisfying schedule within an acceptable execution time for industry application. A practical use case based on real airline data is presented and the results are compared with those found by an industrial solver taken as a reference.

Suggested Citation

  • Sciau, Jean-Baptiste & Goyon, Agathe & Sarazin, Alexandre & Bascans, Jérémy & Prud’homme, Charles & Lorca, Xavier, 2024. "Using constraint programming to address the operational aircraft line maintenance scheduling problem," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:115:y:2024:i:c:s0969699724000024
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2024.102537
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699724000024
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2024.102537?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diego Klabjan, 2005. "Large-Scale Models in the Airline Industry," Springer Books, in: Guy Desaulniers & Jacques Desrosiers & Marius M. Solomon (ed.), Column Generation, chapter 0, pages 163-195, Springer.
    2. Mireille Palpant & Christian Artigues & Philippe Michelon, 2004. "LSSPER: Solving the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem with Large Neighbourhood Search," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 237-257, October.
    3. Erik L. Demeulemeester & Willy S. Herroelen, 1997. "New Benchmark Results for the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(11), pages 1485-1492, November.
    4. Başdere, Mehmet & Bilge, Ümit, 2014. "Operational aircraft maintenance routing problem with remaining time consideration," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(1), pages 315-328.
    5. Ram Gopalan & Kalyan T. Talluri, 1998. "The Aircraft Maintenance Routing Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 260-271, April.
    6. Deng, Qichen & Santos, Bruno F., 2022. "Lookahead approximate dynamic programming for stochastic aircraft maintenance check scheduling optimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 299(3), pages 814-833.
    7. A. Alan B. Pritsker & Lawrence J. Waiters & Philip M. Wolfe, 1969. "Multiproject Scheduling with Limited Resources: A Zero-One Programming Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 93-108, September.
    8. António Abreu & Rúben Piedade, 2018. "Decision Support Model in the Strategic Management of the Portuguese Air Force Alpha Jet Fleet," Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 5(3), pages 72-81.
    9. Kalyan T. Talluri, 1998. "The Four-Day Aircraft Maintenance Routing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 43-53, February.
    10. Sami Gabteni & Mattias Grönkvist, 2009. "Combining column generation and constraint programming to solve the tail assignment problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 61-76, October.
    11. António Abreu & Rúben Piedade, 2018. "Decision Support Model in the Strategic Management of the Portuguese Air Force Alpha Jet Fleet," Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 5(3), pages 72-81.
    12. N. J. Boere, 1977. "Air Canada Saves with Aircraft Maintenance Scheduling," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 7(3), pages 1-13, May.
    13. Witteman, Max & Deng, Qichen & Santos, Bruno F., 2021. "A bin packing approach to solve the aircraft maintenance task allocation problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(1), pages 365-376.
    14. Brailsford, Sally C. & Potts, Chris N. & Smith, Barbara M., 1999. "Constraint satisfaction problems: Algorithms and applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 557-581, December.
    15. Christofides, Nicos & Alvarez-Valdes, R. & Tamarit, J. M., 1987. "Project scheduling with resource constraints: A branch and bound approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 262-273, June.
    16. Hartmann, Sönke & Briskorn, Dirk, 2010. "A survey of variants and extensions of the resource-constrained project scheduling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 1-14, November.
    17. Moudani, Walid El & Mora-Camino, Félix, 2000. "A dynamic approach for aircraft assignment and maintenance scheduling by airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 233-237.
    18. Carlos Lagos & Felipe Delgado & Mathias A. Klapp, 2020. "Dynamic Optimization for Airline Maintenance Operations," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 998-1015, July.
    19. Carlier, Jacques, 1982. "The one-machine sequencing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 42-47, September.
    20. Shaukat, Syed & Katscher, Mathias & Wu, Cheng-Lung & Delgado, Felipe & Larrain, Homero, 2020. "Aircraft line maintenance scheduling and optimisation," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    21. Xu, Yifan & Wandelt, Sebastian & Sun, Xiaoqian, 2021. "Airline integrated robust scheduling with a variable neighborhood search based heuristic," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 181-203.
    22. Amos Levin, 1971. "Scheduling and Fleet Routing Models for Transportation Systems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(3), pages 232-255, August.
    23. Olivier Liess & Philippe Michelon, 2008. "A constraint programming approach for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 25-36, January.
    24. Mohamed Haouari & Shengzhi Shao & Hanif D. Sherali, 2013. "A Lifted Compact Formulation for the Daily Aircraft Maintenance Routing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 508-525, November.
    25. L. W. Clarke & C. A. Hane & E. L. Johnson & G. L. Nemhauser, 1996. "Maintenance and Crew Considerations in Fleet Assignment," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 249-260, August.
    26. Sherali, Hanif D. & Bish, Ebru K. & Zhu, Xiaomei, 2006. "Airline fleet assignment concepts, models, and algorithms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(1), pages 1-30, July.
    27. Cynthia Barnhart & Peter Belobaba & Amedeo R. Odoni, 2003. "Applications of Operations Research in the Air Transport Industry," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 368-391, November.
    28. Deng, Qichen & Santos, Bruno F. & Curran, Richard, 2020. "A practical dynamic programming based methodology for aircraft maintenance check scheduling optimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 281(2), pages 256-273.
    29. Manoj Lohatepanont & Cynthia Barnhart, 2004. "Airline Schedule Planning: Integrated Models and Algorithms for Schedule Design and Fleet Assignment," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(1), pages 19-32, February.
    30. Sriram, Chellappan & Haghani, Ali, 2003. "An optimization model for aircraft maintenance scheduling and re-assignment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 29-48, January.
    31. Wen, Xin & Sun, Xuting & Ma, Hoi-Lam & Sun, Yige, 2022. "A column generation approach for operational flight scheduling and aircraft maintenance routing," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    32. Sarac, Abdulkadir & Batta, Rajan & Rump, Christopher M., 2006. "A branch-and-price approach for operational aircraft maintenance routing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(3), pages 1850-1869, December.
    33. Karla L. Hoffman & Manfred Padberg, 1993. "Solving Airline Crew Scheduling Problems by Branch-and-Cut," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(6), pages 657-682, June.
    34. Klaus Neumann & Christoph Schwindt, 2003. "Project scheduling with inventory constraints," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 56(3), pages 513-533, January.
    35. Thomas A. Feo & Jonathan F. Bard, 1989. "Flight Scheduling and Maintenance Base Planning," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1415-1432, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shaukat, Syed & Katscher, Mathias & Wu, Cheng-Lung & Delgado, Felipe & Larrain, Homero, 2020. "Aircraft line maintenance scheduling and optimisation," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Safaei, Nima & Jardine, Andrew K.S., 2018. "Aircraft routing with generalized maintenance constraints," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 111-122.
    3. Deng, Qichen & Santos, Bruno F., 2022. "Lookahead approximate dynamic programming for stochastic aircraft maintenance check scheduling optimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 299(3), pages 814-833.
    4. Carlos Lagos & Felipe Delgado & Mathias A. Klapp, 2020. "Dynamic Optimization for Airline Maintenance Operations," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 998-1015, July.
    5. Başdere, Mehmet & Bilge, Ümit, 2014. "Operational aircraft maintenance routing problem with remaining time consideration," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(1), pages 315-328.
    6. Mohamed Haouari & Shengzhi Shao & Hanif D. Sherali, 2013. "A Lifted Compact Formulation for the Daily Aircraft Maintenance Routing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 508-525, November.
    7. He, Yonghuan & Ma, Hoi-Lam & Park, Woo-Yong & Liu, Shi Qiang & Chung, Sai-Ho, 2023. "Maximizing robustness of aircraft routing with heterogeneous maintenance tasks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    8. Sanchez, David Torres & Boyacı, Burak & Zografos, Konstantinos G., 2020. "An optimisation framework for airline fleet maintenance scheduling with tail assignment considerations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 142-164.
    9. Zhe Liang & Wanpracha Art Chaovalitwongse & Huei Chuen Huang & Ellis L. Johnson, 2011. "On a New Rotation Tour Network Model for Aircraft Maintenance Routing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(1), pages 109-120, February.
    10. Maher, Stephen J. & Desaulniers, Guy & Soumis, François, 2018. "The daily tail assignment problem under operational uncertainty using look-ahead maintenance constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(2), pages 534-547.
    11. Zhe Liang & Wanpracha Art Chaovalitwongse, 2013. "A Network-Based Model for the Integrated Weekly Aircraft Maintenance Routing and Fleet Assignment Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 493-507, November.
    12. Khaled, Oumaima & Minoux, Michel & Mousseau, Vincent & Michel, Stéphane & Ceugniet, Xavier, 2018. "A compact optimization model for the tail assignment problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(2), pages 548-557.
    13. van Kessel, Paul J. & Freeman, Floris C. & Santos, Bruno F., 2023. "Airline maintenance task rescheduling in a disruptive environment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(2), pages 605-621.
    14. Xiao, Fan & Guo, Siqi & Huang, Lin & Huang, Lei & Liang, Zhe, 2022. "Integrated aircraft tail assignment and cargo routing problem with through cargo consideration," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 328-351.
    15. F M Zeghal & M Haouari & H D Sherali & N Aissaoui, 2011. "Flexible aircraft fleeting and routing at TunisAir," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(2), pages 368-380, February.
    16. Saltzman, Robert M. & Stern, Helman I., 2022. "The multi-day aircraft maintenance routing problem," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Haouari, Mohamed & Aissaoui, Najla & Mansour, Farah Zeghal, 2009. "Network flow-based approaches for integrated aircraft fleeting and routing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 193(2), pages 591-599, March.
    18. Chunhua Gao & Ellis Johnson & Barry Smith, 2009. "Integrated Airline Fleet and Crew Robust Planning," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 2-16, February.
    19. Hanif D. Sherali & Ki-Hwan Bae & Mohamed Haouari, 2013. "An Integrated Approach for Airline Flight Selection and Timing, Fleet Assignment, and Aircraft Routing," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 455-476, November.
    20. Liang, Zhe & Feng, Yuan & Zhang, Xiaoning & Wu, Tao & Chaovalitwongse, Wanpracha Art, 2015. "Robust weekly aircraft maintenance routing problem and the extension to the tail assignment problem," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 238-259.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:115:y:2024:i:c:s0969699724000024. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.