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Flight String Models for Aircraft Fleeting and Routing

Author

Listed:
  • Cynthia Barnhart

    (Center for Transportation Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139)

  • Natashia L. Boland

    (Department of Mathematics, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3052 Australia)

  • Lloyd W. Clarke

    (School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0205)

  • Ellis L. Johnson

    (School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0205)

  • George L. Nemhauser

    (School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0205)

  • Rajesh G. Shenoi

    (McKinsey & Company, 2 Houston Center, Suite 3500, Houston, Texas 77010)

Abstract

Given a schedule of flight legs to be flown by an airline, the fleet assignment problem is to determine the minimum cost assignment of flights to aircraft types, called fleets, such that each scheduled flight is assigned to exactly one fleet, and the resulting assignment is feasible to fly given a limited number of aircraft in each fleet. Then the airline must determine a sequence of flights, or routes, to be flown by individual aircraft such that assigned flights are included in exactly one route, and all aircraft can be maintained as necessary. This is referred to as the aircraft routing problem. In this paper, we present a single model and solution approach to solve simultaneously the fleet assignment and aircraft routing problems. Our approach is robust in that it can capture costs associated with aircraft connections and complicating constraints such as maintenance requirements. By setting the number of fleets to one, our approach can be used to solve the aircraft routing problem alone. We show how to extend our model and solution approach to solve aircraft routing problems with additional constraints requiring equal aircraft utilization. With data provided by airlines, we provide computational results for the combined fleet assignment and aircraft routing problems without equal utilization requirements and for aircraft routing problems requiring equal aircraft utilization.

Suggested Citation

  • Cynthia Barnhart & Natashia L. Boland & Lloyd W. Clarke & Ellis L. Johnson & George L. Nemhauser & Rajesh G. Shenoi, 1998. "Flight String Models for Aircraft Fleeting and Routing," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 208-220, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:32:y:1998:i:3:p:208-220
    DOI: 10.1287/trsc.32.3.208
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Hao, Jianxiu. & Orlin, James B., 1953-., 1992. "A faster algorithm for finding the minimum cut in a graph," Working papers 3372-92., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    3. Thomas A. Feo & Jonathan F. Bard, 1989. "Flight Scheduling and Maintenance Base Planning," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1415-1432, December.
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