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An Integrated Approach for Airline Flight Selection and Timing, Fleet Assignment, and Aircraft Routing

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  • Hanif D. Sherali

    (Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (0118), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061)

  • Ki-Hwan Bae

    (Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (0118), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061)

  • Mohamed Haouari

    (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar)

Abstract

Airline profits critically depend on the nature and efficiency of service they provide, and accrue from a complex planning process involving schedule design, fleet assignment, aircraft routing, and crew scheduling, which are interrelated to each other within the overall system. We propose in this paper a model that integrates certain aspects of the schedule design, fleet assignment, and aircraft-routing processes, while considering flight retiming and demand recapture issues, along with optional legs, itinerary-based demands, and multiple fare classes. Maintenance routing decisions, as well as through-flight opportunities, are additionally incorporated in our model, and we apply the reformulation-linearization technique to reduce its complexity while introducing hierarchical symmetry-breaking constraints, along with other classes of valid inequalities, to enhance its solvability. A Benders' decomposition-based method is designed to handle the resulting large-scale model formulation. Computational results using real data obtained from United Airlines are presented to demonstrate the potential profitability in applying the proposed approach.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:47:y:2013:i:4:p:455-476
    DOI: 10.1287/trsc.2013.0460
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Huang, Zhouchun & Luo, Xiaodong & Jin, Xianfei & Karichery, Sureshan, 2022. "An iterative cost-driven copy generation approach for aircraft recovery problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(1), pages 334-348.
    4. Kenan, Nabil & Jebali, Aida & Diabat, Ali, 2018. "The integrated aircraft routing problem with optional flights and delay considerations," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 355-375.
    5. Li, Max Z. & Ryerson, Megan S., 2019. "Reviewing the DATAS of aviation research data: Diversity, availability, tractability, applicability, and sources," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 111-130.
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    7. Oliver Faust & Jochen Gönsch & Robert Klein, 2017. "Demand-Oriented Integrated Scheduling for Point-to-Point Airlines," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 196-213, February.
    8. Vedat Bayram & Hande Yaman, 2018. "Shelter Location and Evacuation Route Assignment Under Uncertainty: A Benders Decomposition Approach," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(2), pages 416-436, March.
    9. Quesada Pérez, José Miguel & Lange, Jean-Charles & Tancrez, Jean-Sébastien, 2018. "A multi-hub Express Shipment Service Network Design model with flexible hub assignment," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 116-131.
    10. 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.
    11. Uğur Arıkan & Sinan Gürel & M. Selim Aktürk, 2017. "Flight Network-Based Approach for Integrated Airline Recovery with Cruise Speed Control," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(4), pages 1259-1287, November.
    12. Ted Gifford & Tracy Opicka & Ashesh Sinha & Daniel Vanden Brink & Andy Gifford & Robert Randall, 2018. "Dispatch Optimization in Bulk Tanker Transport Operations," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 48(5), pages 403-421, October.
    13. 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.
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    15. Saltzman, Robert M. & Stern, Helman I., 2022. "The multi-day aircraft maintenance routing problem," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).

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