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An Exact Solution Approach for the Preferential Bidding System Problem in the Airline Industry

Author

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  • Heykel Achour

    (École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079 succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3A7)

  • Michel Gamache

    (École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079 succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3A7)

  • François Soumis

    (École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079 succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3A7)

  • Guy Desaulniers

    (École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079 succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3A7)

Abstract

This paper introduces the first exact approach for constructing aircrew member personalized monthly work schedules when a preferential bidding system (PBS) is used. With such a system, each employee bids for his/her preferred activities, yielding a bidding score for each feasible schedule. The PBS problem thus consists of assigning to each employee a schedule that maximizes his/her preferences, in order of seniority, while covering all crew pairings. The proposed exact solution approach relies on column generation, and when a tentative maximum score for a crew member is established, it explicitly enumerates for that employee all feasible schedules with that score. Tests on real-life cases show that this approach can substantially improve the quality of the solutions produced by the best known existing method in similar computational times.

Suggested Citation

  • Heykel Achour & Michel Gamache & François Soumis & Guy Desaulniers, 2007. "An Exact Solution Approach for the Preferential Bidding System Problem in the Airline Industry," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 354-365, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:41:y:2007:i:3:p:354-365
    DOI: 10.1287/trsc.1060.0172
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ryan, D. M. & Falkner, J. C., 1988. "On the integer properties of scheduling set partitioning models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 442-456, June.
    2. 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.
    3. Desrochers, Martin & Soumis, Francois, 1988. "A reoptimization algorithm for the shortest path problem with time windows," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 242-254, May.
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    6. Michel Gamache & François Soumis & Daniel Villeneuve & Jacques Desrosiers & Éric Gélinas, 1998. "The Preferential Bidding System at Air Canada," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 246-255, August.
    7. Michel Gamache & François Soumis & Gérald Marquis & Jacques Desrosiers, 1999. "A Column Generation Approach for Large-Scale Aircrew Rostering Problems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(2), pages 247-263, April.
    8. Cynthia Barnhart & Ellis L. Johnson & George L. Nemhauser & Martin W. P. Savelsbergh & Pamela H. Vance, 1998. "Branch-and-Price: Column Generation for Solving Huge Integer Programs," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 316-329, June.
    9. Stefan Irnich & Guy Desaulniers, 2005. "Shortest Path Problems with Resource Constraints," Springer Books, in: Guy Desaulniers & Jacques Desrosiers & Marius M. Solomon (ed.), Column Generation, chapter 0, pages 33-65, Springer.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kozanidis, George, 2017. "Optimal assignment of aircrew trainees to simulator and classroom training sessions subject to seniority and preference restrictions," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 143-154.
    2. Atoosa Kasirzadeh & Mohammed Saddoune & François Soumis, 2017. "Airline crew scheduling: models, algorithms, and data sets," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 6(2), pages 111-137, June.
    3. Sebastian Ruther & Natashia Boland & Faramroze G. Engineer & Ian Evans, 2017. "Integrated Aircraft Routing, Crew Pairing, and Tail Assignment: Branch-and-Price with Many Pricing Problems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 177-195, February.
    4. Jesica Armas & Luis Cadarso & Angel A. Juan & Javier Faulin, 2017. "A multi-start randomized heuristic for real-life crew rostering problems in airlines with work-balancing goals," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 258(2), pages 825-848, November.
    5. Mehran Hojati, 2010. "Near-optimal solution to an employee assignment problem with seniority," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 539-557, December.

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