IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ortrsc/v47y2013i4p455-476.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2013.0460
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/trsc.2013.0460?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cynthia Barnhart & Amr Farahat & Manoj Lohatepanont, 2009. "Airline Fleet Assignment with Enhanced Revenue Modeling," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 231-244, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Hanif D. Sherali & J. Cole Smith, 2001. "Improving Discrete Model Representations via Symmetry Considerations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(10), pages 1396-1407, October.
    4. Dušan Teodorović & Emina Krčmar-Nožić, 1989. "Multicriteria Model to Determine Flight Frequencies on an Airline Network under Competitive Conditions," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 14-25, February.
    5. 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.
    6. Ram Gopalan & Kalyan T. Talluri, 1998. "The Aircraft Maintenance Routing Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 260-271, April.
    7. Hanif D. Sherali & Ki-Hwan Bae & Mohamed Haouari, 2010. "Integrated Airline Schedule Design and Fleet Assignment: Polyhedral Analysis and Benders' Decomposition Approach," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 500-513, November.
    8. Jean-François Cordeau & Goran Stojković & François Soumis & Jacques Desrosiers, 2001. "Benders Decomposition for Simultaneous Aircraft Routing and Crew Scheduling," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(4), pages 375-388, November.
    9. Shan Lan & John-Paul Clarke & Cynthia Barnhart, 2006. "Planning for Robust Airline Operations: Optimizing Aircraft Routings and Flight Departure Times to Minimize Passenger Disruptions," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 15-28, February.
    10. T. L. Magnanti & R. T. Wong, 1981. "Accelerating Benders Decomposition: Algorithmic Enhancement and Model Selection Criteria," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 464-484, June.
    11. Kalyan T. Talluri, 1998. "The Four-Day Aircraft Maintenance Routing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 43-53, February.
    12. Cynthia Barnhart & Rajesh G. Shenoi, 1998. "An Approximate Model and Solution Approach for the Long-Haul Crew Pairing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 221-231, August.
    13. Hai Jiang & Cynthia Barnhart, 2009. "Dynamic Airline Scheduling," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(3), pages 336-354, August.
    14. Guy Desaulniers & Jacques Desrosiers & Yvan Dumas & Marius M. Solomon & François Soumis, 1997. "Daily Aircraft Routing and Scheduling," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(6), pages 841-855, June.
    15. 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.
    16. Lloyd Clarke & Ellis Johnson & George Nemhauser & Zhongxi Zhu, 1997. "The aircraft rotation problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 69(0), pages 33-46, January.
    17. Rivi Sandhu & Diego Klabjan, 2007. "Integrated Airline Fleeting and Crew-Pairing Decisions," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(3), pages 439-456, June.
    18. Mirela Stojković & François Soumis & Jacques Desrosiers, 1998. "The Operational Airline Crew Scheduling Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 232-245, August.
    19. Amy Mainville Cohn & Cynthia Barnhart, 2003. "Improving Crew Scheduling by Incorporating Key Maintenance Routing Decisions," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 387-396, June.
    20. Ahmed Ghoniem & Hanif Sherali, 2011. "Defeating symmetry in combinatorial optimization via objective perturbations and hierarchical constraints," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(8), pages 575-588.
    21. Russell A. Rushmeier & Spyridon A. Kontogiorgis, 1997. "Advances in the Optimization of Airline Fleet Assignment," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 159-169, May.
    22. Diego Klabjan & Ellis L. Johnson & George L. Nemhauser & Eric Gelman & Srini Ramaswamy, 2002. "Airline Crew Scheduling with Time Windows and Plane-Count Constraints," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(3), pages 337-348, August.
    23. Pamela H. Vance & Cynthia Barnhart & Ellis L. Johnson & George L. Nemhauser, 1997. "Airline Crew Scheduling: A New Formulation and Decomposition Algorithm," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 45(2), pages 188-200, April.
    24. 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)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Glomb, Lukas & Liers, Frauke & Rösel, Florian, 2023. "Optimizing integrated aircraft assignment and turnaround handling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 310(3), pages 1051-1071.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Qin, Yichen & Ng, Kam K.H., 2023. "Analysing the impact of collaborations between airlines and maintenance service company under MRO outsourcing mode: Perspective from airline's operations," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Saltzman, Robert M. & Stern, Helman I., 2022. "The multi-day aircraft maintenance routing problem," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Cacchiani, Valentina & Salazar-González, Juan-José, 2020. "Heuristic approaches for flight retiming in an integrated airline scheduling problem of a regional carrier," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. 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.

    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. 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.
    2. Parmentier, Axel & Meunier, Frédéric, 2020. "Aircraft routing and crew pairing: Updated algorithms at Air France," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. 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.
    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. Okan Örsan Özener & Melda Örmeci Matoğlu & Güneş Erdoğan & Mohamed Haouari & Hasan Sözer, 2017. "Solving a large-scale integrated fleet assignment and crew pairing problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 253(1), pages 477-500, June.
    6. 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.
    7. Chunhua Gao & Ellis Johnson & Barry Smith, 2009. "Integrated Airline Fleet and Crew Robust Planning," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 2-16, February.
    8. 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.
    9. Hanif Sherali & Ki-Hwan Bae & Mohamed Haouari, 2013. "A benders decomposition approach for an integrated airline schedule design and fleet assignment problem with flight retiming, schedule balance, and demand recapture," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 210(1), pages 213-244, November.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Hanif D. Sherali & Ki-Hwan Bae & Mohamed Haouari, 2010. "Integrated Airline Schedule Design and Fleet Assignment: Polyhedral Analysis and Benders' Decomposition Approach," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 500-513, November.
    16. Jean-François Cordeau & Goran Stojković & François Soumis & Jacques Desrosiers, 2001. "Benders Decomposition for Simultaneous Aircraft Routing and Crew Scheduling," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(4), pages 375-388, November.
    17. Valentina Cacchiani & Juan-José Salazar-González, 2017. "Optimal Solutions to a Real-World Integrated Airline Scheduling Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 250-268, February.
    18. 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.
    19. Gopalan, Ram, 2014. "The Aircraft Maintenance Base Location Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 236(2), pages 634-642.
    20. 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.

    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:inm:ortrsc:v:47:y:2013:i:4:p:455-476. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.