IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/snopef/v1y2020i3d10.1007_s43069-020-00016-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic Constraint Aggregation for Solving Very Large-scale Airline Crew Pairing Problems

Author

Listed:
  • Guy Desaulniers

    (Polytechnique Montréal
    Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD))

  • François Lessard

    (Polytechnique Montréal
    Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD))

  • Mohammed Saddoune

    (Polytechnique Montréal
    University of Hassan II, FST of Mohammedia)

  • François Soumis

    (Polytechnique Montréal
    Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD))

Abstract

The monthly crew pairing problem (CPP) consists of determining a least-cost set of feasible crew pairings (sequences of flights starting and ending at a crew base) such that each flight is covered once and side constraints are satisfied. This problem has been widely studied but most works have tackled daily or weekly CPP instances with up to 3500 flights. Only a few papers have addressed monthly instances with up to 14,000 flights. In this paper, we propose an effective algorithm for solving very large-scale CPP instances. This algorithm combines, among others, column generation (CG) with dynamic constraint aggregation (DCA) that can efficiently exploit the CG master problem degeneracy. When embedded in a rolling-horizon (RH) procedure, DCA allows to consider wider time windows in RH and yields better solutions. Our computational results show, first, the potential gains that can be obtained by using wider time windows and, second, the very good performance of the proposed algorithm when compared with a standard CG/RH algorithm for solving an industrial monthly CPP instance with 46,588 flights.

Suggested Citation

  • Guy Desaulniers & François Lessard & Mohammed Saddoune & François Soumis, 2020. "Dynamic Constraint Aggregation for Solving Very Large-scale Airline Crew Pairing Problems," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 1-23, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:snopef:v:1:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s43069-020-00016-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s43069-020-00016-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43069-020-00016-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43069-020-00016-1?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. Desaulniers, G. & Desrosiers, J. & Dumas, Y. & Marc, S. & Rioux, B. & Solomon, M. M. & Soumis, F., 1997. "Crew pairing at Air France," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 245-259, March.
    2. Chu, Hai D. & Gelman, Eric & Johnson, Ellis L., 1997. "Solving large scale crew scheduling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 260-268, March.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Mohammed Saddoune & Guy Desaulniers & Issmail Elhallaoui & François Soumis, 2012. "Integrated Airline Crew Pairing and Crew Assignment by Dynamic Constraint Aggregation," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(1), pages 39-55, February.
    6. Balaji Gopalakrishnan & Ellis. Johnson, 2005. "Airline Crew Scheduling: State-of-the-Art," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 305-337, November.
    7. Parmentier, Axel & Meunier, Frédéric, 2020. "Aircraft routing and crew pairing: Updated algorithms at Air France," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Villeneuve, Daniel & Desaulniers, Guy, 2005. "The shortest path problem with forbidden paths," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(1), pages 97-107, August.
    10. Bouarab, Hocine & El Hallaoui, Issmail & Metrane, Abdelmoutalib & Soumis, François, 2017. "Dynamic constraint and variable aggregation in column generation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(3), pages 835-850.
    11. Issmail Elhallaoui & Daniel Villeneuve & François Soumis & Guy Desaulniers, 2005. "Dynamic Aggregation of Set-Partitioning Constraints in Column Generation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(4), pages 632-645, August.
    12. Marco E. Lübbecke & Jacques Desrosiers, 2005. "Selected Topics in Column Generation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(6), pages 1007-1023, December.
    13. Issmail Elhallaoui & Abdelmoutalib Metrane & Guy Desaulniers & François Soumis, 2011. "An Improved Primal Simplex Algorithm for Degenerate Linear Programs," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 569-577, November.
    14. Abdelouahab Zaghrouti & François Soumis & Issmail El Hallaoui, 2014. "Integral Simplex Using Decomposition for the Set Partitioning Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 435-449, April.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Lavoie, Sylvie & Minoux, Michel & Odier, Edouard, 1988. "A new approach for crew pairing problems by column generation with an application to air transportation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 45-58, April.
    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. Weihao Ouyang & Xiaohong Zhu, 2023. "Meta-Heuristic Solver with Parallel Genetic Algorithm Framework in Airline Crew Scheduling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.

    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. 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.
    2. Mohamed Haouari & Farah Zeghal Mansour & Hanif D. Sherali, 2019. "A New Compact Formulation for the Daily Crew Pairing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(3), pages 811-828, May.
    3. Vahid Zeighami & François Soumis, 2019. "Combining Benders’ Decomposition and Column Generation for Integrated Crew Pairing and Personalized Crew Assignment Problems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 1479-1499, September.
    4. Adil Tahir & Guy Desaulniers & Issmail El Hallaoui, 2019. "Integral column generation for the set partitioning problem," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 8(5), pages 713-744, December.
    5. Parmentier, Axel & Meunier, Frédéric, 2020. "Aircraft routing and crew pairing: Updated algorithms at Air France," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Quesnel, Frédéric & Desaulniers, Guy & Soumis, François, 2020. "A branch-and-price heuristic for the crew pairing problem with language constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(3), pages 1040-1054.
    7. de Lima, Vinícius L. & Alves, Cláudio & Clautiaux, François & Iori, Manuel & Valério de Carvalho, José M., 2022. "Arc flow formulations based on dynamic programming: Theoretical foundations and applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 296(1), pages 3-21.
    8. Yan, Shangyao & Chang, Jei-Chi, 2002. "Airline cockpit crew scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 501-511, February.
    9. Bouarab, Hocine & El Hallaoui, Issmail & Metrane, Abdelmoutalib & Soumis, François, 2017. "Dynamic constraint and variable aggregation in column generation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(3), pages 835-850.
    10. Adil Tahir & Guy Desaulniers & Issmail El Hallaoui, 2022. "Integral Column Generation for Set Partitioning Problems with Side Constraints," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 2313-2331, July.
    11. Abdelouahab Zaghrouti & Issmail El Hallaoui & François Soumis, 2020. "Improving set partitioning problem solutions by zooming around an improving direction," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 284(2), pages 645-671, January.
    12. Mohammed Saddoune & Guy Desaulniers & Issmail Elhallaoui & François Soumis, 2012. "Integrated Airline Crew Pairing and Crew Assignment by Dynamic Constraint Aggregation," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(1), pages 39-55, February.
    13. Rosat, Samuel & Quesnel, Frédéric & Elhallaoui, Issmail & Soumis, François, 2017. "Dynamic penalization of fractional directions in the integral simplex using decomposition: Application to aircrew scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 263(3), pages 1007-1018.
    14. 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.
    15. Zeighami, Vahid & Saddoune, Mohammed & Soumis, François, 2020. "Alternating Lagrangian decomposition for integrated airline crew scheduling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(1), pages 211-224.
    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. Saddoune, Mohammed & Desaulniers, Guy & Elhallaoui, Issmail & Soumis, François, 2011. "Integrated airline crew scheduling: A bi-dynamic constraint aggregation method using neighborhoods," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 212(3), pages 445-454, August.
    18. Yan, Shangyao & Tu, Yu-Ping, 2002. "A network model for airline cabin crew scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(3), pages 531-540, August.
    19. Omar Foutlane & Issmail Hallaoui & Pierre Hansen, 2022. "Distributed Integral Column Generation for Set Partitioning Problems," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-22, June.
    20. Sai Ho Chung & Hoi Lam Ma & Hing Kai Chan, 2017. "Cascading Delay Risk of Airline Workforce Deployments with Crew Pairing and Schedule Optimization," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(8), pages 1443-1458, August.

    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:spr:snopef:v:1:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s43069-020-00016-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.