Track: Operations Research

Abstract

In an airline, fleet related assignment decisions are crucial to the overall airline profitability and these are being subjected to increasing complexities with time. Aircraft assignments are concerned with the allocation of a profitable aircraft to flights, given the constraints of airline fleet and flights the airline operates; the objective is to maximize airline profitability. A large range of constraints related to operations, passengers, airports etc. are to be satisfied in such an allocation. Initial fleeting decisions so made are often unable to complete as planned owing to the highly unpredictable, interdependent and regulated environment airlines operate in. Airlines almost never experience a day without disruptions, as observed in the research conducted. Fleet re-assignment aims at minimizing the cost of the disruption while ensuring operational continuity by using remaining resources and satisfying the additional constraints thus created. This study presents optimization models related to fleet assignment and re-assignment, adapted from Operations Research literature with their applicability analyzed, constraints considered and performance evaluated. The review brings up the need to address specific operational constraints of airlines; specially those of medium scale, taking aircraft seating configurations and specifics into consideration in the models to enhance practicality, in addition to accommodating real needs of airlines such as handling parallel disruptions.