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2120. Integrated Schedule Planning for Regional Airlines Using Column Generation
Invited abstract in session TB-25: Applications of combinatorial optimization II, stream Combinatorial Optimization.
Tuesday, 10:30-12:00Room: 011 (building: 208)
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Alberto Santini
|
| Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra | |
| 2. | Vikrant Vaze
|
| Department of Engineering Sciences, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth |
Abstract
Medium-term airline schedule planning is traditionally tackled in a sequence of steps, including route selection, frequency planning, timetable design, fleet assignment, aircraft routing, crew scheduling, and tail assignment. Optimising each step separately is globally sub-optimal, but is often the only viable strategy because of the computational difficulty of solving the joint problem. This paper focuses on simultaneously optimising medium-term strategic decisions related to frequency planning, timetable design, and fleet assignment, as well as dealing with limited changes to the route selection process. Two conditions make this joint optimisation possible. First, we focus on the special case of regional airlines that work as feeder for larger mainline carriers. Second, we exploit a tight exponential-size formulation; we solve its continuous relaxation via column generation and obtain integer solutions via a restricted master heuristics. In this way, we obtain gaps consistently under 0.2\%. An important characteristic of our approach is that it incorporates explicit passenger preferences via discrete choice modelling. Preliminary results on the network of Mesa Airlines and Republic Airways show a significant potential for increased profits and load factors. The main reason is a better synchronisation of feeder flights allowing for more connections and, thus, capturing a larger share of passengers whose itinerary involve two flights with a layover at the hub.
Keywords
- Airline Applications
- Column Generation
Status: accepted
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