Application of stochastic programming techniques to airline scheduling
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2012-02-01
Authors
Silverwood, Mark William
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The goal of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of stochastic
programming techniques when applied to the airline scheduling process to
reduce the effect of stochastic flight delays. A variety of traditional and stochastic
programming models were developed for generating flight schedules. The
resultant flight schedules were tested using simulations to evaluate their
performance in real-world conditions with regard to flight delays, and their effects
on the schedule’s operations. It was found that stochastic programming
techniques were able to improve the delay recovery performance of the
schedules at the cost of decreasing the schedule’s profit; and that flight
schedules which are more dense with flight activity are affected more by the
stochastic programming techniques. The use of stochastic programming
techniques is recommended for the cases where an airline’s flight schedule has a
high density of activity and the negative effects of flight delays needs to be
minimized.