Airline Network Planning and Scheduling

Ahmed Abdelghany, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Management, Marketing, and Operations at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. His past experience includes being a senior analyst in the Information Services Division (ISD) at United Airlines.Khaled Abdelghany, PhD, is Professor and former Chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Southern Methodist University. He has worked as an analyst in the ISD at United Airlines.

• List of Figures xiList of Tables xxvPreface xxviiSection 1 11 Brands of Airlines 31.1 Schedule Availability 31.1.1 Charter Airlines 31.1.2 Scheduled Airlines 41.2 Size and Domain of Service 41.2.1 Major Airlines 41.2.2 National Airlines 41.2.3 Regional Airlines 51.3 Business Model 51.3.1 Legacy Airlines (or Mainline) 51.3.2 Low‐cost Airlines 61.3.3 Ultralow‐cost Airlines 61.4 Ownership 71.4.1 Public or State Ownership 71.4.2 Private Ownership 71.5 Network Structure 81.5.1 Hub and Spoke 81.5.2 Point‐to‐Point 81.5.3 Hybrid 81.6 Transport Service Type 81.6.1 Cargo Airlines 81.6.2 Passenger and Cargo Airlines 91.7 Network Coverage 91.7.1 Domestic 91.7.2 International 92 Airline Network Structure 112.1 Introduction 112.2 Time Bank 142.3 Advantages of the Hub‐and‐spoke Network 232.3.1 Better Network Coverage 232.3.2 Mixed Portfolio of Passenger Demand 242.3.3 Dominance at the Hub 262.3.4 Economy of Scale Operations at the Hub 272.4 Limitations of the Hub‐and‐spoke Network 272.4.1 Congestion at the Hub 272.4.2 Schedule Vulnerability to Disruption at the Hub 282.4.3 Extended Ground Time for Resources 283 Airline Schedule Planning Decisions 313.1 Definitions 313.1.1 Demand Forecasting and Competition Analysis 313.1.2 Served Markets 323.1.3 Flight Frequency 323.1.4 Flight Departure/Arrival Time 323.1.5 Fleet Assignment 333.1.6 Aircraft Schedule 343.1.7 Crew Schedule 353.1.8 Gate Assignment 353.1.9 Other Resources 363.2 Relationships Among Scheduling Decisions 363.2.1 Flight Frequency and Fleet Assignment 373.2.2 Departure Time and City‐pairs 383.2.3 Departure Time and Demand 383.2.4 Fleet Assignment and Flight Arrival Time 393.2.5 Fleet Assignment and Flight Departure Time 403.2.6 Flight Departure Time, Arrival Time, and Block Time 403.2.7 Flight Departure Time and Aircraft Rotation 423.2.8 Flight Schedule and Fleet Assignment Balance 423.2.9 Maintenance Rotations and Fleet Assignment 423.2.10 Seat Capacity/Frequency and Demand 443.2.11 Feet Assignment and Flight Demand 463.2.12 Frequency and Departure Time 463.2.13 Departure/Arrival Time and Gate Availability 483.2.14 Departure Time and Crew Schedule 494 Measures of Performance 514.1 Operating Cost 514.2 Revenue or Income 524.3 Net Income (Net Profit) and Operating Profit 534.4 Flights 534.5 Available Seat Miles 554.6 Cost per Available Seat Miles (CASM) 564.7 CASM‐ EX or CASM‐EX Fuel 574.8 Passengers 584.9 Revenue Passenger Miles (RPM) 604.10 Total Revenue per Available Seat Mile (TRASM or Simply RASM) 614.11 Passenger Revenue per Available Seat Mile (PRASM) 614.12 Passenger Yield 624.13 Average Load Factor (LF) 624.14 Block Hours 664.15 Aircraft Utilization 664.16 Stage Length 664.17 On‐time Performance Measures 674.18 Aircraft Life Cycle 674.19 Aircraft Number and Diversification 685 Freedoms of Air Service 756 Slot Availability 816.1 Level 1 Airports 826.2 Level 2 Airports 826.3 Level 3 Airports 84Section 2 917 Feasibility of a New Route 937.1 Business Plan 947.1.1 Proposed Property 947.1.2 Identifying Demand Feeders 947.1.3 Identifying the Size of the Demand Feeders 957.1.4 Analyzing Competition 967.1.5 Estimating Market Share 967.1.6 Estimating Total Demand and Unconstrained Market Share 1017.2 Application of Feasibility Study on a New Airline Route 1027.2.1 The Proposed Route 1037.2.2 Identifying Demand Feeders 1037.2.3 Identifying the Size of the Demand Feeding Markets 1047.2.4 Analyzing Competition 1057.2.5 Estimating Market Share 1067.2.6 Estimating Total Flight Demand (Unconstrained Demand) 1108 Market Share Models 1138.1 What Is a Model? 1138.2 Model and Historical Data 1148.3 Model Development Example 1158.4 Categorical Dependent Variable 1198.5 Introduction to Discrete Choice Models 1208.6 Itinerary Choice Models 1238.7 Applying Itinerary Choice Models: An Example 1319 Profitability Forecasting Models 1399.1 Introduction 1399.2 Model Input 1409.3 Itinerary Builder Module 1439.4 How the Model Works? 1439.5 Load Factor, Market Share, and Market Concentration 14410 Partnership Agreements 14910.1 Introduction 14910.2 Regional Airlines 15010.3 Code‐share Agreements 15110.4 Airline Alliances 15410.5 Distribution Channels and Point of Sale 15410.6 Loyalty Programs 15610.7 Corporate Travel 156Section 3 15911 Basic Fleet Assignment Model (FAM) 16111.1 Introduction 16111.2 Graphical Representation: Time‐staggered Diagram 16411.3 Problem Input 16711.4 Problem Definition and Formulation 17011.5 The Constraints of the Basic Fleet Assignment Problem 17211.5.1 The Coverage Constraints 17211.5.2 Resources Constraints 17311.5.3 The Through‐flights Constraints 17311.5.4 The Balance Constraints 17412 A Walk‐through Example of the Basic Fleet Assignment Model 17512.1 Problem Definition 17512.2 The Objective Function 17812.3 The Constraints 17812.4 Interconnection Nodes 18313 Application of the Basic Fleet Assignment Model 19313.1 Introduction 19313.2 Problem Input 19313.3 Setting the Problem in Excel Solver 20313.4 Solution Interpretation 20813.5 Resources Constraints 21013.6 Additional Constraints 213Section 4 21514 The Schedule Adjustment Problem 21714.1 Introduction 21714.2 Schedule Adjustment Decisions 21814.3 Problem Formulation 21915 Examples on the Schedule Adjustment Problem 22115.1 Flight Deletion 22115.2 Flight Addition 22815.3 Flight Departure Time 235Section 5 24316 Itinerary‐based Fleet Assignment Model (IFAM) 24516.1 Introduction 24516.2 Spill Cost Estimates and Network Effect 24616.3 Demand Recapture 24816.4 The Flight–Itinerary Interaction 25116.5 The Itinerary‐based Fleet Assignment Problem 25417 Example on IFAM 25517.1 Problem Definition 25517.2 The Constraints of the IFAM Example 25817.3 The Objective Function 25917.4 Problem Solution 27018 Comparing FAM and IFAM 27918.1 Problem Definition 27918.2 Problem Solution 285Section 6 28919 Integrated Schedule Design with the Itinerary‐based Fleet Assignment Model (ISD‐IFAM) 29119.1 Introduction 29119.2 Example of Demand and Supply Interactions 29219.3 Aspects of Demand–Supply Interactions: Demand Correction Factors 29319.4 The Schedule Design and Adjustment Problem 29819.4.1 The Objective Function of ISD‐IFAM 29819.4.2 The Constraints of the ISD‐IFAM 29820 Example on ISD‐IFAM 30120.1 Problem Definition 30120.2 The Constraints of the Problem 30420.3 The Objective Function 30520.4 Problem Solving 32420.5 Solution Interpretation 32720.6 Changing the Operations Cost 331Section 7 34521 Schedule Robustness 34721.1 Introduction 34721.2 Less‐prone‐to‐disruptions Schedules: The Concept of Adding Slack Times 34821.2.1 Slack in Flight Block Time 34821.2.2 Slack Time of a Connecting Resource 34921.2.3 Slack Time of an Inbound Flight 35121.3 Recoverable Flight Schedules 35321.3.1 Background 35321.3.2 Station Purity 35521.3.3 Short Cancellation Cycles 35621.3.4 Maximizing Swapping Possibility 35721.3.5 Allocating Standby and Reserve Crew 358References 359Index 369