Airline Disruption Management: A Review of Models and Solution Methods

The normal operation of aircraft and flights can be affected by various unpredictable factors, such as severe weather, airport closure, and corrective maintenance, leading to disruption of the planned schedule. When a disruption occurs, the airline operation control center performs various operations to reassign resources (e.g., flights, aircraft, and crews) and redistribute passengers to restore the schedule while minimizing costs. We introduce different sources of disruption and corresponding operations. Then, basic models and recently proposed extensions for aircraft recovery, crew recovery, and integrated recovery are reviewed, with the aim of providing models and methods for different disruption scenarios in the practical implementation of airlines. In addition, we provide suggestions for future research directions in these topics. (C) 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier LTD on behalf of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Higher Education Press Limited Company.

Automated summary

The article discusses the impact of unforeseen factors on the normal operation of aircraft and flights, as well as the actions taken by airlines to reallocate resources in the event of disruption. It also reviews basic models and recent extensions for aircraft recovery, crew recovery, and integrated recovery, providing models and methods for different disruption scenarios.