A mathematical model for an integrated airline fleet assignment and crew scheduling problem solved by vibration damping optimization

Fleet assignment and crew scheduling are the most complex airline optimization problems. In this research, an optimized crew pairing set was considered as input, and the crew was selected to be assigned to each certain crew pairing. This paper presents a novel model to integrate the fleet assignment and crew scheduling problems. In this model, closed routes for both crew and fleet are simultaneously taken into account. It also considers two consecutive fight legs and some other characteristics such as time lag, minimum permitted time lag, and maximum economic time. Moreover, a Vibration Damping Optimization (VDO) algorithm was introduced to find an appropriate solution to this problem during a reasonable time period. To this end, an experimental design based on the Taguchi method was taken into account. To evaluate the performance of the proposed VDO algorithm, four designed test problems were solved using the proposed VDO and the obtained results were compared with those from the optimal solution and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Then, 10 generated test problems on a large scale were solved using VDO and PSO. The results showed that in these four designed test problems, VDO and PSO solutions had 1.62% and 2.95% gaps in average with an optimal solution. Moreover, based on 10 generated test problems, on average, VDO, compared to PSO, could provide a 6.71% better solution in a shorter time span. (C) 2021 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This research introduces a novel model that integrates fleet assignment and crew scheduling problems, utilizing the Vibration Damping Optimization (VDO) algorithm to find suitable solutions in a shorter time span. Experimental results show that VDO outperforms Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) in providing better solutions in a shorter time period.