Quantitative Problem Solving Methods in the Airline Industry

This book reviews operations research theory, applications and practice in airline planning and operations. It examines the business and technical landscape, details best practices, and identifies open questions and areas for future research.

This book reviews Operations Research theory, applications and practice in seven major areas of airline planning and operations. In each area, a team of academic and industry experts provides an overview of the business and technical landscape, a view of current best practices, a summary of open research questions and suggestions for relevant future research. There are several common themes in current airline Operations Research efforts. First is a growing focus on the customer in terms of: 1) what they want; 2) what they are willing to pay for services; and 3) how they are impacted by planning, marketing and operational decisions. Second, as algorithms improve and computing power increases, the scope of modeling applications expands, often re-integrating processes that had been broken into smaller parts in order to solve them in the past. Finally, there is a growing awareness of the uncertainty in many airline planning and operational processes and decisions. Airlines now recognize the need to develop 'robust' solutions that effectively cover many possible outcomes, not just the best case, blue sky scenario. Individual chapters cover:Customer Modeling methodologies, including current and emerging applications.Airline Planning and Schedule Development, with a look at many remaining open research questions. Revenue Management, including a view of current business and technical landscapes, as well as suggested areas for future research.Airline Distribution -- a comprehensive overview of this newly emerging area.Crew Management Information Systems, including a review of recent algorithmic advances, as well as the development of information systems that facilitate the integration of crew management modeling with airline planning and operations. Airline Operations, with consideration of recent advances and successes in solving the airline operations problem. Air Traffic Flow Management, including the modeling environment and opportunities for both Air Traffic Flow Management and the airlines.

The Editor team for the handbook is first-rate. Cindy Barnhart holds several positions at MIT. She is Chancellor of MIT, Co-Director of MIT's Center for Transportation & Logistics, Co-Director of MIT's Operations Research Center and she is a full professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at MIT Barry Smith is Chief Scientist for Sabre Inc. and a leading practitioner developing new mathematical and computational solutions to problems in the Airline Industry. He has been called on to develop new solutions for a wide range of airline problems The airline industry is an especially heavy user of Operations Research throughout its operations. Many hundreds of OR professionals new work in this area, either as employees of airline companies or as members of consulting firms that focus on the problems of companies involved in transportation, including especially airlines. A substantial number of academics also do research and consult in this area. Therefore, this handbook should attract a great deal of interest Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Auteur
Barry Smith is a prominent contributor to both theoretical and applied research in ontology. He is the author of some 450 scientific publications on ontology and related topics. Currently, the primary focus of his research is the application of ontology in biomedicine and biomedical informatics.

Contenu

Chapter 1. Customer Modeling.- Chapter 2. Airline Planning and Schedule Development.- Chapter 3. Revenue Management.- Chapter 4. Airline Distribution.- Chapter 5. Crew Management Information Systems.- Chapter 6. Operations.- Chapter 7. Air Traffic Flow Management.