Pdf this paper proposes an innovative multiperiod modeling approach to solve the airline fleet planning problem under demand uncertainty. Pdf airline fleet assignment and schedule planning. Connect with embark few things define an airline more than the aircraft the airline operates. Airlines fleet planning and strategy alton aviation. Aircargopedia creating a cargo airline business plan. Bish, xiaomei zhu grado department of industrial and systems engineering 0118, virginia polytechnic institute and state university. Optimization of airline fleet planning under the target of fuel emissions xu zhang, jing xiong, haining liu department of air transport shanghai university of. The problem is modeled using a scenario tree approach. The core revenueprofit contributor for any airline is delivered by operating its aircraft fleet. Fleet planning is a process of strategic importance for an airline. In this paper, the authors attempt to develop a robust, comprehensive, threestage airline fleet planning model to help airlines in their decisions regarding fleet size and mix. No snacks and drinks are provided, however they are for sale.
For large transport aircraft, the tasks can be found in maintenance planning document provided by the tch, these are described further in paragraph 3 of this document. Discuss the importance of fleet planning, and describe its longrange implications. There are only two fundamental reasons for acquiring new or different aircraft. A descriptive model of aircraft inspection activities. Modelling static fleet selection and composition and dynamic fleet development tradeoffs in fleet planning see figure below 2.
Threestage airline fleet planning model request pdf. Airlines have evolved over the past 70 years from simple contract mail carriers into sophisticated businesses. A knowledge of future equipment needs of the airlines is essential information for the airline planner or aircraft manufacturer. Pdf airline schedules planning and route development. The aircraft selection process factors in fleet planning price of fuel availability of used. Optimal airline fleet planning and management strategies under stochastic demand teoh lay eng the stochastic nature of the world has posed significant challenges to such a competitive airline industry. Fleet planning fleet planning selecting the right aircraft at the right time is one of the most important steps in the airline planning process. We focus our attention on the steps of the airline schedule planning process involving schedule design and fleet assignment. Chapter 6 the airline planning process learning objectives. You deserve to feel at home, even when youre on the move. The beginners guide to fleet management encore protection. This paper presents a multiobjective mathematical programming model to optimize airline fleet size and structure with consideration of several critical factors severely affecting the fleet planning process. Support for all aspects of fleet planning and fleet purchase or lease decisions, including airframe and engine negotiation, specifications development, and supplier management.
Flight planning software including slot management. Home services fleet planning fleet planning optimizing airline fleets to drive revenue enhancements and cost savings. Has significant impact on the financial position of the airline. The impact of strategic management and fleet planning on. Start up airline and mro feasibility and business plan mergers and acquisitions planning network and fleet planning develop and optimise network and route plans for airlines route planning and schedule development, alliances hub design and optimization, slot remarketing fleet planning, aircraft leasing and remarketing. Pdf scenario tree airline fleet planning for demand uncertainty. Guidebook for air cargo facility planning and development explores tools and techniques for sizing air cargo facilities, including data and updated metrics for forecasting future facility requirements as a function of changing market and economic conditions. A twostage fleet planning model is formulated in which the first stage selects the individual operating route that requires slot purchase for network expansions while the second stage, in the form of probabilistic dynamic programming model, determines the quantity and type of aircraft with the corresponding service frequency to meet the. Managing limited resources so things are done on time for the least. Trbs airport cooperative research program acrp report 143.
Dozic university of belgrade, faculty of transport and traffic engineering, s. A concise resource to the best practices and problemsolving ideas for understanding the airline network planning and scheduling process airline network planning and scheduling offers a comprehensive resource that is filled with the industrys best practices that can help to inform decisionmodeling and the problemsolving process. Pdf essentially, strategic fleet planning is vital for airlines to yield a higher profit margin while providing a desired service frequency to meet. Introduction to business planning this article provides a briefing on how to take an idea, outline it on paper, and implement the idea resulting in launch of commercial operations. Integrated airline planning references the airline planning process the global airline industry wiley online library. Traffic and yield forecasts used to estimate revenues planning alf determines asms and number of aircraft required aircraft acquisition has financial impacts in terms of investment. Mergers and acquisitions planning network and fleet planning develop and optimise network and route plans for airlines route planning and schedule development, alliances hub design and optimization, slot remarketing fleet planning, aircraft leasing and remarketing financial services evaluate airline investment opportunities. Fleet planning and maintenance diplomkaufmann sebastian wagner seminar paper engineering aerospace technology publish your bachelors or masters thesis, dissertation, term paper or. Chapter 6 the airline planning george mason university. Kestrel aviation management analyses multiple equipment and route combinations. Whether you are adding new aircraft to your fleet or using available aircraft time. Traffic and yield forecasts used to estimate revenues planning alf determines asms and number of aircraft required aircraft acquisition has financial impacts in terms of investment funding, depreciation, and interest expenses operating cost and. The aggregated macro approach is the most common because detailed 1015 forecasts are highly speculative.
The beginners guide to fleet management page 3 analyzing recorded data, extrapolating issues from the data, and recommending solutions. Nov 21, 2015 icao doc 9976 flight planning and fuel management manual 1. More than 200 aircraft deliveries and counting a321 first look. For route planning, flight planning officers need to consider the weather conditions, weight of the flight at different stages, length of the journey, height at which it can be taken, and the rules set by icao for safe planning. Fleet planning route planning airline schedule development the future. This is followed by a presentation of causal methods for traffic. Evaluation and selection of a fleet of aircraft for a local. Request pdf threestage airline fleet planning model one of the main factors affecting airline success is bringing supply and demand as closely together as possible. Is it more beneficial to utilize one type of aircraft, as in southwest and their sole use of boeing 737s, or does operating various models of aircraft make for a stronger business model. Peter belobaba network, fleet and schedule strategic planning module 2. Maintaining consistent profitability requires that appropriate tradeoffs be made between the often competing objectives within planning, marketing and operations. Wang and sun utilized simulated annealing algorithm to solve airline fleet planning problem and discussed a robust airline fleet planning method 5, 6. Top down or macro approach based on high level aggregated analysis 2. Our aircraft offer a variety of signature products and experiences unlike anything else in the sky.
Airfleets is a useful website for aviation professionals. Pdf chapter 2 airline planning and schedule development. Estimating the effects of commonality on fleet planning 3. Smaller aircraft usually have the tch recommended maintenance in the maintenance manual chapter 5. The main purpose of this paper is to reveal how multiairline competitive behaviors impact airline fleet size and structure by enhancing the existing routebased fleet planning model with.
Either the current aircraft can no longer perform the mission due to changes in the mission or the aircraft s operating conditions obsolescence, costs, performance, etc or due to the fact that the current aircraft is no longer cost effective in terms of the companys required. Airlines have a tendency to match their capacities and passenger. Kalic university of belgrade, faculty of transport and traffic engineering, m. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
Find materials for this course in the pages linked along the left. This third edition brings the picture fully up to date, representing the latest developments in aircraft products and best practice in airline fleet planning techniques. Most important long term decision impacting airline planning and operations. Research article optimization model and algorithm design for airline fleet planning in a multiairline competitive environment yuwang, 1,2 hongsun, 2 jinfuzhu, 1 andbozhu 1 college of civil aviation, nanjing university of aeronautics and astronautics, nanjing, jiangsu, china. Route forecasting identifying new markets that will generate incremental profitability can be a challenge. Fleet planning process fleet planning requires an evaluation process for assessing the impacts of new aircraft see next slide. I definitely recommend this book to any person who is interested in airlines fleet planning.
Often the number of aircraft manufacturers in an airline fleet is driven by political rather than operational or economically rational decisions. For information about the fleet of united airlines regional operations, see united express airline brand. The objectives of dlr air transportation systems research on airline fleet planning are. The tree is composed of nodes, which represent points of. Each aircraft type has different technical performance characteristics e. Our integrated suite of network planning solutions enables you to more easily take a strategiclevel look at your network to improve its overall performance. Evaluation and selection of a fleet of aircraft for a. Optimization model and algorithm design for airline fleet. Timetable development aircraft rotations and timetable constraints 4. Airfleets contains all information on civil aircraft. Summary plan for direct download into onboard flight management system.
Fleet planners also get involved in the negotiation deals with aircraft and engine. Ryanair is dedicated to customer service, in that employees are polite and helpful. Written by two industry experts, the book is designed to be an. Slot management is an integrated part of the schedules creation process. Schedule development process airline supply terminology sequential approach to schedule planning 2.
Discuss the importance of fleet planning discuss the. Aviation fleet strategy and planning the cost of ownership of aircraft can account for up to thirty five percent of the direct operating cost of an airline. Fleet managers should be able to view common routes that their vehicles take and identify alternate routes or travel schedules for. The airline planning process has evolved itself into a sequence of decisionmaking phases with the decision from one phase used as input for the subsequent phases. The airline planning process the global airline industry.
Making sure aircraft are the best suited for specific market needs both now and into the future is especially important for any airline. Threestage airline fleet planning model sciencedirect. A network approach to the evaluation of aircraft for fleet planning and strategic decision making conference paper pdf available september 2010 with 9,646 reads how we. The foundation of any acquisition plan is to understand the missions assigned to the flight department. The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact on airline efficiency of fleet planning and strategic management decisions. William gibson airline fleet planning and aircraft investment valuation 3 operate linear pointtopoint networks with high aircraft utilisation as a central goal, achieve high load factors through demand stimulation, and lower unit costs through optimal utilisation of the aircraft and careful cost management. Fleet planners also get involved in the negotiation deals with aircraft. Airline schedule design involves determining when and where to offer flights such that profits are maximized, and fleet assignment involves assigning aircraft types to flight legs to maximize revenue and minimize. In this paper, the authors attempt to develop a robust, comprehensive, threestage airline fleet planning model to help airlines in their decisions regarding fleet. Specifically, the airline planning process starts with schedule construction and fleet planning that are succeeded by aircraft maintenance routing and crew scheduling. A thorough understanding of aircraft performance, aircraft economics and the leasefinance sector that is essential to the fleet planning decision, we can run customized fleet evaluations.
Icao doc 9976 flight planning and fuel management manual. Airline fleet assignment plays important role for efficient operation of airlines. In contrast to most studies that did not consider slot purchase which would affect the service frequency determination of airlines, this paper proposes a novel approach to solve the fleet planning problem subject to various. United airlines revises fleet plan leeham news and analysis. Fleet planning fleet planning is very important for any airline. Your guide to american airlines seat maps and fleet information, use this before you book or take a flight. In order to save costs from the procurement and maintenance of extra aircrafts, the airline operators would always seek to minimise the fleet size, while at the same time being able to operate all the flights without shortage of aircraft. Airline fleet planning kestrel aviation management offers a comprehensive business planning, fleet planning and aircraft evaluation advisory service that has guided the strategic decisionmaking of a variety of airline, corporate and government operators worldwide. Research article optimization model and algorithm design for. However, this kind of approach is based on a given flight schedule, which is hardly simulated due to the uncertainty of airline s future environment.
New cabin for a new aircraft delta pilots put new a321 to the test in skies above germany its official. Within quantitative forecasting methods, timeseries analysis using both trend projection and decomposition methods are presented. The book has a comprehensive information about the entire fleet planning process in details from general theories to the detailed economics, which formed the best available literature for fleet planning. Bottom up or micro approach based on detailed analysis of data and forecasts by flight and route. The focus is on optimizing the fleet, keeping track of activities and easy checking for extra capacity to increase business, which is supported by the gantt display and the various functions in the application. Has significant impact on the financial position of the airline, its operating costs and specifically the ability to service routes profitably. Understanding the airline s need and matching that with the most cost effective fleet solution is essential for any airline s profitability. Airline schedules planning and route development 3 11.
Read guidebook for air cargo facility planning and. The threestage model for fleet planning involves approximate fleet composition, fleet sizing and aircraft type selection based on fuzzy logic, heuristic and analytic approaches, and multi. Naturally the airline fleet planning problem then becomes more complex and more important which has motivated the authors to research the topic. Essentially, strategic fleet planning is vital for airlines to yield a higher profit margin while providing a desired service frequency to meet stochastic demand. Leeham news and analysis theres more to real news than a news release. Buying the big jets has been published since 2001 to provide expert guidance to all those involved in aircraft selection strategies. Covering the majority of manufacturers in the world airbus, boeing, embraer, bombardier, sukhoi, fokker.
Fleet management involves acquisition and leasing of aircraft to meet travelers demand. Pdf scenario tree airline fleet planning for demand. When this is compared to the current capabilities of the aircraft in the flight department, a very clear. Doc 9976 anxxx fpfmm flight planning and fuel management manual notice to users this document is an unedited advance version of an icao publication as approved, in principle, by the secretary general, which is rendered available to the public for convenience. Fleet planning, in simple terms, needs to answer two questions. First, the pointto point service portion of the route was highly competitive, even hypercompetitive. The aircraft maintenance program and its importance on. An optimal aircraft fleet management decision model under. The current airline environment is very competitive and dynamic. I will tell you what you need to know to do world class maintenance planning and scheduling for outstanding reliability in this book and continue it throughout the course. Fleet planning determines what type of aircraft the airline should buy, and how many of them, in order to achieve the airline goals.
A descriptive model of aircraft inspection activities george nickles, hector him, scott koenig, anand gramopadhye and brian melloy. Therefore, the daily flight schedule of the airline must be prepared in. Fleet is the total number of aircraft that an airline operates, as well as the specific aircraft types that comprise the total fleet. Aam staff have led the fleet planning efforts and optimisation of the composition and utilisation of a number of airline fleets ranging from regional turboprop operations to an international flag carriers longhaul fleets. Fleet planning selecting the right aircraft at the right time is one of the most important steps in the airline planning process. This paper proposes an innovative multiperiod modeling approach to solve the airline fleet planning problem under demand uncertainty. United airlines revised its fleet plan concurrent with its 1q2015 earnings report. Airline business strategy driver for aircraft financing. Flight planning tool and software for optimized fleet utilization. Airline fleet composition fleet composition is critical longterm strategic decision for an airline. All aircraft to be retrofitted with new seats in a different configuration. Second, a portion of the traffic represented highly valuable feed between the origination point and major hubs, where it would.