Solution Methodologies for generating robust Airline Schedules

Aircraft fleet can have a major effect on the efficiency and smooth running of an airline. Constructing good quality schedules is vital for an airline to operate in an effective and efficient way in order to accomplish high levels of consumer satisfaction and to maximise profits. The robustness of an airline schedule is an indicative measure of how good the schedule is because a robust plan allows the airline to cope with the unexpected disturbances which normally occur on a daily basis. Here we describe a technique to measure the robustness of schedules for aircraft fleet scheduling within KLM airlines. The method is based on the ’Aircraft on Ground (ACOG)’ measure, it employs statistical methods (although alternative methods were also considered) and it is shown to provide a good estimation of the robustness of a given schedule.