A fuzzy stochastic approach to the multicriteria selection of an aircraft for regional chartering

SUMMARY This article deals with the problem of decision support for the selection of an aircraft. This is a problem faced by an airline company that is investing in regional charter flights in Brazil. The company belongs to an economic group whose core business is logistics. The problem has eight alternatives to be evaluated under 11 different criteria, whose measurements can be exact, stochastic, or fuzzy. The technique chosen for analyzing and then finding a solution to the problem is the multicriteria decision aiding method named NAIADE (Novel Approach to Imprecise Assessment and Decision Environments). The method used allows tackling the problems by working with quantitative as well as qualitative criteria under uncertainty and imprecision. Another considerable advantage of NAIADE over other multicriteria methods relies in its characteristics of not requiring a prior de finition of the weights by the decision maker. As a conclusion, it can be said that the use of NAIADE provided for consistent results to that aircraft selection problem. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Decisions form part of our day-to-day routine.Some are simple anddo not require great developments; others are more complex, requiring a greater degree of expertise and a methodology that is coherent with the approach to the problem. Complex decisions have required structured approaches for a long time. Some of the elements that can make a decision to be complex are the following: the problem has multiple, con flicting criteria; criteria, alternatives, and constraints are not clearly de fined and may be interrelated; multiple participants are present in the decision-making process; and some criteria are quanti fiable whereas other criteria can only be expressed by subjective judgment. This article essentially deals with a decision-making problem of a complex nature, whose importance requires a theoretically structured approach. The problem is faced by a nonregular aerial transport company. The company under study is a start-up company, derived from an economic group whose principal activity is logistics. Founded in 1969, the group is noted for its capacity for diversi fication, in 2005, possessing 12 companies acting in diverse sectors, varying from hotel services to agro-business. During the process of qualifying as an airline operator, the managers of the company studied and analyzed the opportunity of acting in the market of nonregular public flights, known as charter flights, within routes typically characterized as regional. In this modality, the public are generally offered seats to destinations that may or may not be attended by regular airline companies. Among the analyses