Optimization of Sukhoi Su-30MKM maintenance planning for maximum operational readiness

Optimizing the Aircraft Maintenance Planning (AMP) of aircraft fleet is crucial in order to ensure the operational readiness is high at all time. Staggering the aircraft into maintenance so that minimum aircraft will be grounded, and at the same time a maximum number of aircraft can be deployed is the optimal target. At No 11 Squadron of Royal Malaysia Air Force (RMAF) practice, the AMP was done manually through a spreadsheet. Hence, mathematical model of AMP is used in order to improve the current AMP system by generating an optimized maintenance schedule. A mixed integer linear programming approach is used in the study to develop the model. The results display the optimized AMP for the fleet throughout the year. It also shows the proposed flying hours for the aircraft to fly for each period. This is as a guide for the scheduler to manage the fleet efficiently and also can be used for provisioning of spares.