OPTIMIZATION APPROACHES TO AIRLINE INDUSTRY CHALLENGES: Airline Schedule Planning and Recovery

The airline industry has a long history of developing and applying optimization approaches to their myriad of scheduling problems, including designing flight schedules that maximize profitability while satisfying rules related to aircraft maintenance; generating cost-minimizing, feasible work schedules for pilots and flight attendants; and identifying implementable, lowcost changes to aircraft and crew schedules as disruptions render the planned schedule inoperable. The complexities associated with these problems are immense, including longand short-term planning horizons; and multiple resources including aircraft, crews, and passengers, all operating over shared airspace and airport capacity. Optimization approaches have played an important role in overcoming this complexity and providing effective aircraft and crew schedules.