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Improving airline operational performance through schedule perturbation

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Abstract

Schedule development is typically the first phase of the airline planning process. We present a framework for perturbing scheduled departure and arrival times after a crew schedule has been found. We characterize perturbations that keep a schedule legal while not increasing the planned cost of the crew schedule. We show that when random delays occur in operations, the expected cost can be reduced and the on-time performance improved. Computational results are reported for two real fleets and a large number of crew schedules.

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Correspondence to Andrew J. Schaefer.

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AMS Classification: 90B06

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Schaefer, A.J., Nemhauser, G.L. Improving airline operational performance through schedule perturbation. Ann Oper Res 144, 3–16 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-006-0003-1

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