ABSTRACT
Following the construction of a flight schedule and its corresponding network, the next step is to assign the right fleet type to each flight in the schedule. The task of fleet assignment is to match each aircraft type in the fleet with a particular route in the schedule. It should be noted that this phase of planning concerns only fleet type and not a particular aircraft. The goal of fleet assignment is to assign as many flight segments as possible in a schedule to one or more fleet types, while optimizing some objective function and meeting various operational constraints (Abara 1989). Fleet assignment should not be confused with fleet planning (Clark 2001). Fleet planning is a strategic decision normally undertaken when an airline is conceived, and concerns the number and type of aircraft needed for operation. It entails the process of acquiring the appropriate aircraft-types in order to serve the anticipated markets based on the airline’s strategic plan. Fleet planning addresses fleet size and fleet mix. In fleet assignment, however, we assume that the airline is operational with the existing aircraft in its fleet, and the problem is to assign a fleet type to each flight leg.
