ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is the emerging concept of airline scheduling, namely Robust Airline Scheduling. This chapter starts by firstly providing a brief review of past practices of scheduling in the airline industry. Points are raised as to how past practices have evolved and developed, and the weakness of this conventional paradigm in actual airline operations. Based on the review, this chapter will then introduce the concept of schedule robustness in the context of airline business in Section 6.2. Drawing from experiences of other industries, this concept and its evolution are examined from the perspectives of airline scheduling and operations. Both strategic and tactical improvements are discussed in Sections 6.3 and 6.4, in light of improving schedule robustness in airline operations. Recent advances in robust airline scheduling and integrated modelling are examined for improving strategic airline scheduling. Tactical options to stabilise airline operations in a random environment are also outlined in Section 6.4.
