ABSTRACT
The solution obtained from the fleet assignment in the previous chapter identifies the flow of fleet through the network. However, it does not identify which specific aircraft from that fleet is assigned to each flight leg. Aircraft routing is the process of assigning each individual aircraft (referred to as tail number) within each fleet to flight legs. The aircraft routing is also referred to as aircraft rotation, aircraft assignment or tail assignment. The major goal of this assignment problem is to maximize the revenue or minimize operating cost with the following considerations (Clarke et al. 1997, Gopalan and Talluri 1998, Papadakos 2009):
Flight coverage: each flight leg must be covered by only one aircraft.
Aircraft load balance: the aircraft must have balanced utilization loads.
Maintenance requirements: not all the airports that an airline flies to have the capability to perform maintenance checks on all fleet types. The airlines normally have maintenance bases, typically at their hubs, for different fleet types. The maintenance consideration is to ensure that the aircraft are flown through the network in a manner that allows them to receive the required maintenance checks at the right time and at the right base.
