An integrated flight scheduling and fleet assignment method based on a discrete choice model

• We propose a new integrated flight scheduling and fleet assignment method using the discrete choice model.
• We extend the model to consider itinerary price elasticity.
• A heuristic algorithm is proposed to solve models.
• We simulate a micro-market to evaluate the performance of our method.

The airline industry is capital intensive and operates on a thin profit margin. Optimal and flexible flight schedule is essential for airlines to survive in such competitive market. In this study, we focus on the integrated flight scheduling and fleet assignment problem based on a discrete choice model. Two mixed integer programming models are proposed: the first model solves the integrated flight scheduling and fleet assignment problem and the second model further considers the itinerary price elasticity. A heuristic algorithm is also proposed to efficiently solve the second model. In numerical studies, a micro market is simulated to evaluate the performance of our proposed models and algorithms. Experimental results reveal that our models can achieve a significant profit improvement under a reasonable computation time.