Air cargo fleet routing and timetable setting with multiple on-time demands

In this research we combine airport selection, fleet routing and timetable setting to develop an integrated scheduling model. The objective is to maximize operating profit, given the related operating constraints. The model is formulated as a mixed integer program that is characterized as NP-hard. We develop several heuristics, and incorporate the use a mathematical programming solver, to solve the problem. To evaluate the model and the solution algorithms, we perform a case study using real operating data from a major Taiwan airline. The results show that the model and the solution algorithms could be useful for actual operations.