Route planning for a seaplane service: The case of the Greek Islands

Seaplanes offer a time and cost-efficient service for supporting transportation needs in island chains. This paper investigates the design of a seaplane network connecting the Greek islands with the mainland, a service currently accommodated by ferries. Design of seaplane routes is modeled as a multi-objective capacitated vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickups and deliveries and route length deadlines. A genetic algorithm coupled with a hybrid process is used to solve the model. Results show that a network of 11 routes with maximum flight duration of 5 h can adequately cover estimated daily transportation needs between the Greek mainland and the islands. Further, realistic increases in seaplane capacity and/or cruising speed will have only a moderate impact on reducing the number of required routes.