decision support system for airline disruption management at KLM Cityhopper

Abstract

Abstract: The operations of KLM Cityhopper (KLC) is a complex undertaking. Many safety, statutory and contractual rules and agreements need to be considered for managing its operations. Hence, KLC spends considerable time, effort and money on planning its resources carefully. Unfortunately, it is all too common that unforeseen events during the day of operation can make the carefully constructed timetable, fleet and crew schedules infeasible – hereby having an adverse effect on passenger itineraries. Thereto, KLC has an entity named Operations Control where human experts control the safety of operations and deal with complications that have a negative effect on the flight schedule. Currently, there is little to no insight in the decision-making process. Operators use different information systems to assess the necessary steps to mitigate a problem. However, it is difficult to evaluate if all options have been analyzed, and if all the required information is consulted. Furthermore, the required information may not even be readily available or accessible. To identify any potential shortcomings, the KLC airline disruption management process is analyzed using the Delft Systems Approach. It is found that no information is available on the possible solutions to a problem and the consequences thereof. Thereto, a decision support system that can help to solve the complex problem of reallocating aircraft is presented. A metaheuristic based on tabu search is implemented to explore a plethora of solutions that is then presented to the operator. The operator can choose from this pool of solutions and select the most desirable one given the situation at hand. Interviews with operators and computational tests show that the system is capable of presenting quality solutions in relatively short computational time.