Identifying strategic maintenance capacity for accidental damage occurrence in aircraft operations
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Abstract
Airline operators face accidental damages on their fleet of aircraft as part of operational practice. Individual occurrences are hard to predict; consequently, the approach towards repairing accidental damage is reactive in aircraft maintenance practice. However, by aggregating occurrence data and predicting future occurrence rates, it is possible to predict future long-term (strategic) demand for maintenance capacity. In this paper, a novel approach for integration of reliability modelling and inventory control is presented. Here, the concept of a base stock policy has been translated to the maintenance slot capacity problem to determine long-term cost-optimal capacity. Demand has been modelled using a superposed Non-homogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP). A case study has been performed on damage data from a fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft. The results prove the feasibility of adopting an integrated approach towards strategic capacity identification, using real-life data to predict future damage occurrence and associated maintenance slot requirements.