Battery Degradation-Aware Electric Airline Planning

Abstract

Aviation is a major contributor to global warming and so pathways for decarbonization need to be explored. As battery technology advances, electric regional aviation emerges as a viable option. A key challenge, however, is that the aircraft batteries degrade over time, progressively restraining the operational capability of electric aircraft. Current approaches do not account for this effect. To address this gap, this research presents the Battery DegradationAware Electric Fleet Assignment framework that enables the integration of battery ageing into tactical scheduling. It does this by combining a rolling-horizon fleet assignment model with a battery degradation module that predicts and updates each aircraft’s state of health based on its flown missions, with battery replacement scheduled according to designated strategies to ensure continuity of operations. This framework is evaluated with five distinct experiments, tested on the KLM Cityhopper network and complemented by an additional case study for validation. The experiments validate the framework’s operational and degradation dynamics and demonstrate that battery degradation has a significant impact, with depreciation costs amounting to 0.91 €/km flown. Degradation reduces fleet range capability, lowering ASKs by 0.96%, revenue by 0.76%, and increasing total operating costs by 9.1% as battery replacements become necessary. The sensitivity analysis indicates that future battery price scenarios can make or break profitability. Consequently, operational models that ignore degradation effects will overstate the profitability of electric aircraft.