Strategic Stand Planning With Selection Of New Flights To Optimize Hub Connections

Abstract

For a hub airport, capturing transfer passengers and offering better connections are key elements that largely influence its future growth and profitability. This research aims to develop a strategic stand planning model capable of selecting profitable turnarounds that will expand the network of a hub, integrating those turnarounds into the pre-existing schedule and efficiently capturing transfer passengers. The model includes 2 main goals, namely i) the maximization of the number of captured transfer passengers and the ii) minimization of connection times, which are integrated with 2 other objectives, iii) the minimization of unassigned turnarounds and iv) the minimization of tow moves. The 4 objectives are solved hierarchically in the order: iii)-i)-ii)-iv). In an attempt to tackle the inherent complexity of models that include transfer passengers, the problem is split into two less complex levels. One solves the multi-objective function and the other delivers a specific stand assignment. This approach significantly reduced the computational load for large input sets. The results show that an efficient stand planning can maximize the transfer passenger throughput by up to 38.66\% and reduce the average connection by 17.86\%. It was also possible to conclude that objectives i) and ii) conflict with each other. Further results confirmed that the time slot to which each new turnaround is allocated is the best slot for the airport, but it is not necessarily the most profitable for the airlines. This research could lead to the development of tools used by rapidly expanding airports to assess the connection potential of new routes. It can also be utilized by busy airports to optimize the current schedule and to make important time slot decisions.