Integrated aviation model and metaheuristic algorithm for hub-and-spoke network design and airline fleet planning
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2022
Abstract
Most extant studies on aviation's hub-and-spoke network focus on the optimization problems from the perspective of economies of scale thanks to the inherent inter-hub connections, whereas the economies of scale on each route is contingent on the associated allocation of different types of aircraft. In this paper, we devise an integrated model of hub-and-spoke network design and fleet planning with the constraints of the passenger flow demand as well as the adaptation of different types of aircraft for each route, with the objective to minimize the total system cost (i.e., the sum of the hub setting cost and aircraft's related cost). To tackle the complexity of the integrated model, we develop a heuristic solution algorithm based on a Genetic Algorithm framework and an improved Floyd–Warshall algorithm to solve the value of the fitness function. The proposed model and the developed algorithms are tested with the US flight network (i.e., the CAB dataset) and China's aviation network. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the demand window is one of the critical factors that affect hub-and-spoke network design and fleet planning, while the utilization rate of specified aircraft fleet determines the fleet configuration, which poses relatively less impact on hub-and-spoke network design.
Identifier
85133561141 (Scopus)
Publication Title
Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review
External Full Text Location
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2022.102755
ISSN
13665545
Volume
164
Grant
AM21TMATRD00C003
Fund Ref
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Recommended Citation
Wu, Jiang; Zhang, Pei wen; Wang, Yu; and Shi, Jim (Junmin), "Integrated aviation model and metaheuristic algorithm for hub-and-spoke network design and airline fleet planning" (2022). Faculty Publications. 2751.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/fac_pubs/2751