AN INTERACTIVE DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR AIRLINE PLANNING

Flight scheduling is an important operation in the airline planning de partment. At the initial stage of the scheduling process, a seasonal s chedule is produced according to market demand, resource capacities, a nd environmental constraints, The seasonal schedule will then be adjus ted to become a number of feasible weekly schedules based upon some sp ecial requirements that may be known only a week prior to the operatio n. However, the final chosen weekly schedule lacks quantitative evalua tion. This paper presents an interactive decision support system that is designed to help in short-term scheduling and in conducting evaluat ions on any produced schedule. The system employs a simulation approac h to assess the performance of each feasible schedule. The simulation process is based on an event-oriented approach using a network mechani sm to ensure flight dependencies. The information obtained from the si mulation process can be further analyzed by using an interactive multi criteria analysis module that has been implemented in the system for s electing the most suitable schedule. In order to provide schedule anal ysts with an efficient and effective environment for repeating their s election process, the system also has the capability of constructing a nd maintaining utility profiles for individual users.