An enhanced rostering model for airline crews

This payer introduces an efficient adaptation of the branch-and-bound techn ique that solves real-world rostering problems for airline crews. The effic iency of the algorithm is based on the exploitation of rostering-specific p roperties (e,g, variable selection, branching strategy and cutting-planes). This approach shortens the solution process and outperforms standard techn iques. Furthermore, we formally introduce a general concept of downgrading that makes it possible to solve certain rostering problems that might other wise have no solution. This gaper also computes a sample monthly schedule o n the basis of a medium-sized European nil line's real data. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.