Optimization model for large-scale long-term aircraft maintenance scheduling and station assignment

JohnPaul Adimonyemma and Yanshuo Sun

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2025, vol. 202, issue C

Abstract: The primary focus of the existing aircraft maintenance optimization literature is on short-term aircraft maintenance routing. By contrast, only a few studies address long-term maintenance planning, which predominantly emphasize scheduling decisions: none of them have examined the critical aspect of assigning aircraft to maintenance stations, a key challenge for major airlines with a network of maintenance facilities. Additional research gaps include (1) insufficient consideration of practical maintenance-related constraints (e.g., station access limit and aircraft rotation requirement) and (2) the absence of scalable algorithms capable of solving real-world problem instances involving hundreds of aircraft and dozens of maintenance stations. To fill those gaps, this study introduces a joint optimization model for aircraft maintenance scheduling and station assignment to assist a U.S.-based airline in creating long-term plans for a fleet of over 800 aircraft of multiple subfleet types. To address the computational challenges, we propose two decomposition approaches: one based on decision types and the other on time horizons. Extensive computational experiments using real-world data from the collaborating airline demonstrate that these approaches can reduce computation time by up to 80% with a minimal increase in the optimization objective (less than 2%). The proposed model is expected to streamline maintenance planning efforts and enhance outcomes for aircraft maintenance professionals.

Keywords: Aircraft maintenance; Scheduling and assignment; OR in airlines; Decomposition approaches; Case studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554525003436
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transe:v:202:y:2025:i:c:s1366554525003436

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600244/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2025.104302

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review is currently edited by W. Talley

More articles in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().