SimAir: a stochastic model of airline operations

Abstract

Airline transportation systems are inherently random. However, airline planning models do not explicitly consider stochasticity in operations. Because of this, there is often a notable discrepancy between a schedule's planned and actual performance. SimAir is a modular airline simulation that simulates the daily operations of a domestic airline. Its primary purpose is to evaluate plans, such as crew schedules, as well as recovery policies in a random environment. We describe the structure of SimAir, and we give future directions for the study of airline planning under uncertainty.