Helicopter routing in the Norwegian oil industry

Abstract

Purpose – In the Norwegian offshore oil industry, helicopters have been used as a major mode of transporting personnel to and from offshore installations for decades. Helicopter transportation represents one of the major risks for offshore employees. The purpose of this paper is to study the safety of helicopter transportation in terms of the expected number of fatalities on an operational planning level. Design/methodology/approach – Based on an analysis of helicopter accidents, this paper proposes a mathematical model that can aid in the planning of routes for the fleet in order to minimize the expected number of fatalities. Findings – A theorem proven in this paper tells that hub-and-spoke configuration is the best way of routing helicopters in terms of minimizing expected number of fatalities. Computational results indicate that the expected number of fatalities may be reduced at the expense of longer travel time by implementing the proposed method into planning of routes for helicopter fleet. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is the present inability to solve large problem instances. Practical implications – The suggested tool is able to provide decision makers with a set of solutions from which they can choose the one with the best trade-off between travel time and transportation safety. Originality/value – The mathematical model and theoretical results for route planning with a safety-based objective are original.