Abstract
This paper addresses the alliance route network design problem considering uncertainty in the unit transportation cost. An alliance route network was constructed based on a hub-and-spoke (HS) network, in which airlines could achieve inter-area passenger transport through their international gateways. The design problem was formulated with a robust model containing a set of uncertain cost parameters. The model was established based on a three-subscript model of an HS network. A case study with real-world data was used to test the proposed model. The results showed that this robust solution can reduce the impact of cost uncertainty.
Highlights
An international airline alliance, which is composed of airlines, is a joint collaboration of airline companies with the aim of establishing a unified global route system for improving competitiveness through code sharing or joint operations
We present a computational analysis of the robust optimization model of the alliance route network design problem in order to assess the effects of uncertainty in the unit transportation cost on the resulting solutions
Since the optimal solutions are sensitive to the unit transportation costs, with high amounts of uncertainty in the unit transportation costs, it is better to adopt the solution obtained with the robust model instead of adopting the solution of a particular scenario
Summary
An international airline alliance, which is composed of airlines, is a joint collaboration of airline companies with the aim of establishing a unified global route system for improving competitiveness through code sharing or joint operations. To address the airline alliance problem, the problem is separated into two specific issues [6], i.e., the selection of an alliance model and the route network design. By redesigning and adjusting the route network, the transportation costs of airlines are reduced, resulting in a risk-resistant model for providing reliable services and promising strategies for airline expansion in the future. The common alliance model neglects the uncertainty, which represents unknown situations and may be encountered in practical operations, as well as the flexible parameters that are challenging to estimate For those flexible parameters, a reasonable interval range or possible probability distribution is obtained by statistics, such as the airport capacity distribution, airline capacity, demands among airports, and unit transportation costs. Compared with typical network model structures [12], the proposed three-subscript optimization model is applicable for more than two airline alliances and multiple gateway numbers, and the uncertain factors can be integrated to meet the practical operation requirements.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
