Mathematical formulations for large scale check-in counter allocation problem

Abstract

Strategic planning of check-in counter allocation with a focus on passenger waiting time is essential for airport operators to accommodate airline departures. This article proposes novel exact integer linear programming formulations for implementing first-in-first-out queue discipline, controlling waiting time and determining variable counter allocation with adjacency constraints for real world problems. Exact formulations in the existing literature handle small problems but do not address queue discipline and explicit control of waiting time. With our formulations, we solved live problems huge in size compared to those reported in the literature. The solutions are very efficient with passenger waiting times well below the international norms and high counter utilization.