Abstract
This paper addresses a support information system for the planning of aircraft maintenance teams, assisting maintenance managers in delivering an aircraft on time. The developed planning of aircraft maintenance teams is a computer application based on a mathematical programming problem written as a minimization one. The initial decision variables are positive integer variables specifying the allocation of available technicians by skills to maintenance teams. The objective function is a nonlinear function balancing the time spent and costs incurred with aircraft fleet maintenance. The data involve technicians’ skills, hours of work to perform maintenance tasks, costs related to facilities, and the aircraft downtime cost. The realism of this planning entails random possibilities associated with maintenance workload data, and the inference by a procedure of Monte Carlo simulation provides a proper set of workloads, instead of going through all the possibilities. The based formalization is a nonlinear integer programming problem, converted into an equivalent pure linear integer programming problem, using a transformation from initial positive integer variables to Boolean ones. A case study addresses the use of this support information system to plan a team for aircraft maintenance of three lines under the uncertainty of workloads, and a discussion of results shows the serviceableness of the proposed support information system.
Highlights
The airline industry is nowadays facing a significant crisis caused by the SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which might in the future be embodied as the most impacting crisis in the history of the industry
The claim that the adequate allocation of technicians to teams for the maintenance of aircraft promotes the mitigation of expenses from airlines is a fact with board consensus in the technical literature. This is due to the possible reduction of costs incurred in the maintenance and repair organizations (MROs)
A line of research and development of support for this decision offers a powerful aid to the planning of aircraft fleet maintenance
Summary
The airline industry is nowadays facing a significant crisis caused by the Severe. Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which might in the future be embodied as the most impacting crisis in the history of the industry. Below 2019 flight levels, respectively, and worldwide flight departures are 40% lower than pre-pandemic levels [1] This crisis affects all the aviation industry, e.g., aircraft and engine manufacturers, components and materials supply chain, and maintenance and repair organizations (MROs). An airline company that achieves a competitive improvement in aircraft maintenance has gains by giving wings for lower fares, less downtime, higher hangar availability, greater aircraft rotation, and lower operating cost [3]. Aircraft MRO service is a pivotal action for the airline business in allowing for the reduction of operating costs, improving aircraft punctuality [4] and efficiency [5], while increasing safety and decreasing the likelihood of incidents and accidents [6,7].
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