Cell fleet planning : an industry case study

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate the practical use of the Cell Fleet Planning Model in planning the fleet for the U.S. airline industry. The Cell Model is a cell theory, linear programming approach to fleet planning. Four scenarios of the Model are presented: three with a nine-cell representation of the system and a test case using a thirty-cell representation. A detailed analysis of the results for each case has been performed. A comparison between the cases, with other forecasts, and with recent historical data which has also been .analyzed is shown. The Cell Model has produced realistic results. It has proven to be efficient regarding computer time and labor intensity given the size of the problem, and to be viable for industry use. Should no dramatic changes in the airline route system structure occur in the next ten years, results obtained show a greater need for small-capacity, short-range aircraft (e.g. B737's, B757's, and DC9's) than for other aircraft types.