Airbus Packing at Federal Express

Success in the express-mail market hinges on paying attention to every parcel in the system. A key component is safe, efficient loading of aircraft. Federal Express, a perennial leader in the express business, has recently added the Airbus A300, a lighter aircraft, to its fleet. Because of the Airbus design, shear limits—shear being a measure of the downward forces exerted on the plane—are extremely sensitive to the loading, a problem not experienced in the heavier craft. We developed a heuristic for loading containers into positions on the aircraft to address loading preferences and maintain feasibility constraints.