A Time-of-Day Model for Aircraft Scheduling

This paper describes an aircraft scheduling model which accounts for indivisibilities in production (airplanes, flights), capacity costs due to peak demand, and consumer preferences regarding the time of day flights are scheduled. Application of the model to real-world routing problems is not intended, as the scope is limited to a system comprised of a single city pair. However, the model does make possible a detailed examination of the economic welfare aspects of various routing criteria and the degree of realism in the assumptions made. Cost functions formulated from CAB data, along with hypothesized characteristics of air travel demand, form a data base for the model. Results are included to show the effect on economic welfare of utilizing a model which fails to incorporate passenger preferences as to the time of day flights are scheduled.