Airline System Simulation

Evaluation of airline operations considering criteria for both the airlines and the aircraft manufacturer by means of a system simulation is discussed. The airlines must make decisions concerning fleet compositions and flight assignments in the consideration of earnings, competition, and growth. Manufacturers must make decisions years in advance concerning the size of the market and the price of its aircraft. Concepts and model are presented in terms of the factors considered and the more important relations between these factors. The list of factors includes demand, frequency of service, persistence, preference, variability, number of seats, and passengers. Additional considerations include route interaction resulting from the alternate means of traveling from origin to destination using both nonstop and one-stop routes. Other factors considered include system direction, wind, aircraft data, fleet size, cargo, airport data, scheduling period, variable cost, revenue, and net earnings. The output includes the flight assignments on each nonstop and one-stop route as well as related results, an analysis of the service by origin-destination, and a system summary.