OPERATIONS RESEARCH

AVIATION SECTOR

SUBMITTED BY
GROUP H1 SECTION-2
ABHISHEK KHAITAN (15F203)
ANKIT GARG (15F209)
GOURAV BAID (15F220)
RACHITA SAHU (15F238)
SUPRADEEP MALLIMADUGULA (15F255)

Introduction of the Aviation Sector

Indian Aviation Industry is one of the fastest growing airline industries in the world. The last few
years have been without doubt some of the most challenging in Indias aviation history. Overcapacity, high input costs, intense competition and a negative policy and regulatory environment
conspired to threaten the viability of virtually the entire aviation value chain. At an industry level
airline debt is now equivalent to more than 100% of airline revenue. Aviation experts feel that
India has the potential to become the third largest aviation market by 2020 and the largest by
2030. There is large untapped potential for growth due to the fact that access to aviation is still a
dream for nearly 99.5% of our population. The major problem which this industry is facing is the
high operational cost as compared to the revenue that is being generated. With the increasing
number of passengers travelling by airplanes as well as cargo fleets through air transport it is
definitely a golden opportunity for airline companies to tap this market and make the most out of
it.
Background of Spicejet
Recently we have seen Spicejet, country's fourth largest airline by number of passenger carried
has been incurring huge losses. It was unable to pay salaries to its employees due to which many
a times the staffs went to a strike. After Kalanidhi Maran of Sun Group sold its entire
shareholding to airlines founder Ajay Singh, Spicejet is into a refurbishment process. It is trying
to reduce its operational cost in order to be competitive in the market with its peers in terms of
profit. We have identified some of the areas where Spicejet can reduce its operating costs and
provided solutions for the same by using some of the operation research.

Tools Used
The concepts like waiting line model, linear programming, special linear programming like
Assignment and Transportation have been used to solve the problems that have been stated in the
project. We have also given solution for cargo airlines to maximize their profit by selecting the
right mix of the volume of cargo to be transported along safely. We have also taken up a version
of the animus case given in the SCOPE 2015 and solved it.

Check-In Optimization Problem:

Spicejet is having 7 counters for the check in of its customers in Kempegowda International
Airport, Bengaluru. They are into reducing their operational cost in the airport in order to earn
higher profits. On an average 3 counters are always operating for smooth operation. The cost
associated with each of its service counter is Rs 5000/hr. An overhead cost (electric cost
associated with baggage conveyor) of about Rs 600/hr is incurred by Spicejet. This cost increases
the overall operational expenditure of Spicejet. This cost is directly proportional to the waiting
time of the passengers in the queue as more the waiting time more will be the operational time
and hence more the overhead cost. In order to optimize this cost we are going to use the
principles of waiting line model by determining the number of counters that should be operating
based on the number of passengers arriving per unit time and the service rate.
Case 1: We assume that average passenger arrival rate () is 240/hr and service rate () is 90/hr.
Now, / =240/(90)
=2.7

From the above calculation we see that since / >2 so the minimum number of counters that
needs to be operating is 3. From the table we find out that if Spicejet operates 4 counters for the
given passenger arrival rate it will incur the least minimum operating cost. The system utilization
for this would be /s, where s is the number of counters. We get this value as 0.667 which
signifies that each counter is 66.7% utilized.

Case 2: We assume that average passenger arrival rate () is 350/hr and service rate () is 90/hr.
Now, / =350/(90)

=3.9

From the above calculation we see that since / >3 so the minimum number of counters that
needs to be operating is 4. From the table we find out that if Spicejet operates 5 counters for the
given passenger arrival rate it will incur the least minimum operating cost. The system utilization
for this would be /s, where s is the number of counters. We get this value as 0.533 which
signifies that each counter is 53.3% utilized.

Crew Assignment Problem:

Spicejet is an airlines which is pretty strong in the southern region and its major revenue
generators are Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Each of these locations has numerous flights
and crew scheduling is one of the most important factors that needs to be considered while
planning a flight schedule. Each flight is assigned with a crew that takes care of the inhouse
requirements of the passengers and ensures that all of them have a smooth flight. The Flight
schedule is given below
Flight No
SG 1033 (M)
SG 1033 (A)
SG 1034 (M)
SG 1034 (E)
SG 1035
SG 1036
SG 3301
SG 3302
SG 3307
SG 3308
SG 3310
SG 3706
SG 3707
SG 3708

Origin
Bangalore
Bangalore
Bangalore
Bangalore
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
Chennai
Chennai
Chennai
Chennai
Chennai

Destination
Chennai
Chennai
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
Bangalore
Bangalore
Chennai
Chennai
Chennai
Bangalore
Bangalore
Bangalore
Hyderabad
Hyderabad

M in the schedule represents Morning, A represents Afternoon and E represents Evening

The general crew allowance is 10,000 per crew member if she/he travels from the base (origin)
to a new location and the crew allowance is 7,500 if she/he travels from the base and returns to
the base. Each flight is assumed to have 5 cabin crew members, who travel together as a team so
that the coordination amongst them is maximum and efficiency is achieved.
There is a crunch in the crew and crew are to be assigned considering the fact that one crew are
to be assigned to one flight. Assign the crew based on the above conditions.
Solution: The below table specifies the flight, the ones which are to be operational that will
satisfy our crew requirement as well as optimize our cost.

Cargo Problem:
Blue Dart a freight forwarder wants to utilize its plane for sending cargo to a destination. It has
three compartments for storing cargo: front, centre and rear. These compartments have the
following limits on both weight and space:
Compartment
Front
Centre
Rear

Weight
(Ton)
10
15
5

Volume (Cu)
6400
8700
4600

Furthermore, the weight of the cargo in the respective compartments must be the same
proportion of that compartment's weight capacity to maintain the balance of the plane. The
following five cargoes are available for shipment on the next flight:
Cargo
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5

Weight (Ton)
20
17
19
23
14

Volume (cu/ton)
500
600
450
550
400

Profit (Rs/ton)
520
480
450
500
470

Any proportion of these cargoes can be accepted. Blue Dart is in dilemma to determine how
much of each cargo should be accepted and how to distribute each among the compartments so
that the total profit for the flight is maximized and the flight meets the safety guidelines.
Solution:

The Amount of cargo that needs to be taken is highlighted in yellow i.e. C1 to be taken
completely which fills the Front and Rear, Still 10 Ton of center is left which is filled by C4 this
combination will give us the maxmimum profit of Rs 15,400.

Connecting Flights:
Spice Jet Airlines must determine how many connecting flights daily can be arranged between
Mangalore, Bangalore, and Guwahati. Connecting flights must stop in Mumbai and then stop in
Kolkata or Delhi. Because of limited landing space, Spice Jet is limited to making the number of
daily flights between pairs of cities shown in table below. Set up a maximum-flow problem
whose solution will tell the airline how to maximize the number of connecting flights daily from
Mangalore to Guwahati.
Cities
Mangalore-Mumbai
Mumbai-Kolkata
Mumbai-Delhi
Delhi-Guwahati
Delhi-Guwahati

Max # Daily
Flights
3
2
3
1
2

K
2

MA

1
G

D
3

The appropriate network is shown in the figure above. Here the capacity of arc (i, j) is the
maximum number of daily flights between city i and city j. The optimal solution to this
maximum flow problem is z = x0 = 3, xMA,M = 3, xM,K = 1, xM,D = 2, xK,G = 1, xD,G = 2.
Thus, Spice Jet can send three flights daily connecting Mangalore and Guwahati. One flight
connects via MangaloreMumbaiKolkataGuwahati, and two flights connect via Mangalore
MumbaiDelhiGuwahati.

Animus Case (Modified):

ABC Freight Forwarder is one of the major player in the field of supply chain and logistics in
India. They receive batches of consignments for delivery throughout Europe mainly in
Frankfurt. ABC can select any airline among the available from Bengaluru, Hyderabad or
Chennai on a particular day. ABC is charged by the airlines based on aggregated shipment,
however the forwarder charges individual clients the maximum that an airline charges for the
given weights. Mr Samir Jani who has recently joined ABC has been in constant touch with the
specialists in consolidation at ABC who assist their clients on a daily basis. Based on his
understanding Jani could prepare a typical weekly dispatch schedule out of what is made
available to the clients of ABC. Mr Naresh Narayana, Director, Global Forwarding at ABC
freight forwarder is impressed by the work put in by Jani, however he wants a detailed plan for
the next week so that the company can earn maximum from the consolidation program.
Solution:
Tuesday

Thursday

Saturday

The total cost incurred by the ABC is 11777500.

Conclusion:
The problems that have been solved are of prime importance to the changing trends in the
aviation sector and are valuable tools to enhance the service quality and operational efficiency of
the airline industry.
From a financial perspective all these problems will incur a significant cost which can be brought
down by implementation of these solutions. So the financial objective of profit maximization
will be achieved.
If the solutions can be implemented with the real life data, we can see the true potential of the
applications that have been used.

References:
1. http://courses.cs.vt.edu/cs5114/spring2013/lectures/lecture19-network-flow-applications.pdfFor
2. http://www.aviationsystems.arc.nasa.gov/publications/2009/AF2009175.pdf3. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00263072/document4. http://128.173.204.63/courses/Nextor_SC08/Applications_linear_programming.pdf
5. http://www.spicejet.com/Default.aspx
6. http://www.ibef.org/industry/indian-aviation.aspx