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Moving Toward an Integrated Decision Support System for Manpower Planning at Continental Airlines: Optimization of Pilot Training Assignments

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Industrial Applications of Combinatorial Optimization

Part of the book series: Applied Optimization ((APOP,volume 16))

Abstract

Manpower planning and deployment is one of the most important and challenging issues faced by management in today’s industry. This is particularly true in technology-driven industries such as the airline industry. Optimal long-term planning and daily management of crew resources are critical to the operational success of airlines. Due to the complexities associated with generating staffing plans which comply with business requirements and the multitude of data processing necessary to determine compliance with revenue-enhancing business opportunities, the application of an integrated decision support system is paramount to attain optimal operational and financial performance. In this paper, we discuss an integrated decision support system for manpower planning, and in particular, we layout a mathematical framework for a pilot training assignment module. A prototype based on heuristic solutions of this model has demonstrated over $6 million in annual savings for Continental Airlines due to better pilot training assignments alone. Based on a conservative estimate, an integrated DSS will save Continental over $10 million annually.

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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Yu, G., Dugan, S., Argüello, M. (1998). Moving Toward an Integrated Decision Support System for Manpower Planning at Continental Airlines: Optimization of Pilot Training Assignments. In: Yu, G. (eds) Industrial Applications of Combinatorial Optimization. Applied Optimization, vol 16. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2876-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2876-7_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-4797-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2876-7

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