Optimal aircraft maintenance schedule adjustment following incidents in short-term operations

In this study, an aircraft maintenance schedule adjustment model is developed, with the objective of minimizing the total system cost, based on the carriers' perspective, subject to the related operating constraints. The model is expected to be a useful planning tool which can be utilized by aircraft maintenance centers to efficiently and effectively adjust their aircraft maintenance schedules following incidents that occur in short term operations. The model is formulated as a zero-one integer program and is solved using the mathematical programming solver, CPLEX. The effectiveness of the model is evaluated by application to a case study using data from an aircraft maintenance center in Taiwan. The test results show the proposed model, as well as the scheduling rules abstracted from the results, are useful for assisting the aircraft maintenance center to find good maintenance schedules.