Satisfaction level based crew assignment problem using conjoint analysis

Abstract

Airline Crew Scheduling Problem (ACSP) is one of the widely investigated application problems in artificial intelligence and operations research. This problem consists of two sub-problems, namely Crew Pairing Problem (CPP) and Crew Assignment Problem (CAP). The objective of CPP is to generate feasible flight-crew pairings that covers all scheduled flights. The aim of CAP is actually assigning a crew to each generated pairing. The satisfaction level of crews is one of the important criterion for improving the working environment. In this paper, the focus is laid on the Satisfaction Level based Crew Assignment Problem (CAP^SL). The formal framework is defined by using the multi-objective constraint optimization problem. Furthermore, the aggregate objective function is defined by applying the conjoint analysis. In the experiments, the CPP is solved by using the real data of JAL. Next, the CAP^SL is formulated as a mono-objective 0-1 integer programming problem, and the optimal solution is solved.