A model for designing the meteorologically most reliable airline schedule

Due to meteorological conditions certain airports in some regions have to be frequently closed during winter months. An immediate consequence is an increase in the number of cancelled flights, which is a disruption of airline schedules on the overall transportation network. In this paper a research concerning the reliability of airline scheduling as related to meteorological conditions is conducted and an indicator for quantifying the adaptability of airline schedules to meteorological conditions is proposed. A heuristic algorithm for minimizing the number of needed aircraft for given traffic volume is also presented. In case where more than one solution with the same number of engaged aircraft is possible the solution chosen is the one with the minimum number of passengers whose flights are expected to be cancelled on account of meteorological conditions. The proposed algorithm is illustrated by an appropriate numerical example.