A Model for Reducing the Cost of Refueling in a Flight Route Problem With Discounted Fuel Prices

Introduction

The aviation sector connects the world in a special way, adding tremendous value to the world economy, it contributes 8% to the global economy. Aviation’s demand for oil accounts for approximately 5.8% of the world’s total demand and 12.7% of the transportation sector, This fact shows the importance of aviation in the future of energy and economy industry (Mazraati, & Faquih, 2008) and (Mazraati, & Alyousif, 2009).

International air transport is one of the most powerful and dynamic sectors in the world, with exponential growth since the beginning of the 19th century, it needs progressive and reactive operation at the highest professional levels (Radnoti, 2002). At the worldwide level, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works with its 191 Member States and industry groups used to change principles and policies and reach an agreement on the international civil aviation Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in order to obtain a safe, secure and sustainable air operation (Weber, 2018). At the national level, airport consultative committees with the airport authorities exchange information and ideas, consult different aspects of the development programs of airport to keeping track of jet fuel costs world-wide and try to secure reductions and resolve any issues that may emerge (International Air Transport Association IATA, 2004).

There are a series of processes for planning flight operations for each season, including flight scheduling, fleet allocation, aircraft routing, and crew scheduling problems. The operation begins with determining the flight schedule, then assigning an aircraft to each required flight, building routes for a set of flights with specific maintenance locations, and finally, determining work schedules for the pilots and flight attendants (Guay et al., 2010) and (Clarke et al.,1997). Airlines usually create their schedules, presuming that each leg of the flight will depart and arrive as scheduled. These plans are often interrupted, and the airlines often suffer significant expenses. Airlines tried to develop a more comprehensive strategy to reduce the occurrence and impact of such delays and minimize costs and interference (Lan et al. 2006).

Airlines aim to optimize their operations to meet fuel efficiency objectives, they face challenges to execute efficiency measures in the day-to-day service of the airline and in the various business areas. They solve this challenge by thinking about how to drive cost and quality in four departments: ground operations, maintenance, flight operations, and finance as shown in Figure 1.

Optimizing the flight route aims to minimize the impact of the aircraft on the environment across the airport in a method that considers jet noise, fuel consumption, aircraft restrictions and constraints (Khardi, 2014). The flight operations concentrate on developing a system that can help manage the fuel usage (Rachman, 2019).

Figure 1.

Key initiative divisions for fuel efficiency

The fuel crisis in the 1970s gave rise to great attention on the issue of airline fuel management. Nowadays, the cost of jet fuel has become an increasing proportion of airline expenditures and one of the largest direct operational costs factors in the air transport industry (Stolzer, 2002) and (Airbus, 2004). Airbus, (2008) predicted that the fuel for a standard A320 family operator represents between 28-43 percent of the overall operating costs.