Assignment of Arrival Slots

79 Pages·2012·0.27 MB·English

Assignment of Arrival Slots
James Schummer Rakesh V. Vohra
KelloggSchoolofManagement(MEDS)
NorthwesternUniversity
March 2012
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 1/38
Overview
Bad weather reduces available landing slots and causes flight
cancelations.
Initially, scarce resources (slot rationing).
Eventually, excess resources (flight cancelations).
A (re-)matching problem.
Studiedfromoperationsperspective;littlefrommechanismdesign
perspective.
FAA/airlines agree on desirable attributes (mechanism design
axioms).
Ourgoal: formalizeattributes;critiqueexistingmechanism;offer
superioralternative.
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 2/38
Overview
Bad weather reduces available landing slots and causes flight
cancelations.
Initially, scarce resources (slot rationing).
Eventually, excess resources (flight cancelations).
A (re-)matching problem.
Studiedfromoperationsperspective;littlefrommechanismdesign
perspective.
FAA/airlines agree on desirable attributes (mechanism design
axioms).
Ourgoal: formalizeattributes;critiqueexistingmechanism;offer
superioralternative.
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 2/38
Ground Delay Program (part 1 of 2)
Rationing a scarce supply of slots to scheduled flights.
Slot Flight
1:00 BA027 Slot Flight
1:01 UA301
1:00
1:02 UA081
1:02
1:03 AA111 =⇒
1:04
1:04 AF023
1:06
1:05 BA229
. .
. .
1:06 UA123 . .
. .
. .
. .
U.S. F.A.A. now uses Ration-by-Schedule: first-come first-served,
based on position in previous schedule.
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 3/38
Ground Delay Program (part 1 of 2)
Rationing a scarce supply of slots to scheduled flights.
Slot Flight
1:00 BA027 Slot Flight
1:01 UA301
1:00 BA027
1:02 UA081
1:02 UA301
1:03 AA111 =⇒
1:04 UA081
1:04 AF023
1:06 AA111
1:05 BA229
. .
. .
1:06 UA123 . .
. .
. .
. .
U.S. F.A.A. now uses Ration-by-Schedule: first-come first-served,
based on position in previous schedule.
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 3/38
GDP (part 2 of 2): Reassignment
Rationing/bad weather/mechanical problems may cause an airline to
cancel a flight, leaving excess resources (slots). Part 2 of GDP is to
move flights up, making efficiency use of landing capacity.
Slot Flight
1:00 BA027
1:02 UA301
1:04 UA081
1:06 AA111
1:08 AF023
1:10 BA229
1:12 UA123
. .
. .
. .
1:58 EI022
U.S. FAA now uses the Compression Algorithm (described later).
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 4/38
GDP (part 2 of 2): Reassignment
Rationing/bad weather/mechanical problems may cause an airline to
cancel a flight, leaving excess resources (slots). Part 2 of GDP is to
move flights up, making efficiency use of landing capacity.
Slot Flight
1:00
1:02 UA301
1:04
1:06 AA111
1:08 AF023
1:10 BA229
1:12 UA123
. .
. .
. .
1:58 EI022
U.S. FAA now uses the Compression Algorithm (described later).
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 4/38
GDP (part 2 of 2): Reassignment
Rationing/bad weather/mechanical problems may cause an airline to
cancel a flight, leaving excess resources (slots). Part 2 of GDP is to
move flights up, making efficiency use of landing capacity.
Slot Flight
1:00
1:02 UA301
1:04
1:06 AA111
1:08 AF023
1:10 BA229
1:12 UA123
. .
. .
. .
1:58 EI022
U.S. FAA now uses the Compression Algorithm (described later).
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 4/38
A matching problem
Our objective: study only “GDP part 2” (the reassignment
problem).
We take part 1’s rationing (RBS) as given.
Anyimprovementweofferoverthecurrentalgorithmsbecomes
morestriking,sinceadaptingtoRBSisadesignconstraint.
Inactuality,RBSisexecutedjustonce,while‘part2’isrepeatedly
iteratedovertime: toocomplextomakereassignmentafunctionof
previousrounds’trades.
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 5/38
Industry Objectives – Incentives
The FAA and airlines agree on various objectives.
“If an airline reported a mechanical delay on a flight, the
system would re-project its arrival time. If [rationing with
Grover–Jack were done] at that time, that flight would likely
receive an additional delay on top of its mechanical delay.
These effects were known as the ‘Double Penalty’
issue...The airlines would simply not send in information that
would [harm themselves]. RBS removes this disincentive."
– FAA website
(http://cdm.fly.faa.gov/ad/rbs.html)
That is, the FAA likes strategy-proofness: incentive to report feasible
arrival times truthfully.
Schummer&Vohra (NorthwesternUniv.) AssignmentofArrivalSlots March2012 6/38