A Collaborative Framework for Airline and Network Manager Coordination in Irregular Flight Recovery

Most airlines operate on hub-and-spoke networks to serve markets with high efficiency. However, such networks are vulnerable to various disruptions caused by operational resource connection failures or external weather conditions, leading to significant delays and even network-wide breakdowns. Traditionally, disruptions are addressed separately by airlines and the network manager (NM), leading to suboptimal recovery solutions due to the lack of information sharing and collaboration. This paper addresses the irregular flight recovery problem under the collaboration of multiple stakeholders, i.e., airlines and the NM. To address irregular flights effectively, a collaborative decision making (CDM) framework is proposed, which consists of four phases with airlines and the NM alternatively adjusting recovery schedules. To improve airlines' recovery schedules, a revised airline recovery model is developed for airlines to generate initial and alternative recovery schedules with the consideration of updated airport slot capacity from the NM. To incorporate airlines' preferences and operational concerns for submitted schedules, an airline-driven air traffic flow management model is designed for the NM to balance demand and capacity by selecting and adjusting submitted recovery schedules. Experiments are conducted on real datasets for US airlines under the disruption of flight delays. Results show that alternative recovery schedules generally incur lower costs than initial ones. By incorporating airlines' preferences for schedules, the NM can generate schedules which better respect airlines' operational and cost concerns. The proposed CDM framework contributes to better recovery effects and multilateral benefits for both airlines and the NM.