Institute of Transportation, MOTC

　　Based on aircraft maintenance providers, the present study attempted to develop an optimization model for the annual schedule adjustments of stochastic aircraft check-in by considering factual, aircraft check-in and maintenance times, operational objectives, and related constraints. The model is formulated as a zero-one integer program. To effectively solve large-scale practical problems, the researchers developed a heuristic with the use of the mathematical programming solver, CPLEX. In addition, a simulation-based evaluation method was developed to evaluate the performance of the schedules obtained from the stochastic and deterministic models. Finally, to demonstrate and evaluate the stochastic model in practice, a case study was conducted using the real-time operating data from a major aircraft maintenance center in Taiwan. The test results were extremely favorable, verifying the superiority of the stochastic model over the deterministic model. The proposed model is a robust and useful planning tool for aircraft maintenance centers to effectively adjust their annual aircraft maintenance schedules while focusing on stochastic aircraft check-in and maintenance times.