Airplane Boarding Strategies Using Agent-Based Modeling and Grey Analysis

Delcea, Camelia; Cotfas, Liviu‐Adrian; Paun, Ramona

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-98443-8_30

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Apart from the elements mentioned in the Introduction related to the conditions considered over time for proposing or simulating different boarding methods, the approaches used for the evaluation of these methods have varied in the scientific literature. Over time, the following approaches have been used: cellular Discrete-Event System Specification (Cell-DEVS) modeling [54], cell-based computer simulation [21], computer simulation [3,8,47,48,55], Markov Chain Monte Carlo optimization algorithm and computer simulation [2], Discrete-Event simulation [3], linear programming [24,48,56], genetic algorithm [4], grid-based simulation model [57], stochastic modeling [58][59][60], agent-based modelling [11,44,61], empirical tests of the performance of the considered boarding methods [22], and simulated annealing [15].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Classical Airplane Boarding Methods Considering COVID-19 Flying Restrictions

et al. 2020

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The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has imposed the need for a series of social distancing restrictions worldwide to mitigate the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic. This applies to many domains, including airplane boarding and seat assignments. As airlines are considering their passengers’ safety during the pandemic, boarding methods should be evaluated both in terms of social distancing norms and the resulting efficiency for the airlines. The present paper analyzes the impact of a series of restrictions that have been imposed or mooted worldwide on the boarding methods used by the airlines, featuring the use of jet-bridges and one-door boarding. To compare the efficacy of classical airplane boarding methods with respect to new social distancing norms, five metrics were used to evaluate their performance. One metric is the time to complete the boarding of the airplane. The other four metrics concern passenger health and reflect the potential exposure to the virus from other passengers through the air and surfaces (e.g., headrests and luggage) touched by passengers. We use the simulation platform in NetLogo to test six common boarding methods under various conditions. The back-to-front by row boarding method results in the longest time to complete boarding but has the advantage of providing the lowest health risk for two metrics. Those two metrics are based on passengers potentially infecting those passengers previously seated in the rows they traverse. Interestingly, those two risks are reduced for most boarding methods when the social distance between adjacent passengers advancing down the aisle is increased, thus indicating an unanticipated benefit stemming from this form of social distancing. The modified reverse pyramid by half zone method provides the shortest time to the completing boarding of the airplane and—along with the WilMA boarding method—provides the lowest health risk stemming from potential infection resulting from seat interferences. Airlines have the difficult task of making tradeoffs between economic productivity and the resulting impact on various health risks.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Classical Airplane Boarding Methods Considering COVID-19 Flying Restrictions

et al. 2020

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“…A brief summary of the most well-known boarding methods is presented in Table 1 in accordance with the literature [9][10][11]16,[27][28][29][30]. Some of the considered boarding methods are also depicted in Appendix A.…”

Section: Boarding Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Seat and Aisle Interferences Affecting the Overall Airplane Boarding Time? An Agent-Based Approach

et al. 2018

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Seat and aisle interferences are assumed to be linked with a prolonged boarding time along with several other aspects related to airplane boarding such as: luggage handling, luggage distribution inside the cabin, number of passengers, passengers’ physique characteristics, group behavior, seat selection, aircraft occupancy, aircraft design, etc. Based on these assumptions, a series of proposed boarding methods, underlying their efficiency starting from the absence or limited presence of these types of interferences, are proposed. The present paper aims to analyze whether the different types of seat or aisle interferences do matter for the overall boarding time by considering 24 boarding methods proposed in the literature. A series of specific elements related to interferences, such as: the average waiting time, the average number of interferences based on their types, and the average number of interference-affected passengers, have been considered. Also, the presence of multiple interferences in different parts of the aircraft has been analyzed in order to offer a complete picture of the considered situation. An agent-based model in NetLogo 6.0.4, fed with values form field trials within the literature is created and used for simulations, which enables the agents to act like real passengers involved in an airplane boarding process.

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“…The literature provides a variety of techniques for evaluating boarding methods, featuring: linear programming ( Bazargan, 2007 ; Milne et al, 2018 ; Milne and Salari, 2016 ; Soolaki et al, 2012 ), computer simulation ( Steffen, 2008a ; Steiner, and Philipp, 2009 ; Tang et al, 2012 ; van den Briel et al, 2005 ; Van Landeghem and Beuselinck, 2002 ), grid-based simulation and cellular automata ( Qiang et al, 2014 ; Schultz, 2017 ), agent-based and stochastic modelling ( Delcea et al, 2018c , 2018d ; Milne et al, 2019b ; Schultz, 2018a , 2018b ), simulated annealing ( Wittmann, 2019 ), empirical tests ( Steffen and Hotchkiss, 2012 ), etc.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social distancing in airplane seat assignments

Salari

Milne

Delcea

et al. 2020

Journal of Air Transport Management

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This paper addresses the airplane passengers’ seat assignment problem while practicing social distancing among passengers. We proposed a mixed integer programming model to assign passengers to seats on an airplane in a manner that will respect two types of social distancing. One type of social distancing refers to passengers being seated far enough away from each other. The metric for this type of social distancing is how many passengers are seated so close to each other as to increase the risk of infection. The other type of social distancing refers to the distance between seat assignments and the aisle. That distance influences the health risk involved in passengers and crew members walking down the aisle. Corresponding metrics for both health risks are included in the objective function. To conduct simulation experiments, we define different scenarios distinguishing between the relative level of significance of each type of social distancing. The results suggest the seating assignments that best serve the intention of the scenarios. We also reformulate the initial model to determine seat assignments that maximize the number of passengers boarding an airplane while practicing social distancing among passengers. In the last part of this study, we compare the proposed scenarios with the recommended middle-seat blocking policy presently used by some airlines to keep social distancing among passengers. The results show that the proposed scenarios can provide social distancing among seated passengers similar to the middle-seat blocking policy, while reducing the number of passengers seated close to the aisle of an airplane.

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Airplane Boarding Strategies Using Agent-Based Modeling and Grey Analysis

Cited by 9 publications

References 31 publications

Evaluating Classical Airplane Boarding Methods Considering COVID-19 Flying Restrictions

Evaluating Classical Airplane Boarding Methods Considering COVID-19 Flying Restrictions

Are Seat and Aisle Interferences Affecting the Overall Airplane Boarding Time? An Agent-Based Approach

Social distancing in airplane seat assignments

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