Loading operation efficiency for international air express at a spoke airport
Abstract
Loading operation efficiency at airports plays an indispensable role in international air express service performance. The authors comprehensively examined the priorities of factors that affect loading operation efficiency for air express services at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan. The reviewed results from surveying practical experts using a rank pair-wise comparison (RPC) revealed that load factor and load planning consistently ranked higher and more crucial among 15 elements regardless of flight properties. Long-haul services to the North American hub were most concerned with inventory control of unit load devices (ULDs). Regional feeder services attached importance to the ground operations workforce as well. Feeder services for cross-continental deliveries additionally focused on the arrangement of apron bays. The authors used the TOPSIS, i.e., technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solutions, to evaluate flights by three freighter types. Considering that the studied company performed more consistently on the top crucial factors, the sub-criteria that belong to the negative subset and are affected by the external units played a dominant role in these evaluated flights.
Keyword : loading operation, efficiency, air express, spoke airport, rank pair-wise comparison (RPC), unit load devices (ULD), TOPSIS
How to Cite
Lu, H.-A., & Chung, C.-S. (2023). Loading operation efficiency for international air express at a spoke airport. Aviation, 27(3), 162–176. https://doi.org/10.3846/aviation.2023.19976
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Baxter, G., & Srisaeng, P. (2018). Cooperating to compete in the global air cargo industry: The case of the DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo A.G. joint venture airline ‘AeroLogic.’ Infrastructures, 3(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures3010007
Boeing. (2022). World air cargo forecast 2022–2041. https://boeing.com/wacf
Brandt, F., & Nickel, S. (2019). The air cargo load planning problem – A consolidated problem definition and literature review on related problems. European Journal of Operational Research, 275(2), 399–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2018.07.013
Brosh, I. (1981). Optimal cargo allocation on board a plane: A sequential linear programming approach. Journal of Operational Research, 8(1), 40–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(81)90027-8
Budd, L., & Ison, S. (2017). The role of dedicated freighter aircraft in the provision of global air freight services. Journal of Air Transport Management, 61, 34–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.06.003
Chan, F. T. S., Bhagwat, R., Kumar, N., Tiwari, M. K., & Lam, P. (2006). Development of a decision support system for air-cargo pallets loading problem: A case study. Expert Systems with Application, 31(3), 472–485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2005.09.057
Dahmani, N., & Krichen, S. (2016). Solving a load balancing problem with a multi-objective particle swarm optimization approach: Application to aircraft cargo transportation. International Journal of Operational Research, 27(1–2), 62–84. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJOR.2016.078455
Feng, B., Li, Y., & Shen, Z. J. M. (2015). Air cargo operations: Literature review and comparison with practices. Transportation Research. Part C: Emerging Technologies, 56, 263–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2015.03.028
Hwang, C. L., & Yoon, K. P. (1981). Multiple attribute decision making: Methods and applications, A state-of-the-art survey. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48318-9_3
Lakew, P. (2014). Economies of traffic density and scale in the integrated air cargo industry: The cost structures of FedEx Express and UPS Airlines. Journal of Air Transport Management, 35, 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2013.11.001
Lange, A. (2019). Does cargo matter? The impact of air cargo operations on departure on-time performance for combination carriers. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 119, 214–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2018.10.005
Larsen, O., & Mikkelsen, G. (1980). An interactive system for the loading of cargo aircraft. European Journal of Operational Research, 4(6), 367–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(80)90187-3
Limbourg, S., Schyns, M., & Laporte, G. (2012). Automatic aircraft cargo load planning. Journal of Operational Research Society, 63(9), 1271–1283. https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2011.134
Liu, Y., & Kang, T. (2015). Operational model of China’s express services industry: A case study of SF-Express. Journal of International Trade & Commerce, 11(5), 43–58. https://doi.org/10.16980/jitc.11.5.201510.43
Lu, H.-A., & Chen, C.-Y. (2011). A time-space network model for unit load device capacity planning in international airline services. Journal of Air Transport Management, 17(2), 94–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2010.09.004
Lu, H.-A., & Chen, C.-Y. (2012). Safety stock estimation of unit load devices for international airline operations. Journal of Marine Science and Technology, 20(4), 431–440.
Lu, H.-A., & Liu, R.-R. (2014). Market opportunity analysis and evaluation of the expansion of air transport services across the Taiwan Strait. Journal of Air Transport Management, 37, 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2014.01.007
Lurkin, V., & Schynes, M. (2015). The airline container loading problem with pickup and delivery. European Journal of Operational Research, 244(3), 955–965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2015.02.027
Malighetti, P., Martini, G., Redondi, R., & Scotti, D. (2019a). Integrators’ air transport networks in Europe. Networks & Spatial Economics, 19, 557–581. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-018-9390-5
Malighetti, P., Martini, G., Redondi, R., & Scotti, D. (2019b). Air transport networks of global integrators in the more liberalized Asian air cargo industry. Transport Policy, 80, 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2019.04.021
Manshadi, A. D. & Saghafi, F. (2018). In-flight estimation of time-varying aircraft center of gravity position based on kinematics approach. Journal of Aircraft, 55(5), 2037–2049. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.C034973
Merkert, R., de Voorde, E.V., & de Wit, J. (2017). Making or breaking – Key success factors in the air cargo market. Journal of Air Transport Management, 61, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2017.02.001
Mongeau, M., & Bes, C. (2003). Optimization of aircraft container loading. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 39(1), 140–150. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAES.2003.1188899
O’Kelly, M. E. (2014). Air freight hubs in the FedEx system: Analysis of fuel use. Journal of Air Transport Management, 36, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2013.12.002
Paquay, C., Schyns, M., & Limbourg, S. (2014). A mixed integer programming formulation for the three-dimensional bin-packing problem deriving from an air cargo application. International Transactions in Operational Research, 23(2), 187–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.12111
Park, Y., Choi, J. K., & Zhang, A. (2009). Evaluating competitiveness of air cargo express services. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 45(2), 321–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2008.09.004
Szabo, S., Pilát, M., Makó, S., Korba, P., Cičváková, M., & Kmec, L. (2022). Increasing the efficiency of aircraft ground handling: A case study. Aerospace, 9(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9010002
Saaty, T. L. (1980). The analytic hierarchy process. McGraw-Hill. https://doi.org/10.21236/ADA214804
Tang, C.-H. (2011). A scenario decomposition-genetic algorithm method for solving stochastic air cargo container loading problems. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 47(4), 520–531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2010.11.013
Tsai, M.-C., Merkert, R., & Wang, J.-F. (2021). What drives freight transportation customer loyalty? Diverging marketing approaches for the air freight express industry. Transportation, 48, 1503–1521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-020-10104-0
Vancroonenburg, W., Verstichel, J., Tavernier, K. & Berghe, G. V. (2014). Automatic air cargo selection and weight balancing: A mixed integer programming approach. Transportation Research Part E, 65, 70–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2013.12.013
Xu, J., Chen, L., Wang, D., & Dong, X. (2016). The backbone transportation network optimization problem of air express based on scale economies. Advances in Transportation Studies, 3, 61–74. https://doi.org/10.1109/LISS.2016.7854400
Yan, S., Lo, C.-T., & Shih, Y.-L. (2006). Cargo container loading plan model and solution method for international air express carriers. Transportation Planning and Technology, 29(6), 445–470. https://doi.org/10.1080/03081060601075674
Yan, S., Shih, Y.-L., & Shiao, F.-Y. (2008). Optimal cargo container loading plans under stochastic demands for air express carriers. Transportation Research Part E, 44(3), 555–575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2007.01.006
Yildiz, B., & Savelsbergh, M. (2022). Optimizing package express operations in China. European Journal of Operational Research, 300(1), 320–335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2021.09.035
Yu, S., Yang, Z., & Yu, B. (2017). Air express network design based on express path choices-Chinese case study. Journal of Air Transport Management, 61, 73–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.04.008