Aspects of airline crew rostering

Abstract

Airline crew rostering is a complicated planning-type problem, and its objective is to assemble pairings into schedules that maximise the satisfaction levels of crews. The rostering process focuses on achieving a more balanced workload distribution among the crewmembers that allows designing rosters in the interest of the crew. The main purpose of the paper was to explain the fundamental aspects of airline crew rostering and its impact on crewmembers’ fatigue. Additionally, the research identified mitigation measures that airlines should make to combat or mitigate crewmembers’ fatigue when designing their rosters. The paper also allowed readers to understand the effects of fatigue on crew’s alertness and performance. The qualitative research methods (such as literature review) was used to understand the complexity of the airline crew rostering, the flight and duty time limitations, crew’s rest requirement and crewmembers’ fatigue. The survey was used as the quantitative research method to identify crewmembers’ satisfaction with their rosters that would help to optimise the rostering process. An online survey (using Google Forms) was distributed to potential respondents (experienced crewmembers) via email addresses and online platforms. Respondents were asked 18 close ended questions divided into two parts (demographic and operational experience). One hundred eleven responses were gathered, which showed that age plays a crucial role in crewmembers’ fatigue. In addition, cargo pilots are usually more dissatisfied with their rosters due to exhausting flight duty periods at nights.