Save the Planet! Fly Green! But Can We? Let's See if this Integrated Strategic and Operational National Aviation Model Can Tell Us

Abstract

Decarbonizing the aviation industry requires macro-scale modeling that can co-optimize for fleet, routing and infrastructure decisions. Extending on Sullivan Meyer ’24’s integrated model, and software improvements made by Maya Avida ’26, this work improves tractability and creates a case study to investigate the results of a model optimizing over realistic demand fluctuations using Plasmo-based Benders decomposition. The model is iteratively improved for tractability, and the base study is set up with the primary aim of creating a realistic a study as possible to prove that the model could be used functionally in a realistic situation. It was found that the model had a tractability ceiling of 12 airports, a large improvement from Meyer’s original formulation, with improvement both in tractability and realistic implications necessary before being considered ready to use in the industry.