Optimizing the assignment of aircrews to aircraft in an airlift operation

The problems of constructing flight crew schedules, in the military as well as in the civilian arena, are usually so complex that efficient heuristics rather than optimal solutions are sought. For a special case of an airlift operation, this paper provides a simple exact algorithm to determine the minimal number of crews required to be stationed at the various bases where the operation takes place. The paper also indicates, and illustrates via a simple example, how this algorithm can serve as the basis for some heuristics which will address the more complex crew scheduling problems.