Method and system for origin-destination passenger demand forecast inference
AssigneeDelta Air Lines, Inc.
InventorsAlvin Lim, John Blankenbaker, Andrew David
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An airline origin-destination revenue management software system supports decisions to accept or deny request for booking on airline seats by comparing the fare for the request with a minimum acceptable fare predetermined by the system. In order to determine the minimum acceptable fare, the system typically solves an optimization problem that takes as input the airline's flight network schedule, fares and forecasted passenger demands for all products available for booking on the airline's flight network, and available capacity on each of the airline's scheduled flights.
Claims35
A method for determining an estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand, comprising the steps of:
- retrieving a segment level unconstrained demand forecast for each flight segment within an origin-destination pair;
- generating a consumer preference for origin-destination service products;
- generating a network flight schedule by determining which available service products use one of the flight segments based on the segment level unconstrained demand forecast and the consumer preference for origin-destination service products;
- retrieving a historical origin-destination pair demand;
- determining an estimated origin-destination unconstrained demand based on the segment level unconstrained demand forecast, the historical origin-destination pair demand, the network flight schedule, and the consumer preference for origin-l destination service products within the origin-destination pair;
- and
- computing the estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand based on the estimated origin-destination unconstrained demand and the consumer preference for origin-destination service products.
A method for determining an estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand (d), comprising the steps of:
- retrieving a segment level unconstrained demand forecast (v);
- retrieving a consumer preference for origin-destination service products (Q);
- generating a network flight schedule (N) by determining if a flight segment is included in a service product;
- retrieving a historical origin-destination pair demand (w′);
- determining an estimated origin-destination unconstrained demand (w) using the formula
- min ∥NQTw−v∥2+∥w−w′∥2;
- and
- subject to w≧0,
- generating an estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand (d) using the formula
- d=QTw
A method for determining an estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand (d), comprising the steps of:
- inputting a segment level unconstrained demand forecast (v);
- inputting a consumer preference for products within an origin-destination pair (Q);
- inputting a historical origin-destination pair demand (w′);
- generating a network flight schedule (N) by determining if a flight segment is included in a service product;
- determining an estimated origin-destination unconstrained demand (w) using
- min ∥NQTw−v∥2+∥w−w′∥2;
- and
- subject to w≧0,
- generating an estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand (d) using the formula
- d=QTw.
A system for determining an estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand comprising;
- a first information database for storing current inventory data describing service products currently available for allocation to a consumer, wherein the inventory data includes flight origin, flight destination, flight segments, departure time, arrival time, seat classes, and current market price for each service product;
- a second information database for storing historical information on past market transactions of the service products;
- a first demand forecasting determiner, coupled to the second information database, for calculating a Segment level unconstrained demand forecast;
- a consumer product preference analyzer, coupled to the second information database and the first demand forecasting determiner, for generating overall consumer preference for each service product;
- and
- a second demand forecasting determiner, coupled to the first information database, the second information database, and the consumer product preference analyzer, for calculating demand for each of the service products.
A computer-readable medium for determining an estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand, said medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps comprising:
- receiving a segment level unconstrained demand forecast for each flight segment within an origin-destination pair;
- generating a consumer preference for origin-destination service products within the origin-destination pair;
- generating a network flight schedule;
- receiving a historical origin-destination pair demand;
- determining an estimated origin-destination unconstrained demand;
- and
- computing the estimated origin-destination service product unconstrained demand.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.