Simulation model of air ticket sales process for multiple fare classes on a single flight

Abstract

Subject. One of the primary goals of passenger airline revenue management is the efficient sale of air tickets. Many operational processes are geared towards achieving this goal, including flight schedule development, aircraft type assignment to routes, construction of flight sequences with assigned aircraft (itinerary planning), passenger demand segmentation and forecasting, pricing, overbooking, and others. From the perspective of mathematical modeling, air ticket sales constitute an exceptionally complex process due to its dependence on numerous stochastic and often difficult-to-predict factors, primarily the demand for the fare products offered by the airline to potential passengers. Simulation modeling serves as one approach to describing the sales process, enabling valid conclusions to be drawn and generating essential business estimates. The simulation-based mathematical model proposed in this article will, specifically, allow to determine the impact of passenger demand forecast accuracy on sales effectiveness, contingent upon the chosen sales strategy and the fare class nesting hierarchy.
Purpose. To develop a simulation model for the problem of optimal resource control on a single flight. Methodology. We developed the model by utilizing established methods and approaches for constructing simulation models and their software implementation. 
Conclusions. We conducted the model validation through extensive numerical computations performed using its software implementation, based on synthetic input data for multiple fare classes on a single flight. The obtained numerical results demonstrate the model's applicability for solving the designated task.