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17th AIMMS-MOPTA Optimization Modeling Competition
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Transavia Aircrew Scheduling
Introduction
It’s an exciting time at Transavia! Over the past few years we have been working towards transforming our fleet of aircraft from Boeing to Airbus. This transformation process has provided a series of complex challenges that we have been solving. One of our more intricate puzzles is our cockpit crew training puzzle.
Our cockpit crew (Captain and first officers) are certified to fly our Boeing aircraft. With the gradual phasing out of Boeing planes, and the introduction of the Airbus models, we’ve had to ensure a seamless training schedule that maintains operations readiness. At any given moment in time, we must have enough trained crew to manage our current fleet without disruption. Once trained to fly the Airbus aircraft, for safety reasons, we will not allow our crew to fly the Boeing aircraft anymore.
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See the full problem description for more information
Problem description: AIMMS-MOPTA_2025_Competition.pdf
Starter Project and Data files: Google Drive folder that contains the two files
AIMMS will host two open Q&A sessions for all teams: one with a representative from Transavia to answer business-related questions, and another with AIMMS experts to address modeling-related questions. The dates for these sessions will be announced later.
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Sponsor
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Registration
You have to register here: Registration
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Solver Application Download
You are free to use any software of your choice, but it is recommended to use AIMMS for your submission. A starter-project in AIMMS has been provided, this project allows you to read the data into AIMMS and provides a simple UI. You can then develop your mathematical optimization model and build on the UI from within this starter-project. All source code and data must be included, properly documented, and results must be reproducible.
If you are unfamiliar with using AIMMS, we recommend that you look at some of our e-learning material:
You can also use the MOPTA group in AIMMS Community to ask questions about AIMMS or this challenge.
About AIMMS: AIMMS is an industry leading rapid model building and deployment platform perfected for over 30 years. AIMMS is an enjoyable and robust way to not only build optimization models but to deploy them as optimization applications to be used by business professionals. You can develop analytical models and highly interactive end user interfaces all within the same environment. Learn more and request a free academic license from here: AIMMS Academic License.
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Submission
All files should be submitted by the deadline as a single email with a single attached zip file to ako221(at)lehigh(dot)edu. Please start your submission email’s subject line with [MOPTA Competition 2025]. The body of the email should forward the registration confirmation email received at registration time, as the way to authenticate the submitting team. Good luck!
Please review the Deliverables section of the Problem Description to ensure you provide all of the requested items for the solution.
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Eligibility
Teams of at most three students can participate. The team leader must be a graduate student, though the other members of the team can be advanced undergraduate students. Each member of the team must be registered as a full-time student at a recognized educational institution during the Spring term of the 2024-2025 Academic Year. Students with any background are eligible. Collaboration between students from different departments is strongly encouraged.
Each team must declare a team advisor with which the team may consult about the problem and their solution. It is the team advisor’s responsibility to ensure that the students have appropriate knowledge for the competition. The team advisor should not be involved as a participant in the solution process.
As the conference is international, so is the competition. Teams from all over the world can participate, as long as at least one team member can come to the conference, should the team make it to the final round.
The official language of the competition is English.
Teams are asked to register to the competition as soon as they start working on the problem. There is a separate deadline for the submission of the solution (see Important dates).
If you have questions about the problem or the competition format in general, please contact Dr. Akwum Onwunta at. If you have questions about the AIMMS software and licensing related issues, please contact support(at)aimms(dot)com.
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Competition Format
The competition consists of a few stages. In the first stage the teams are asked to develop models and solution methods (see the problem description above) and provide an implementation of the optimization models using the software you choose. The teams must submit a complete solution to the problem, including: implementation of the optimization models in the software you choose, ideally already including a graphical user interface that provides the user with graphical and textual output; solutions of the models for the given case study, and for other data sets generated by the teams, if any; a maximum 15 page report that discusses the models developed (along with mathematical background), the solutions obtained, and further recommendations.
The AIMMS implementation is recommended for the optimization models only: the teams can use any tool of their choice build the proposed model(s) and/or solution method or run machine learning algorithms on the case study provided if this is a part of their approach (documented source codes should still be included).
The teams should also keep in mind that opportunities to improve the solution approach and the interface will be offered in the next phase.
A panel of judges, including representatives from both the conference organizing committee and AIMMS evaluates the submissions, provides feedback to the teams and invites finalists to continue in the second stage of the project and present their work at a dedicated session of the conference. In this second stage, the finalists will receive advice from the panel on ways in which they can improve their model and solution and have time before the conference to continue to improve their solution.
After the presentations at the conference, the judges will ask questions. The finalists are ranked based on a combined score for their model, implementation, report, solution, oral presentation, and answers to the judges’ questions. The decision of the judges is final and cannot be appealed.
Please review the Deliverables section of the Problem Description to ensure you provide all of the requested items for the solution.
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Prizes
Updated – December 1, 2024
The top three groups will be invited to present (in-person) to a panel of judges at the MOPTA 2025 conference. The prizes will be awarded as follows:
| Place | Used AIMMS Software | Did not Use AIMMS Software |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | $1200 | $600 |
| 2nd | $600 | $300 |
| 3rd | $300 | $150 |
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Copyright
By submitting an entry to the competition you agree that the organizers own the copyright to a copy of your submission. This does not limit your rights to publish your work, give talks, posters, etc., but grants the organizers of the competition the right to use your work.
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