Optimization of collaborative decision-making during the aircraft pre-flight maintenance

Collaborative decision-making (CDM) protocols improve the efficiency of the air transportation system by uniting the objectives of aircraft and airport operators, air traffic control authorities, maintenance providers, and ground handling personnel. CDM can minimize delays, increase operational reliability, and ensure efficient use of infrastructure. Despite the maturity of CDM, the level of collaboration among aviation professionals in team settings remains inadequate to make well-informed joint decisions. This study analyzed the CDM activities of specialists in aircraft structures and engines, avionics and radio-electronic systems, and cargo ground operations when conducting the pre-flight maintenance on an An-26 aircraft. Structural-time tables and network graphs were developed to map the sequence of actions of maintenance personnel before and after the simulated optimization efforts. The computational analysis using MS Excel and Python language within the Google COLAB platform revealed that pre-flight maintenance is accelerated by 22.42% after optimization with a cargo ground operator compared to the pre-optimization scenario and by 48.81% when compared to the pre-optimization process without a cargo ground operator. The results support the use of refined deterministic CDM models to enhance cooperation among maintenance personnel and reduce the duration of routine aircraft maintenance.