Yuhan Jiang to Present on Advanced Air Mobility Service Design at IFORS 2026
My PhD student, Yuhan Jiang, will be presenting our research on Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) at the IFORS 2026 Triennial Conference in Vienna, Austria.
Presentation Details
- Session ID: FA-51
- Time: Friday, 9:00 - 10:30
- Location: Room: HG - Seminar-Raum 1 Geschichte (1st floor, st. 10) (Building: HG)
- Presenter: Yuhan Jiang
Abstract
"Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is emerging as a competitive option for urban and regional travel. We propose a multi-period AAM service design model that jointly optimises vertiport location, capacity, frequency, and pricing while capturing passenger choice. To solve the resulting choice-driven problem, we develop an exact method that transforms the MINLP into an ILP. Experiments on a 30-city UK network show strong interdependence between infrastructure and fleet investment, with the greater AAM benefits on city pairs with long ground travel times."
Methodological Contributions
AAM networks require heavy capital investments in both infrastructure (vertiports) and fleet capacity. Our research tackles the service design problem dynamically over a multi-period planning horizon.
By capturing passenger mode choice behaviour, the model formulation leads to a challenging Mixed-Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) problem. To resolve this, we developed a novel exact reformulation method that transforms the MINLP into an equivalent Integer Linear Program (ILP), allowing the model to be solved to optimality for realistic networks. Our case study on a 30-city UK network demonstrates how spatial constraints, passenger sensitivities, and fleet requirements dictate optimal investment pathways.
If you are attending IFORS 2026 in Vienna, please join Yuhan's presentation or reach out to discuss collaborative research in urban air mobility and operations research.