Route planning for a seaplane service: The case of the Greek Islands

Seaplanes offer a time and cost-efficient service for supporting transportation needs in island chains. This paper investigates the design of a seaplane network connecting the Greek islands with the mainland, a service currently accommodated by ferries. Design of seaplane routes is modeled as a multi-objective capacitated vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickups and deliveries and route length deadlines. A genetic algorithm coupled with a hybrid process is used to solve the model. Results show that a network of 11 routes with maximum flight duration of 5h can adequately cover estimated daily transportation needs between the Greek mainland and the islands. Further, realistic increases in seaplane capacity and/or cruising speed will have only a moderate impact on reducing the number of required routes.