The analysis of a single base in an airlift operation

In this paper, some performance measures of a single base in an airlift operation are evaluated, assuming that the inter-arrival times of the aircraft at the base are exponentially distributed. The crews arriving with the aircraft rest at the base for a constant amount of time before being ready to fly from the base. A certain number of crews are placed at the base initially in order to reduce the waiting times of the aircraft at the base. Closed form expressions for the probability distribution functions of the waiting times of the aircraft and crews at the base and the number of aircraft and crews waiting are derived as functions of the mean inter-arrival times, the number of crews placed initially at the base and the duration of the rest period.