Airline In-flight Meal Demand Forecasting with Neural Networks and Time Series Models

The purpose of this study is to introduce a more efficient forecasting technique, which could help result the reduction of cost in removing the waste of airline in-flight meals. We will use a neural network approach known to many researchers as the “Outstanding Forecasting Technique”. We employed a multi-layer perceptron neural network using a backpropagation algorithm. We also suggested using other related information to improve the forecasting performances of neural networks. We divided the data into three sets, which are training data set, cross validation data set, and test data set. Time lag variables are still employed in our model according to the general view of time series forecasting. We measured the accuracy of our model by “Mean Square Error”(MSE). The suggested model proved most excellent in serving economy class in-flight meals. Forecasting the exact amount of meals needed for each airline could reduce the waste of meals and therefore, lead to the reduction of cost. Better yet, it could enhance the cost competition of each airline, keep the schedules on time, and lead to better service.