AGIFORS’ Anna Valicek Award competition is destined to recognize original and innovative research in the application of operations research to airline and/or airline related business problems. We invite you to submit your research paper before June 1^st, 2021!

Refer to the Anna Valicek page for more details on the criteria and eligibility.

If you want to stay in touch with AGIFORS topics, tune in to an episode of the INFORMS podcast Resoundingly Human featuring AGIFORS president Laurie Garrow! In the podcast, Laurie is explaining  ways airlines have pivoted and adapted to the challenges of the pandemic.

https://pubsonline.informs.org/do/10.1287/orms.2021.01.23p

In addition to being featured in conjunction with OR/MS Today magazine online, the podcast is also available for download on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify. 

While 2021 is still very much a year full of iuncertainty due to COVID-19, we expect the year 2022 to be more stable and easy to plan for. Therefore, AGIFORS has already now fixed a date for the Symposium 2022, which will be held in person from 12SEP-16SEP. In the meantime, stay posted for updates on the 2021 Symposium as well as the Study Group conferences!

AGIFORS as well as the whole airline industry can look back at a year full of tremendous change - its impact, risks and opportunities explored in great depths in the 2020 Symposium. In the article "How COVID-19 is impacting and reshaping the airline industry" published in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Laurie Garrow and Virginie Lurkin give an overview of key themes emerging in the key note addresses and RM panel discussions. Read the paper here in case you missed some of the discussions or in case you want to refresh your memory!

The proceedings of the 2020 Airline Operations Study Group meeting are available now to all our members. Have a look at all the exciting presentations!

Olivia R. Natan, from the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, has been recognized by AGIFORS as Winner of the 2020 Anna Valicek Award and was presented (virtually) with the Silver Anna Valicek Medal for the paper “Incorporating Search and Sales Information in Airline Demand Estimation”.

Guodong Zhu, from the Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA, has been recognized by AGIFORS as Second Place Winner of the 2020 Anna Valicek Award and was presented (virtually) with the Bronze Anna Valicek Medal for the paper “Decision Making under Uncertainties for Air Traffic Flow Management”.

More information on the Anna Valicek Award web page.

All conference registrants have gotten an email with instructions on how to join the online session on the GotoWebinar platform. If you did not get this email, please check your spam folder. Information for the first day is also posted on the conference web site.

The 60th AGIFORS Annual Symposium is going to take place online next week, starting on Tuesday 20th October. For information about how to register, the detailed agenda and more, please see the conference web page.

Some technical information for all participants: You will receive an email from Mike Irrgang on each day of the conference with the link necessary to join the online conference platform. If you do not receive a link please visit the conference web page, where we will post more information on how to join. 

From a total of 13 submitted articles the 2020 Anna Valicek Award Committee has selected the two finalists for the 2020 Anna Valicek Award

• Guodong Zhu, Iowa State University, IA, USA: “Decision Making under Uncertainties for Air Traffic Flow Management”
• Olivia R. Natan, University of Chicago, IL, USA: “Incorporating Search and Sales Information in Airline Demand Estimation”

As finalists, they will present their work at the upcoming 2020 AGIFORS Symposium. Then, the AGIFORS Council will select the winner of the 2020 Anna Valicek Award.

The poll for the 2020 Council election has closed and the following candidates have been elected to the Council for the 2021-2023 term:

• Zeliha Akca
• Richard Cleaz-Savoyen
• Semi Gabteni
• Laurie Garrow
• Lisa Noell
• Eric Ruhlin
• Benedikt Zimmerman