How can aircraft maintenance be better planned in order to use the fleet as efficiently as possible, using as few resources as possible.
Job description
This PhD project will focus on the development of a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) simulator that can evaluate various maintenance concepts on a strategic level in terms of aspects such as fleet availability, costs, reliability, and network value. The simulator should enable the analysis and design of the most optimal maintenance schedule within the airline's network. The core element of the simulator will be an optimisation model that plans the maintenance events in the coming months, taking into account the network flight requests, maintenance resource availability, aircraft health condition, and airworthiness requirements.
The position is intended as a full-time appointment, and the work will take place at the TU Delft and at KLM E&M. The work will be conducted as part of a large national project involving several other partners. Thus, the work will be fuelled with real applications and a commercial decision-support tool is expected from this PhD project. As part of the work, the researcher will have to collaborate with several partners and support project administration
Requirements
Applicants should have advanced analytical and modelling skills, including experience with operations optimisation methods and machine learning techniques. Applicants should preferably also have knowledge of airline operations or scheduling problems
Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis. For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.
Conditions of employment
Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.
Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2443 per month in the first year to € 3122 in the fourth year. As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged. For international applicants we offer the Coming to Delft Service and Partner Career Advice to assist you with your relocation.
TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context. At TU Delft we embrace diversity and aim to be as inclusive as possible (see our Code of Conduct).
Challenge. Change. Impact!
Faculty Aerospace Engineering
The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology is one of the world’s most highly ranked (and most comprehensive) research, education and innovation communities devoted entirely to aerospace engineering. More than 200 science staff, around 250 PhD candidates and over 2,700 BSc and MSc students apply aerospace engineering disciplines to address the global societal challenges that threaten us today, climate change without doubt being the most important. Our focal subjects: sustainable aerospace, big data and artificial intelligence, bio-inspired engineering and smart instruments and systems. Working at the faculty means working together. With partners in other faculties, knowledge institutes, governments and industry, both aerospace and non-aerospace. Working in field labs and innovation hubs on our university campus and beyond.
Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.
Additional information
The Air Transport and Operations section is a vibrant and youthful group of 20-30 enthusiastic staff members and PhDs with 40 MSc students per year. It develops innovative analytical models to address operational air transport problems, faced by, e.g., airports, airlines, maintenance service providers, aircraft manufactures or policy makers. The section currently plays a leading role in the European air transport research, closing collaborating with major European aviation stakeholders and participating in and coordinating several European research projects.
For more information, please contact Bruno Santos: e-mail: B.F.Santos@tudelft.nl
Application procedure
Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply before August 15th 2022 via the application button and upload your motivation, CV, a list of courses in the BSc and MSc programme including grades, a list of published papers or reports and the contact details of two references.
- A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
- You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
- Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.
