The air cargo transportation system is a large and complex service
system, in which demand forecasting is a key element in the master
planning process. Demand forecasting is essential for analyzing
existing cargo flight schedules and identifying future facility
requirements of air cargo companies. We use the Potluck Problem
approach to propose a multi-producer/consumer solution for predicting
the cargo demand of a specific airline in a given route, and the cargo
load factor for a given flight schedule on that route. This solution
considers each airline as a producer and the users of air cargo
services as consumers, with a producer having no explicit
communication with other producers/airlines. The model analyzes the
existing cargo capacity plan, highlights drawbacks, and proposes a new
capacity plan to demonstrate effectiveness of using the solution.
Examples are provided to illustrate the efficacy of the approach.