Title: Aircraft cargo loading planning: a systematic literature review

Authors: Ali Osman Kuşakcı; Mahat Ibrahim; Baboucarr Mbowe; Berk Ayvaz; Erdem Ağbaş

Addresses: Department of Management, Ibn Haldun University, Turkey ' Department of Economics, Ibn Haldun University, Turkey ' Department of Management, Ibn Haldun University, Turkey ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Commerce University, Turkey ' Air Transport Management Master's Program, Ibn Haldun University, Turkey

Abstract: Air cargo has become one of the most important means of transportation. This importance is currently being reinforced by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dried passenger traffic to historic low levels. As a result, airline companies have turned on air cargo as the lifeblood to keep their operations running. However, the process of loading cargo on cargo aircraft is a complex task carried out by experts called loadmasters. It requires hands-on experience because the correct loading affects the balance and fuel performance of the aircraft. The problem in the literature is referred to as the air cargo load planning (ACLP) problem. In this research, we employed a systematic literature review framework that clusters the existing relevant literature into their respective solution approaches and presents a more transparent idea about the state of the current literature, the gaps, and the shortfalls of various solution methodologies.

Keywords: air cargo load planning; ACLP; heuristics; integer programming; load and balance problem; palletising.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2025.149881

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2025 Vol.52 No.3, pp.365 - 386

Received: 13 Jan 2023
Accepted: 12 Mar 2023
Published online: 17 Nov 2025 *

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