Nowadays the main airports throughout the world are suffering because their capacity are getting close to saturation due to the air traffic which is still increasing besides the economic crisis and oil prices. In addition, the forecasts predict an increase in air traffic of at least 3.6% until 2020. This situation makes very important to come up with solutions to alleviate capacity congestions in the main airports throughout the world. Capacity has been perceived traditionally as the factor to be addressed in airport systems and it is faced through a technical perspective. In this paper we propose to change the mind-set and view capacity of airport systems taking other factors than pure technical ones. The discussion is illustrated with the example of Schiphol Airport.
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Airport management is often challenged by the task of managing aircraft parking positions most efficiently while complying with environmental regulations and capacity restrictions. Frequently this task is additionally affected by various perturbations, affecting punctuality of airport operations. This paper presents an innovative approach for obtaining an efficient stand assignment considering the stochastic nature of the airport environment and emissions reduction target of the modern air transportation industry. Furthermore, the presented methodology demonstrates how the same procedure of creating a stand assignment can help to identify an emissions mitigation potential. This paper illustrates the application of the presented methodology combined with simulation and demonstrates the impact of the application of Bayesian modeling and metaheuristic optimization for reduction of taxi-related emissions.
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This paper presents an innovative approach that combines optimization and simulation techniques for solving scheduling problems under uncertainty. We introduce an Opt–Sim closed-loop feedback framework (Opt–Sim) based on a sliding-window method, where a simulation model is used for evaluating the optimized solution with inherent uncertainties for scheduling activities. The specific problem tackled in this paper, refers to the airport capacity management under uncertainty, and the Opt–Sim framework is applied to a real case study (Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France). Different implementations of the Opt–Sim framework were tested based on: parameters for driving the Opt–Sim algorithmic framework and parameters for riving the optimization search algorithm. Results show that, by applying the Opt–Sim framework, potential aircraft conflicts could be reduced up to 57% over the non-optimized scenario. The proposed optimization framework is general enough so that different optimization resolution methods and simulation paradigms can be implemented for solving scheduling problems in several other fields.
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Airport management is regularly challenged by the task of assigning flights to existing parking positions in the most efficient way while complying with existing policies, restrictions and capacity limitations. However, such process is frequently disrupted by various events, affecting punctuality of airline operations. This paper describes an innovative approach for obtaining an efficient stand assignment considering the stochastic nature of airport environment. Furthermore, the presented methodology combines benefits of Bayesian modelling and metaheuristics for generating solutions that are more robust to airport flight schedule perturbations. In addition, this paper illustrates that the application of the presented methodology combined with simulation provides a valuable tool for assessing the robustness of the developed stand assignment to flight delays.
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Mexico City airport is located close to the center ofthe city and is Mexico’s busiest airport which is consideredcongested. One of the consequences of airport congestion areflight delays which in turn decrease costumer’s satisfaction. Airtraffic control has been using a ground delay program as a toolfor alleviating the congestion problems, particularly in the mostcongested slots of the airport. This paper uses a model-basedapproach for analyzing the effectiveness of the ground delayprogram and rules. The results show that however the rulesapplied seem efficient, there is still room for improvement inorder to make the traffic management more efficient.
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The relentless growth in Mexico City’s aviation traffic has inevitably strained capacity development of its airport, raising thedilemma between the possible solutions. In the present study, Mexico’s Multi-Airport System is subjected to analysis by meansof multi-model simulation, focusing on the capacity-demand problem of the system. The methodology combines phases ofmodelling, data collection, simulation, experimental design, and analysis. Drawing a distinction from previous works involvingtwo-airport systems. It also explores the challenges raised by the Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico City airport operations, with adiscrete-event simulation model of a multi-airport system composed by three airports (MEX, TLC, and the new airport NLU).The study is including the latest data of flights, infrastructures, and layout collected in 2021. Therefore, the paper aims toanswer to the question of whether the system will be able to cope with the expected demand in a short-, medium-, and longtermby simulating three future scenarios based on aviation forecasts. The study reveals potential limitations of the system astime evolves and the feasibility of a joint operation to absorb the demand in such a big region like Mexico City.
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The current study presents a methodology for analysing and identifying the limitations in capacity of an airport, the methodology has been implemented in the case of Mexico City Airport which is a congested airport in Mexico. The methodology allows identifying what room is left for absorbing more traffic and what options are available while a new infrastructure is in place. The methodology revealed, that there is still room for absorbing more traffic under certain conditions and starting from that, actions can be taken in order to increase the capacity or reducing congestion in the airport.
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Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has faced capacity constraints, particularly during peak periods. At the security screening checkpoint, this is due to the growing number of passengers and a shortage of security staff. To improve operating performance, there is a need to integrate newer technologies that improve passing times. This research presents a discrete event simulation (DES) model for the inclusion of a shoe scanner at the security screening checkpoint at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Simulation is a frequently used method to assess the influence of process changes, which, however, has not been applied for the inclusion of shoe scanners in airport security screenings yet. The simulation model can be used to assess the implementation and potential benefits of an optical shoe scanner, which is expected to lead to significant improvements in passenger throughput and a decrease in the time a passenger spends during the security screening, which could lead to improved passenger satisfaction. By leveraging DES as a tool for analysis, this study provides valuable insights for airport authorities and stakeholders aiming to optimize security screening operations and enhance passenger satisfaction.
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Airports and surrounding airspaces are limited in terms of capacity and represent the major bottlenecks of the air traffic management system. This paper addresses the problems of terminal airspace management and airport congestion management at the macroscopic level through the integrated control of arrivals and departures. Conflict detection and resolution methods are applied to a predefined terminal route structure. Different airside components are modeled using network abstraction. Speed, arrival and departure times, and runway assignment are managed by using an optimization method. An adapted simulated annealing heuristic combined with a time decomposition approach is proposed to solve the corresponding problem. Computational experiments performed on case studies of Paris Charles De-Gaulle airport show some potential improvements: First, when the airport capacity is decreased, until a certain threshold, the overload can be mitigated properly by adjusting the aircraft entry time in the Terminal Maneuvering Area and the pushback time. Second, landing and take-off runway assignments in peak hours with imbalanced runway throughputs can significantly reduce flight delays. A decrease of 37% arrival delays and 36% departure delays was reached compared to baseline case.
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The operations of take-off and landing at hub airports are often subject to a wide variety of delays; the effects of these delays impact not only the related stakeholders, such as aircraft operators, air-traffic control unity and ground handlers but as part of the European network, delays are propagated through the network. As a result, Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) is being employed as a methodology for increasing the efficiency of Air Traffic Management (ATM), through the involvement of partners within the airports. Under CDM, there are some strategic common objectives regardless the airport or the partner specific interest to improve operational efficiency, predictability and punctuality to the ATM network and airport stakeholders. Monitoring and controlling some strategic areas such as, Efficiency, Capacity, Safety and Environment is needed to achieve the benefits. Therefore, the present work aims to provide a framework to monitor the accuracy of capacity in the three main flight phases. It aims to provide a comprehensible and practical approach to monitoring capacity by identifying and proposing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on the A-CDM Milestone Approach to optimise the use of available capacity. To illustrate our approach, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is used as case study as a full A-CDM airport.
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