On the waiting time of arriving aircrafts and the capacity of airports with one or two runways

In this paper we examine a model for the landing procedure of aircrafts at an airport. The characteristic feature here is that due to air turbulence the safety distance between two landing aircrafts depends on the types of these two machines. Hence, an eficient routing of the aircraft to two runways may reduce their waiting time. First, we use M/SM/1 queues (with dependent service times) to model a single runway. We give the stability condition and a formula for the average waiting time of the aircrafts. Moreover, we derive easy to compute bounds on the waiting times by comparison to simpler queuing systems. In particular we study the effect of neglecting the dependency of the service times when using M/G/1-models. We then consider the case of two runways with a number of heuristic routing strategies such as coin flipping, type splitting, Round Robin and variants of the join-the-least-load rule. These strategies are analyzed and compared numerically with respect to the average delay they cause. It turns out that a certain modication of join-the-least-load gives the best results

On the statistical description of the inbound air traffic over Heathrow airport

We present a model to describe the inbound air traffic over a congested hub. We show that this model gives a very accurate description of the traffic by the comparison of our theoretical distribution of the queue with the actual distribution observed over Heathrow airport. We discuss also the robustness of our model

Modeling of the Aerial Capacity through a Leontief Production Function: The Case of Tunisian Airports

Our objective is to model the airport capacity through a Leontief production function, which is based on the complementarity of the factors defining airport capacity. Results of our simulation for all Tunisian airports show that we can determine, especially, foreseeable future of the congestion, traffic processed by infrastructure, availability of infrastructures, the factors that block the circulation on the ground, and time measurements: delays, waiting time, and runway occupancy time. According to their capabilities (reduced, declared, optimal), three airports are identified. However, it is possible to avoid the extra costs experienced by the terminals and to optimize airports' capacity by making a reallocation of human resources and opting for a better exploitation of the existing infrastructures

Spatial competition and efficiency : an investigation in the airport sector

This paper analyses the potential impact of airport competition on technical efficiency by applying the spatial stochastic frontier approach (SSFA) rather than traditional model (SFA). The SSFA allows to isolate the cross-sectional spatial dependence and to evaluate the role of intangible factors in influencing the airport economic performance, through the inclusion of the distance matrix and the shared destinations matrix, calibrated for different distances. By analysing statistical differences between the traditional and the spatial model, it is possible to identify the competition effects. This study includes 206 airports at worldwide level. First, the results show the existence of the spatial component, that could not be otherwise captured by the traditional SFA. Moreover, airport competition is found to affect the efficiency level with either a positive or a negative effect, depending on the distance considered in the spatial model

Stochastic Modelling of Aircraft Queues: A Review

In this paper we consider the modelling and optimal control of queues of aircraft waiting to use the runway(s) at airports, and present a review of the related literature. We discuss the formulation of aircraft queues as nonstationary queueing systems and examine the common assumptions made in the literature regarding the random distributions for inter-arrival and service times. These depend on various operational factors, including the expected level of precision in meeting pre-scheduled operation times and the inherent uncertainty in airport capacity due to weather and wind variations. We also discuss strategic and tactical methods for managing congestion at airports, including the use of slot controls, ground holding programs, runway configuration changes and aircraft sequencing policies

Contribution à la Gestion des Opérations de la Sûreté Aéroportuaire : Modélisation et Optimisation

L'objectif principal de cette thèse consiste à apporter une contribution méthodologique à la gestion de la sûreté et de coût de la sûreté aéroportuaire. Nous avons proposé un modèle logique du système de contrôle du flux des passagers au départ dans un aéroport. La finalité de ce modèle a permis de tester différents scénarios d'attaque du système, d'analyser le comportement du système dans ces conditions et d'en évaluer la perméabilité. Nous nous sommes ensuite intéressé à l'évaluation du système de contrôle des flux de passagers à l'embarquement au travers d'une approche probabiliste. Ceci conduit à la formulation de problèmes d'optimisation permettant d'améliorer les performances du système de contrôle. Afin d'obtenir la modélisation mathématique des flux de passagers au départ dans une aérogare, nous avons introduit les facteurs temps et espace par rapport au modèle précédent afin de le rendre plus proche de l'opérationnel. Enfin, nous nous sommes intéressés à l'optimisation des affectations des ressources matérielles et humaines destinées au contrôle du trafic de passagers. Le modèle spatio-temporel développé précédemment est mis à profit pour quantifier de façon dynamique, l'attribution des ressources matérielles et humaines au niveau de l'inspection filtrage et surtout d'améliorer la qualité de service. Beaucoup reste à faire dans ce domaine et le développement d'outils de modélisation, d'analyse et d'aide à la décision tels que ceux qui ont été esquissés dans ce mémoire semble s'imposer pour assurer l'optimisation de l'affectation des ressources de la sûreté aéroportuaire et ainsi garantir non seulement la qualité du service de contrôle mais aussi le niveau de coûts en résultant. ABSTRACT : Since the tragic events of September 11, aviation security is jeopardized. Many measures were taken both from the standpoint of improved procedures for improving the performance of security officers and equipment safety. Despite the implementation of new procedures and new measures, many events have shaken the airport security system established by ICAO, these include, the latest of which is the attempt acts of unlawful interference in December 2009. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to methodological constraints security management and cost of airport security. To fight effectively against illegal acts, the standard 4.4.1 of Schedule 17 to the Chicago Convention states: “Each Contracting State shall establish measures to ensure that passengers from flights of commercial air transport and their cabin baggage are subjected to screened before boarding an aircraft departing from an area of security restricted”. The security check is then one of the highlights of airport security. We therefore propose a model system logic to control the flow of departing passengers at an airport. The purpose of this model was used to test different scenarios of attack system, analyze system behavior under these conditions and to assess permeability. We are then interested in evaluating the system of controlling the flow of passengers boarding through a probabilistic approach. This then leads to the formulation of optimization problems to improve the performance of the control system. It is then possible to establish operational procedures leading to improved system performance of passenger screening. To obtain the mathematical modeling of flow of departing passengers in a terminal, we introduced the factors of time and space relative to the previous model to make it closer to the operational. In this model, which adopts a network structure to describe the process and the transfer of passengers between the terminal sites, in particular allows to represent queues and waiting times inflicted on passengers. Finally, we are interested in optimizing the allocation of human and material resources for the control of passenger traffic. The spatio-temporal model developed previously is used to quantify dynamically allocating human and material resources at the security check and especially to improve the quality of service. This optimization allows us to formulate effective policies to manage the short term. Finally, modeling the performance of safety was performed according to a probabilistic point of view and then a dynamic perspective and space. In both cases the optimization problems were formulated based on the determination of operational parameters to improve system performance. Much remains to be done in this area and the development of tools for modeling, analysis and decision support such as those outlined in this paper seems to be necessary to ensure optimal allocation resources for airport security and so ensure not only quality service but also control the level of the resulting costs

Approximate Algorithms for the Combined arrival-Departure Aircraft Sequencing and Reactive Scheduling Problems on Multiple Runways

The problem addressed in this dissertation is the Aircraft Sequencing Problem (ASP) in which a schedule must be developed to determine the assignment of each aircraft to a runway, the appropriate sequence of aircraft on each runway, and their departing or landing times. The dissertation examines the ASP over multiple runways, under mixed mode operations with the objective of minimizing the total weighted tardiness of aircraft landings and departures simultaneously. To prevent the dangers associated with wake-vortex effects, separation times enforced by Aviation Administrations (e.g., FAA) are considered, adding another level of complexity given that such times are sequence-dependent. Due to the problem being NP-hard, it is computationally difficult to solve large scale instances in a reasonable amount of time. Therefore, three greedy algorithms, namely the Adapted Apparent Tardiness Cost with Separation and Ready Times (AATCSR), the Earliest Ready Time (ERT) and the Fast Priority Index (FPI) are proposed. Moreover, metaheuristics including Simulated Annealing (SA) and the Metaheuristic for Randomized Priority Search (Meta-RaPS) are introduced to improve solutions initially constructed by the proposed greedy algorithms. The performance (solution quality and computational time) of the various algorithms is compared to the optimal solutions and to each other. The dissertation also addresses the Aircraft Reactive Scheduling Problem (ARSP) as air traffic systems frequently encounter various disruptions due to unexpected events such as inclement weather, aircraft failures or personnel shortages rendering the initial plan suboptimal or even obsolete in some cases. This research considers disruptions including the arrival of new aircraft, flight cancellations and aircraft delays. ARSP is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem in which both the schedule\u27s quality and stability are of interest. The objectives consist of the total weighted start times (solution quality), total weighted start time deviation, and total weighted runway deviation (instability measures). Repair and complete regeneration approximate algorithms are developed for each type of disruptive events. The algorithms are tested against difficult benchmark problems and the solutions are compared to optimal solutions in terms of solution quality, schedule stability and computational time