Potential airport capacity gains from the optimal assignment of aircraft types to runways

Large commercial airports worldwide still experience demand in excess of capacity which leads to considerable delays. As an operational solution to alleviate delays, this thesis presents a model that aims at increasing runway arrival capacity by optimally allocating aircraft to runways such that the overall inter-arrival time between successive aircraft is minimized and the total capacity thus maximized. A mathematical model is presented that consists of two parts: an optimization based on analytic formulations and deterministic assumptions, followed by a Monte Carlo simulation using the results from the first part to account for the probabilistic nature of some variables. If taken by themselves, the optimization results appear very promising and might also suggest the advisability of developing an algorithm that incorporates our optimal runway allocation scheme into existing air traffic automation systems. However, the simulation suggests that the benefits obtained from the optimization scheme are reduced considerably when stochasticity is taken into consideration. In light of all the practical factors and model simplifications we have identified and especially in view of the of the gain reduction under probabilistic assumptions-we conclude that the expected capacity benefits from implementing this optimization model may be quite negligible at most major airports. Thus, an effort to implement the model on a wide scale cannot be recommended, based on the findings of this thesis. Exceptions may exist at airports that have unusually non-homogeneous traffic mixes.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Kohler, Alf, 1962-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Amedeo R. Odoni.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17775

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17775