Field Trial Measurements to Validate a Stochastic Aircraft Boarding Model

Michael Schultz

doi:10.3390/aerospace5010027

Abstract

Efficient boarding procedures have to consider both operational constraints and the individual passenger behavior. In contrast to the aircraft handling processes of fueling, catering and cleaning, the boarding process is more driven by passengers than by airport or airline operators. This paper delivers a comprehensive set of operational data including classification of boarding times, passenger arrival times, times to store hand luggage, and passenger interactions in the aircraft cabin as a reliable basis for calibrating models for aircraft boarding. In this paper, a microscopic approach is used to model the passenger behavior, where the passenger movement is defined as a one-dimensional, stochastic, and time/space discrete transition process. This model is used to compare measurements from field trials of boarding procedures with simulation results and demonstrates a deviation smaller than 5%.

Highlights

Operational air transportation processes have to be efficient in both cost and operational strategies.The passenger handling at airports mainly aims at reliable on-time performance for the boarding process
Since thefield fieldmeasurements measurements of sub-processes of boarding are analyzed in detail andused usedtotocalibrate calibratethe thesimulation simulation environment, validity prior simulation results will environment, thethe validity of of thethe prior simulation results will bebe checked
The random strategy is used as baseline with both thenon-calibrated non-calibratedand andcalibrated calibrated input input values baseline with both the valuesto toevaluate evaluatethe theaverage averageboarding boarding time and accompaniedstandard standarddeviation

Summary

Introduction

The passenger handling at airports mainly aims at reliable on-time performance for the boarding process. A specific amount of passenger trajectories (individual path along handling stations, such as check-in or security control, and corresponding timestamps [1]) and the associated 4D aircraft trajectory [2,3] are brought together in one point of space and time. From an operational point of view, passenger boarding becomes more important if an aircraft demands a short turnaround time, since the operational buffers become smaller and boarding will be on the critical path of the turnaround [7]. For the air traffic management, the turnaround has to provide a reliable basis for the operational procedures on the day of operations. The boarding process allows the provision of specific airline products (e.g., priority boarding and loyalty program), which results in a dedicated airline revenue management for further improving the economic revenue of a flight

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Conclusion