Abstract
Reducing the length of departure queues at runway entry points is one of the most important requirements for reducing aircraft traffic congestion and fuel consumption at airports. This study designs an aircraft departure model at a runway using a time-varying fluid queue. The proposed model enables us to determine the aircraft waiting time in the departure queue and to evaluate effective control approaches for assigning suitable holds at gates rather than runway entry points. As a case study, this study modeled the departure queue at runway 05 of Tokyo International Airport for an entire day of operations. Using actual traffic data of departures at the airport, the model estimates that aircraft spend a total of 2.5 h departure waiting time in a day at runway 05. Considering the stochastic nature of actual departure traffic, the relevance of the proposed model is discussed using validation criteria. The model estimation shows a reasonable, expected order of magnitude compared with the departure queue recorded in the actual traffic data. Furthermore, ecological and economic benefits are quantitatively evaluated assuming a reduction in the departure queue length. Our results show that about one kiloton of fuel oil per year is wasted due to aircraft waiting to depart from a single departure runway.
Highlights
This study proposed an aircraft departure model at a runway using a time-varying fluid queue
The fluid queue model with a time-constant server was successfully implemented into the aircraft departure queue at runway 05 of Tokyo International Airport
The results showed that an average of
Summary
According to estimates of future global air traffic growth, passenger and cargo movements are in high demand on a long-term basis [1]. To predict aircraft waiting times at a departure queue, several studies propose queuing models to analyze the taxi-out process of the departure air traffic [4,8,9]. We expect that the departure queue model enables us to estimate the optimal departure rate at the runway entry points and to control time-varying arrival and departure rates at the runway approximately 30 to 40 min before the corresponding landing and takeoff With this background, there is a challenge of proposing a new departure metering approach targeting an integrated arrival and departure management. The G (t)/GI/s(t) queue allows us to model time-varying arrival rates and the number of servers (i.e., available runway capacity), which are realistic assumptions when considering the management of departing traffic at airports. The theoretical estimation of the aircraft departure waiting time using the proposed queuing model is discussed against actual traffic data recorded at the airport using validation criteria.
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