Modeling approach for managing the demand in congested airport networks: The case of Mexico city airport

Abstract

We introduce a discrete event simulation approach to assess flight demand when airport congestion is observed. One of the consequences of airport congestion are flight delays which in turn decrease costumer's satisfaction. The model includes flight information, airline on-time performance and flight duration and turnaround time uncertainty. When airport congestion occurs at the arrival airport, an air traffic flow management initiative is triggered as a tool for alleviating the congestion problems, particularly in the most congested slots of the airport. Analysis of selected model scenarios allows to select the parameters of the initiative where airport congestion can be minimized. The model is set up for Mexico City airport, which is Mexico's busiest airport and highly congested. This case study describes how to model the airport network for analysing the effectiveness of specific traffic flow management initiatives in Mexico City. The use of the simulation approach will enable the decision makers to analyse the effectiveness of the present traffic flow policy as well as to evaluate different policies for coping with the increasing demand in the Mexican network of airports. The flexibility of the model makes it easy to adapt to congested airport networks in other regions of the world.