Optimum problems in environmental emissions of aircraft arrivals

Abstract

We propose the solution of optimal problems in aircraft noise and environmental emissions on arrival and landing at a major international airport. We present two distinct cases: 1.) arrival flight of a single airplane; 2.) flight planning for a fleet of four different airplanes. Mathematically, they lead to a constrained optimal control problem: either initial-value or a two-value boundary problem. The cost functions are either noise emission or a combination of noise, engine exhaust emissions (including NOx) and health value functions. Official population statistics are used to quantify the overall effect on communities around the airport. In the second case, we demonstrate how the optimal solution leads to a Pareto front that requires post-optimal analysis techniques. We determined that the solution with lowest noise level is not always the one with the lowest number of awakenings; the solution with lowest CO2 emissions might not be the one with the possible shortest operation.