Prediction of Aircraft Waiting Time at Airport&#x0D; During Immediate Response to Disaster

Sunkyung Choi,Shinya Hanaoka

doi:10.3390/aerospace6040040

Prediction of Aircraft Waiting Time at Airport During Immediate Response to Disaster

Sunkyung Choi, Shinya Hanaoka

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace6040040

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Abstract

Air transportation is especially critical to the immediate response that must be providedafter a natural disaster strikes a region. Airport operations are hindered by fluctuating waiting timesacross different operation types because of bottlenecks caused by unexpected amounts of aid goods,aircraft, and emergency workers. To address this problem, this study proposes a model forestimating the waiting time of an aircraft at an airport during the immediate response phase after adisaster. The proposed framework was developed by applying an open Jackson network with firstcomefirst-served, priority, and mixed-queuing disciplines. These disciplines are compared througha numerical example based on data acquired from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Theresults indicate that the mixed-queuing discipline reduces the waiting time for higher-priorityoperators, with permissible waiting times for lower-priority operators. The results of this studyreveal that various disaster response operations should be prioritized ahead of a natural disasteroccurring, such that the waiting times for those operators involved in life-saving activities can bereduced.

Highlights

Airport operations have been of particular concern in recent disaster responses to HurricaneKatrina in 2005, the Haiti Earthquake in 2010, the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, and theNepal Earthquake in 2015
The importance of air transportation is especially critical in the immediate response phase after a disaster because air transportation provides an alternative to road and rail transportation, which are often disrupted by earthquakes, tornadoes, and other disasters
We focused on three airports that were actively involved in the response to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011: Hanamaki, Fukushima, and Yamagata

Summary

Introduction

Airport operations have been of particular concern in recent disaster responses to HurricaneKatrina in 2005, the Haiti Earthquake in 2010, the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, and theNepal Earthquake in 2015. Airport operations have been of particular concern in recent disaster responses to Hurricane. The importance of air transportation is especially critical in the immediate response phase after a disaster because air transportation provides an alternative to road and rail transportation, which are often disrupted by earthquakes, tornadoes, and other disasters. The airport, which is considered to be a node, supports humanitarian activities and provides a base for the impacted area. Air routes, regarded as links, enable the delivery of aid goods, the transportation of evacuees, and other critical activities. For these reasons, preparing airports to provide disaster responses has been a widely discussed topic in the last decade.

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