Pretactical Runway Operations Scheduling for Multirunway Airport

Abstract

Airport runway operations are managed hierarchically. Initially, a runway configuration is determined several hours before the commencement of actual runway operations. Thereafter, each aircraft is assigned to a runway based on the runway configuration. Finally (or in certain instances, synchronous with runway assignments), runway times are scheduled for the runway assignment. Though typical runway operations management is carried out sequentially, runway configuration, runway assignment, and runway times are highly correlated. Hence, to the greatest extent practicable, runway operations should be managed both strategically (e.g., runway configuration determination) and tactically (e.g., runway assignment and runway time scheduling). As certain minor strategic changes, such as switching runway operation mode, can be implemented with a relatively short lead time, this study proposes a pretactical scheduling optimization problem of runway operations, especially for airports with multiple runways. The proposed scheduling method determines runway operation mode, runway assignments, and runway times concurrently. A numerical example of Incheon International Airport demonstrates that pretactical management can improve runway utilization and operational efficiency by reducing the disparity between active runways and runway queue delays.