Surface Performance of End-Around Taxiways

Abstract

Optimizing usage of end-around taxiways is a near-term operational change to reduce aviation emissions and increase efficiency at airports. An end-around taxiway is a path for an aircraft to taxi around an active runway. End-around taxiways provide benefits such as increased throughput and safety, reduced surface congestion, thus also yielding environmental benefits. This study analyzes end-around taxiway use at three airports: Atlanta (ATL), Dallas (DFW), and Detroit (DTW) using ASDE-X data over a six-month period. We developed three types of decision rules to maximize fuel savings. The most promising (environmentally beneficial) decision rule at each airport is based on multiple factors, including terminal destination and arrival time. Depending on the airport, the multi-factor rules resulted in an average aircraft taxi-in fuel savings of 8.9% to 25.4%. This research provides decision-makers at the operational level with a practical guidance tool to use end-around taxiways effectively. This research focuses on reducing taxi-in fuel burn; we do not directly consider the impact of the decision rules on departure parameters (such as throughput and taxi-out fuel burn). Future work will expand the model to optimize fuel burn benefits across integrated arrival and departure surface operations.