Ground Handling Research Articles

Predictability of Flight Arrival Times Using Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Network

The rapid growth in air traffic has led to increasing congestion at airports, creating bottlenecks that disrupt ground operations and compromise the efficiency of air traffic management (ATM). Ensuring the predictability of ground operations is vital for maintaining the sustainability of the ATM sector. Flight efficiency is closely tied to adherence to assigned airport arrival and departure slots, which helps minimize primary delays and prevents cascading reactionary delays. Significant deviations from scheduled arrival times—whether early or late—negatively impact airport operations and air traffic flow, often requiring the imposition of Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) regulations to accommodate demand fluctuations. This study leverages a data-driven machine learning approach to enhance the predictability of in-block and landing times. A Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) neural network was trained using a dataset that integrates flight trajectories, meteorological conditions, and airport operations data. The model demonstrated high accuracy in predicting landing time deviations, achieving a Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE) of 8.71 min and showing consistent performance across various long-haul flight profiles. In contrast, in-block time predictions exhibited greater variability, influenced by limited data on ground-level factors such as taxi-in delays and gate availability. The results highlight the potential of deep learning models to optimize airport resource allocation and improve operational planning. By accurately predicting landing times, this approach supports enhanced runway management and the better alignment of ground handling resources, reducing delays and increasing efficiency in high-traffic airport environments. These findings provide a foundation for developing predictive systems that improve airport operations and air traffic management, with benefits extending to both short- and long-haul flight operations.

Combining model-based and learning-based anomaly detection schemes for increased performance and safety of aircraft braking controllers

In aircraft, the braking system is a safety-critical and heavily used component of the landing gear, prone to significant wear. Anomalies arising in the wear dynamics can degrade the performance of the braking system and compromise the safety of ground handling maneuvers. In this work, we tackle the problem of detecting incipient anomalies in aircraft brakes in a tightly coupled implementation with the Brake Control Unit (BCU). Two complementary approaches are presented. The first one is an observer-based architecture designed on the longitudinal aircraft dynamics that returns physically interpretable outputs connected to the wear process and allows us to improve braking performance online. The second one is an end-to-end convolutional autoencoder-based architecture that returns an anomaly score computed on data collected by the BCU with inherent robustness to modeling uncertainty, which the model-based one does not. A combined architecture that allows one to exploit the features of both model-based and learning-based approaches is proposed, which shows its capability of optimally blending the two. The approaches are evaluated in a MATLAB/Simulink multibody simulation environment that is able to replicate the braking actuator wear dynamics, demonstrating remarkable performances in anomaly detection, anti-skid control performance, and safety improvement.

Analysis of Airport Operation Control Center (AOCC) Unit Services at Adi Soemarmo Boyolali International Airport

Airport Operation Control Center (AOCC) is the front line in supervising and controlling all problems and is the control center of Adi Soemarmo Solo International Airport operations in serving Airport Service Users. AOCC involves all stakeholders at the Airport by integrating the systems owned by each stakeholder so that they can operate effectively and efficiently. This study aims to determine how the AOCC unit service system is at Adi Soemarmo Boyolali International Airport and what factors can cause problems and solutions to AOCC unit service problems. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach. The data used are primary and secondary data. Primary data is obtained from observation and interviews, while secondary data comes from literature studies and photographs related to the problems studied. The data analysis techniques used are data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions. To test the validity of the data, triangulation techniques are used. The research time is in August - September 2023. The results of this study indicate that a good service system was found by the Airport Operation Control Center (AOCC) Unit to service users starting from coordination with all parties, namely Airlines and Ground Handling, Air Traffic Control (ATC), Apron Movement Control (AMC), Information Unit, Aviation Security, Airport Operation Landside And Terminal (AOLT), Traffic Administration Office and Central Flight Schedule Office (CFSO) and the Airport Mechanical Unit. The service system uses the ACDM (Airport Collaborative Decision Making) system, namely with collaboration between stakeholders to share information between related parties in real time and make joint decisions in a win-solution manner. Factors that can cause problems are related to coordination between one and another so that it can harm several parties. The solution to various problems is to implement ACDM (Airport Collaborative Decision Making), where related units in airport operations synergize with each other, receive and share information from each unit, make proactive and appropriate joint decisions, anticipate unexpected events and provide the best quality of service, cohesiveness and unity of vision and mission.

Presenteeism and Job Performance in the Aviation Industry: A Study on Ground Handling Business Employees

The aim of this study is to determine the impact of presenteeism on job performance. In the scope of the research, job performance has been exami-ned in terms of both contextual and task performance. This study was con-ducted with the participation of personnel responsible for ground handling services in the aviation sector. Given the determined objective, it was deci-ded that the quantitative method is suitable for the research, and data were obtained through scale forms. To assess employees' presenteeism tendencies, the "Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6)" was utilized, while the "Job Per-formance Scale" was employed to measure job performance. The findings suggest that presenteeism impacts job performance in both task and con-textual dimensions. The results demonstrate that presenteeism significantly and positively affects both areas of job performance. This study highlights the beneficial effect of presenteeism on job performance. However, this sig-nificant positive relationship between presenteeism and performance does not entirely eliminate the fact that presenteeism is seen as a problem in busi-nesses.

Analisis Implementasi SOP Pasasi PT Jasa Angkasa Semesta dalam Pelayanan Penumpang di Bandar Udara Internasional Juanda Surabaya

Ground Handling is an activity of a flight company related to handling or services to passengers such as baggage, tickets and equipment for aircraft movement on the ground and the aircraft it self while at the airport both departure and arrival. The cassation unit is part of Ground Handling which has duties and responsibilities in handling passengers from the check-in process to boarding passengers, as well as handling the process of transit passengers. This study is to find out how the role of PT Angkasa Semesta services in serving passengers at Juanda International Airport Surabaya. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. The data used are primary and secondary data. Primary data include direct observation of the research object and interviews with pasasi officers. While secondary data is taking data when conducting observations and interviews such as how cassation staff work in the field and SOPs of the cassation unit related to services to passengers. The results of this study can be concluded that the role of PT Jasa Angasa semesta in passenger services at Juanda International Airport Surabaya is in accordance with the existing Procedur Operational Standards. Ground Handling officers carry out services from the check-in counter to the departure gate, supervise passenger movements on the landside and coordinate with AVSEC, AMC and RAMP. Obstacles experienced by PT Jasa Angkasa Semesta is constrained by foreign languages and then lacks the number of personnel.

Electric Taxiing System. Kinetic Energy Recovery System as an Electric Taxiing Solution: Economic and environmental analysis: Phenom 300 case study

The aviation industry has thrived in recent years, with a significant increase in passenger numbers, leading to the development of larger aircraft fleets and the expansion of airport infrastructure. In 2019, more than 4.5 billion passengers traveled by airplane, which represents an 80% increase compared to 2009. As a consequence, this growth has also resulted in longer taxiing times for aircraft, increasing fuel consumption and operational costs. The industry's CO2 emissions have quadrupled since the 1960s, with over 1 billion tons released in 2019, contributing to global warming. Given that the improvements being made to current propulsion systems and the production of over 600 million liters of SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) in 2023 do not seem sufficient to meet the ambitious goals set by regulators and operators, the logical solution would be to develop a system capable of moving the aircraft on the ground using alternative, cleaner, and cheaper energies, such as electric power. This paper explores the latest advancements in electric propulsion systems, specifically focusing on external and onboard systems. After the state of the art is established, this paper will cover a case study and propose a new alternative for an onboard system called ETS – Electric Taxiing System. The ETS is a 100% electric system for ground handling operations designed to use only the kinetic energy stored in a battery pack, which is recovered during aircraft landing and braking events. Although there are some studies on this topic, the author considers this paper to be more comprehensive as the results computed here take into account 96 variables, 60 simulations, several flight plans, and real-world data. The case study focuses on the implementation and dimensioning of the ETS, considering electric motor power and torque, and battery capacity for the Embraer Phenom 300. A brief economic and environmental analysis was also conducted, considering the operation of NetJets Europe, the world's leading and largest private jet company.

Pengaruh Service Excellent Unit Ground Handling Kokapura Terhadap Kepuasan Penumpang di Bandar Udara Internasional Jendral Ahmad Yani Semarang

The main objectives of this research are as follows: 1) evaluate how much influence the excellent service of the Kokapura ground handling unit at Ahmad Yani International Airport Semarang has on passenger satisfaction; and 2) measure how much influence the excellent service of the Kokapura ground handling unit at Ahmad Yani International Airport Semarang has on passenger satisfaction. This research used a quantitative approach and collected 100 respondents who were passengers at Ahmad Yani International Airport, Semarang. The purposive sampling method was used for non-probability sampling. Certain criteria were used to select respondents. The results of statistical data analysis show that each statement in this study is valid and the variables are reliable. Hypothesis testing produces a significance value of 0.000 < 0.05 which indicates rejection of H0, and a calculated t value of 4.155 > t table value of 1.660 which indicates acceptance of Ha. The results of the regression test show that there is a positive and significant influence of 39.4%. In conclusion, the ground handling unit excellent service variable (X) has a significant influence on the passenger satisfaction variable (Y). In other words, this research proves that the excellent service of the Kokapura ground handling unit has a positive and significant effect on the level of passenger satisfaction at Ahmad Yani International Airport, Semarang. influence of 39.4%.

Mechanism Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Whole Process of Aircraft Turnaround Operations

Efficient aircraft turnaround operations at airports are vital to ensure overall air traffic network performance. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the traditional aircraft ground handling process has changed significantly due to new requirements put forward by the pandemic prevention and control policy. To better understand how COVID-19 has affected ground handling operations, a discrete-event simulation model of turnaround is established to analyze the change in the whole turnaround process before and after the pandemic. The critical path of turnaround operations was used to identify the significantly affected subprocesses to which airports should pay attention. For a case study on the two busiest airports in China, the aircraft turnaround time increased by about 18% after COVID-19. Cabin cleaning, catering, and passenger embarking were the main processes in causing this increase. By evaluating the impact mechanism of COVID-19 on turnaround operations, the study sheds light on strategic, tactical, and operational approaches for relevant authorities.

Stochastic Modelling of Aircraft Ground Time at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

Ground time plays an important role in keeping flight on-time performance and passenger smooth flow. It varies depending on the aircraft type, procedures, passenger number and/or cargo amount, maintenance requirements, and ground handling service quality. This research aims to explore the ground time distribution pattern at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The daily flight historical data is divided into several categories based on the airline’s service type for local airlines, the airline’s origin for foreign airlines, the type of flight, and aircraft size. Ground time data of each flight category is then fitted to all possible distribution types by using the Distribution Fitting app in Matlab. The best-fitted distribution definition uses the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test by comparing the p-value of each distribution. 6 distributions fit 20 flight categories. Almost all local airlines’ ground time except full-service carrier international flights and low-cost carrier international flights with wide-body aircraft fit to Burr distribution. Full-service carrier international flight with narrow and wide-body aircraft, international flight with narrow-body aircraft operated by airlines from China and other countries fit Generalized Extreme Value distribution. Low-cost carrier international flights with wide-body aircraft and private flights fit to Inverse Gaussian distribution. International flights with wide-body aircraft operated by airlines from Korea, Japan, and other countries airlines fit for Nakagami distribution. While the cargo flights fit t Location-Scale distribution for wide-body aircraft and Weibull distribution for narrow-body aircraft. Then the stochastic models are developed based on each flight category’s distribution parameters. These models are expected to be able to guide future research in ground time or apron capacity management as they provide the data distribution without more primary data needed.

The impact of COVID-19 related flight reductions on bird prevalence and behaviour at Manchester Airport, UK, and the implications for airport management

Airport management is a complex and multifarious activity, involving many operators including airlines, retailers and ground handlers, and processes. The presence of wildlife at airports poses a safety risk to aircraft operations and as such managing wildlife hazards is a mandatory legal responsibility. This is important not only from a safety perspective but also from the fact that safety incidents can impact the operational efficiency and the reputation of an airport. Airport operators are required to devise and enact site-specific Wildlife Hazard Management Plans (WHMP) to reduce the risk of aircraft-wildlife interaction under normal airport operating conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, led to an unprecedented reduction in commercial air traffic and the partial or total suspension of flights at some airports. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of COVID-19 related flight reductions on bird prevalence and behaviour and the potential implications for airport management. Drawing on an empirical dataset of wildlife observations at Manchester Airport, UK, in 2019 and 2020, this paper details the airfield ornithology before and during the pandemic and examines the impact of COVID-19 related flight reductions on bird prevalence and behaviour. The findings reveal variations in the frequency and apparency of individual species as well as changes in the spatial location of bird sightings on the airfield. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for post-pandemic operations and for the formulation of future airport wildlife hazard management policies.

An agent-based simulator for airport ground handling services

Airport ground handling plays an essential role in shortening the turnaround time for better utilization of aircraft that can reduce the cost per flight. One of the key challenges for improving the efficiency of airport ground operations is to comprehensively simulate the ground handling processes to optimize and evaluate various operation strategies. In this work, we develop an agent-based simulator that specifically focuses on the whole process of airport ground handling from landing to takeoff. It allows different types of agents, i.e. aircraft, ground vehicles, operators, and dispatchers, to execute their own behaviors according to the ground operation characteristics. The interactions among different agents are also modeled according to the specific service agreements. We use the Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) for the case study to demonstrate the interfaces and outputs of the simulator including the simulated flight information, the progress of ground handling services, airfield status, etc. With the developed simulator, we could not only reproduce the real-world operations of different types of services but also have enough potential to optimize and evaluate various airport ground operation strategies under a series of complex scenarios.

Ground Handling Process Optimization Model Linked to Flight Delay Prediction Results

Ground Handling Process Optimization Model Linked to Flight Delay Prediction Results

ВОЗРАСТ ПИЛОТА И ТРАВМАТИЗМ В АВИАЦИИ

The results of an analysis of the influence of pilot age on injury statistics in civil aviation are described. The proportion of aviation accidents caused by human actions remains the same and even tends to increase. Workers continue to get injured during ground handling operations for aircraft. The authors' assessment of the various risk factors contribution to ongoing negative events confirms the human factor prevalence. Statistics on the activities of civil aviation was analyzed. Examples of aviation accidents involving general aviation aircraft and medical aircraft transporting patients who required emergency medical care were considered. It has been shown that there is a peak in the aviation accidents for pilots aged 50-59 years, and this peak is observed among experienced pilots with more than 5,000 hours of flight time. For pilots aged 40-49 years, half of the accidents occurred among aircraft commanders with 1,000 ... 5,000 hours of flight time, and about one third among pilots with less than 500 hours of flight time. It was revealed that for domestic general aviation in 2020, the main causes of aviation accidents were such elements of human factor as piloting errors associated with deficiencies in training and little flight experience; loss of spatial orientation in weather conditions that do not comply with visual flight rules, when the underlying surface is white, when caught in a snow whirlwind, as well as a collision with power line wires.

AIRCRAFT TRAFFIC NOISE ANALYSIS AT KUALANAMU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MEDAN

This study was conducted to analyze and evaluate the noise generated by aircraft traffic at Kualanamu airport. Data collection was carried out by conducting a survey directly in the field by asking airport officials about the flight frequency at Kualanamu airport and measuring ground handling noise with a sound level meter. Furthermore, the data obtained were analyzed using Excel software. From the results of data processing, it is known what variables most affect ground handling noise at Kualanamu airport. Noise measurements were taken by PT. Angkasa Pura II (Persero) in an open area at Kualanamu airport, the noise that occurs is below the specified quality standard value, which is <80 dB based on the Minister of Transportation Decree No. 17 of 2005 (Sultan Syarif Kasim International Airport, while for Kualanamu International Airport there has not been a Ministry of Transportation Decree. Because both airports are international class and are located in the coastal area of Sumatra Island, it can be assumed that they have the same noise quality standards). Furthermore, noise measurements were taken by PT. Angkasa Pura II (Persero) in the domestic and international waiting room area that the noise that occurs is above the specified quality standard value, namely (45-55) dB Zone B, according to the regulation of the minister of health 718 of 1987.

METHOD OF COMPILING THE GLOSSARY OF THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF AERODROME TECHNICAL FLIGHT SUPPORT ON THE BASIS OF THE TERMS AND DEFINITIONS GIVEN IN REGULATORY AND LEGAL ACTS, STANDARDS AND OTHER REGULATORY DOCUMENTS

The article proposes a method of establishing a direct connection between the conceptual model of aerodrome technical support for flights in the aviation military unit of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the requirements of the relevant regulatory acts for aerodrome technical support for flights. The concepts of ground handling, aviation ground support and airfield management are closest to the concept of aerodrome technical flight support.
 An example of the using the proposed methodology for improving the regulatory framework in the field of aerodrome technical support for flights is given.
 The methodology takes into account that the subject activity is complex and may contain thousands of separate functions, which are distributed among a significant number of types of performers.
 The proposed method is convenient for the use of computers, such as electronic spreadsheets, and allows you to bring the development of the conceptual model of airfield technical support for flights (for the aviation military unit) to the level of practical suitability for the development of relevant standardized terms and definitions for the description of aerodrome technical support for flights as a complex activity, as well as to facilitate the harmonization of aerodrome technical support regulations with relevant regulatory documents of partner countries.

Enhancing prosocial behavior in the aviation industry through responsible leadership and importance of ethics and social responsibility: examining a moderated mediation model

PurposeThe aim of this research, which uses the theories of social identity and social exchange, is to investigate the relationship between responsible leadership, prosocial behavior and the mediating role of psychological ownership in this relationship. In addition, the moderating role of ethical and social responsibility in the relationship between responsible leadership and psychological ownership is tested in the study.Design/methodology/approachThe sample of the research consists of 246 participants who work full-time at İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport in ground handling services (GHS). The convenience sampling method was used in the research, and the research data were collected by the face-to-face survey method. The hypotheses of the research were tested with the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) and SPSS Process Macro.FindingsAccording to the results, it was determined that responsible leadership affects prosocial behavior positively and significantly, and psychological ownership plays a mediating role in this relationship. In addition, the moderating effect of ethical and social responsibility on the relationship between responsible leadership and psychological ownership was determined. When ethical and social responsibility is perceived as high by the employees, it was revealed that the conditional indirect effect of responsible leadership on prosocial behavior through psychological ownership was strong.Research limitations/implicationsWhen responsible leadership encourages employees to take psychological ownership, they are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior. This study contributes to the field by evaluating the structures discussed with social identity and social exchange theory. In the management practice of organizations, responsible leadership should be strengthened and training should be given to develop responsible leadership.Originality/valueIn the literature review, it was observed that although there are studies conducted with responsible leadership, the concept was not examined with prosocial behavior, and it was not studied in the aviation sector, which has become indispensable for the world economy. With these features, the study distinguishes itself from others and constitutes a source of motivation for researchers.

ASSISTANCE IN INVOICE DATA COLLECTION PT. GAPURA ANGKASA FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Procurement of goods must have a good financial system to support all activities carried out by the company. The developed financial system must also have controls aimed at managing incoming goods, used goods, stock, transaction processing results, and transaction results reports. The purpose of this service activity is to assist in collecting invoice data in support of the efficiency of the financial management system used at PT. Gapura Angkasa. So it is necessary to use a web-based information system so that the transactions carried out can be well organized and clear. PT. Gapura Angkasa Denpasar Branch in collaboration with PT. Garuda Indonesia and PT. Angkasa Pura which is engaged in the field of ground handling services and other business activities that support the aviation business at airports. At first the procurement of goods in and out at PT. Gapura Angkasa is still manual, so a web-based information system is needed that can simplify and speed up service. This system can only be accessed by employees or officers at PT. Gapura Angkasa. To design this procurement system, structural design is used, namely by using an Enttity Relationship Diagram (ERD), making Data Flow Diagrams (DFD), making billing and recording transactions using Data Invoices EXCEL, and MySQL as data storage databases.

Neural Airport Ground Handling

Airport ground handling (AGH) offers necessary operations to flights during their turnarounds and is of great importance to the efficiency of airport management and the economics of aviation. Such a problem involves the interplay among the operations that leads to NP-hard problems with complex constraints. Hence, existing methods for AGH are usually designed with massive domain knowledge but still fail to yield high-quality solutions efficiently. In this paper, we aim to enhance the solution quality and computation efficiency for solving AGH. Particularly, we first model AGH as a multiple-fleet vehicle routing problem (VRP) with miscellaneous constraints including precedence, time windows, and capacity. Then we propose a construction framework that decomposes AGH into sub-problems (i.e., VRPs) in fleets and present a neural method to construct the routing solutions to these sub-problems. In specific, we resort to deep learning and parameterize the construction heuristic policy with an attention-based neural network trained with reinforcement learning, which is shared across all sub-problems. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms classic meta-heuristics, construction heuristics and the specialized methods for AGH. Besides, we empirically verify that our neural method generalizes well to instances with large numbers of flights or varying parameters, and can be readily adapted to solve real-time AGH with stochastic flight arrivals. Our code is publicly available at: https://github.com/RoyalSkye/AGH.

The Role Of The Apron Movement Control Unit In Ground Handling Operations

Kalimarau Airport is a Class 1 Airport Service Unit located in Berau Regency, East Kalimantan Province. Is an airport that provides air flight services. To meet the needs of services on the land side and on the air side, the airport cooperates with other parties. Observers conducted research at this airport using observational. To find out the role of the Apron Movement Control (AMC) unit in ground handling operations at Kalimarau Berau Airport. It is hoped that observers will know the use of Ground Support Equipment (GSE) by ground handling officers at Kalimarau Airport. This study uses research methods using qualitative methods and data collection methods, namely using descriptive qualitative methods, namely describing the conditions that occur in the research object. Data obtained from direct observation, literature study, descriptive and interviews. Monitoring the orderliness of ground handling officers is part of Apron Movement Control (AMC) duties. There are markings on the apron that are not yet available at Kalimarau Airport, namely staging area markings that have a function as a place for Ground Support Equipment (GSE) while waiting or standing by on the apron. Some things that can be optimized are increasing awareness of orders among ground handling officers in the use of Ground Support Equipment (GSE). In order to create a safe and orderly Kalimarau airport environment. Some things that can be optimized are increasing awareness of orders among ground handling officers in the use of Ground Support Equipment (GSE). In order to create a safe and orderly Kalimarau airport environment. Some things that can be optimized are increasing awareness of orders among ground handling officers in the use of Ground Support Equipment (GSE). So that the movement of vehicles on the air side can be more directed and safe.

Optimal dispatch model for aviation-fuel vehicles in refuelling operations

Taiwan Taoyuan international airport has been devoted to becoming a green airport in recent years, aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (CDEs) from ground handling services. Refuelling operations play a pivotal role in airport operations and, given the short and frequent nature of flight takeoffs and landings, demand substantial work. Different aircraft types and flight lengths require varying refuelling operations, and the inefficient and unrealistic dispatch of aviation-fuel vehicles can lead to flight delays. In this study, time–space network flow techniques were used to formalise the flow of aviation-fuel vehicles in both space and time. Based on the problem characteristics and by adding appropriate constraints, the aim of this work was to minimise CDEs and construct an optimal model for the refuelling operation scheduling of aviation-fuel vehicles. The proposed model was evaluated through a case study, and conclusions and recommendations are presented.