Major Hub Airports Research Articles

Prioritisation in air traffic flow management: The design of a flow management tool using a petri-net approach

In this article an improved Flow Management tool is proposed and evaluated. In most research currently performed on the subject of air traffic flow management, Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) techniques are used to come to a solution. In the approach proposed herein, a Petri-net algorithm is used to model the air traffic flow. By iteratively looking ahead in time, future reservations on capacity are made. In-air waiting times are then suppressed by imposing pre-departure delays, based on the maximum delay that a flight can expect at a node along its route. The newly developed algorithms were shown to effectively suppress in-air waiting time by imposing pre-departure delays. Second-order (knock-on) network effects are also included, leading to a more efficient utilisation of capacity. Moreover, in a large European-wide scenario with disruption at several major hub airports, prioritisation of flights to and from these airports was shown to considerably alleviate the delays at the impacted airports. While this did come at a small cost to the total duration of imposed delays, total monetary cost of delay was found to be reduced.

CO2 emissions associated with hubbing activities in air transport: an international comparison

Hubbing is an important operational practice in air transport. Many studies have been conducted to examine the benefits and impacts of hubbing from an economic perspective. However, its impact on CO2 emissions, especially across different air spaces, is not well understood. This paper explores the impact of hubbing activities in air transport from an environmental perspective. With a detailed methodology and data from the Greek and Hong Kong/Sanya flight information regions (FIRs), three levels of CO2 emissions are estimated: airport-based, airspace-based and flight-based. After contrasting the CO2 emission efficiencies of Athens International Airport (AIA) and the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), aircraft type and flight distance are examined to explain their emission efficiency differences. It is found that HKIA is associated with poorer CO2 emission efficiency at the airport and airspace levels because of the larger aircraft and longer flight distance. However, when CO2 emission efficiency at the flight level is considered, HKIA, with a higher passenger load factor, performs better. Major international hub airports should implement additional environmental measures to minimize the impact of hubbing activities on CO2 emissions at the airport and airspace levels.

Impacts of low cost carrier services on efficiency of the major U.S. airports

While traditionally many LCCs use secondary airports because of the availability of slots, spare capacity and low aeronautical cost, in recent years more and more LCCs are shifting their operations to major airports. This has made necessary for some major hub airports to attempt to attract LCC business. Since it is not clear whether such a move would improve or harm efficiency of the hub airports, this paper investigates this issue using a panel data of 63 major U.S. airports for the 2007–2010 period. After controlling the effects of other airport characteristics on efficiency, we found non-monotonic relationships between the level of LCC presence and airport efficiency. Efficiency of airport decreases as LCC presence increases from very low level, reaches the lowest efficiency point, and then increases as LCC services become dominant. Our empirical findings suggest existence of economies of airport specialization in either FSCs or LCCs. The even mix between FSC and LCC services at an airport appears to be inefficient. This result is somewhat contradictory to the findings of recent studies on LCC effects on European airports.

Operational and Environmental Assessment of Electric Taxi Based on Fast-Time Simulation

Economic pressure and increasing environmental awareness stimulate the development of new taxi operation technologies and procedures. One of the most promising developments is the use of electrically powered landing gear for medium-size aircraft in civil aviation. If the prerequisite that the weight of the new equipment and the weight of the saved fuel be approximately balanced is met, operational as well as economic and environmental benefits can be achieved. This paper describes a method of assessing these benefits by means of a fast-time simulation model and presents the findings for two airports. The first, Frankfurt am Main Airport, is one of the major European hub airports. Because of the higher share of heavy aircraft, which are assumed not to be equipped with an electric taxi system, the relative benefit of almost 20% fuel savings is lower than at the second airport in the study, Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport, which is still under construction and estimated to open in 2014 at the earliest. Because the share of medium-size aircraft is expected to be higher, relative fuel savings of more than 36% can be achieved there. Besides these economic and environmental impacts, operational benefits can also be observed as the aircraft can back out from their parking stands autonomously. With this maneuver, the time-consuming coupling and decoupling of a pushback vehicle can be eliminated.

Airport Choice Modeling: Empirical Evidence from a Non-Hub Airport

A comprehensive review of airport choice modeling studies is presented in this paper, highlighting the key determinants of passenger preferences. Empirical research presented which models using binary logistic regression in the likelihood that airline travelers in the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Statistical Area will not use the local airport, but instead use the competing major hub airport in Minneapolis-St. Paul, located 250 miles away as a viable origin airport. Moreover, this study investigates whether collecting empirical data from local travel agents may perhaps allow airport planners and airport managers to identify important passenger choice behaviors without incurring the added time and expense of administering formal passenger surveys. This study found that it is possible to obtain useful data from travel agents at significantly less time and effort. The significant factors obtained from the regression analysis were trip purpose, trip duration, number of connections, and airline.

Multilateral Trade Agreement for Civil Aviation

Emirates Airlines wants greater access to Canada than is currently permitted under the existing Air Services Agreement between Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Thus far, the Government of Canada has legitimately refused the requests. The dispute between Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over air traffic rights boils down to two fundamental issues that transcend both countries: 1. The importance of the civil aviation sector (airlines, airports, and support services) to the economies of both countries; and 2. The importance of a level playing field for competition between the domestic carriers of each country and between the major hub airports of each country. It is time to have a serious debate on the future regulatory structure for the global civil aviation industry. The resolution of the second issue necessitates that we revisit the current regulatory structure for the airline industry and consider moving away from bilateral Air Services Agreements to a multilateral framework for the industry. There are at least three different ways to proceed to address the issues related to subsidies, capacity dumping, and safeguards for the airline industry. While the multilateral approach is the preferred option, it is unrealistic to assume that there will be sufficient support to move quickly to multilateral negotiations. Nevertheless, it is important to begin to move in this direction, not only to resolve disputes such as the one between Canada and the UAE but also to be prepared to resolve future disputes that inevitably will arise. While Emirates Airlines executives have focused on the importance of consumer interests, there are many more stakeholders involved, and even consumer and taxpayer interests might not be best served by subsidies, capacity dumping, and arbitrary decisions to retaliate.

Airport performance: A rating agency perspective

This paper is a summary of the author's presentation at Airports Council International's Airport Economics and Finance conference in March 2011. The 2008–09 economic crisis resulted in some spectacular falls in traffic across European airports. Yet certain airports were able to sustain satisfactory financial performance despite exceptionally adverse economic conditions. Several conclusions can be drawn from this. First, the downturn revealed sharp differences in traffic volume across various European airports. Major hub airports and a few strong origin and destination airports demonstrated good traffic and revenue resilience during the crisis. This resilience is mainly a function of the airport's role in the aviation system: first-tier airports, ie those serving the largest and most vibrant economic areas, offering the best yield for airlines and the most convenient flights for passengers, performed better during the crisis. Secondly, many European airports have succeeded in increasing their commercial revenues thanks to enlargements and improvements to their retail and food and beverage offering. The revenue per passenger has therefore often increased against a backdrop of economic recession. Thirdly, key airports have adapted their expenditure profiles. During the recent crisis, many airports managed their expenditure profiles by rescheduling capital spending and taking action on the cost base.

Extreme short take–off and landing regional jets – economic motivation and technological challenges

AbstractA predominant problem in the US as well as in Europe is the imminent capacity shortage of major hub airports: Air traffic is assumed to increase significantly worldwide, while further runway extensions of airports are difficult because of residents’ resistance and limited land space availability. However, the increasing market size also provides a potential for new aircraft concepts. What type of aircraft will meet best the future market requirements is a question arising.We show that currently discussed solutions to airport capacity problems are mostly not in line with market requirements and have therefore not the potential to alleviate the increasing capacity problems. We analyse to what extend an aeroplane with extreme short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) capability might be able to overcome these capacity problems and discuss resulting technical requirements. Subsequently we present some of the current technological challenges in this area of research and give an overview on ESTOL regional jet concepts that are currently investigated at Bauhaus Luftfahrt.

Real-Time Intermodal Substitution

A strategy for airline recovery from schedule perturbation caused by adverse weather or other temporary events is proposed. Capacity reduction at a hub airport caused by these temporary events is reflected as reduced slots (or later controlled time of arrivals) for airlines from ground delay programs. It is suggested that under severe circumstances legacy airlines with hub-and-spoke networks implement ground transportation into their network to substitute for flights. This strategy is called real-time intermodal substitution (RTIMS). RTIMS is different from air-rail cooperation practiced in Europe in that it is triggered only by a severe demand and supply imbalance at major hub airports and it performs operational integration of airside and ground transportation. Mathematical programming is presented to help airlines make decisions about if and how to delay, canceling flights, or substituting flights with buses. An approximation algorithm is proposed to obtain solutions, avoiding substantial computation time required to solve large-scale nonlinear integer programming. As an evaluation, experimental data are used to compare scenarios with and without tactical intermodal substitution.

Effects of Rail Stations at Airports in Europe

The effects of rail stations, including high-speed rail, at airports in Europe are discussed in terms of a cost-benefit framework. Rail stations are operational at many European airports and are at the center of interest when road access relief at airports is considered, as well as when rail and air transport complementarity is considered. As public budget deficits are under more scrutiny than in the past and privatization of state-owned public transport companies is being considered, it is of interest to know the extent to which rail stations at airports improve the performance of the rail companies and have a positive impact on the economy as a whole (are of value to taxpayers). The study is based on a cost-benefit analysis of rail stations at five major airports (Brussels, Zurich, Frankfurt, Paris-Orly, and Paris-Charles de Gaulle) and two medium-sized airports (Geneva and Stuttgart). The results of case studies of several rail stations (those in Belgium, France, Germany, and Switzerland), which had wide spectra of technology and operating system backgrounds, showed that the overall effects of rail stations, by taking into account investment costs and the partial effects on the railways, were positive for the major (hub) airports analyzed [except in particular cases for particular reasons (Brussels and Paris-Orly)] but were balanced or negative for the medium-sized airports analyzed. The results show not only the impact of airport size but also that of distance to the airport by rail, because the benefit to users in terms of time and fare savings played a significant role and highlighted the benefits of having access to a rail network as much as possible. Finally, the effects on public transport as a whole (i.e., the effects on all public transport companies at the airport, including taxi and parking operators) were negative.

High-technology employment and hub airports

Deregulation of the US domestic air transport market in 1978 brought significant benefits to air travelers. The scheduled airlines have been given the freedom to improve their efficiency through being able to adopt efficient network strategies and more effective operating practices. This study examines empirically the advantages enjoyed by those passengers having access to a major hub airport. These often include more direct services, more frequent services and a wider range of interconnecting destinations. We seek to examine the benefits that local urban areas enjoy as the result of a major airline selecting the region as the fulcrum point for its hub-and-spoke services.

The economics of being an airport hub city

Deregulation of the U.S. domestic airline industry in 1978 and the subsequent and ongoing deregulation of international airline markets, have brought substantial benefits to air travelers. In the past, economic regulation controlled the nature of the air services offered, the route structures, and the fare levels. Liberalization of regulations has given scheduled air carriers the freedom to offer a wider range of service-fare combinations to travelers while improving their efficiency through efficient network strategies and operating practices. This chapter examines the advantages enjoyed by those passengers having access to a major hub airport such as more direct and more frequent service as well as a wider range of interconnecting destinations. The benefits that local urban areas enjoy as the result of a major airline selecting the region as the fulcrum for its hub-and-spoke operations, are considered here. The empirical analysis first looks at the macro effects of hubbing in the United States by considering high technology employment levels in cities with and without hubs. A series of case studies then explores trends in high technology employment in cities with varying degrees of access to hubs. Causality tests show that airports are genuine attractors for high technology jobs, leading to the conclusion that hub airports are important catalysts for high technology growth industries.

Design of an expert system for aircraft gate assignment

The task of assigning arriving flights at an airport to the available gates is a key activity in airline station operations. With the development of large connecting hub operations, and the resulting volumes of passengers and baggage transferring between flights, the complexity of the task and the number of factors to be considered have increased significantly. Traditional approaches utilizing classical operations research techniques have difficulty with uncertain information and multiple performance criteria, and do not adapt well to the needs of real-time operations support. As a result, several airlines have been exploring the use of expert systems for operational control of ramp activity. This paper discusses the factors that arise in deciding how to allocate flights to gates, and describes the knowledge base structure, data requirements and inference process of an expert system that would recommend gate allocation decisions to ramp control personnel, taking into account the constraints imposed by the available facilities and personnel to handle the aircraft, and the consequences on downstream operations of particular assignment decisions. The paper describes how these concepts have been implemented in a prototype expert system that has been designed to address a restricted set of gate assignment issues within a framework that could be extended to consider a broader range of factors. The operation of the expert system is illustrated through a case study application to a typical flight schedule at a major hub airport.

Air carrier activity at major hub airports and changing interline practices in the United States' airline industry

This paper presents data on air carrier activity at major hub airports and documents changing interline practices among carriers. Both developments have implications for understanding the evolving structure of the airline industry, as well as the nature of competition in the industry.

Local Air Service and Economic Impact of Small Airports

The purpose of this study is to investigate some concepts regarding the role played by local airports in the economies of the regions they serve. The writers attempt to formulate a conceptual framework for the study of air‐ ports' economic development and/or growth effects on local economies. A small empirical survey is used to explore how such a framework could be further developed. The results of the empirical investigation of three small California airports suggest that local‐service airports in small communities have a rather precarious market situation, particularly if they happen to be in the general proximity of large cities served by major hub airports. Consequently, if a local airport is to be a successful economic venture and a rational investment by government, a geographical location that ensures independence from a major hub appears to be essential. In addition, since economic impacts of an airport are indeed a function of the type and amount of traffic it serves, this geographical hub independence may enable an airport to capture more local demand and, in turn, perhaps generate measurable economic impacts.

U. S. Airline Deregulation: Its Effects on Passengers, Capital, and Labor

HIS paper presents an analysis of the effects of airline deregulation on passengers-business and personal, first class and coach-and explores how capital and labor have fared in a free market. The evidence corroborates many benefits that proponents of deregulation predicted, but it has not worked perfectly. Prices are not fully competitive, and for certain dimensions service quality is down. Furthermore, the contestability hypothesis as applied to the airline industry does not withstand statistical examination.

Current Status of the MLS Program

The Microwave Landing System (MLS) is on the verge of implementation in the National Airspace System as a replacement for the Instrument Landing System (ILS). The present plan calls for the establishment of 1,250 systems by the year 2,000. The first ten years of MLS implementation will serve as a transition period in which both ILS and MLS will be extensively used. The MLS implementation strategy is based on the establishment of MLS networks of 4 to 7 facilities. Each network is centered on a major hub airport and the satellites are selected from regional airports that have commuter airline service with the hub. The MLS implementation program will take advantage of the increased reliability of digital electronics systems together with the reduced costs of those systems to provide the capability for all weather service at most MLS-equipped airports.

Lake Erie Airport—Status Update

A 6-yr study of need analysis, feasibility and site selection for a new major hub airport for northeast Ohio has been completed. The study included the evaluation of land sites with an offshore Lake Erie site in Cleveland, Ohio. Key factors influencing the selection of the lake site include location, costs, access, environment and political-social-economic concerns. The Lake site is approximately 4 miles (8.4372 km) to the north of the existing Cleveland harbor breakwater and would be constructed on 6,300 acres (15,567.55 ha) of reclaimed land which would be protected by a 13.3 mile (21.404 km) perimeter dike, connected to Cleveland by twin elevated structural causeways, and located in the lake at an average depth of 55 ft (16.7640 m), Completion of a master plan for the Lake Erie site has been deferred until such time that the FAA, Airlines and the local authorities concur in the aeronautical demand for the airport.

Airport Upgrading Versus Landing Gear Optimization

An economic analysis was performed to relate pavement upgrading cost to penalty cost associated with adding gears and wheels to aircraft to provide adequate flotation for present-day pavement design criteria. A basic assumption was made that widebody jets and 1,500,000 lb (679,500kg) aircraft (Categories I and II aircraft, respectively) would use 26 major hub airports by l985. Three gear types were designed for each aircraft: (1)Current-flotation compatible with present pavement criteria; (2) Median-compromise design considering present pavement criteria and optimal gear for aircraft structure; and (3) Optimal-gear optimized for aircraft structure with no regard for pavement flotation requirements. Costs were based on each gear type for both categories of aircraft. Rigid and flexible pavement thicknesses for each major hub aircraft were determined for Categories I and II aircraft; thicknesses were calculated both for new construction and for overlay of selected pavement areas where the aircraft might operate. Aircraft costs were developed as associated with carrying landing gear weight and volume in excess of the optimal gear. Pavement upgrading costs were determined and cost comparisons were made.

Capacity and noise relationships for major hub airports

The conflicting goals of increasing capacity at an airport and reducing the noise exposure around that airport are examined. Basically, airport capacity is directly related to aircraft noise exposure such that an increase in capacity means an increase in the noise exposed area surrounding the airport. Several technological and operational noise reduction methods are discussed and it is shown that they can reduce the extent of exposure as capacity is increased. Using John F. Kennedy International Airport as an example, it is demonstrated that if these noise reduction methods are utilized, the capacity of this airport can be doubled and community noise exposure can be reduced below current levels.