Search Results (6)

Hub airports typically have multiple parallel runways, requiring aircraft to transfer between them. This increases the risk of runway incursions. End-around taxiways (EATs) mitigate such risk by enabling bypassing without runway crossings. This review summarizes 15 EAT layouts worldwide and presents two classification methods: by configuration (N-type, M-type, Large N-type) and by operational relationship with runways (back-around, runway end-around, start-around). The key benefits of EATs were manifold, including the reduction of runway incursions, controller workload, and delays while improving communication safety, capacity, and efficiency. However, drawbacks such as increased land use, construction costs, and potentially longer taxi times and distances should be considered. Therefore, the optimization of the EAT layout is essential. In pursuit of optimal design, considerations should encompass limiting obstacle surfaces, flight procedures, navigation/lighting facilities, jet blast, and visual obstructions from end-around aircraft to departing aircraft. Notably, challenges arise in reducing distances between EATs and thresholds/ends. The given solutions include displacing thresholds, creating “sunken” lowered elevation EATs, and utilizing terrain shielding instead of metallic visual screens. A case study was introduced to demonstrate the successful improvement of the EAT via sunken EATs and terrain shielding at Guiyang Airport. The conclusion encourages further optimization of EAT layouts that balance safety and efficiency. Full article

An important and challenging question for airport operators is the management of airport capacity and demand. Airport capacity depends on the available infrastructure, external factors, and operating procedures. Investments in Air Traffic Management (ATM) infrastructures mainly affect airside operations and include operational enhancements to improve the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of airport operations. Therefore, they help increase capacity while limiting the impact on the airport infrastructure itself. By reviewing the neoclassical valuation principles for Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA), we find that it does not consider relevant behavioral economic challenges to conventional analysis, particularly: failure of the expected utility hypotheses, dependence of valuations on reference points, and time inconsistency. These challenges are then incorporated through practical guidelines into the traditional welfare model to achieve a new methodology. We propose a novel CBA behavioral framework for investments in ATM infrastructures to help policy makers and airport operators when faced with a capacity development decision. This is complemented with a practical example to illustrate and test the applicability of the proposed model. The case study evaluates the deployment of Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS–B) as an investment aimed at improving ATM operational procedures in the airport environment by providing advanced ground surveillance data. This allows airport operators to discover the causes of taxi congestion and safety hotspots on the airport airside. The benefits of ADS–B are related to enhanced flight efficiency, reduced environmental impact, increased airport throughput, and improved operational predictability and flexibility, thus reducing waiting times. At the airport level, reducing the waiting times of aircraft on the ground would lead to a capacity release and a reduction in delays. The results show that, following a traditional CBA, the investment is clearly viable, with a strong economic return. Including behavioral notions allows us to propose a new evaluation framework that complements this conclusion with a model that also considers inconsistencies in time and risk perception. A positive Net Present Value can turn into a negative prospect valuation, if diminishing sensitivity and loss aversion are considered. This explains the reticent behavior of decision makers toward projects that require robust investments in the short-term, yet are slow to generate positive cash flows. Finally, we draw conclusions to inform policy makers about the effects of adopting a behavioral approach when evaluating ATM investments. Full article

To explore the mixed traffic characteristics of vehicles and aircraft on the airport surface and solve the problem of real-time conflict detection at key intersections. According to the actual taxiing procedures and airport control rules in China, this paper focus on abstracting the mixed motion process of aircraft and vehicles in the maneuvering area, defining the convergent cross-safety operation scenario. To quantify the driver’s attention to safety separation and the degree of conservatism in adjusting speed, the vehicle deceleration rate and acceleration rate are defined with α as the exponent. Under the same spacing, the vehicle deceleration rate is directly proportional to α, and α is named the vehicle safety sensitivity. At the same time, the rules of speed change of vehicles and aircraft will be designed, and a convergent operation model of aircraft and vehicles will be proposed. Based on real-time speed and separation dynamic assessment of safety and efficiency under different traffic strategies, the computer simulation results show that vehicle safety sensitivity and deceleration rules determine the sequence of vehicles and aircraft when they are passing through in the short term and can affect the proportion of mixed traffic flow in the long run. The safety probability of vehicles passing the intersection first is negatively correlated with vehicle safety sensitivity, while the safety probability of aircraft passing the intersection first is correlated positively with vehicle safety sensitivity. The efficiency of passing without conflict with mixed traffic has an inverse relationship with vehicle safety sensitivity. When the vehicle safety sensitivity takes the value in the interval [0.4, 0.6], a mixed traffic flow with higher safety and efficiency, better stability, and a balanced ratio of locomotives can be obtained. Full article

The pilot is the main person in charge of taxiing safety while moving on the airport surface. The visual separation and speed adjustment are directly related to safety and efficiency of airport surface operation. According to the actual taxiing procedures and airport control rules in China, this paper proposes a novel microscopic simulation model based on the pilots’ visual separation. This model is also built by refining the aircraft taxiing procedures at intersections. The observation range, the separation judgment, pilots’ visual distance, rate of proximity and the intention for speed governing are discussed as parameters in the model. The rules for aircraft separation judgment, pilots’ autonomous speed governing, and position updates are also set up and discussed. The proposed simulation can accurately simulate the acceleration and deceleration intentions under different motion trends while reproducing the motion process including the following acceleration, following deceleration and delayed deceleration caused by separation changes. The results demonstrate that the number of conflicts can be reduced to 50% based on visual separation adjustment of 50 s when the convergence angle is 30°. The pilot’s visual distance is inversely proportional to the fluctuation range of the speed of the rear aircraft, the proximity rate of the front and rear aircraft and the probability of conflict. The simulation results of this model conform to the actual taxiing routes and control rules, which provides technical support for improving the safety level of airport surface operation and presents certain reference value and practicability. Full article

The safe and orderly integration of unmanned aircraft in the airspace is surely among the most difficult challenges to be solved in the near future. However, a safe and fluid traffic management on the ground is not less important and not less challenging, as completely different aspects have to be considered here. Much less work has been done yet to solve this question. In the frame of the project Surface Management Operations (SuMO), a procedural solution has been developed to enable fully integrated unmanned airport ground movements while allowing air traffic controllers to guarantee a safe, orderly and expeditious flow of traffic. This concept is based on the idea of segmented standard taxi routes for unmanned aircraft, while maintaining current procedures for manned aircraft. From 2017 to 2019, a two-stage validation campaign validated this new solution. No concerns regarding safety or human factors issues were revealed. Access and Equity, as well as Interoperability, were found to be very satisfying. A fast time simulation of mixed manned and unmanned traffic, using the proposed solution, was almost as efficient as pure manned traffic and can easily be implemented at medium-size airports. This article provides information about the experimental setup and the conduction of both validations stages, and illustrates obtained results. It closes with a discussion and an outlook. Full article

The present paper focuses on the development of an algorithm for safely and optimally managing the routing of aircraft on an airport surface in future airport operations. This tool is intended to support air traffic controllers’ decision-making in selecting the paths of all aircraft and the engine startup approval time for departing ones. Optimal routes are sought for minimizing the time both arriving and departing aircraft spend on an airport surface with engines on, with benefits in terms of safety, efficiency and costs. The proposed algorithm first computes a standalone, shortest path solution from runway to apron or vice versa, depending on the aircraft being inbound or outbound, respectively. For taking into account the constraints due to other traffic on an airport surface, this solution is amended by a conflict detection and resolution task that attempts to reduce and possibly nullify the number of conflicts generated in the first phase. An example application on a simple Italian airport exemplifies how the algorithm can be applied to true-world applications. Emphasis is given on how to model an airport surface as a weighted and directed graph with non-negative weights, as required for the input to the algorithm. Full article