枢纽机场航线网络优化研究

枢纽机场航线网络优化主要解决由于航线网络结构与功能定位不匹配而导致的机场连通性低、航线网络同质化竞争严重、运行效率低下的问题。通过改进引力模型对城市对间的客流量进行预测,以此为预测的客流量为依据之一,以提高机场连通性为目的,构建航线网络优化模型,并进行求解。实现提高枢纽机场连通性、构建符合功能定位的层级网络的目标。并以位于我国中部,具有"连接南北,贯穿东西"地理优势的西安咸阳国际机场为例进行分析。由于国际航线受客观因素较多,本文主要研究国内客运航线,国际及货运不在本文研究之列。     

Optimal assignment for check-in counters based on passenger arrival behaviour at an airport

Establishing how to utilize check-in counters at airport passenger terminals efficiently is a major concern facing airport operators and airlines. Inadequate terminal capacity and the inefficient utilization of facilities such as check-in counters are major factors causing congestion and delays at airport passenger terminals. However, such delays and congestion can be reduced by increasing the efficiency of check-in counter operations, based on an understanding of passengers' airport access behaviour. This paper presents an assignment model for check-in counter operations, based on passengers' airport arrival patterns. In setting up the model, passenger surveys are used to determine when passengers arrive at the airport terminals relative to their flight departure times. The model then uses passenger arrival distribution patterns to calculate the most appropriate number of check-in counters and the duration of time that each counter should be operated. This assignment model has been applied at the Seoul Gimpo International Airport in Korea. The model provides not only a practical system for the efficient operations of time-to-time check-in counter assignments, but also a valuable means of developing effective longer-term solutions to the problem of passenger terminal congestion and delays. It also offers airlines a means of operating check-in counters with greater cost effectiveness, thus leading to enhanced customer service.     

Analysis of performance and equity in ground delay programs

The discrepancy between the projected demand for arrival slots at an airport and the projected available arrival slots on a given day is resolved by the Ground Delay Program (GDP). The current GDP rationing rule, Ration-by-Schedule, allocates the available arrival slots at the affected airport by scheduled arrival time of the flights with some adjustments to balance the equity between airlines. This rule does not take into account passenger flow and fuel flow performance in the rationing assignment tradeoff.This paper examines the trade-off between passenger delays and excess surface fuel burn as well as airline equity and passenger equity in GDP slot allocation using different rationing rules. A GDP Rationing Rule Simulator (GDP-RRS) is developed to calculate performance and equity metrics for all stakeholders using six alternate rules. The results show that there is a trade-off between GDP performance and GDP equity. Ration-by-Passengers (a rule which maximizes the passenger throughput) decreased total passenger delay by 22% and decreased total excess fuel burn by 57% with no change in total flight delay compared to the traditional Ration-by-Schedule. However, when the airline and passenger equity are primary concerns, the Ration-by-Schedule is preferred.     

Optimization of airport bus timetable in cultivation period considering passenger dynamic airport choice under conditions of uncertainty

An airport bus service, which is newly introduced in a multi-airport region, commonly leads to a gradually increasing market share of airports until a new state of equilibrium is reached. With the goal of speeding up and enlarging the increase in market share, this paper proposes a timetable optimization model by incorporating reactions of airport-loyal passengers to bus service quality. The simulation part of the model, which uses cumulative prospect theory to formulate discrete airport choices, results in predicted passenger demand needed in the optimization part. Then a genetic algorithm for multi-objective optimization problems called NSGA-II is applied to solve the model. To illustrate the model, the “Lukou airport-Wuxi” airport bus in China is taken as an example. The results show that the optimized timetables shorten the cultivation period and impel the market share to grow rapidly.     

Control strategies for departure process delays at airport passenger terminals

This paper explores the characteristics of process delays at airport passenger terminals and establishes a queuing model for both passengers and baggage served by different connecting type facilities. The impact of delay propagation on other processes and flights is investigated using an analytical approach. In addition, the extra costs incurred on passengers, process operators, and airlines are examined using the delay cost functions. To reduce the impact of process delays, various delay-controlled strategies are proposed, such as setting scheduled times for completion of a process, increasing the number of service counters, and priority service for emergent flights. Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan is used as a case study when facing special events. Results showed that the model can effectively and efficiently estimate delay propagation and its costs. In addition, processes that are not consecutive allow more buffer time between different operations, which helps ease propagation of delays caused by previous services.     

Freighter operators' choice of airport: a three‐stage process

With increasing levels of congestion at the major cargo hubs and further restrictions on noise and night‐time flying, freighter operators' airport choice is a complex and important issue. The aim is to identify the factors that affect the airport choice of freighter operators through a review of the published literature. The literature reviewed includes work relating to passenger hub location, airport quality and airline network configuration, and other works relating to airport choice to paint a full picture of the current research in this area. The literature shows that freighter operators initially choose a shortlist of possible airports based on geography and then investigate any restrictions in place, such as capacity caps or noise limits that might block operations from that airport. Only when these hurdles have been cleared do freighter operators consider attributes of airport quality such as charges and terminal facilities, as well as other influences such as freight forwarder presence and airport marketing. Of particular prominence is the impact of legislation on airport choice.     

An Airport Experience Framework from a Tourism Perspective

This study, by integrating the perspectives of sociological, psychological, and service marketing and management, all of which affect the passenger experience, proposes a theoretical framework for the creation of the airport experience in relation to tourism. This research responds to the current phenomenon in which airports are offering other types of experiences within the airport terminal, expanding the role of an airport from being a utility for transportation into a place where various and different values can be offered. This research explores the current airport experience and adds to research on airport experience by clarifying ten key components necessary for airport passenger experience propositions based on existing research, the current industry phenomena, and the empirical study. The paper also underlines those components that can enhance passenger experience in relation to tourism and highlights the role that airports contribute to a destination.     

Train rescheduling model with train delay and passenger impatience time in urban subway network

This paper considers the train rescheduling problem with train delay in urban subway network. With the objective of minimizing the negative effect of train delay to passengers, which is quantified with a weighted combination of travel time cost and the cost of giving up the planned trips, train rescheduling model is proposed to jointly synchronize both train delay operation constraints and passenger behavior choices. Space–time network is proposed to describe passenger schedule‐based path choices and obtain the shortest travel times. Impatience time is defined to describe the intolerance of passengers to train delay. By comparing the increased travel time due to train delay with the passenger impatience time, a binary variable is defined to represent whether the passenger will give up their planned trips or not. The proposed train rescheduling model is implemented using genetic algorithm, and the model effectiveness is further examined through numerical experiments of real‐world urban subway train timetabling test. Duration effects of the train delay to the optimization results are analyzed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling taxi drivers’ decisions for improving airport ground access: John F. Kennedy airport case

Taxi service is an important component of airport ground access, which affects the economic competitiveness of an airport and its potential positive impact on the surrounding region. Airports across the globe experience both taxi shortages and excesses due to various factors such as the airport’s proximity to the city center, timing and frequency of flights, and the fare structure. Since taxi drivers are independent entities whose decisions affect the taxi supply at airports, it is important to understand taxi drivers’ decision mechanisms in order to suggest policies and to maintain taxi demand and supply equilibrium at the airports. In this paper, New York City (NYC) taxi drivers’ decisions about airport pick-ups or cruising for customers at the end of each trip is modeled using logistic regression based on a large taxi GPS dataset. The presented approach helps to quantify the potential impacts of parameters and to rank their influence for policy recommendations. The results reveal that spatial variables (mainly related to proximity) have the highest impact on taxi drivers’ airport pickup decisions, followed by temporal, environmental and driver-shift related variables. Along with supplementary information from unstructured taxi driver interviews, the model results are used to suggest policies for the improvement of John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport’s ground access and passenger satisfaction, i.e. the implementation of taxi driver frequent airport server punch cards and a time-specific ride share program.     

Light Rail Rapid Transit systems for more sustainable ground accessibility of airports

This paper investigates the potential of Light Rail Rapid Transit (LRRT) to mitigate the environmental and social burden of ground access systems of an airport. This implies, on the one hand, LRRT's capability in mitigating externalities in terms of noise, air pollution/climate change, traffic incidents/accidents and congestion of airport ground access systems and, on the other, the provision of sufficient capacity to accommodate generally increasing volumes of both air passenger and airport employee demand by connecting the airport to its core catchment area. A methodology for assessing the capability of LRRT operating as an airport ground access system is developed. This methodology consists of models to analyze and predict demand and capacity for an LRRT system and models to quantify the externalities of particular airport ground access systems as well as assessing their prospective savings thanks to the introduction of an LRRT system. The methodology is applied to a large European airport – Amsterdam Schiphol (the Netherlands) – using a ‘what-if?’ scenario approach.     

Effects of passenger characteristics and terminal layout on airport retail revenue: an agent-based simulation approach

This paper examines the effect of passenger characteristics and terminal layout on airport retail revenue using an agent-based simulation approach. Simulation results show that passenger mix (that is, the mix of shopper types according to a typology of airport shoppers) has a profound effect on airport retail revenue; the larger the number of ‘shopping lovers’ there are among passengers, the higher the airport retail revenue. Results also reveal that group travel can lead to negative effects on retail in certain terminal layouts, and that the amount of free dwell time that a passenger has can affect spending due to less retail engagement. This paper shows a combined effect of passenger characteristics and terminal layout on airport retail revenue, and discusses the implications of these results for future airport terminal design that aims to maximise retail potential.     

Effects of noise exposure of other people on aircraft noise tolerability using a reference point approach

Reactions to aircraft noise resulting from an airport development vary considerably among individuals. This paper examines whether the noise level tolerated by individuals is affected when they compare their own situation to the situations of other people who are more severely affected by the noise. We modeled the individual noise tolerability by adopting the reference point concept and the value function of prospect theory. A questionnaire assessed different levels of noise-affected zones at a hypothetical airport. Individual noise tolerable level was measured by a prerecorded aircraft noise presented via headphones. Decision-making associated with the reported satisfaction level regarding the changes in operational flight frequency settings at the airport. An interview survey was conducted with residents near Manila airport in the Philippines. We applied genetic algorithm to jointly estimate the parameters for noise tolerability model and the value function. Results showed that individuals tolerated more overhead flights when they considered the situations of other people worse affected by the noise than they were. The tendency of noise tolerability increased with the severity of noise exposure situations of other people, but lower reactions to noise escalation. We also observed diminishing sensitivity to changes in noise relative to the noise tolerable level. The aircraft noise tolerability and the consideration of noise exposure situations of other people appeared to be a vital aspect to be considered in airport noise management and policy.     

Estimation of airport noise impacts on public health. A case study of İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport

The air transport industry is showing rapid growth in line with the call for meeting the requirements of a rising population. Noise mapping is more useful than surveys and measurements to estimate the effects of noise on public health. In this paper, noise levels for the day, evening and night time slices around İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport were calculated by use of the SoundPLAN 7.2 software according to the European Noise Directive, and the “ECAC Doc. 29-Interim” method was applied for the computation of the aircraft noise. Air traffic data of year 2012, technical information about the airport and geographical data including the layers of elevation, residential buildings, auxiliary buildings, hospitals and schools were used as the main inputs for the model developed in the study. The model was found to perform well for the areas closer to the airport. The results of the study suggested that the area at the north side of the airport, where the city center of İzmir is located, is more affected than other areas. The threshold value of 55 dB(A) was found to be exceeded in 0.3% of the land area covered by İzmir City center during the time slice “day”. The results showed that about 2% of the resident population was exposed to noise levels of 55 dB(A) or higher during day-time in İzmir. In addition, it was understood that the number of people who are potentially exposed to high noise levels and threatened by several illness such as hypertension and sleep disturbances is significant in the surrounding area of the airport. It is thought to be important for airport operators to manage the airport capacity based on the flight schedules in order to control the noise exposure level around the airport.     

Crosswind‐based optimization of multiple runway orientations

The runway orientation must satisfy the operational requirements of aircraft for landing and takeoff. Actually, the runway orientation is the result of compromises between the airport usability (wind coverage) and additional factors, such as available land, existing obstructions, topographic difficulties, flight path interference among runways and airports, noise pollution, and other environmental impacts. Therefore, the solution of a combination of acceptable runway orientations, which avoids excessive crosswinds at least 95% of the time, as well as the optimal orientation solution, is essential to conduct those compromises in the runway orientation analysis. The objective of this paper is to develop a computer model, named the optimization of multiple runway orientations model, which is capable of simultaneously providing a combination of acceptable runway orientations, changing the allowable crosswind limit flexibly, and determining the optimal orientations of multiple runway configurations. Instead of visual estimation or geometric computation, this paper presents an analytical method for wind coverage analysis. The model is mainly running in spreadsheet and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The numerical example and comparison show that the optimization of multiple runway orientations model is competitively accurate and convenient in comparison with previous ones. This paper presents an up‐to‐date model for the optimization of multiple runway orientations. By combining it with the geographic information system obstructions model, it can become an essential element of a future model for airport development cost minimization that combines airfield land use, earthwork volume, and cost estimation modules. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A choice model of airline passengers’ spending behaviour in the airport terminal

This study examines the influence of passengers’ travel-related factors, their intention to shop and the impact of socio-economic factors on their consumption behaviours while at the airport terminal. Three categories of consumption model – shopping, dining and airport entertainment – are developed to analyse different consumption behaviours. The results show that free time is the main factor that influences passengers to choose entertainment while waiting at the terminal, and the use of airline lounges has a negative influence on the extent of engagement in all three types of passenger consumption behaviour, especially dining. Furthermore, passengers’ dining expenditure has a positive effect on the extent of engagement in entertainment, but a negative influence on the extent of engagement in airport shopping. Passengers’ preferences of airport shopping area after they have cleared security is positively associated with the extent of engagement in both shopping and entertainment but negatively associated with the extent of engagement in dining activities.     

Assessing the impact of tactical airport surface operations on airline schedule block time setting

With the growth of air traffic, airport surfaces are congested and air traffic operations are disrupted by the formation of bottlenecks on the surface. Hence, improving the efficiency and predictability of airport surface operations is not only a key goal of NASA’s initiatives in Integrated Arrival/Departure/Surface (IADS) operations, but also has been recognized as a critical aspect of the FAA NextGEN implementation plan. While a number of tactical initiatives have been shown to be effective in improving airport surface operations from a service provider’s perspective, their impacts on airlines’ scheduled block time (SBT) setting, which has been found to have direct impact on airlines’ on-time performance and operating cost, have received little attention. In this paper, we assess this impact using an econometric model of airline SBT combined with a before/after analysis of the implementation of surface congestion management (SCM) at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in 2010. Since airlines do not consider gate delay in setting SBT, we find that reduction in taxi-out time variability resulting from SCM leads to more predictable taxi-out times and thus decreases in SBT. The JFK SCM implementation is used as a case study to validate model prediction performance. The observed SBT decrease between 2009 and 2011 at JFK is 4.8 min and our model predicts a 4.2 min decrease. In addition, Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is used as an example to demonstrate how different surface operations improvements scenarios can be evaluated in terms of SBT reduction.     

Implementation and application of a stochastic aircraft boarding model

The aircraft turnaround processes is mainly controlled by the ground handling, airport or airline staff, except the aircraft boarding, which is driven by the passengers’ experience and willingness or ability to follow the proposed boarding procedures. The paper uses a prior developed, calibrated, stochastic aircraft boarding model, which is applied to different boarding strategies (chronological order of passenger arrival, hand luggage handling), group constellations and innovative infrastructural changes (Flying Carpet, Side-Slip Seat, Foldable Passenger Seat). In this context, passenger boarding is assumed to be a stochastic, agent-based, forward-directed, one-dimensional and discrete process. The stochastic model covers individual passenger behavior as well as operational constraints and deviations. A comprehensive assessment using one model allows for efficient comparison of current research approaches and innovative operational solutions for efficient passenger boarding.     

Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis

In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of the 2010 Tarmac Delay Rule from a passenger-centric point of view. The Tarmac Delay Rule stipulates that aircraft lift-off, or an opportunity for passengers to deplane, must occur no later than 3 h after the cabin door closure at the gate of the departure airport; and that an opportunity for passengers to deplane must occur no later than 3 h after the touchdown at the arrival airport. The Tarmac Delay Rule aims to protect enplaned passengers on commercial aircraft from excessively long delays on the tarmac upon taxi-out or taxi-in, and monetarily penalizes airlines that violate the stipulated 3-h tarmac time limit. Comparing the actual flight schedule and delay data after the Tarmac Delay Rule was in effect with that before, we find that the Rule has been highly effective in reducing the frequency of occurrence of long tarmac times. However, another significant effect of the rule has been the rise in flight cancellation rates. Cancellations result in passengers requiring rebooking, and often lead to extensive delay in reaching their final destinations. Using an algorithm to estimate passenger delay, we quantify delays to passengers in 2007, before the Tarmac Delay Rule was enacted, and compare these delays to those estimated for hypothetical scenarios with the Tarmac Delay Rule in effect for that same year. Our delay estimates are calculated using U.S. Department of Transportation data from 2007. Through our results and several sensitivity analyses, we show that the overall impact of the current Tarmac Delay Rule is a significant increase in passenger delays, especially for passengers scheduled to travel on the flights which are at risk of long tarmac delays. We evaluate the impacts on passengers of a number of rule variations, including changes to the maximum time on the tarmac, and variations in that maximum by time-of-day. Through extensive scenario analyses, we conclude that a better balance between the conflicting objectives of reducing the frequency of long tarmac times and reducing total passenger delays can be achieved through a modified version of the existing rule. This modified version involves increasing the tarmac time limit to 3.5 h and only applying the rule to flights with planned departure times before 5pm. Finally, in order to implement the Rule more effectively, we suggest the tarmac time limit to be defined in terms of the time when the aircraft begin returning to the gate instead of being defined in terms of the time when passengers are allowed to deplane.     

Airport capacity increase via the use of braking profiles

Many airports are encountering the problem of insufficient capacity, which is particularly severe in periods of increased traffic. A large number of elements influence airport capacity, but one of the most important is runway occupancy time. This time depends on many factors, including how the landing roll procedure is performed. The procedure usually does not include the objective to minimize the runway occupancy time. This paper presents an analysis which shows that the way of braking during landing roll has an essential impact on runway throughput and thus on airport capacity. For this purpose, the landing roll simulator (named ACPENSIM) was created. It uses Petri nets and is a convenient tool for dynamic analysis of aircraft movement on the runway with given input parameters and a predetermined runway exit. Simulation experiments allowed to create a set of nominal braking profiles that have different objective functions: minimizing the runway occupancy time, minimizing noise, minimizing tire wear, maximizing passenger comfort and maximizing airport capacity as a whole. The experiments show that there is great potential to increase airport capacity by optimizing the braking procedure. It has been shown that by using the proposed braking profiles it is possible to reduce the runway occupancy time even by 50%.