Modeling effects of different air traffic control operational procedures,separation rules,and service disciplines on runway landing capacity

This paper deals with modeling the possible effects of different advanced procedures, existing, innovative, and new air traffic control (ATC) separation rules, and service disciplines on the ultimate landing capacity of a single runway. The first implies a combination and/or exclusive use of conventional and steeper final approach and landing procedures. The second includes the current horizontal, innovative mixed horizontal/vertical and new vertical distance‐based and time‐based separation rules. The last embrace the common First Come, First Served and innovative Priority service discipline. Such increasingly complex and challenging applications are assumed to be based on the new technologies on‐board the aircraft and at the ATC to be developed in the scope of the current United States Next Generation Air Transport System and European Single European Sky ATM Research programs. The convenient analytical models for calculating the runway landing capacity are developed and applied to the generic case of a single runway according to the “what–if” scenario approach. This enables carrying out the sensitivity analysis of the landing capacity with respect to the most influential factors – the ATC advanced operational procedures, separation rules, service disciplines, and aircraft fleet mix. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.