Managing Uncertainty at Airports Ground Handling (original) (raw)

Ground Handling Management at Airports with Fuzzy Information

6th IFAC Conference on Management and Control of Production and Logistics, 2013, 2013

In this communication the ground handling fleet management problem at airports is considered with the aim of improving aircraft service at arrival and departure while the operational cost of the ground service fleets is taken into account. The complexity of the considered problem, as well as, operational considerations lead to propose an on-line decentralized management structure where the criticality of each aircraft demand for service is evaluated using a fuzzy formalism. Then after detailing the proposed collaborative scheme between ground handling fleet managers, airlines and airport authorities, a heuristic approach is proposed to solve each fleet assignment problem. A case study considering a large airport is discussed.

An Operational Approach for Ground Handling Management at Airports with Imperfect Information

2013

In this communication the ground handling fleet management problem at airports is considered with the aim of improving aircraft service at arrival and departure while the operational cost of the ground service fleets is taken into account. The complexity of the considered problem, as well as, operational considerations lead to propose an on-line decentralized management structure where the criticality of each aircraft demand for service is evaluated using a particular fuzzy formalism. Then after detailing the assumed collaborative scheme between ground handling fleet managers, airlines and airport authorities, a heuristic approach is proposed to solve this multi fleet assignment problem. A case study considering a large airport is discussed.

Integrated Decision Making for Ground Handling Management

In this paper a hierarchical structure for the management of airport ground handling activities is proposed. The main decision making processes in charge of the managerial units composing a proposed ground handling management organization are considered. The global objective is to turn available the ground handling resources so that arriving and departing flight are serviced with as little delay as possible. Two operational situations are considered: a normal one where small delays are coped with when arriving and departing traffic is globally on schedule, and a disrupted situation where arriving or departing traffic suffer very large delays.

RESOURCE ALLOCATION IMPROVEMENT IN THE TASKS OF AIRPORT GROUND HANDLING OPERATIONS

It is a global trend that the airport ground handling market becomes liberalised. Fiercer competition led to the necessity to improve efficiency and minimise costs. One suggests a mathematical model of optimal resource allocation by aircraft ground handling company using duality theory. The numerical results for the solution of the task under the question which were obtained with the relevant software package, proved validity of the specified theoretical preconditions and allowed to improve the work schedule of the experimental aircraft ground handling company in accordance with the specified efficiency criterion.

A multi-time scale management structure for airport ground handling automation

Journal of Air Transport Management, 2021

The sustainability of air travel relies on proper and timely aircraft ground handling at airports. This research proposes a ground handling management structure which allows the automation of operations to face the growing demand for this service. It is shown how at operations level, information exchange with the airport collaborative decision-making system turns possible on-line fleet assignment to ground handling tasks. This is done by designing different heuristics for assignment of fully automated or semi-automated vehicles to ground handling tasks. Numerical results for an actual airport are presented to illustrate the potential performance of automated ground handling operations.

Reduction of Uncertainty Propagation in the Airport Operations Network

Libro de Actas CIT2016. XII Congreso de Ingeniería del Transporte, 2016

Airport operations are a complex system involving multiple elements (ground access, landside, airside and airspace), stakeholders (ANS providers, airlines, airport managers, policy makers and ground handling companies) and interrelated processes. To ensure appropriate and safe operation it is necessary to understand these complex relationships and how the effects of potential incidents, failures and delays (due to unexpected events or capacity constraints) may propagate throughout the different stages of the system. An incident may easily ripple through the network and affect the operation of the airport as a whole, making the entire system vulnerable. A holistic view of the processes that also takes all of the parties (and the connections between them) into account would significantly reduce the risks associated with airport operations, while at the same time improving efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework to integrate all relevant stakeholders and reduce uncertain...

A bi-objective approach for scheduling ground-handling vehicles in airports

Computers & Operations Research, 2016

In the present paper, we propose a new approach for scheduling ground-handling vehicles, tackling the problem with a global perspective. Preparing an aircraft for its next flight requires a set of interrelated services involving different types of vehicles. Planning decisions concerning each resource affect the scheduling of the other activities and the performance of the other resources. Considering the different operations and vehicles instead of scheduling each resource in isolation allows integrating decisions and contributing to the optimization of the overall ground-handling process. This goal is defined through two objectives: (i) minimizing the waiting time before an operation starts and the total reduction of corresponding time windows and (ii) minimizing the total completion time of the turnarounds. We combine different technologies and techniques to solve the problem efficiently. A new method to address this biobjective optimization problem is also proposed. The approach has been tested using real data from two Spanish airports, thereby obtaining different solutions that represent a trade-off between both objectives. Experimental results permit inferring interesting criteria on how to optimize each resource, considering the effect on other operations. This outcome leads to more robust global solutions and to savings in resources utilization.

Stable Multi-project Scheduling of Airport Ground Handling Services by Heterogeneous Agents

2009

This paper addresses decentralized multi-project scheduling under uncertainty. The problem instance we study is the scheduling of airport ground handling services, where aircraft turnarounds can be seen as multiple projects, ground handling services as activities, and service providers as resources. In this environment aircraft requiring ground handling services and the corresponding service providers are self-interested autonomous parties. Moreover, the environment is well-known for its large number of disturbances. We employ a heterogeneous multiagent scheduling framework with two types of autonomous agents representing aircraft and ground service providers respectively. We use online scheduling to cope with uncertainty in the release time of project: the uncertainty in aircraft arrival time at an airport.

AIRPORT MANAGEMENT

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of contingency planning of airport that needs to be developed for logistical and maintenance operation, through a multi-layered study, published in the Journal of Air Transport and European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure