Algorithms for Scheduling Runway Operations Under Constrained Position Shifting

• Published in: Operations research Vol. 58; no. 6; pp. 1650 - 1665
• Main Authors: Balakrishnan, Hamsa, Chandran, Bala G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hanover, MD INFORMS 01-11-2010; Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
• Subjects: Air transportation and traffic; Air transportation industry; Aircraft; Airlines; Airport runways; Airports; Algorithms; Applied sciences; Arrivals and departures; Aviation; deterministic polynomial-time scheduling algorithms; Dynamic programming; dynamic programming/optimal control; Efficiency; Equity; Exact sciences and technology; Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction; Mathematical programming; Methods; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Operations research; Recursion; runway scheduling under constrained position shifting; Runways; Scheduling; Scheduling (Management); Scheduling algorithms; Studies; transportation; Triangle inequalities; Massachusetts; Transportation system; Equity; Scheduling; Polynomial method; Real time; Polynomial time; Airplane; FIFO system; Runway; transportation: runway scheduling under constrained position shifting; Optimal control; Airport; dynamic programming/optimal control: deterministic polynomial-time scheduling algorithms; Air transportation; Overhead line; Occupation time; Dynamic programming; Safety; Aircraft; Deterministic algorithms; Immune system
• ISSN: 0030-364X; 1526-5463
• DOI: 10.1287/opre.1100.0869

The efficient operation of airports, and runways in particular, is critical to the throughput of the air transportation system as a whole. Scheduling arrivals and departures at runways is a complex problem that needs to address diverse and often competing considerations of efficiency, safety, and equity among airlines. One approach to runway scheduling that arises from operational and fairness considerations is that of constrained position shifting (CPS), which requires that an aircraft's position in the optimized sequence not deviate significantly from its position in the first-come-first-served sequence. This paper presents a class of scalable dynamic programming algorithms for runway scheduling under constrained position shifting and other system constraints. The results from a prototype implementation, which is fast enough to be used in real time, are also presented.