Integrated Optimization of Terminal Manoeuvring Area and Airport

Abstract : Airports and surrounding airspaces are limited in terms of capacity and represent the major bottleneck in the air traffic management system. This paper addresses the problems of airspace conflicts and airport congestion at a macroscopic level through the integrated control of arrivals and departures. Conflict detection and resolution methods are applied to a predefined terminal route structure. Different airside components are modeled using network abstraction. Speed, time and runway changes are managed via an optimization methodology. An adapted simulated annealing heuristic combined with a time decomposition approach is proposed to solve the corresponding problem. Computational experiments performed on real-world case studies of Paris Charles De-Gaulle airport, show the benefits of this macroscopic level approach.