Dynamic semi-mixed mode runway configuration planning and runway scheduling

Abstract

An imbalance of the arrival and departure rate causes inefficient runway usage in airport capacity management. Dynamic runway configuration allows air traffic control to adjust the configuration of the switch mode runways in order to cope with the latest air and airport traffic situation. In practice, not all the runways can be designed as switch mode runways due to terrain constraints. Therefore, we consider the situation of a semi-mixed mode runway setting, which implies that several runways are configured for purely landing or take-off operation, while several runways are set to switch mode operation. In this paper, the formulation of the coordination of dynamic runway configuration planning and aircraft sequencing and scheduling problem under semi-mixed mode operation is proposed. The test instance followed the traffic pattern of Hong Kong International Airport. The results show that dynamic runway configuration planning and semi-mixed runway design can further enhance runway capacity.