Observation and Analysis of Departure Operations at Boston Logan International Airport

Abstract

The Departure Planner (DP) is a concept for a decision-aiding tool that is aimed at improving the departure operations performance at major congested airports. In order to support the development of the DP tool, the flow constraints and their causalities in the departure process - primarily responsible for generating inefficiencies and delays- need to be identified. This thesis is an effort to identify such flow constraints and gain a deep understanding of the underlying dynamics of the departure process based on field observations and data analysis at Boston Logan International Airport. It was observed that the departure process is a complex interactive queuing system, where aircraft queues form as a manifestation of the flow constraints. While departure delays were observed in all airport components (runways, taxiways, ramps and gates), it was concluded that the flow constraints manifest mainly at the runway system, which exhibits the largest delays and queues. Major delays and inefficiencies were also observed due to downstream flow constraints, which propagate back and block the departure flow from the airport. It was also observed that the airport system is a highly controlled system as the air traffic controllers manage the flow constraints. The air traffic controllers were, therefore, identified as another flow constraint due to their workload and their main strategies in managing the flow constraints were observed. Based on the observations, a core departure process was identified consisting of two main elements: a queuing element generated by the flow constraints and a control element representing the air traffic controller actions. This core process was abstracted using a controlled queuing framework, where the air traffic controller actions are represented by blocking the flow of aircraft in order to maintain safe operation of the airport resources according to the ATC rules and procedures and regulate the outbound flow to constrained downstream resources. The controlled queuing framework was used to analyze the departure process highlighting the queuing dynamics and the control behavior for different flow constraint examples. In conclusion, a number of implications for the Departure Planner and other improved methods for departure operations are inferred from the observations and analysis. This work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center under grant NAG 2-1128.

Full text

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MIT
ICAT
ICAT
MIT
OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS OF
DEPARTURE OPERATIONS AT
BOSTON LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Husni R. Idris and R. John Hansman
Report No. ICAT-2000-7
November 2000
MIT International Center for Air Transportation
Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA

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OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS OF DEPARTURE OPERATIONS AT
BOSTON LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
HUSNI R. IDRIS AND R. JOHN HANSMAN, JR.
Abstract
The Departure Planner (DP) is a concept for a decision-aiding tool that is aimed at improving the
departure operations performance at major congested airports. In order to support the
development of the DP tool, the flow constraints and their causalities in the departure process -
primarily responsible for generating inefficiencies and delays- need to be identified. This thesis
is an effort to identify such flow constraints and gain a deep understanding of the underlying
dynamics of the departure process based on field observations and data analysis at Boston Logan
International Airport. It was observed that the departure process is a complex interactive
queuing system, where aircraft queues form as a manifestation of the flow constraints. While
departure delays were observed in all airport components (runways, taxiways, ramps and gates),
it was concluded that the flow constraints manifest mainly at the runway system, which exhibits
the largest delays and queues. Major delays and inefficiencies were also observed due to
downstream flow constraints, which propagate back and block the departure flow from the
airport. It was also observed that the airport system is a highly controlled system as the air
traffic controllers manage the flow constraints. The air traffic controllers were, therefore,
identified as another flow constraint due to their workload and their main strategies in managing
the flow constraints were observed. Based on the observations, a core departure process was
identified consisting of two main elements: a queuing element generated by the flow constraints
and a control element representing the air traffic controller actions. This core process was
abstracted using a controlled queuing framework, where the air traffic controller actions are
represented by blocking the flow of aircraft in order to maintain safe operation of the airport
resources according to the ATC rules and procedures and regulate the outbound flow to
constrained downstream resources. The controlled queuing framework was used to analyze the
departure process highlighting the queuing dynamics and the control behavior for different flow
constraint examples. In conclusion, a number of implications for the Departure Planner and
other improved methods for departure operations are inferred from the observations and analysis.
This document is based on the thesis of Husni R. Idris submitted to the Department of
Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Human Factors and Automation.

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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research
Center under grant NAG 2-1128. The authors would also like to acknowledge the Boston
Control Tower and TRACON for their cooperation and courtesy in providing access for field
observations and to various logs and data sources. Special thanks to the Control Tower chief Mr.
Joe Davies, to the Control Tower managers Mr. Ronald Crossman and Mr. Donald Crossman, to
the Control Tower supervisor Mr. Michael Hilliard, to the Traffic Management Coordinator Mr.
Michael Lahey, and to all the Control Tower supervisors and controllers for their invaluable
time, knowledge, courtesy and support.