Coordinated by:
1
NLR
Consortium members:
ENAC, GESAC (Naples Airport)
Research Questions
Using a probabilistic capacity forecast, will stakeholders be able to respond better to changes in airport capacity?
Research Scope
The ACF project will investigate the use of forecast information on airport capacity. The available capacity for air traffic movements and for passenger movements is an issue; the airport capacity is usually given in terms of either one of those units (air traffic movements or passengers throughput). Capacity is limited by the weakest link in the capacity chain: as airport operations consist of a complex network of actors, the one actor that provides the lowest capacity is the one that most influences the total chain capacity. When a limitation in capacity somewhere in the chain occurs, it is important to timely inform all actors, so that all processes can be adapted accordingly. The project investigates current and forecasted airport capacity (up to 48 hours) and their effects on airport stakeholders’ business processes in order to increase predictability of the operations. Airport stakeholders will be able to better plan their resources and cope with forecasted capacity shortfalls. Relevant use cases that will be elaborated first are: the use of runways, de-icing and snow removal, and security. Special situations, like bad meteorological conditions (strong wind and snow) and strikes will be investigated.
Research Results
The research will move the automation of airport operations to a higher level, which will enable planning with stakeholders able to better oversee operations than is currently possible.