Performance Analysis of Runway Allocation for Arrival Flow Using a Queuing Model

Abstract

One of the most important components for air traffic is the runways, which can act as a bottleneck for the arrival flow and cause delays. At Tokyo International Airport, the arrival flow is managed according to the characteristics of air traffic flow from two directions to two runways. This study focused on the effects of changing landing runways on flight times and taxiing times. A queuing model was derived for each runway from the statistical results of surveillance radar data during the busy hours. The flight times depending on changing the landing runway were estimated by the queuing models. To show the effectiveness of each landing runway change, a performance index averaging the times was minimized under the constraint of the number of landing runway changes. The results revealed that some landing runway changes effectively reduced times as intended, while others increased times or had little effect.