A novel stochastic matheuristic approach for the dynamic utilisation of arrival route structures: modelling of Istanbul Airport point merge system

Abstract

Congested airports benefit from parallel-point merge systems (P-PMSs) for efficient arrival route control. However, the decline in air traffic due to COVID-19 has curtailed its optimal utilisation, especially with the reduced need for long sequencing legs. As air traffic is poised to rebound, the evident volatility seen during and post COVID-19, as well as the daily fluctuations between peak and off-peak hours, underscore the importance of the dynamic utilisation of sequencing legs in P-PMSs. EUROCONTROL proposes various leg configurations to manage fluctuating traffics, ensuring both efficiency and safety. First, we proposed two additional leg configurations for the Istanbul Airport, offering continuous descent with the engines operating at idle thrust during leg flights; partially overlapped and fully dissociated. While they offer an alternative for controllers during low to medium traffic scenarios, current long and fully overlapped parallel legs may be used in high traffic due to the volatility of traffic density throughout a day. Therefore, we suggest an approach that provides dynamic utilisation of these configurations. We first modeled and analysed the configurations for various traffic numbers and scenarios. Then, we introduced a new stochastic matheuristic model that considers the configuration changes throughout the day and provides feasible and robust sequences applicable to all configurations by combining the benefits of mathematical models with the adaptability and speed of heuristic methods. Several test problems were evaluated using the terminal manoeuvering area structure of Istanbul Airport as a case study. The results indicate that by changing configurations, an average of 35 kg in fuel savings per aircraft can be achieved. The results also show that the proposed approach outperforms traditional stochastic mathematical models and the first-come first-serve (FCFS) strategy, ensuring efficient air traffic management in terms of fuel and delay with robust sequencing by eliminating the need for re-sequencing during configuration changes.