A multiple objective optimization model for aircraft arrival and departure scheduling on multiple runways

Abstract

This study proposes a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming (MOMILP) model for assigning a set of flights to different runways and determining their actual arrival and departure times. The proposed model envisages unique operation model of each runway (i.e., takeoff, landing, or mixed takeoff and landing). Further, interference in two flights between adjacent runways are also fully considered in this model. The work aims at reveal the optimal relationship between traffic stream characteristics, operation mode of each runway and flight scheduling to simultaneously minimizing flight delays and maximizing runway utilization. Since the problem of interest has a non-deterministic polynomial (NP-hard) complexity, a heuristic-based non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is also presented to find Pareto-optimal solutions in a reasonable amount of time, where coding structure and heuristic algorithm for producing initial population are defined. Finally, a real-world example is provided to compare the difference in quality between the proposed and traditional models, and reveal changes in trends between delay time of flights and idle time of the runways, which can verify the correctness of the model.