Challenges for ground operations arising from aircraft concepts using alternative energy

Current research in the field of future aircraft concepts aims at accommodating ambitious reduction goals set by national and international regulators. These concepts should be investigated not only with regard to aircraft efficiency, but also in terms of their compatibility with airline operations, existing ground handling procedures and airport infrastructure requirements, as these influence the overall performance of a future aircraft concept. This paper addresses this aspect, focusing on case studies concerning hybrid-electric and universally-electric aircraft concepts, analyzing implications for current ground handling operations at the airport. Current bottlenecks, such as capacity shortages, and potential areas of improvement are identified based on a state-of-the-art reference ground handling process. To this end, requirements of different stakeholders, including airports, airlines and ground handling providers, are outlined. In the next step, insights are contrasted with operational requirements of the future aircraft concepts under consideration. The paper stresses the anticipated challenges involved in aligning future aircraft requirements with current procedures, discusses the necessary adaptions to operational processes. The results highlight changes that need to be made to the current system before an aircraft can enter service, and provide an initial basis for the strategic planning of the stakeholders involved.     

Dynamically interdependent business model for airline–airport coexistence

Governments provide various forms of financial support for sustaining unprofitable regional airways, especially when such airways are essential to local livelihoods and economies. However, inefficient provision of subsidies has been subject to worldwide criticism. Therefore, this study examines the load factor guarantee, a dynamically interdependent business model for airline-airport coexistence where an airline and an airport agree on the load factor of a flight, after which either party compensates for any discrepancies between the actual and agreed-upon load factor. The model is calibrated by using 2003–2014 data regarding Noto Airport and All Nippon Airways, and system dynamics are employed to model the dynamic interactions between the two parties. The findings show that successful coexistence between an airline and an airport hinges on the integral management of annual negotiations regarding the target load factor and the monthly demand adjustment of subsidies. In addition, although a subsidy represents a temporary financial loss for an airport, it is an effective way of maintaining long-term, airline–airport coexistence. This model is applicable to unprofitable airways worldwide, and it contributes to their sustainable management.     

Modeling resilience of the ATC (Air Traffic Control) sectors

This paper develops a theoretical framework containing the methodology for assessing resilience of the ATC (Air Traffic Control) sectors affected by the impact of a given disruptive event. The resilience is considered as ability of these sectors to retain a certain level of the regular/nominal performance during the impact and fully recover relatively fast afterwards. The actually rear disruptive event is considered to be the large-scale failure of a component of the ATC facilities and equipment supporting safe, efficient, and effective air traffic. Under such conditions, different mitigating contingency measures are generally applied resulting in deteriorating the operational, economic, and environmental performance of the affected sectors while maintaining the required level of safety. This performance is represented by the indicators such as demand, capacity, traffic complexity, the ATC controller workload, aircraft/flight delays and their costs, and additional fuel consumption and related emissions of GHG (Green House Gases). The proposed methodology consists of the generic model of resilience, the analytical models for estimating the indictors of ATC sectors’ performance, and the analytical models of resilience based the indicators as figures-of-merit for assessing resilience. These models are based on the practice-close mitigating contingency measures applied to the ATC sectors affected by a given disruptive event. The possible application of the proposed methodology is also elaborated.     

The role of turboprops in China’s growing aviation system

The Chinese aviation system is in a period of rapid growth, with significant growth in second tier and emerging cities. Lower density cities could be well served by regional aircraft, either regional jets or turboprops, which offer different qualities and a different future for Chinese aviation. Turboprops offer a high level of fuel efficiency compared with regional jets which may improve the cost economics for carriers and reduce the air quality and climate impacts of a growing aviation system in a region where air quality and greenhouse gas emissions are a serious concern. However, regional jets are known for their superior quality of service and faster travel speeds. We begin with a spatial analysis of existing Chinese short-haul aviation networks and find that turboprops are deployed in limited number and are dispersed throughout the country. Their limited use, however, is not because of their cost economics. For the existing regional jet network we estimate the trade space of fuel and time for the replacement of regional jets with turboprops and find that all regional jet routes in China would generate savings if replaced with turboprops. We next establish future short-haul aviation routes between new and emerging airports and estimate the likelihood that a turboprop will be used. The finding that the most viable turboprop markets are spatially dispersed through the country validates considering turboprop investment at the state-level as a component of the established Chinese aviation sustainability initiative.