Sustainable and data-driven airport operations: Optimisation models and machine learning approaches

The aerospace industry annually provides transport for billions of passengers along trillions of kilometers. The industry is continuously aiming to provide these services in a more efficient and sustainable way. One possibility is to consider improving airside airport operations, both current types and those expected in the near future....

Fleet scheduling for electric towing of aircraft under limited airport energy capacity

Taxiing aircraft using electric vehicles is seen as an effective solution to meet aviation targets of climate neutrality. However, making the transition to electric taxiing operations is expected to significantly increase the electricity demand at airports. In this paper we propose a mixed-integer linear program to schedule electric vehicles...

Hybrid Electric Taxiing Systems: An Operational and Economic Assessment

Fuel consumption during the taxi phase of flight can be reduced by using electric wheel propulsion instead of aircraft engines. Currently, this can be either done by having external trucks towing the aircraft from the gate to the runway, or by incorporating electric motors on the aircraft wheels to power the aircraft without using the engines....

An investigation of operational management solutions and challenges for electric taxiing of aircraft

Taxiing aircraft using electric towing vehicles (ETVs) is expected to significantly contribute to the objective of climate-neutral aviation by 2050. This study reviews existing work on operational aspects of electric towing of aircraft, and discusses management solutions. We first discuss the varying electric taxi systems currently under...

Optimizing Electric Taxi Battery Swapping Stations Featuring Modular Battery Swapping: A Data-Driven Approach

Optimizing battery swapping station (BSS) configuration is essential to enhance BSS’s energy savings and economic feasibility, thereby facilitating energy refueling efficiency of electric taxis (ETs). This study proposes a novel modular battery swapping mode (BSM) that allows ET drivers to choose the number of battery blocks to rent according...

A greedy approach to the minimisation of deviations of the dynamic vehicle routing problem with electric taxiing systems: Master of Science Thesis

In order to reduce aircraft emissions during on-ground operations, electric taxiing systems (ETS) have been intensively researched to take over or assist in part of the taxiing phase of a flight. One of these ETS is the TaxiBot, deployed by Smart Airport Systems (SAS). While a number of papers have been researching this vehicle routing problem ...

Electric taxiing: an optimisation study on the future of airport operations

Electric taxiing (ET) is a novel concept that focuses on replacing engine-powered aircraft taxiing by taxiing using electrically powered towing vehicles, called ET vehicles. The main purpose of ET is reducing the impact of aviation on climate change while at the same time saving fuel costs. In this paper, we propose two models that can be used...

Impact of Electric Taxi Systems on Airport Apron Operations and Gate Congestion at AAS

Growth in air traffic demand and increasing attention for environmental impact of the air travel industry and airports has spurred the innovation of the Electric Taxi System (ETS). The ETS incorporates an electric motor in the main or nose landing gear of an aircraft, powered by the auxiliary power unit (APU) of the aircraft. The system allows...