Allocation of Ground Handling Resources at Copenhagen Airport

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Allocation of Ground Handling Resources at Copenhagen Airport
Justesen, Tor Fog
Publication date:
2014
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Peer reviewed version
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Citation (APA):
Justesen, T. F. (2014). Allocation of Ground Handling Resources at Copenhagen Airport. DTU Management
Engineering.

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Allocation of Ground Handling Resources
at
Copenhagen Airport
Tor Fog Justesen
Technical University of Denmark
Kgs. Lyngby, January 2014
PhD Thesis, 2014
Tor Fog Justesen
Allocation of Ground Handling Resources at Copenhagen Airport
(Allokering af ground handling ressourcer i Københavns Lufthavn)
Department of Management Engineering
Technical University of Denmark
Produktionstorvet, Building 424
DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]
[email protected]
www.man.dtu.dk
Print: Rosendahls - Schultz Grafisk, Albertslund, Denmark
Copyright c 2014
(cid:13)
To Marie, Magnus & Laura
iv
Summary
Operating an airport is a very complex task involving many stakeholders. The primary role of
airport management is to ensure that the airport provides sufficient capacity in all operational
areasandthatallthecompaniescarryingoutbusinessattheairporthavethebestpossibleworking
conditions. Moreover, management must ensure that the airport stays competitive and that its
business goals are met to the greatest possible extent.
The European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) expects de-
mand for air services in Europe to double by 2030 and identifies airport capacity as a potential
bottleneckthat may slowthis growth. ManyEuropean airports arealready operating atthe limit
of their capacity; moreover, they are under competitive pressure from both nearby airports and
fast-growing mega-hubs in the Middle East. Providing efficient and reliable airport operations is
imperative for the viability and continued development of both individual airports and the air
transportation industry in general.
This thesis gives a general introduction to the management of airport operations. It describes
the main airport processes and optimization problems that these processes give rise to. The
primaryfocusisonground handling resource allocation problems,itlooksindetailatthefollowing
problems: the check-in counter allocation problem, the baggage make-up position problem, the
tactical stand and gate allocation problem, the operational stand and gate allocation problem,
and the taxiway route allocation problem. Although these problems arise from different airport
processesandinvolvedifferentstakeholders,theysharesomecharacteristicsandcanbeformulated
as variants of the same mathematical model.
Many real-world aspects must be taken into consideration when solving airport optimization
problems; the models and solutions that are developed must be able to meet the needs of airlines
to the greatest possible extent. They must be easy to configure and efficient to solve. For three
of the problems considered here, real-world restrictions reduce the number of possible variables to
such an extent that the problem can be efficiently solved to optimality with modern, state-of-the-
art MIP solvers. For the remaining problems, an LP based heuristic was developed. The method
iteratively solves a restricted LP relaxed version of the problem and exploits expert knowledge to
generate appropriate initial variables, enabling the heuristic to efficiently find near-optimal and
operationally valid solutions.
The work described in this thesis was carried out in the context of an Industrial PhD project
atCopenhagen Airport incollaborationwith theTechnical University ofDenmark. Itcontributes
to both the introduction and definition of various ground handling resource allocation problems,
and proposes a mathematical formulation of the problems. These contributions are presented in
four scientific papers and one technical report, which are included. All the models and solution
methods described here are currently implemented and used in various settings at Copenhagen
Airport. These include weekly operational planning of check-in counter allocation and long-term
capacity/demand analyses of the airport’s stands and gates.
v
vi
Resum´e (Danish Summary)
Lufthavnsdrift er en meget kompleks opgave, der involverer mange interessenter, heriblandt luft-
fartsselskaber, ground handlere, passagerer og lufthavnen selv. En lufthavns ledelses primære
rolle er at sikre, at lufthavnen har tilstrækkelig kapacitet p˚a alle operationelle omr˚ader samt at
de mange virksomheder, der opererer i lufthavnen har de bedst mulige arbejdsvilk˚ar. Derudover
skal ledelsen sikre, at lufthavnen forbliver konkurrencedygtig, og at dens forretningsmæssige m˚al
opfyldes i videst muligt omfang.
Den europæiske organisation for luftfartens sikkerhed, EUROCONTROL forventer, at efter-
spørgslen efter flytrafik i Europa vil blive fordoblet i forhold til i dag inden 2030 og identificerer
kapaciteten af de enkelte lufthavne som en potentiel flaskehals, der kan begrænse denne vækst.
Mange lufthavne opererer allerede p˚a grænsen af deres kapacitet og er samtidig under pres fra
konkurrerende lufthavne; b˚ade nærliggende, og hurtigt voksende lufthavne i Mellemøsten. En
effektiveogp˚alideligelufthavnsdrifters˚aledesenbydendenødvendighedfordenfortsatteudvikling
af den enkelte lufthavn og luftfartsindustrien generelt.
Denneph.d.-afhandlinggiverengenerelintroduktiontilenlufthavnsdriftsstyringogbeskriver
de vigtigste processer samt optimeringsproblemer, som disse processer giver anledning til. Det
primære fokus er p˚a allokering af ground handling ressourcer, og følgende problemer beskrives:
allokering af check-in-pulte, allokering af bagage-udsorterings-bokse, taktisk standpladsdisponer-
ing,operationelstandpladsdisponering,ogrutningafflygennemtaxiway-netværket. Selvomdisse
problemer hver især udspringer fra vidt forskellige lufthavnsprocesser og involverer forskellige in-
teressenter, har de nogle fællestræk, der muliggør, at de kan formuleres som varianter af den
samme matematiske model.
Ved løsning af optimeringsproblemer i en lufthavn, er det nødvendigt at tage mange opera-
tionelleaspekterfradenvirkeligeverdenmedibetragtning;deudvikledemodellerogløsningsmetoder
skal i videst muligt omfang kunne tilfredsstille de præferencer, som luftfartsselskaberne har givet
udtryk for, de skal være lette at konfigurere, og de skal være effektive at løse. For tre af de
beskrevneproblemer,reducererdissehensynantalletafmuligeløsningeriens˚adangrad,atenop-
timalløsningkanfindeseffektivtblotvedbrugmoderne,state-of-the-artMIP-løsere. Deresterende
problemerløsesvedhjælpafeneffektivLP-baseretheuristik;metodenløseriterativtenbegrænset
LP-version af problemet og udnytter praktisk viden til at generere nye variable. Som resultaterne
viser, finder metoden nær-optimale, operationelt gyldige løsninger. Alle de beskrevne modeller og
løsningsmetodererimplementeretoganvendesiforskelligesammenhængeiKøbenhavnsLufthavn,
heriblandt den ugentlige operationelle planlægning af check-in-pult-allokeringen samt langsigtede
kapacitetsanalyser for standpladser og gates.
Det underliggende arbejde for afhandlingen er blevet gennemført i form af et Erhvervs-Ph.d.-
projekt hos Københavns Lufthavne A/S i samarbejde med Danmarks Tekniske Universitet.
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Preface
ThisthesishasbeensubmittedtotheDepartmentofManagementEngineering,TechnicalUniver-
sityofDenmarkinpartialfulfillmentoftherequirementsforacquiringthePhDdegree. Thework
hasbeensupervisedbyProfessorJesperLarsen,DepartmentofManagementEngineering,Techni-
calUniversityofDenmarkandAndersHøegDohn,PhD,HeadofSecurityResourceManagement,
Copenhagen Airports A/S.
The project is an Industrial PhD in collaboration with Copenhagen Airports A/S and finan-
cial support from the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education under the
Industrial PhD programme. An Industrial PhD is a three-year industrially focused PhD project
in which the student is hired by a company and at the same time enrolled at a university. The
main purpose of an Industrial PhD is to bridge the theoretical world of academia with the more
practical world of the industry. A successful Industrial PhD demonstrates that theoretical, state-
of-the-artmethodscanbeappliedtoreal-worldproblemsanddirectlyorindirectlyaffecttheprofit
or performance of the company.
The thesis is made up of two parts. The first part forms an introduction to the topics that
have been investigated throughout the PhD project. The second part is a compilation of four
scientific papers and one technical reports that have been written during the PhD project. The
PhD project has been carried out from October 2010 to January 2014.
Kgs. Lyngby, January 2014
Tor Fog Justesen
ix