Article ID: | iaor20118843 |
Volume: | 215 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 697 |
End Page Number: | 704 |
Publication Date: | Dec 2011 |
Journal: | European Journal of Operational Research |
Authors: | Andreatta Giovanni, Lulli Guglielmo, DellOlmo Paolo |
Keywords: | programming: mathematical, programming: probabilistic |
In this paper, we present an aggregate mathematical model for air traffic flow management (ATFM), a problem of great concern both in Europe and in the United States. The model extends previous approaches by simultaneously taking into account three important issues: (i) the model explicitly incorporates uncertainty in the airport capacities; (ii) it also considers the trade‐off between airport arrivals and departures, which is a crucial issue in any hub airport; and (iii) it takes into account the interactions between different hubs. The level of aggregation proposed for the mathematical model allows us to solve realistic size instances with a commercial solver on a PC. Moreover it allows us to compute solutions which are perfectly consistent with the Collaborative Decision‐Making (CDM) procedure in ATFM, widely adopted in the USA and which is currently receiving a lot of attention in Europe. In fact, the proposed model suggests the number of flights that should be delayed, a decision that belongs to the ATFM Authority, rather than assigning delays to individual aircraft.