Multi-Objective Takeoff Time Optimization Using Cellular Automaton-Based Simulator

Although schedule design has further potential to reduce airline operation costs and flight delay, the effectiveness of the globally optimal schedule design integrating air traffic flow has not been discussed thus far. This paper presents a global multi-objective takeoff time optimization to design efficient flight schedules that lead to minimal congestion and provide sufficient resilience against traffic problems. NSGA-II is adopted as the multi-objective optimization technique in this study. The objective functions include minimization of the total arrival delay and total fuel consumption because these are key performance indicators of air traffic management (ATM). The design variable used in this study is the takeoff time offset of each flight landing at the Tokyo International Airport. 607 design variables were used in this study. The range of the design variables was +/- 300 s to investigate the effect of a minor variation in the takeoff time. A cellular automaton-based model was utilized to simulate the interaction of the flights with each other. The results of the simulations demonstrated that the obtained optimal solutions could drastically reduce the total arrival delay and total fuel consumption by 1500 min and 80 tons, respectively. The spacing adjustments of one of the optimum flight schedules, in comparison to the original flight schedule, were reduced by 80% in the en-route and terminal airspaces. Additional analyses suggest that it is preferable to have longer takeoff time intervals for flights originating from the same point during congestion hours than those during non-congestion hours. This indicates that the optimization of ground movements in airports improves the efficiency of air traffic operations.