Univerzita Pardubice

Faculty Transport

PROJCET
Air Traffic Rules

Ing. David ourek, Ph.D.

Student
Suditu MadalinaGabriela

2015-2016

An Operations Research Model For The Evaluation Of An

Airport Terminal:
SLAM (Simple Landside Aggregate Model)
The modelling of airport terminal operations has advanced significantly
over the last 15 years. Available models have improved in detail and fidelity, as
well as user friendliness. As a result, their use as decision support aids or
design tools in terminal development projects has been steadily increasing. Some
existing models are strategic in nature sacrificing level of detail in exchange for
speed and flexibility, while others are primarily tactical incorporating high
levels of detail in data and system definition. The lack of a satisfactory strategic
model of landside operations motivated the creation of the Simple Landside
Aggregate Model (SLAM).
In this paper we describe the creation and the application of the new
model SLAM to the airport terminals of Milan. SLAM is an analytical aggregate
model for estimating capacity and delays in airport passenger terminals. SLAM
consists of a network of modules, one for each facility of the terminal: these
modules are based on a set of quite simple mathematical formulas. Their
objective is not to provide a thorough analysis of a given facility, but to help in
the estimation of the capacity of the facility (in terms of passengers per hour)
and the level of service (LOS) associated with it (compared to internationally
accepted standards as those.
SLAM is part of an integrated model called TAPE (Total Airport Performance
Evaluation). The TAPE model is an integrated model of both landside and airside,
and includes aggregate and detailed models.

1. Basic Definitions
The airport landside includes the passenger terminal with all its
components. We consider only functional components, i.e., elements providing
services or amenities directly related to a passenger boarding or unboarding an
aircraft. Non functional components such as concession areas, rest rooms, and
telephones, although important passenger amenities, are not a basis for defining
airport landside capacity. In particular, we examine all facilities and services
associated with an air passengers ground based journey from entrance to the
terminal building to boarding aircraft (departing passenger) and from getting off
a plane to leaving the airport. Terminal curb and parking are often, but not here,
considered being parts of landside. The ground access system is simply modelled
here as a set of sources and sinks of passengers from the terminal (arriving
passenger) or to boarding another aircraft (transit passenger).
The passengers perception of the quality and conditions of service of one
or a set of functional components constitutes the service level. Standard
measures of the service level of components are waiting time, processing time,
walking time, crowding, and availability of passenger amenities for comfort and
convenience.

A high level of service may be provided if the airport landside has ample
capability to accommodate passengers, baggage, and airport visitors. This airport
landside capability is, of course, influenced by the capacity (in terms of persons
processed per unit of time) of the facilities in the terminal.

2.Classification of Landside Elements

Landside elements may be subdivided into three classes:
Processing facilities: they process passengers and their luggage.
Holding facilities: areas in which passengers wait for some events
(as the check-in opening for a flight, the start of flight boarding, etc).
2.1.Identification of LOS

Flow facilities: the passengers use them to move among the

landside elements.
The level of service (LOS) represents the quality and conditions of service
of one or more facilities as experienced by passengers.
According to the facility being analyzed, three fundamental measures of
capacity can be used to estimate potential congestion. These are
respectively static, dynamic and sustained capacity. They are defined as
follows:
Static capacity is used to describe the storage capability of a holding
facility or area, and it is usually expressed as the number of
occupants that a given area may hold at any one moment. It is a
function of the total usable space available and the level of service
provided, i.e., the amount of space each occupant needs to have.
Dynamic capacity refers to the maximum processing rate or flow
rate of pedestrians (i.e., occupants) through a subsystem per unit
time. The actual time unit selected as the measurement index (e.g.,
minutes, hours) depends on the nature of the facility and operation
involved.
Sustained capacity is used to describe the overall capacity of a
subsystem to accommodate traffic demand over a sustained period
within the time and space standards of a particular level of service.
It is thus a measure of the combined static and dynamic capacities
of a facility.
In table 1 (IATA, 1981) the levels of service are described in terms of flow,
delays and level of comfort.

Usually, level C is recommended as a minimum and level D is

considered tolerable for crash periods.
In table 2 we provide the LOS landside parameters used by Societ
Esercizi Aeroportuali (SEA, the Milan Airport Authority) that are common to
the three scenarios analyzed in Section 7. The IATA standards are used by
many Airport Authorities, but are not universal, as some airport authorities
have developed their own standards, while others (especially in
developing countries) utilize no LOS standards at all. For instance, the
British Airports Authority and Aroports de Paris have developed their own
space standards for holding facilities and processing facilities (Ashford,
1988).

The following pages contain a description of all the airport facilities

and a survey of the various techniques proposed to address the simulation
of their operations.
2.2.Processing facilities
1. Ticket counter and baggage check-in
The operation begins when a passenger enters the queue to obtain
the boarding pass and checks his baggage, and ends when the passenger
leaves the ticket counter area.
It has to be noted that the (average) processing time at any
particular airport depends on many factors (staff experience, flight market,
and passenger characteristics) as well as on airline operating policies (i.e.,
number of active counters). Processing time variance can also be large. In
particular, the processing time can become much longer than average if
any problem arises, and, for this reason, most airlines introduce a separate
desk for passengers with particular problems.

Capacity of check-in processing facilities is judged by considering the

average service time and by comparing the number of passengers in a
terminal holding area with the size of that area.
2.Passenger security screening
Originating passengers must undergo a security screening operation.
Sometimes transfer passengers also have to pass through security
screening while moving to a connecting flight. For this reason, securityscreening areas are often elements of queuing and delay for passengers.
The security screening, among the many components of the airport
landside, is the one that most closely fits the assumptions of a simple
queuing model. The average time required for clearance of a passenger,
the variability of that time, and the rate of passenger arrival at the
security screening area are key variables for its capacity assessment.
The security screening is typically a single (or multiple if there is
more than one channel) service counter facility and can be simply
modelled by a queuing model. The level of service of the passenger
security screening area is mainly influenced by the delays associated with
waiting in queue for clearing security screening.
3.Passport Control
Generally, passengers departing for, or arriving from, an international
flight must clear Passport Control and Customs formalities. Typically, all
passengers go through passport inspection (and sometimes through
customs) both on departure and on arrival; furthermore, on arrival, foreign
citizens must first clear immigration, while other passengers proceed
directly to baggage claim and then to customs. Immigration and passport
inspection can be combined, however procedures differ from airport to
airport within the European Union. Usually separate facility inspections are
provided for Schengen (SC) and Non-Schengen (non- SC) citizens.
The inspection service system is reasonably well represented by a
mathematical multichannel queuing model and, for most purposes, direct
observation of conditions and simple calculations of average delays and
queue sizes are adequate for capacity assessment.
4.Customs
Generally, passengers arriving from an international flight must clear
Customs formalities, after Passport Control. These include baggage
inspection and collection of duties on certain exported (imported, on
arrival) items.
The limited availability of inspectors may produce low level of
service; in such cases the airport operator is requested to provide
additional space for waiting passengers and to reduce passenger
inconvenience. Continuing efforts to streamline arrival procedures and to
improve speed and accuracy in customs screening may relieve problems
at airports experiencing rapid growth in international traffic.

Mathematical multichannel queuing models can well represent the

inspection service system and general purpose simulation procedures may
be applied to specific cases.
For capacity assessment direct observation of conditions and simple
calculations of average delays and queue sizes are appropriate.
5.Gates
Airports in Europe usually operate gates on a common-use basis, in
which the assignment of aircraft to gates is entirely an airport operators
decision, while, in the US, aircraft gates may be operated on an exclusiveuse basis.
A lot of models for gate assignment have been proposed. Some of
them take into account both the type of aircraft and the passenger walking
distances. Basically, they are based on a gate assignment with first in first out (FIFO) rule a method to minimize passenger walking distances by
properly assigning aircraft to gates every day, taking into account
passenger flows on that particular day.
6. Baggage claim facilities
Baggage claim is the most critical step of the inbound baggage
system. The number of passengerswaiting in the baggage claim depends
on the rates at which passengers arrive from the gate and luggage is
processed. In general, the maximum demand levels occur when larger
aircraft arrive.
The baggage claim area capacity can be measured considering the
average time passengers must wait to retrieve their checked baggage and
comparing the number of people in the claim area with the size of that
area. The number of passengers claiming baggage must be calculated
from schedule forecasts.
In general, the linear dimension of the device is determined on the
basis of the number of passengers, rather than of baggage, except in
some cases in which baggage ratio is very high. The expected average
time passengers have to wait for bags and the number of waiting
passengers in the claim area can be computed by simple queuing models.
2.3. Passenger holding areas
Passenger holding areas are spaces where passengers move around
and wait for flight departures andarrivals. These facilities include lobbies,
gate lounges, transit passenger lounges, baggage claim area, the arrival
area, the area set aside for ancillary facilities, etc.
The number of waiting passengers is a function of the number of
aircraft served by the holding area,and their functional characteristics,
including capacity and loading factors. The number of passengers
simultaneously waiting in the terminal is also influenced by other
important factors, such as passenger arrival time at the airport, degree to
which passengers are accompanied by family or friends, and the length of
time between commencement of boarding of a flight and its departure.

Dwell time is mainly caused by the amount of slack time that

passengers spend in the various parts of the terminal building. This slack
time is in turn allocated among the terminal holding areas. Clearly the
loading, that is the number of simultaneous occupants, depends on the
fraction of the slack time spent in that area. This discussion applies both to
departing and transit; for arriving passengers the concept of slack time is
less important because they try to leave the airport as soon as possible.
2.4. Flow facilities
The total time spent by a passenger to cross the terminal building
from its entrance point to the gate is the sum of the waiting and service
times in the processing facilities plus the sum of the times required to
move from a service station to another.
The terminal circulation component may be seen as a flow
pedestrian problem and analyzed by using procedures and standards such
as those suggested in (TRB, 1985). The time required to travel from the
curb to the gate is the most important measure of service level.
3. Proposed Aggregate Models
For evaluating a processing facility we need a criterion that is
bidimensional, i.e., a criterion that simultaneously takes into account both
time and space. Time standards refer to the time spent in the facility by a
given percentage of the passengers, while the space standards consider
the amount of space per person that is available. For evaluating a holding
facility only space standards are used and finally, for evaluating a flow
facility, one has to consider the number of passengers that can cross a
section of the facility per unit of time.
Let us introduce a variable that we will call Index of Service (IOS), strictly
related to the level of service (LOS). The LOS is a qualitative statement,
represented by a single letter (A to F). To most of the LOS there correspond
internationally accepted standards (quantitative measurements). We will
call index of service (IOS) these quantitative measurements. For example,
in a waiting lounge the LOS = B corresponds to 2.3 < IOS < 2.7 (m2 per
person).
Typically, the aggregate model for a specific facility will consist of a
simple formula, like the following:
Area
IOS = APADT
that says that the index of service (IOS) for that facility can be computed
dividing the Area by the product of the number of Arriving Passengers (AP)
at that facility during one hour (the Peak Hour) times the Average Dwell
Time (ADT) spent by a passenger in the facility. The IOS can then be used
to obtain the LOS of that facility. For example, if the Area in front of the
check-in is 1500 m2, the number of passengers arriving at the check-in
during the Peak Hour is 3600, and the average Dwell Time is 0.15 (hours),

then the IOS for that facility is 2.78 (m2 per person), which means that the
corresponding LOS is A.
The example illustrates how to obtain the LOS for a given facility. The
same formula can be used to answer other questions, like:
Given AP and ADT, and assuming a specific target LOS, what is the
(minimum) Area that should be reserved at that facility?
Given the Area and AP, and assuming a specific target LOS, what is the
(maximum) allowable ADT?
For example, if at a Passport Control facility AP = 2100, ADT = 2 minutes
(0.033 hours), and we want to achieve a LOS = C, then the Area is given
by:
Area = IOS AP ADT = 1.0 2100 0.033 = 70.0 m2.
3.1.Computing Dwell Times in a processing facility
In this subsection we describe quick and dirty methods to compute
the Dwell Time (both its average and its distribution) at a processing
facility. We recall that the Input required by our model can be extracted
from the statistical data that are typically available to an airport manager
and that our analysis refers to the peak hour (PH). However, the time
window to consider is typically greater than one hour, since we have to
take into account all the flights departing or arriving that can possibly
interact with the PH; for example, a check-in counter at the Linate Airport
is usually opened two hours and fifteen minutes before the scheduled
departure time.
In the following, for the sake of clarity, we shall refer to the check-in
facility, instead of considering a generic processing facility. For each flight,
the passenger arrival profile (which must be given as input) is a function of
time that provides the number of passengers that have already arrived in
the system (i.e., the check-in facility). The profile of the passengers that
have been served by the system (and therefore have left it) is again a
function of time, but it also depends on the number of servers; this profile
is not given as input, but can be inferred from the number of servers which
are open and from the mean service time. The number of servers opened
by a given air carrier is sometimes conditioned upon the carriers target
level-of-service standards.

Let A(t) be the number of passengers that have arrived at the facility
up to time t, and D(t) the overall number of passengers that have already
left the facility by time t. Of course, A(t) and D(t) are nondecreasing
functions.
Passenger profiles can be properly approximated by piece-wise
linear functions (we represent time on the x axis and number of
passengers on the y axis). Furthermore, the combined arrival profiles of
the passengers of all flights assigned to the same Check-In counter (or
block of counters) can be summed up by using the arithmetic of the piecewise linear functions, thus producing an overall piece-wise linear profile.
It follows that we can approximate A(t) and D(t) by piece-wise linear
functions.
If a passenger is the n-th passenger to enter the system (let us call
him / her passenger n), then his/her Dwell Time DT(n) can be computed
as follows, under the natural assumption of a FIFO discipline:
DT(n) =
where

A1 (n)

and

D1 (n)

D1 ( n ) A1 (n)

are the inverse functions of A(t) and D(t).

Considering A(t) and D(t) as piecewise linear functions, their inverses are
again piece-wise linear functions (and so is their difference).
3.2. Computing Minimal Landside Times for passengers and
baggage
For a departing passenger, the minimal landside time is given by the
sum of the times (dwell time plus service time) spent at all processing
facilities, plus the time needed to move along the various paths from the
terminal entrance to the gate exit through the required facilities, plus the

time needed to get from the gate to the airplane and board it. This
minimal landside time can therefore be easily computed. It may vary with
the time of the day because of congestion periods at some facilities and it
may be different according to the particular flight of interest. If it is too
long, a delay may result for the corresponding flight.
This implies that in order to check if a flight can take off on time or if
it has to suffer a delay due to late baggage handling, we can proceed as
follows: let TS be the time when the last piece of baggage from the bank
has been sorted. This can be computed by first considering the curve of
the cumulative number of bags arriving at the baggage handling center as
a function of time and then subtracting from it the curve of the cumulative
number of bags that have been sorted (again as a function of time). TS is
the first moment when the difference of the two curves permanently
vanishes. A departing flight D in the bank will have to be delayed if and
only if: TTO(D) - TS < TL(D)
Where TTO(D) indicates the planned time for take off (leaving the
blocks) of flight D, and TL(D) indicates the time required to transport the
baggage from the handling center to the appropriate apron plus the time
needed to load the baggage into the aircraft D.
3.3.Computing space requirements in a processing facility
The input data for our model are: number of departing flights in the
PH, time of departure of each flight, aircraft types, flight types, number of
passengers on board, passenger arrival profiles (for each flight type),
number of counters and service time.
The number of persons arriving (AP) at the check-in area can be
easily estimated considering the index of the last passenger minus the
index of the first passeger arrived at the check-in during the interval under
consideration (usually the check-in peak hour). The ticket counter can be
modelled using the model discussed for the check-in facility. In particular,
the time and space standards are assumed to be the same as for check-in.
The model for the Security Check facility is like the one proposed for
the check-in with the only difference that the average service rates are
different.
The input data of our model for Passport Control facility are:
passenger arrival profiles (A(t)), percentage of passengers not belonging
to Schengen Union countries (PNSC), number of counters (s(t)), that may
vary over time, and service time distribution for non SC passengers
(TNSC).
The average service time (1/m) of each server is obtained by
computing the mean of the service distribution,
1/ m = PNSC E(TNSC)
and then obtaining the global average service time (ATg(t)) by:
ATg(t) = 1/ [s(t) m].
3.4. Aggregate models for holding facilities

The Average Dwell Time (ADT) for those facilities dedicated to the
holding of passengers has to be given as input together with area, number
of passengers (Pax), and number of well-wishers (NWW).
The number of persons entering (AP) a holding facility has to be
estimated considering the number of passengers and that of the wellwishers:
AP = Pax + NWW.
The space IOS can be computed as usual. In lounges and waiting or
assembly areas, the model is the general one proposed above. Notice that,
in computing the number of persons in the area (AP = Pax +NWW), the
number of well wishers is equal to zero if the area is placed after the
security check on departure, or before customs on arrival. Of course, if
more detailed information is available, the above formula can be further
elaborated.
4. Program Structure
SLAM is made of a graphical user interface, called SLAM-Workbench
(SLAM-Wkb for short) and by an engine (SLAM-Solver). The task of SLAMWkb is to assist the user in providing to SLAM the input data, then to start
an elaboration, and finally to present graphical and textual output.
The input of the program is composed by tables that contain: scheduling
of the flights, terminal physical configuration, allocation of the terminal
resources to manage the flights (policy data). A SLAM input has no large
data requirements. A SLAM simulation (with over 800 flights) requires
approximately 6 seconds of CPU on a PC Pentium 133 running under
Windows 95. SLAM output is divided into 2 files: a textual and a graphical
output file. In the textual output file there are the results of SLAM
elaboration for each of the facility considered, while in the graphical
output file there are the graph points and the LOS levels (where required)
for plotting facility charts. In figure A there is an example of a graphical
output of SLAM.

Figure A. Open counters and passengers versus time

Minutes of delays usually shown by airside models are used as input
by SLAM. The integrated model has been applied to a situation of airside
congestion in Linate, i.e., a scenario with fog between 7:30 and 9:15.
SLAM correctly pointed out that landside was mainly affected in the gate
lounges and that the airside congestion propagated its negative effects to
the landside component well after 9:15 till about noon.