Evaluation of Intermediate Refueling Stops in Long-Haul Flight Operations

v PREFACE Ever since the dawn of civilization, it has been man's dream and wish to fly. This dream became reality when the Wright brothers first took to the sky. To be able to humbly contribute to further technological advancement of the aerospace industry is a dream come true. Due to the increasingly more aggressive competition in the aviation industry, many new concepts were developed. One of those is the implementation of intermediate refueling stops on long-haul flights to cut on fuel costs. During this thesis a model was built, capable of evaluating all aspects that are impacted by implementing such an intermediate stop. The reader will find a detailed description of this model and the corresponding results in this thesis report. This thesis would not have been possible without the support of some truly inspiring and amazing people. At first I would like to thank ir. Sander Hartjes and dr. ir. Dries Visser for their helpful guidance, innovative ideas and support. My gratitude goes out to my colleagues at a renowned airline for their advice and the information I was granted for (confidential) use in this thesis. Most of all I would like to thank my parents for providing me the opportunity to complete a study at the Delft University of Technology, for their patience, love and perseverance. My family, friends and girlfriend for their support, patience and advice. The recent economic depressions have hit the aviation industry hard. With fuel contributing for over 30% of the total operation cost of an airline there has been an increasing demand for the development of more fuel efficient aircraft and fuel saving strategies. Conducting intermediate refueling stops in long haul operations is one of these fuel saving strategies. By developing a novel computer model, this thesis aims at finding the answers to the following research questions:  What are the fuel consumption-and emission savings that can be attained by implementing this model on specific routes and with specific aircraft types?  What are the route requirements to optimally benefit from operating flights with intermediate refueling stops?  Which costs are directly linked to introducing refueling stops, what are the consequences and what can be done to reduce these costs?  How does this concept influence the airport groundside operations and what is the impact on the airport infrastructure? First a literature review is completed to find out what research has already …