Metrics to Characterize Airport Operational Performance Using Surface Surveillance Data

Detailed surface surveillance datasets from sources such as the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model-X (ASDE-X) have the potential to be used for the analysis of airport operations, in addition to their primary purpose of enhancing safety. This paper describes how surface surveillance data can be used to measure airport performance characteristics in three different ways: (1) Characterization of surface flows, including identification of congestion hotspots, queue dynamics and departure throughput; (2) Development of metrics to evaluate the daily operational performance; and (3) Development of metrics to gauge long-term performance across different runway configurations and operating conditions. The proposed metrics have been developed with active feedback from operations personnel at Boston Logan International Airport, and are therefore evaluated and discussed using this airport as an example. These metrics can provide useful feedback on operational performance to airport operators, and therefore have the potential to improve the efficiency of surface operations at airports.