Queuing Models of Airport Departure Processes for Emissions Reduction

Aircraft taxiing on the surface contribute significantly to the fuel burn and emissions at airports. This paper investigates the possibility of reducing fuel burn and emissions from surface operations through a reduction of the taxi times of departing aircraft. A novel approach is proposed that models the aircraft departure process as a queuing system, and attempts to reduce taxi times and emissions through improved queue management strategies. The departure taxi (taxi-out) time of an aircraft is represented as a sum of three components, namely, the unimpeded taxi-out time, the time spent in the departure queue, and the congestion delay due to ramp and taxiway interactions. The dependence of the taxi-out time on these factors is analyzed and modeled. The performance of the model is validated through a comparison of its predictions with observed data at Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS). The reductions in taxi-out times from the proposed queue management strategy are translated to reductions in fuel burn and emissions using ICAO engine models for the taxi phase of the flight profile.