Aircraft turnaround activities cyclone model (ATAC)

Abstract

Airlines lose large amounts of income because of delays that could originate in any part of the aircraft travel process. Delays in time spent at the gate before taking off, known as the turnaround time, is one of the major contributors to the overall delay of any flight hence rises the importance of optimizing this phase. This research illustrates how CYCLONE, a simulation modeling method aimed originally for construction process simulation, can be used to model and optimize aircraft turnaround time at an airport, specifically Beirut Rafic al Hariri International Airport (BRHIA) by suggesting modification to the current process. The model was initially validated using the turnaround activities and their respective durations from the official operations manual of the Airbus A320 aircraft since it is the most commonly located aircraft at the airport and is used by the local airline. Real life data of every activity performed was collected at the airport and used to create a probability distribution for the stochastic duration of each rather than using a deterministic approach to mimic the uncertainty of each activity duration. The data collected was then used as input for the CYCLONE model to simulate the turnaround time at BRHIA. It was found that the current process at BRHIA does not fit the resource requirement of the A320 manual in regards to baggage loading/unloading equipment leading to a 20% increase in turnaround time (from 44 min to 53 min) in idealistic situation. However, other delays were found in the cleaning and fueling activities that led to the change of the critical path suggested by the Airbus manual. The real-world process includes an increase of 7.2 % when comparing the total process duration PDF from what it should be taking the resources modification in consideration. It is recommended that the ground handling servicing companies use two baggage loading and unloading equipment at each aircraft turnaround process to comply with the Aircraft Manual and eliminate the 20% delay. Furthermore, the airport cleaning service companies are advised to closely monitor the efficiency of their crew in order to reduce the required time of the cleaning activity. Further work could be done by simulating other activities that affect the aircraft travel process such as Taxi-In, Taxi-Out, and baggage transfer to gate using CYCLONE in order to eventually merge all models in a final all-inclusive model which could also show the interaction between each major part of the whole process for an even more optimized model.