DETERMINATION OF THE IMPACT OF DISRUPTIONS IN GROUND HANDLING ON AIRCRAFT FUEL CONSUMPTION

Abstract

The authors of the paper distinguished two basic problems that occur during the ground handling of aircraft. The first one concerns the identification of disruptions during ground handling that have an impact on the scheduled completion of ground handling. The second problem is determining how these disturbances affect the environment by estimating the increased fuel consumption of the aircraft. In the first step, a catalog of disruptions in the ground handling process of the aircraft, which delays the performance of subsequent aircraft operations, was developed. Simio software was used to analyze the impact of disturbances on the performance of ground service, in which random disturbances were simulated. The simulation was run for several variants, taking into account the sample aircraft and various airlines. The developed model allows for the analysis of the impact of disturbances on the punctual performance of the ground service of the aircraft for various variants with given probability values. In the next step, simulations were performed to determine the impact of the disturbances on the increase in fuel consumption by the aircraft. Research has shown that even minor disruptions increase an aircraft’s fuel consumption over a 200-km flight path. The analyzes carried out in this work are of great importance for sales agents and airlines who strive to minimize the duration of elementary activities and eliminate threats during ground handling. Additionally, it is important from the point of view of environmental protection. As research has shown, even small disturbances can substantially increase fuel consumption, which is not beneficial for airlines. Past research has focused on the analysis of fuel consumption by aircraft and emissions during takeoff and landing operations and taxiing aircraft. There is a large correlation between the disturbances occurring at the parking place and increased fuel consumption, which is important from an economic and environmental point of view.