Optimising Gate assignment and taxiway path in a discrete time–space network: integrated model and state analysis

Airside ground traffic faces increasing congestion pressure with the rapid growth of world air transportation. Airside ground operations, such as gate assignment and taxiway planning, demonstrate excellent results from their own point of view in academia, while the integrated operations are seldom considered. In this paper, we propose an integrated model in a discrete time–space network to simultaneously deal with gate assignment and taxiway planning. An integer programming based on the multi-commodity flow form is formulated to bridge two problems. Practical constraints of the taxiway conflict and gate operation are considered. We also conduct a state analysis among the integrated model, first-come-first-served (FCFS) method, and heuristic approach. The results show that the integrated model can balance the resources between gates and taxiing paths. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the number of flight pairs and connect time impacts gate idle time and aircraft taxi time by directly changing gate assignment.