Passenger-Centric Ground Holding : including connections in ground delay program decisions

• Main Author: Soldner, Mallory Jo
• Other Authors: Amedeo R. Odoni.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2010
• Subjects: Operations Research Center.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52804

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2009. === This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. === Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. === Includes bibliographical references (p. 91). === This research seeks to address potential "passenger-centric" modifications to the way that ground holding delays are allocated in Ground Delay Programs. The allocation of landing slots to arriving flights during time periods when the overall capacity at an airport is reduced due to adverse weather conditions or other circumstances is a well-studied problem in Air Traffic Flow Management, but not from the passenger's perspective. We propose a Passenger-Centric Ground Holding (PCGH) model, which considers both the number of passengers on flights and, notably, when/if they are making connections. In experimental results, PCGH is shown to lead to slot allocations which are significantly different from those in the currently-used first scheduled, first served (FSFS) approach. A systematic analysis is conducted to determine the impact of PCGH on a variety of airport and airline types. Finally, the effects of a maximum-delay-limiting constraint and the convexity of the cost function are investigated. === by Mallory Jo Soldner. === S.M.