Airport Runway System Performance Capacity Assessment: The Case Study for Addis Ababa Bole International Airport Runway System
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Date
2024-06
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Addis Ababa university
Abstract
The airfield's capacity is a crucial aspect vital to airport transportation services, with the runway
serving as a pivotal component influencing the airport's overall capacity. This study focuses on
analyzing the capacity and demand of the airfield particularly the runway at Addis Ababa Bole
International Airport (AABIA).
Flight data, encompassing daily operations on various sampled dates under different weather
conditions, aircraft compositions, seasonal variations, across multiple years, and, during peak
and non-peak hours has been meticulously sampled, modeled, analyzed, and filtered to identify
the maximum hourly capacity and the potential capacity constraints factors.
Two method of capacity analysis have been used. The first method is Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular AC 150/5060-51. Using this method, 40, 50, and 60 Percent
Arrival capacity was calculated and this capacity figure identified the general status of the capacity
compared to the current demand and deep understanding achieved. In the Second method (ICAO),
aircraft separation rules for arriving and departing aircraft were taken into account. Based on
the nature of the aircraft fleet mix statistical analysis Poisson Joint cumulative Distribution for
leading and following aircraft was computed for all possibilities. After getting the capacity at four
points of arrival departure combinations joining those four points on the arrival vs departure
graph serves as the capacity curve or capacity envelope. By inserting the actual current arrival
vs departure data in the same graph of the capacity envelope, the current demand compared
to the capacity is identified.
Conversely, the impact of runway occupancy time and actual runway demand on departure delays
has been evaluated using linear regression. The study results indicate that actual demand has no
effect on departure delays. However, the duration of runway occupancy has a slight influence on
delays, suggesting that the current demand has not yet reached the runway system's capacity.
Therefore, the delays are caused by the factors which are not related to the runway system.
The general conclusion is reached that the capacity of the runway system is higher than the
current demand indicating that at this point the Runway system is not a major factor in any
current delays in aircraft operations. In other terms, the findings reveal that the current
runway capacity can sufficiently meet the current demand. Despite the capacity of the
runway system exceeding demand during peak hours, the study indicates that the average
runway occupancy time is higher compared to similar hub airports such as London Gatwick
and Mumbai airports which are busier airports that have a similar runway system and
handles a mix of Heavy and Medium aircraft similarly, indicating that proactive measures is
required to enhance the capacity of the runway system to ensure that the runway system will
accommodate the future demand without causing excess delays.
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Keywords
AABIA, Capacity, DOCT, delay, departure and Arrival rate