Air traffic controllers in airport towers face high mental workloads as they manage dense and dynamic traffic within limited airport capacities, often leading to airside congestion, safety risks, and excessive fuel consumption. Previous studies proposed improving airport airside operations efficiency by optimizing runway assignment. However, few studies (1) address the cascading effects of runway assignment on taxiway congestion, (2) account for varying taxiing speeds and schedule uncertainties, and (3) consider associated environmental and safety impacts. This study proposes a trajectory-based simulation framework coupled with a multiobjective optimization strategy to assign runways, enhancing safety, efficiency, and sustainability of airport ground operations. Using operational data from Los Angeles International Airport, the proposed strategy is evaluated in various traffic conditions, including departure, balanced, and arrival traffic patterns. The results show that the proposed strategy reduces taxiway conflicts by 75%, reduces fuel consumption by 15%, and increases hourly throughput by 19% compared to the first come, first serve (FCFS) approach. These findings highlight the benefits of incorporating taxiway operation into runway assignment decisions, ultimately advancing the performance of next-generation airport operations.
Wang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.