2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Hotspots on an airport movement area may require heightened attention by pilots and controllers, which may affect taxi times at airports. Taxi time could affect airport congestion, engine emissions related to air pollutants, and aircraft fuel consumption. Airport congestion significantly affects airport capacity and aircraft fuel burn. Aircraft operations, including taxi operations, contribute to fuel consumption and engine exhaust emissions at airports (Ravizza et al., 2013). When taxiing, the fuel efficiency of stop-and-go situations is 35% higher than that in unimpeded situations (Nikoleris & Kistler, 2011).

Hotspots are areas that have a history or potential risk of collisions or runway incursions (Federal Aviation Administration, 2022). In general, hotspots are complex or confusing taxiway/taxiway or taxiway/runway intersections at an airport, which are identified and depicted on the respective airport diagrams by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (FAA, 2021). In this paper, the researchers aim to better understand taxi time at airports, and the potential effect of the number of airport hotspots on the taxi time at these airports. This research aims to find whether taxi time at airports differ by airport hub classifications and by the number of hot spots on airports. SSpecifically, this research aims to answer these research questions:
RQ1: Does taxi time differ by airport hub classifications?
RQ2: Does taxi time differ by the number of hot spots on airports?
RQ3: Does taxi time differ by the number of hot spots on different airport hub classifications?

For this study, a sample of 33 airports will be selected from the 77 airports listed in the Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) (FAA, n.d.-a) data published by the FAA. The researchers will sample 11 busiest airports from each of the three hub categories – Large (L), Medium (M), and Small (S) – as identified by the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). The 20 busiest days (by number of operations conducted) from May 2022 to September 2022 will be selected for each airport. From the ASPM dataset, average quarter-hour taxi-in and taxi-out times will be collected for each of the airports for the selected days between 06:00AM to 10:00 PM. The researchers will use FAA published airport diagrams to count the number of hot spots for each of the airports. Statistical and graphical tests will be used to answer the research questions.

This study may help in better understanding and modelling the taxi times that can be used to reduce congestion, fuel burn, and emissions at airports. This may potentially increase airport capacity to meet the increasing traffic demand. The results of this study may be used to teach airport planning and operations in engineering and technology courses. This research paper may have practical applications in statistical analyses and discrete-event stochastic process simulation.

References
Federal Aviation Administration. (n.d.-a). ASPM 77. Retrieved November 04, 2022, from: https://aspm.faa.gov/aspmhelp/index/ASPM_77.html
Federal Aviation Administration. (2021). Hotspot Symbology Standardization, Safety Risk Management Document Without Hazards. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/acf/media/Presentations/21-02-Hot-Spot-Symbology-SRMD.pdf
Federal Aviation Administration. (2022). Hot Spot Standardized Symbology. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from: https://www.faa.gov/airports/runway_safety/hotspots
Nikoleris, Gupta, G., & Kistler, M. (2011). Detailed estimation of fuel consumption and emissions during aircraft taxi operations at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Transportation Research. Part D, Transport and Environment, 16(4), 302–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2011.01.007
Ravizza, S., Chen, J., Atkin, J. A. D., Burke, E. K., & Stewart, P. (2013). The trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption in airport ground movement. Public Transport, 5(1-2), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12469-013-0060-1