Aircraft scheduling optimization model for on-ramp of corridors-in-the-sky

To efficiently handle the projected growth in air traffic, operational concepts such as "corridors-in-the-sky" have been developed in future Air Traffic Management (ATM) plans. Corridors-in-the-sky are defined as reserved airspace where aircraft move in a common direction along parallel lanes on high flight levels. The on and off ramps play an important role in connecting this airspace structure to the jet route. This paper addresses the scheduling problem for flight sequences entering the corridors-in-the-sky via the on-ramp. To satisfy the requirements of various stakeholders, this paper proposes time-based and cost-based aircraft scheduling optimization models for the on-ramp of the corridors-in-the-sky. An improved Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is also developed to solve a case study of the air route B215 in the Beijing control area. Computational results indicate that the optimized models have advantages in reducing the delay time and cost for both single aircraft and flight sequences, compared with the First-come, First-served (FCFS) approach.