The aircraft runway scheduling problem: A survey. (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ikli, Sana; Mancel, Catherine; Mongeau, Marcel; Olive, Xavier; Rachelson, Emmanuel
• Is Part Of: Computers & operations research. Volume 132(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: Runway scheduling problem -- Aircraft landing problem -- Aircraft take-off problem -- Mixed-integer optimization -- Metaheuristics -- Survey; Operations research -- Periodicals; Electronic digital computers -- Periodicals; 004.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2021.105336
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-0548

Abstract

Abstract: The aircraft scheduling problem consists in sequencing aircraft on airport runways and in scheduling their times of operations taking into consideration several operational constraints. It is known to be an NP-hard problem, an ongoing challenge for both researchers and air traffic controllers. The aim of this paper is to present a focused review on the most relevant techniques in the recent literature (since 2010) on the aircraft runway scheduling problem, including exact approaches such as mixed-integer programming and dynamic programming, metaheuristics, and novel approaches based on reinforcement learning. Since the benchmark instances used in the literature are easily solved by high-performance computers and current versions of solvers, we propose a new data set with challenging realistic problems constructed from real-world air traffic. Highlights: Focused review of the recent literature on the aircraft runway scheduling problem. Includes exact methods, stochastic methods, and novel approaches based on reinforcement learning. Benchmark instances are showed to be no longer challenging for current versions of solvers. Introduction of realistic, challenging and publicly-available benchmark problems.