London Hethrow Airport: Case study

The primary constraint at Heathrow is runway capacity.

Strategic Airport Capacity Management
In January 2015, Heathrow Airport announced that an early morning runway slot had been
allocated to Vietnam Airlines.
New slots at Heathrow are rare, but this one was made possible by the use of Strategic
Airport Capacity Management
ACM was developed by NATS, the UK’s leading provider of air traffic services. Heathrow is
the first airport to be using the service and has achieved immediate benefits.

 Strategic ACM is designed to support decision-making at busy airports, using a

combination of simulation and data analysis to allow airport operators to make the
most effective decisions about runway capacity, scheduling and planned
infrastructure changes.
 NATS has developed a data warehouse, which is updated daily and combines
multiple data sources including: approach radar; ground radar; weather data; and
other sources of operational Air Traffic Control (ATC) data.

Benefit of SACM
Strategic ACM demonstrates the key role that the fields of Operational Research and
Analytics play in maximising capacity, minimising delays and improving resilience to adverse
weather or systems issues.
Utilising this tool can help busy airports facing demand and capacity challenges while trying
to maintain a consistent and quality service.
Strategic ACM will support the development and implementation of our master plan,
assisting Heathrow Airport in giving passengers the best airport service in the world.

Simulation
The Strategic ACM system is designed to carry out ‘what if’ simulations. Examples of the
types of questions that Strategic ACM can be used to answer include:
• What is the current and ultimate capacity of my airport?
• What are the effects of changes in scheduled demand?
• What are the effects of taxiway closures?
• How much additional capacity and what level of airport efficiency would result if new
taxiway, runway or terminal infrastructure is built?
• What are the effects of increasing numbers of very large aircraft (e.g. Airbus A380s)?
• What happens to runway capacity in different weather conditions?
• By how much will runway capacity increase if new runway exits are built?
• What are the effects of airspace changes, such as new departure routes?
• What would be the capacity enhancement benefit of new Air Traffic Management (ATM)
systems?

Simulation Process
Various simulation model types are available. The model types range from a stochastic
simulator, focussing on runway capacity calculations to event simulations, which add further
elements of the airport system, such as taxiways, terminals and gates, and more detailed
logic. The addition of each element provides new output metrics for analysis.
Air traffic controllers order aircraft in a sequence to optimise runway capacity and all the
ACM models replicate this process. The choice of model type depends on the nature of the
question that the analyst wishes to answer. Strategic ACM offers the analyst the option to
start with a high-level runway analysis and then add levels of detail to understand the
impact on the airport system as a whole.
Base models were created for each of the scenarios defined by the data mining exercise.
Each of the simulation models was validated by comparing throughput, taxi times and
delays against actual data and expected values. Air traffic controllers at NATS reviewed and
validated the models to confirm their realism. Outputs for each scenario were also
compared between each model type to ensure consistency. Once validated, simulation
models are uploaded to the Strategic ACM platform and made available to the airport.

Impact of SACM on London Hethrow Airport

Lucy Hodgson, ATM Project Manager at Heathrow Airport Limited, said: “The Strategic ACM
tools have transformed our way of working in this area. The seasonal runway capacity
declaration process is now much faster and more responsive to the needs of our customers
than it was in the past and the new functionality allows us to test possible future ground
operations and concepts more efficiently than ever before.
“The new simulation tools let the effects of various infrastructure changes be compared and
the benefits quantified, allowing investment decisions to be made, and priorities agreed,
consistently and with increased confidence in achieving maximum benefit for the airport
and the customer. Strategic ACM will support the development and implementation of our
master plan, assisting Heathrow Airport in giving passengers the best airport service in the
world.”