Optimization of airport check-in service quality focused on operational costs and passengers' satisfaction.

Passengers' requirements in relation to the Airport Service Quality is rapidly increasing and forcing companies and airport management to improve the services performances. It is clear that this enhancement can not overlook the implication of competitive issues and economic concerns. In this paper the authors deal with the optimization of the check-in area management in the international airport of Lisbon. The proposed bi-criteria objective function minimizes the operational costs plus the costs measuring the passengers' discomfort in terms of waiting time in line. The quality of the supplied check-in service is measured and mapped into the Levels of Service system standardized by the International Air Transport Association. The type of passengers and their stochastic behavior and preferences are simulated by a discrete event model. The operational costs and the passengers' satisfaction are optimized by an algorithm based on the Surrogate Method, the performance of which are compared to those of a greedy heuristic and of a genetic algorithm.

The Trade-Off between Optimizing Flight Patterns and Human Health: A Case Study of Aircraft Noise in Queens, NY, USA.

Objectives: Airports in the U.S. have gradually been transitioning to automated flight systems. These systems generate new flight paths over populated areas. While they can improve flight efficiency, the increased noise associated with these novel flight patterns potentially pose serious health threats to the overflown communities. In this case study, we estimated the monetary benefits relative to health losses associated with one significant change in flight patterns at LaGuardia Airport, year-round use of "TNNIS Climb", which happened in 2012 as a result of flight automation in New York City. Prior to that, the use of the TNNIS Climb was limited to the U.S. Open tennis matches. Methods: We developed a decision-analytic model using Markov health states to compare the costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained associated with the limited use of TNNIS (old status quo) and the year-round use of TNNIS (current status quo). The TNNIS Climb increases airplane noise to above 60 decibels (dB) over some of the most densely populated areas of the city. We used this increased exposure to noise as the basis for estimating ground-level health using data from sound monitors. The total costs (including both direct and indirect costs), QALYs, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were estimated for the limited versus the year-round use of the TNNIS Climb. Results: The incremental lifetime costs and QALYs per person exposed to noise associated with the limited versus the year-round use of TNNIS was $11,288, and 1.13, respectively. Therefore, the limited use of TNNIS had an ICER of $10,006/QALY gained relative to the year-round of TNNIS. Our analyses were robust to changes in assumptions and data inputs. Conclusions: Despite increases in efficiency, flight automation systems without a careful assessment of noise might generate flight paths over densely populated areas and cause serious health conditions for the overflown communities.

Estimating environmental value losses from earth materials excavation and infilling for large-scale airport construction: a case of Dalian Offshore Airport, Dalian, China.

Large-scale airport construction removes large quantities of earth materials, resulting in serious environmental pollution and ecosystem damage. However, studies of environmental concerns caused by the materials used in airport construction are still preliminary, and those case studies on the impacts of large-scale offshore airport development are very limited. China's Dalian Offshore Airport is considered here to study the environmental value loss from 240 million m3 of materials excavations and 21 km2 of artificial island infillings. The findings show that the calculated annual environmental value loss for the development of the Dalian Offshore Airport is approximately US$7.75 million, including US$1.81 million and US$1.47 million of direct economic loss of timber resources and marine biology resources, respectively, and US$1.53 million and US$2.79 million value losses of forest and marine ecosystem services damaged caused by materials excavation and infilling, respectively. The conclusions of this study provide an important foundation to quantitatively analyse the environmental impact of the Dalian Offshore Airport's development and can be used as a reference for similar engineering and environment impact assessment programs.

Spatial Differences and Costs of Emissions at U.S. Airport Hubs.

As local governments plan to expand airport infrastructure and build air service, monetized estimates of damages from air pollution are important for balancing environmental impacts. While it is well-known that aircraft emissions near airports directly affect nearby populations, it is less clear how the airport-specific aircraft operations and impacts result in monetized damages to human health and the environment. We model aircraft and ground support equipment emissions at major U.S. airports and estimate the monetized human health and environmental damages of near airport (within 60 miles) emissions. County-specific unit damage costs for PM, SOx, NOx, and VOCs and damage valuations for CO and CO2 are used along with aircraft emissions estimations at airports to determine impacts. We find that near-airport emissions at major U.S. airports caused a total of $1.9 billion in damages in 2013, with airports contributing between $720 thousand and $190 million each. These damages vary by airport from $1 to $9 per seat per one-way flight and costs per passenger are often greater than airport charges levied on airlines for infrastructure use. As the U.S. aviation system grows, it is possible to minimize human and environmental costs by shifting aircraft technologies and expanding service into airports where fewer impacts are likely to occur.

Mean field approximation for biased diffusion on Japanese inter-firm trading network.

By analysing the financial data of firms across Japan, a nonlinear power law with an exponent of 1.3 was observed between the number of business partners (i.e. the degree of the inter-firm trading network) and sales. In a previous study using numerical simulations, we found that this scaling can be explained by both the money-transport model, where a firm (i.e. customer) distributes money to its out-edges (suppliers) in proportion to the in-degree of destinations, and by the correlations among the Japanese inter-firm trading network. However, in this previous study, we could not specifically identify what types of structure properties (or correlations) of the network determine the 1.3 exponent. In the present study, we more clearly elucidate the relationship between this nonlinear scaling and the network structure by applying mean-field approximation of the diffusion in a complex network to this money-transport model. Using theoretical analysis, we obtained the mean-field solution of the model and found that, in the case of the Japanese firms, the scaling exponent of 1.3 can be determined from the power law of the average degree of the nearest neighbours of the network with an exponent of -0.7.

[Social and economic consequences of night-time aircraft noise in the vicinity of Frankfurt/Main airport]. / Soziale und ökonomische folgen nächtlichen fluglärms im umfeld des flughafens Frankfurt/Main.

A prospective calculation of disease-related social and economic costs due to night-time aircraft noise in the vicinity of Frankfurt/Main airport was performed for the calendar years 2012-2021. It was based on risk estimates for a variety of diagnostic entities (cardiovascular disease, depression, psychosis, diabetes mellitus, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, all cancers except malignancies of the respiratory system) from a previous case-control study on more than 1 million persons enrolled in compulsory sickness funds in the vicinity of the Cologne-Bonn airport, on disease-related cost estimates performed by the German Federal Statistical Office for the calender years 2002-2008, and calculations of the population exposed to night-time aircraft noise in the vicinity of Frankfurt/Main airport (2005 aircraft routes and flight frequencies). Total estimated costs came to more than 1.5 billion € with an excess of 23 400 cases of diseases treated in hospitals and of 3 400 subsequent deaths.