|
|
| |
Research: Organizational Excellence |
|
Project Summaries:
The following are the NEXTOR research projects in alignment with FAA Flight Plan Goal 4: Organizational Excellence.
Congestion Management at US Airports
Sponsoring Agency: FAA
NEXTOR Team: K. Hoffman, GMU; M. Ball, UMD; M. Hansen, UCB; J-P. Clarke, MIT
Objectives: In January, 2007, the legislation governing the High Density Rule (HDR)
for regulating access to New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) will
expire. The Federal Government and the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey are considering a wide range of options to manage LGA
congestion in the absence of the HDR. The goal of this project was
to define and analyze a variety of market-based and administrative
measures for managing LGA access. Special emphasis was given to
investigating the use of auctions for allocating of arrival and
departure slots. Focus on auctions was necessary since auctions
historically have never been used for this purpose and the amount of
existing research into slot auctions is relatively limited.
Methods: The NEXTOR team included experts in economics, operations research
and transportation systems. The body of knowledge on auction
design, which is based on game theory and mathematical economics,
was used extensively. Practical experience and experiments from
other industries, e.g. telecommunications spectrum auctions, was
carefully considered. The team also made extensive use of
computer-based and strategic simulations. Optimization models were
also developed for certain supporting resource allocation decisions.
Of particular note were two strategic simulations: one held at George Mason
University in November, 2004 and one held at the University of
Maryland in February, 2005. Both exercises involved participants
from the airline, airport operator and federal government
communities. Participants played decision-making roles in simulated
real-world scenarios. The first simulation investigated
administrative and congestion pricing options. The second was a
mock slot auction.
Results: The NEXTOR team recommended that some action be taken in the absence
of the HDR to avoid the strong likelihood of extreme congestion at
LGA. Since capacity expansion at LGA is impractical, the three
general classes of approaches to mitigating congestion considered
were: administrative measures, congestion pricing and auctions.
NEXTOR observed that a key decision in fashioning any approach is
whether or not to retain some slot concept. A slot is the right to
land or take-off at a particular time (and/or to schedule such an
operation). By defining slots the FAA can control very precisely
the number of operations that take place and can exercise strong
control over airport delays and flight cancellations. If it is
decided to use slots and a market mechanism for allocating them,
then an auction becomes the natural approach. If there are no
slots, then almost by necessity, congestion pricing is required to
control congestion.
NEXTOR found that market mechanisms, properly implemented, foster a vibrant air transportation business
environment by encouraging new entrants, expansion into un-served
markets, price competition, strengthening of smaller carriers and
other characteristics of a well operating market. NEXTOR analysis
indicated that historical slot control policies have distorted
airline behavior by encouraging the use of smaller aircraft, whereas
market mechanisms should lead to increases in aircraft size and LGA
passenger traffic. Market mechanisms can also provide a new source
of revenue to offset distortionary taxes and fees; at the same time,
they can impose a new financial burden on the air carriers.
NEXTOR analysis compared the two market-based approaches. Summarizing, a
slot/auction approach has the advantage of providing a high level of
control over congestion and delays. On the other hand, a
no-slot/congestion pricing approach has the advantage of providing
for maximum carrier scheduling flexibility, at the expense of
uncertainty related to both delays and the fees charged to
carriers. NEXTOR provided a detailed auction design and also
guidelines for implementing congestion pricing.
NEXTOR reports noted that in addition to runway access carriers require other LGA
resources to operate effectively. These include gates, baggage
handling facilities, ticket counters, overnight parking spaces,
etc. Any procedures that lead to changes in ownership of runway
access rights must take these other resources into account and the
manner in which they would be reallocated. Further, constraints on
aircraft mix, timing of operations, etc. imposed by limitations on
these resources must be taken into account.
While the disposition of any new revenues generated by the market-based
approaches was beyond the NEXTOR analysis, NEXTOR did outline
certain approaches whereby new revenue streams could be used to
offset existing charges, e.g. landing fees. It was also suggested
that new revenues might be used to offset costs associated with a
new capacity allocation regime.
Impact: The aviation policy office of the FAA is preparing a Notice of
Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for LGA congestion management policies
after January 1, 2007. The NEXTOR analysis is a key input into
this activity. In addition, members of the NEXTOR team are
carrying out a regulation evaluation for this NPRM activity.
Advance Facilities and Operations Concepts Validation
Sponsoring Agency: FAA
NEXTOR Team: L. Sherry, GMU
Develop two new methods of computing Weather-Impacted Traffic Index while designing
new normalized metrics for NAS performance vs. weather.
Analysis of Benefits Provided by Traffic Management Advisor
Sponsoring Agency: FAA
NEXTOR Team: M. Hansen, UCB
Traffic management coordinators (TMCs) and en route air traffic controllers
manage and control arrival traffic into busy terminal areas (TRACONs).
On the basis of the current and future traffic flow, the TMC creates
a plan to deliver the aircraft to the TRACON and destination
airports efficiently as possible. Traffic Management Advisor (TMA)
assists the Center TMCs and air traffic controllers in flow
management planning. TMA capability is being deployed in facilities
throughout the National Airspace System (NAS).
Nextor and its industry partner, CNA Corporation, will conduct analyses to
determine benefits that TMA provides with respect to increasing the
efficiency of traffic flows into terminal facilities. The team will
perform several tasks that will help to determine benefits realized
at sites which already have TMA, and potential benefits at candidate
TMA sites.
|
| |
|
|
|