Methodology for design and evaluation of airport terminal configuration

The use of hub-and-spoke networks has enabled airlines to provide increased operating efficiency and service at a lower cost to consumers. However, such hub operation generates significant transfer traffic and airport congestion at a hub airport. Most existing airports have difficulties in handling such growing transfer traffic. To accommodate the increasing transfer flows, new terminal configuration concepts are sought. The major objective of this study is to develop a methodology for optimizing Airport Terminal Configuration (ATC).;Two gate placement policies, Largest-aircraft Central Assignment (LCA) and Smallest-aircraft Central Assignment (SCA), are comparatively analyzed. Results show that LCA is superior to the SCA in hub operations, if all aircraft are assumed to park once per time slot. Results also show that the Angled-Satellite Parking (ASP) policy is better than the Nose-in Parking (NIP) policy when an Automated People Mover (APM) system is operating in the airport terminal.;Models for optimizing APM systems have been developed for single and multi-route APM systems. These models indicate that the optimal APM headway should be proportional to the square root of the vehicle operating cost. The optimal APM route spacing is inversely proportional to the square root of the passenger access walking cost.;The numbers and lengths of piers in a given ATC are analytically optimized. The proposed optimization models use the total passenger walking distance or total cost as an objective function. The results show that the optimal number of piers increases with the passenger transfer rate, gate size. An optimized ATC without APM tends towards a compact square shape while an optimized ATC with APM tends to be stretched along the APM routes. Some configurations are too complex to optimize analytically. A heuristic model has been developed and successfully applied for evaluating such relatively complex configurations.;The models and results presented here should be useful in the preliminary design of airport terminals. This study concludes with recommendations for improving the applicability of the proposed models.