A simulation model for airport runway capacity estimation

This paper presents a simulation model applied for estimating the capacity of airport´s runway systems. Different from most analytical runway capacity estimation models which use mathematical formulas to compute capacity directly and some other programming-intensive simulation models, we utilize a sophisticated discrete event simulation software, Arena, to construct a runway capacity estimation model. This model combines arrival´s airside phase (final approach) and groundside phase (landing and taxiing) together. What´s more, since we have considered several most significant phenomena with effect on the capacity in the model, such as fleet mix, performance, and location of exit way, it can be built into other relevant simulation models to serve as a virtual runway system with enough fidelity and practicability. At the end of this paper, an example for hours´ operation in Beijing Capital International Airport demonstrates the estimation made by our model is highly reliable.