Vienna International Airport

Test before implement – How would a new runway affect the potential airside capacity?

Project Overview

Keeping up with the growing traffic demand in the future, Vienna Airport was evaluating different options for a new runway. The major criterion within this process was to maximize the achievable number of aircraft movements for all operational modes while considering the impact of economical and operative parameters. In order to get meaningful indicators supporting this process, ARC was contacted in order to evaluate the airside capacity of the airport.

Services provided

In cooperation with operations experts of the airport, ARC defined various scenarios taking into account multiple parameters, which potentially influence the capacity. The scenarios were evaluated determining not only the theoretical capacity, but also the practical capacity considering different acceptable levels of delay and several options for operational concepts. The investigation was performed using a CAST Aircraft computer model of the airport covering the infrastructure on the ground as well as all relevant airspace components. The model was built and configured taking into account specific airport related data as well as up-to-date information on particular assumptions for the future. In addition, numerous stochastic factors, both in transport demand generation and in operational parameters, have been taken into account to determine robust capacity values for a wide range of conditions.

Results and Benefit

Based on the evaluation of the theoretical and practical runway capacity, the feasible slot capacity of the overall runway system could be determined for a high number of scenarios to cover all potential configurations and operational conditions. In a benchmarking the assumed procedures as well as the resulting capacities were analysed and compared to other airports with similar characteristics. As conclusion, the most promising options how to develop the infrastructure was recommended.