Conference Agenda

In line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, airlines are committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To help achieve this goal, we assess the potential for reducing CO2 emissions when aircraft are shared, passengers are bundled, and flight networks are restructured across airlines, comparing the status quo with optimized networks in both current and future scenarios. We develop a mixed-integer program to determine how many flights should be operated between any two pairs of airports and which aircraft type(s) should be used on each route to minimize overall CO2 emissions. We consider aircraft performance characteristics, airport capacity, the compatibility of aircraft type assignments to routes, the continuous flow of aircraft between airports, and demand satisfaction. Passengers may have up to two stops between their origin and destination. To solve the problem efficiently, we propose an approach based on column generation. For our analyses we use real data for the European, North American and Transatlantic markets.

Given the increasing importance of sustainability in the aviation sector due to climate change, electrifying ground vehicles on airport aprons is one way to reduce emissions. Dynamic inductive charging, which wirelessly charges vehicles while moving, is especially suitable for airport apron vehicles as it eliminates downtime for charging electric vehicles compared to conductive charging. We focus on scheduling electric passenger buses on airport aprons that use an inductive charging infrastructure to charge their batteries. Specifically, we investigate which vehicle should perform each service trip, whether it is transporting passengers from a gate to an airplane or from an airplane to a gate. We aim to ensure the reliable operation of these buses and avoid delays and breakdowns due to empty batteries. We present a formulation of the problem using a mathematical model. With this model, we want to evaluate different inductive charging infrastructures.

In order to achieve the European Union's goal of being climate-neutral in all sectors by 2050, the aviation sector must provide alternative fuels to fossil jet fuel. In addition to synthetic jet fuel, so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) for long-haul flights, liquid hydrogen for short and medium-haul flights is a promising energy source for green aviation. While SAFs will be able continue to use the existing jet fuel infrastructure, a second new infrastructure must be built at existing airports for liquid hydrogen. Similar to current jet fuel refuelling infrastructure, a bowser based refuelling system is the more cost-effective system for small and medium-sized airports, while large airports have a cost advantage in supplying fuel with an underground pipeline and hydrant network. However, a lack of space limits the number of bowsers that can be loaded simultaneously at a central fuelling depot, while the loading of liquid hydrogen takes considerably longer than with jet fuel. The loading of bowsers could represent an operational bottle-neck for an individual airport, which could require an airport to establish an underfloor fuelling system before cost benefits are realised. In a Liquid-Hydrogen-Aircraft-Refuelling-Problem (LH2-ARP), the dimensions of the bowser refuelling system needed to serve aircraft with the required amount of liquid hydrogen at a given time are investigated by varying key parameters.