Joint runway-gate assignment based on the Branch-and-Price algorithm

Airport runway assignment and gate assignment are both crucial problems for large multirunway airports. A cooperative schedule for the runway and gate can have a significant effect on airport ground operation efficiency and safety. This paper focuses on the joint assignment problem of runways and gates considering parking time differences and airline preferences. A quadratic model is established to reduce taxiing fuel consumption loss and increase the robustness of gate assignment. An improved branch-and-price algorithm is proposed by utilizing an improved pulse algorithm and various acceleration strategies to improve the solution performance. The actual flight data at an international hub airport are utilized to validate the proposed model. The results indicate that the joint assignment model can effectively reduce ground taxiing loss, optimize gate assignment robustness, and increase the utilization rate of contact gates. The proposed algorithm also achieves better computational accuracy and efficiency.