Agent-based Modelling and Simulation of Air Transport Technology

Declining travel time differences of mid-distance transport modes motivate use of multi-agent simulation models to analyze and forecast behaviour of actors in the transport system. This paper focuses on air-transport technology. A simulation model is proposed, that represents details of air traffic microscopically but is fast enough to enable an iterative simulation-based passenger-trip assignment. Aircraft are modelled in detail in respect to departure time and seat availability. Modelling of airports and routes of aircraft focuses on the available capacity of runways. Several simulation runs illustrate how the model can be calibrated using available parameters. The model can be used for an agent-based traffic assignment. Overall, the approach appears to be suited to analyze and forecast mid-distance transport. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.