Minimizing deviation from scheduled times in a single mixed-operation runway

The dynamic nature of airports demands the development of scheduling algorithms that are computationally efficient and therefore amenable to replanning when new traffic events occur. The main objective of this research is to design an algorithm with very low computational times able to minimize delays in the scheduled times of arrival and departure flights in an airport with a mixed-operation runway, under wake vortex separation and Constrained Position Shifting restrictions. The simulated annealing algorithm obtains a 95% improvement on time delays in less than one second of computation for the test instances generated, which means that it can be used online for high-demand scenarios to reduce delays. It has also been tested in a public testbed as well as in a real environment, showing an improvement of 30% in the time delays of real operations at London Gatwick airport.