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Projecte llegit

Títol: Analysis and optimization of aircraft ground procedure during turn-around

Estudiants que han llegit aquest projecte:

Director/a: ALTMEYER, SEBASTIÁN ANDREAS

Departament: FIS

Títol: Analysis and optimization of aircraft ground procedure during turn-around

Data inici oferta: 12-01-2026     Data finalització oferta: 12-09-2026


Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
    GR ENG SIS TELECOMUN
    GR ENG SIST AEROESP
    GR ENG TELEMÀTICA
Tipus: Individual
 
Lloc de realització: EETAC
 
Paraules clau:
Efficiency, airport ground procedure, aircraft turnaround, ground handling, delay drivers, critical path, airport operations, Barcelona-El Prat Airport
 
Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
This project will study and analyse the aircraft ground performance during a classical turn-around at Barcelona-El Prat Airport while assessing process efficiency and robustness from on-stand arrival to departure.
Description of the key ground phases required to have the aircraft ready for take-off, including all, economical,
ecological and security constrains (on-stand securing, de-boarding/boarding, baggage offload/onload, cabin cleaning, catering, water/toilet services, GPU/APU power, re-fueling when applicable, and pushback). Identification of task dependencies, required resources, and ramp interface points where disruptions occur. Evaluation and measurement of milestones and timings to determine the critical path, variability, and main delay drivers.
The goal is to provide an operational optimization proposal (sequencing, coordination, and resource allocation) with quantified recommendations to reduce delays and improve ground performance.
 
Overview (resum en anglès):
Aircraft turnaround is a critical process in airport and airline operations, as it directly affects punctuality, aircraft utilisation, passenger experience and the stability of flight schedules. This project analyses narrow-body aircraft ground performance during turnaround operations at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, focusing on the period between Actual In-Block Time (AIBT) and Actual Off-Block Time (AOBT). The study is based on approximately 100 observed contact-stand turnarounds, mainly involving short- and medium-haul aircraft operations.

The research combines a process-based operational framework with a milestone-based data analysis methodology. Turnaround activities are decomposed through a task breakdown structure, dependency network and critical path approach. Observed milestones were processed using Python in order to calculate turnaround times, task durations, normalised passenger-related indicators, percentile thresholds, operational buffers and potential delay-driver indicators.

The results show that the observed median turnaround time was 62.0 minutes, while the mean value was 66.6 minutes. However, the P80 and P95 values reached 80.6 and 103.7 minutes respectively, revealing significant variability in the upper tail of the distribution. The analysis identified boarding readiness, OK-on-board confirmation, passenger and baggage reconciliation, bridge removal, final readiness and inherited arrival delay as relevant disruption hotspots.

Based on these findings, the project proposes operational improvements focused on preboarding, milestone-based coordination, early passenger/baggage reconciliation, refuelling timing and pushback readiness. The study concludes that turnaround optimisation should not rely only on reducing individual task durations, but on improving coordination, reducing non-productive waiting gaps and increasing operational robustness before departure.

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