The economic and environmental benefits of runway capacity optimisation: The case of Gran Canaria Airport

Rapid growth in air transport has meant an increased demand for airport capacity. Therefore there is a need to address traditional air transport restrictions. This paper analyses the application of the Inventive Problem Solving Algorithm (TRIZ) to manage airport capacity as an alternative technique to traditional pricing structure management. This ad hoc methodology puts emphasis on airport operational characteristics instead of formulating a universal mathematical model, and could represent a feasible and no-data intense solution. Following a classical approach based on TRIZ, a complex problem in a specific system could have an optimal solution within its own system. Furthermore, it is sufficient to explore the system’s design components in order to allow for improvements in that system. A tentative simulation of a TRIZ solution for Gran Canaria airport capacity management is estimated in order to reduce aircraft operations time. Its applications to Gran Canaria Airport could produce reductions in CO2 emissions and economic benefit for air carriers by reducing taxiing time.