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Optimising the management of arriving baggage at a Kuwait Airways passenger terminal using mathematical programming and simulation

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  • Ahmad A. Abdullah
  • Ahmad T. Al-Sultan
  • Ahmad Alsaber

Abstract

Handling luggage systems is a critical component of a passenger terminal’s operations. The proposed study attempts to find the optimal solution for a manually operated terminal concerning the luggage offloading process from arrival flights carried by a limited number of ground handling agents. Handling agents start the offloading process from the aircraft to the cargo luggage containers carried by a cargo car that will take the containers’ trolleys to the cargo area to offload them into the reserved luggage belt carousel. This study aims to improve airport service quality by minimizing the baggage handling process time for arrival flights which leads to minimizing passenger waiting time in the baggage claim area. We proposed both a deterministic and stochastic approach. The integer programming method is provided to minimize the total number of flights assigned to the belt carousel under the realistic constraint of minimizing the luggage load on each belt carousel. Simulation tools were used so that the offloading process could be modeled to study the effects of various parameters such as the number of ground handling agents for different flights with different amounts of luggage.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmad A. Abdullah & Ahmad T. Al-Sultan & Ahmad Alsaber, 2024. "Optimising the management of arriving baggage at a Kuwait Airways passenger terminal using mathematical programming and simulation," Operations Research and Decisions, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Management, vol. 34(1), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:wut:journl:v:34:y:2024:i:1:p:1-16:id:1
    DOI: 10.37190/ord240101
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paola Di Mascio & Laura Moretti & Massimiliano Piacitelli, 2020. "Airport Landside Sustainable Capacity and Level of Service of Terminal Functional Subsystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Yoon, Sung Wook & Jeong, Suk Jae, 2015. "An alternative methodology for planning baggage carousel capacity expansion: A case study of Incheon International Airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 63-74.
    3. Huang, Edward & Mital, Pratik & Goetschalckx, Marc & Wu, Kan, 2016. "Optimal assignment of airport baggage unloading zones to outgoing flights," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 110-122.
    4. Markus Frey & Ferdinand Kiermaier & Rainer Kolisch, 2017. "Optimizing Inbound Baggage Handling at Airports," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(4), pages 1210-1225, November.
    5. Torben C. Barth & David Pisinger, 2021. "Baggage Carousel Assignment at Airports: Model and Case Study," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-27, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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