INSIGHTS ON THE ECONOMIC ESTIMATES OF THE CLIMATE COSTS OF THE AVIATION SECTOR DUE TO AIR MANAGEMENT IN 2018-19

Air navigation service providers ensure that aircrafts keep safely apart by prescribing vertical and horizontal distances to each other. In the European Union and its associated members, regulation is carried out via a performance scheme which measures and sets targets for the different key performance areas. For the environmental area, targets in terms of CO2 and other pollutants were set by assuming that there would be continuous improvements for the Key performance Environment indicator based on actual trajectory. However, although a higher Horizontal Flight Efficiency (HFE) measurement usually means a more direct flight trajectory, this does not necessarily translate into a climate optimal trajectory. Thus, vertical flight efficiency also needs to be considered. There is also an interdependency be¬tween airspace and Air Traffic Man¬agement Capacity and Environment: when the offered capacity falls short of the demand for flights, ground delays, holdings and traffic shifts to adjacent areas occur. This entails detours and a deterioration of the HFE-indicator. Results show that total climate costs for 2018 and 2019 may be as high as 1 bn EUR, of which about 34% is due to CO2 emissions. In particular, the climate costs of CO2 emissions due to capacity constraints range from 54 to 301 million EUR, depending on whether CO2 costs are measured in terms of avoidance costs or under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Following the first criterion and the short to medium run up to 2030, the estimated costs would amount to 112 million EUR. In the long run, from 2040 to 2060, these costs would amount to 301 Million EUR. With the estimates of the EU ETS, the cost by 2030 would be close to 54 million EUR and 153.5 million EUR for the long run. Volatility of carbon pricing may play a very significant role, but fortunately can be hedged. Therefore, a shortfall of capacity leads to delay costs and considerable environmental costs. As capacity is planned in the medium to long-term, traffic forecasts are a crucial element. This means that further research is warranted into the interdependency of traffic forecasts, capacity and environmental costs. Keywords: climate economic cost, aviation sector, capacity management

Fit for Purpose? Exploring the Role of Freedom of Information Laws and Their Application for Watchdog Journalism

Despite great volume of research into press–state relations, we know little about how journalists use information that has been generated through independent bureaucratic processes. The present study addresses this gap by investigating the role of freedom of information (FOI) laws in journalism practice. By surveying journalists ( n = 164), interviewing activists and civil servants ( n = 7) and submitting FOI requests to twenty-one ministerial departments in the United Kingdom, this study explores press-state interactions and the limits of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) application to advance the media’s monitorial function. The results show that journalists perceive FOIA as an essential tool for their work. However, they often described their experience as negative. They reported refusals lacking legal ground, delays, not responding at all or differential treatment. In response to gating access, journalists might also adopt tactics that use loopholes in the law. The press-state interactions, already marked by suspicion, thus, continue to perpetuate distrust. These findings might have implications for journalism practices, FOIAs’ potential for government oversight and democracy. In particular, the differential treatment of requests undermines equality under the law, one of the fundamental democratic principles. The study concludes with several policy recommendations for FOIA reform to meet journalists’ needs better.

Analysis of aircraft ground traffic flow and gate utilisation using a hybrid dynamic gate and taxiway assignment algorithm

ABSTRACTThe rapid increase in the demand for air transportation over the last four decades has led to serious capacity problems for both the airside and landside components of major airports. The efficient management of existing airside resources seems to be the most effective and practical approach to overcome these capacity and traffic flow problems. Although integrated management of aircraft parking position assignments and ground movement planning processes are vital for the effective use of resources and for efficient operations, the current practice is that these processes are handled separately by different agents. This study proposes a hybrid dynamic system, an integrated methodology of taxi path and gate assignment using a knowledge-based decision-making approach to model effectively time-variant and realistic operational features of aircraft gate management and route planning. The model assigns the most suitable parking positions with minimum taxi time and taxi delay among a reduced solution set, satisfying pre-defined decision criteria as well as monitoring ground movements and, if necessary, reassigning new taxi paths and parking positions in real time. Both the proposed integrated methodology and the separate gate assignment and ground management operations currently in use were implemented, analysed and compared in a fast-time simulation model of Istanbul Ataturk Airport (LTBA). The hybrid dynamic assignment model provided significant improvements in taxi times, ground delays and gate utilisation.

Simulation modelling of runway capacity for flight training airports

This study aims to develop a practical discrete-event simulation model to analyse the single runway capacity of airports serving training flights under various operational scenarios. The number of operations per hour, average airborne and ground delays, queue lengths and runway utilisation are selected as performance measures for the analysis. The simulation model has been developed in ARENA in order to obtain a practical yet accurate analysis. The model can contribute to the efficient use of runway capacity as well as effective planning of flight training at airports.