A multi-time scale management structure for airport ground handling automation

The sustainability of air travel relies on proper and timely aircraft ground handling at airports. This research proposes a ground handling management structure which allows the automation of operations to face the growing demand for this service. It is shown how at operations level, information exchange with the airport collaborative decision-making system turns possible on-line fleet assignment to ground handling tasks. This is done by designing different heuristics for assignment of fully automated or semi-automated vehicles to ground handling tasks. Numerical results for an actual airport are presented to illustrate the potential performance of automated ground handling operations. •Limited research on airport automation and ground handling management available.•Formulation of resources assignment problem for automated airport handling fleets.•On-line solutions provided for the fleet assignment problem.•Original heuristic using a less constrained vehicle approach.•Application to an actual international airport shows big potential for fleet reduction.