Impact of Congestion on Taxi Times, Fuel Burn, and Emissions at Major Airports

Abstract

Taxiing aircraft contribute significantly to fuel burn and emissions at airports. This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of surface congestion on taxi times, fuel burn, and emissions through analysis of the departing traffic data from four major U.S. airports. Several metrics based on airport throughput and taxi-out times are introduced and studied, including one that considers the number of flights that encounter a congested airport, a second metric that compares the observed taxi-out times with the unimpeded ones, and a third that evaluates them in conjunction with the airport throughput.