Optimization of the winter services at Leipzig-Halle Airport

Project Information

Commercial airports in Germany are faced with major challenges every winter due to changing weather conditions with snowfall and icy roads. In order to maintain the safe and punctual handling of traffic, airport operators strive to optimize their winter services and develop efficient strategies for ensuring the safety of operational areas. At the strategic level, this involves deciding on the size and equipment of the winter service fleet and developing training and activation plans for personnel. From an operational perspective, deployment plans for vehicles and personnel must be developed. This includes the assignment of vehicles or clearing groups to areas and the determination of the best possible routes, which are stored in standard clearing schemes. 

In a joint project with Leipzig-Halle Airport, models and decision support systems were developed that model the specifics of the problem and use mathematical methods to achieve an optimum. This is based on an integrated optimization approach consisting of the subcomponents workload model and routing model. The applicability was demonstrated for Leipzig-Halle Airport.