A Congestion Pricing Model to Handle "Day of Operations" Airport Capacity Reductions

Abstract

I am grateful to my advisor, Prof. Karla Hoffman, for her guidance without which I would never have made it to the end of my PhD studies. She was patient with my unconventional working style and identified my skills despite my occasional complacency. Her expertise in operations research and insight into market-based pricing mechanisms molded this dissertation in unexpected ways. Prof. Lance Sherry provided helpful insights for this research. His expert domain knowledge in the air transportation helped me shape the results of my research. His availability and receptiveness to discussions at any time removed many hurdles in achieving my goal. Prof. George Donohue, despite retirement, contributed through his experience as a policy maker at the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and identified multiple beneficiaries of this research. His comments helped me identify and capture the broader implications of my work. Prof. Richards gave an outsider's viewpoint on this research. His knowledge of algorithms was instrumental in clarifying the overall methodology of this research. His concerns assisted in writing a better description of the problem. Discussion with him helped me look at the problem from a computer scientist's perspective. A special note of thanks to Frank Berardino who steered me in the right direction at the very beginning of this research. Without his guidance, this journey would have been much longer. Several others have contributed to this research, Vivek, Jianfeng, Guillermo; foremost among them is John Ferguson. Starting our research journey together at the Center for Air Transportation Research (CATSR) lab, he has been a true friend to me, giving me a helping hand whenever required. I have learned most of my analytical techniques and Excel tricks from him and I thank him for that. I would like to thank my parents Mohammad Iqbal Kara and Zohra Hajiani who supported me at every stage of my life and encouraged me to go further and reach higher ground, even when it required sending me away from them. Their moral support has always lifted my spirits whenever I was down. My sister, Sadia, despite being younger, has always supported and encouraged me, and prayed for me. One of the cornerstones in my academic life is Dr. Abbas Zaidi. He has been my ideal since our first encounter during my undergraduate studies. Over the years, he has guided me, not only in my academic, but also in my personal life. Without his mentorship, I would never have found my goal in life, i.e., to become an academic. His support at all stages in my academic career has been vital to my current standing. My gratitude goes out to my friends. Aamir and Khalid in Pakistan who never let me down and have always been there to support me.

Measures for Airlines to Reduce Airport Congestion Fees: Scheme Design and Performance Assessment

“…Meanwhile, airlines' responses cannot be ignored when facing high airport congestion fees, such as flight schedule adjustment, flight merging, and flight transfer to nearby or other airports. Under the congestion pricing model in Kara et al [22], Kara [23] analyzed the effect of "noncompliance" of airlines with regard to the allocation of runway access to the flights (i.e., airlines reject the runway access slot allocated to them and choose further delay or potential cancelation of their flights). Janić [24] pointed out that airport congestion charging might stimulate the additional flights to be carried out by larger aircraft.…”