Abstract. Substantial increase in the amount of civil aviation traffic and other factors have led to frequent congestion and adverse effects in terminal area. Therefore, the landing sequence of aircrafts need to be managed so as to reduce adverse effects. This type of problem is called Aircraft Landing Problem (ALP), and is an optimization problem. In this paper, the current situation of ALP research is analysed. The specific process of landing is described, and the existing research problems are classified. At the same time, on the aspect of optimization, this paper discusses the optimization processing of ALP, including the establishment of optimization model and the design of optimization algorithm. In the last, the future research trend of ALP is proposed as conclusions.