Stand allocation and pushback planning at an airport
Which stand does each flight get, and which tug pushes it back?
Drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom. The schedule below plays the plan; hover a bar for details. Illustrative day plan from an optimizing heuristic; the Timefold model is built in a project.
The planning question
At a regional airport, 46 flights of the morning bank need stands at one pier. Contact stands with boarding bridges save bus trips; remote stands need apron buses. Every departure from a contact stand needs one of three pushback tugs, and a tug is busy for about twelve minutes per pushback.
How we plan it
Stands and ground equipment are planned together: the best stand is worth little if no tug is free at departure time.
What the plan shows
| KPI | Optimized plan | Comparison: first free stand · tug per stand zone |
|---|---|---|
| passengers via bridge | 82 % +10 | 72 % |
| bus trips | 31 −9 | 40 |
| pushback delay | 25 min −219 | 244 min |
| delayed flights | 9 −12 | 21 |
Decisions
- flight → stand (contact or remote)
- pushback tug per departure from a contact stand
- bus per remote arrival and boarding
Constraints
- one aircraft per stand, buffer between rotations
- a tug must be hooked up before pushback
- three tugs, six apron buses
Objective
as many passengers as possible over boarding bridges, no departure delays, few bus trips
Questions
Is this a Timefold model?
The demo plan is computed by an optimizing heuristic in the same format; in projects we build the model with Timefold.
Can it handle delays during the day?
Yes. Updated arrival times re-plan the stands and equipment for the rest of the day.
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