Publication Date

6-18-2026

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Aerospace

Volume

13

Issue

6

DOI

10.3390/aerospace13060560

Abstract

Runway systems serve as the critical interface between airports and terminal airspace, and their efficient operation is essential for balancing air traffic demand and airport capacity. With the continuous growth of air traffic, intelligent runway demand and capacity management has become increasingly important for mitigating congestion and delays. This paper presents a comprehensive review of runway capacity–demand management from both supply-side and demand-side perspectives. On the supply side, runway configuration selection is reviewed, including runway configuration capacity envelopes, influencing factors, and existing optimization methodologies, such as prescriptive models, descriptive models, and reinforcement learning approaches. On the demand side, flight runway sequencing for arrivals, departures, and integrated arrival–departure operations is systematically analyzed. Problem analogies, operational characteristics, optimization objectives, and solution algorithms are discussed in detail. A critical comparison of existing methodologies is conducted from the perspectives of solution quality, real-time capability, human interpretability, technology readiness, trust requirements, and human–AI collaboration. Finally, future research directions are identified, including integrated runway management, multi-airport coordination, uncertainty-aware optimization, human–AI decision support, AI-enabled runway management, and integrated manned–unmanned operations. The review provides a reference for researchers, airport operators, air navigation service providers, and decision-support system developers seeking to improve runway operational efficiency and safety.

Funding Number

2022YFB4300905

Funding Sponsor

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China

Keywords

air traffic management, airport runway system, flight sequencing, runway configuration

Comments

This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Trends in Air Traffic Flow and Airport Operations Control

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Aviation and Technology

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