Incomplete preference matching based runway reallocation mechanism

Runway capacity is one of the most constrained resources in airport operations. It is a challenging task to efficiently utilize the runways while achieving various objectives of multiple participants involved in the airport surface operations. In this paper, we investigate the runway reallocation mechanism based on matching theory, particularly in cases where some delayed aircraft have no strict preference for runway slots. To improve system efficiency while also ensuring equity among participants, we formulate the allocation problem as a trading process between flights and runway slots and introduce a modified top trading cycle algorithm to find the optimal solutions. A case study is presented to illustrate the proposed mechanism. To evaluate its performance, we conduct experiments in a digital twin environment using real operational data. The results confirm that the proposed reallocation mechanism improves runway utilization efficiency (with 75% of time slots achieving equal or higher utilization compared to the baseline), reduces flight delays (with on-time performance improved by 16.7%), and enhances fairness, measured by a reduction in the variance of benefit improvements across airlines.