Multi-agent Simulation of Airline Operations and Infrastructure Utilization in the Presence of Airline Strategies

Investment in the NextGen National Airspace System (NAS) is intended to increase the effective capacity of the airspace and airports. Previous research, in several domains, has identified cases where large infrastructure investments were under-utilized due to migration and/or adaptation of users (e.g. airlines). This paper examines the impact of airline “gaming” on the use of trans-continental routes. Two airlines with equal cost structures are given options for two trans-continental routes each with different distances. In the base case, the airlines conform to the rules of an air traffic controller and are assigned to the routes to balance traffic. In other cases, airlines select a preferred route based on information about the length of the route, and the length of the departure queue. The airlines act as independent agents, and each scenario is repeated several times to account for the stochastic elements in the simulation. The results indicate a tradeoff between utilization of the resources and cost to the users. Results also indicate that alternate strategies could migrate closer to the optimal tradeoff between utilization and user costs. The implications of these results are discussed.