Improving Air Traffic Operations through Data Analysis and Modeling

The increase in demand for air traffic over the past several years has been accompanied by increased delays in the National Airspace System (NAS). The main causes of these delays have been weather and traffic volume, especially near airports. In this talk, I will use examples drawn from airport surface and terminal area operations to illustrate how different sources of data, such as surface surveillance systems and convective weather forecasts, can be leveraged to improve the performance of the airspace system. I will demonstrate how the development of predictive models and algorithms based on these data sets can help achieve more robust and environment-friendly air traffic operations.