Harnessing digital twin technology for enhanced aircraft turnaround efficiency

The aircraft turnaround operation is a critical component of air transportation, traditionally carried out using manually coordinated devices. Consequently, the operational efficiency is often constrained by the volume of labor and individual capabilities. To address this, some airports are exploring the potential of automated turnaround operations, where flights are serviced by newly designed smart devices. This study proposes a unique method for predicting the efficiency of automated turnaround operations using a digital-twin model. First, we designed a sandbox-based apron to simulate the physical environment, as no automated apron currently exists. Next, we applied network planning technique to establish coordinated operation rules among the smart devices, creating an optimized procedure for aircraft automated turnaround operation. Our results indicate that, compared to the statistical efficiency of manual-device coordinated operations, the time required for an automated turnaround operation for a single flight can be reduced by approximately 24.53 %.