Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
This paper is in effect an illustrative case study based in part on an actual study but including also a large amount of subsequent work.
In the previous paper the cost structure of an air transport system was considered and some models appropriate to capital investment and procurement programmes were discussed. The importance of obtaining optimal utilisation of this capital equipment was stressed, and delays, especially during turn-round of aircraft at airports, were mentioned as one group of factors which reduce utilisation both of aircraft and airports and which therefore merit attention by the OR scientist.
Instead of proceeding immediately with the broad survey of models referred to in the second article, the opportunity is taken at this point to consider intensively one particular set of investigations focused on this problem area. It is based on field work done some years ago on the apron of an airport by A. M. Lee and the author, and is concerned with the human controller of turn-round operations.
It is of special interest in that it demonstrates the increasing ability of science to tackle problems previously considered intractable to any rigorous scientific method.