AGENDA: Airport and airspace congestion has become a national problem that seriously threatens the future growth, public standing and economic welfare of air transportation. Airlines have adopted a number of measures in response, ranging from lengthening scheduled gate-to-gate times to the development of dynamic strategies for the re-deployment of equipment and personnel in instances when delays become unacceptably large.

The National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR), The Global Airline Industry Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation) and the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland are organizing a conference on this subject, to take place at the College Park campus of the University of Maryland on March 15 and 16, 2001. The conference will bring together leading researchers, managers and planners from academia, government and industry who will present their findings on:
a) the true extent of the airport and airspace congestion problem;
b) the underlying causes;
c) prospects for airport and airspace capacity expansion;
d) potential, advantages and disadvantages of alternative demand management approaches, including congestion pricing;
e) airline responses to delays and congestion to date;
f) implications for long-term airline strategies;
g) potential national and international policies for dealing with the issue.

Organizers:

Michael Ball, University of Maryland (mball@rhsmith.umd.edu) Amedeo Odoni, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (arodoni@mit.edu)