Genetic algorithm for solving the problem of optimizing aircraft landing sequence and times

We consider the NP-hard problem of optimizing the sequence and times of aircraft landings under necessary constraints. It is impossible to obtain an exact solution of the problem online owing to the large amount of calculations. An integrated approach is proposed to produce an approximate solution: a genetic algorithm is applied at the first stage to obtain an initial solution; this algorithm is then improved based on a heuristic algorithm. The approach proposed permits obtaining optimal or nearly optimal solutions in reasonable time. To study the algorithms developed, a simulation software tool was used. Extensive computational experiments have confirmed the efficiency of the approach.