SeaTac, Washington — An air traffic control (ATC) tower directs traffic from takeoff to landing, while another tower directs planes toward the gate after they taxi from the runway. Lamp tower.
Ranked as the 11th busiest airport in the United States, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has one of the smallest footprints.
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“It’s number 103 of 103,” said Ed Appleberry, SeaTac’s ramp tower manager. “We’re on par with Fargo, North Dakota, in terms of space.”
An air traffic control (ATC) tower directs traffic from takeoff to landing, while another tower directs planes toward the gate after they taxi from the runway. Lamp tower. (Como)
The airport’s 2,500-acre footprint is constrained and leaves no room for growth, and Seattle’s airport moves more planes per square foot than any other airport in the country, which often causes congestion.
“If you arrive 10 minutes early, you’re waiting 10 minutes for the gate to open,” said Samar Tilhi, operations and technical manager at the Port of Seattle, about an unfortunate side effect of the congestion.
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In 2006, the airport’s second tower began ramp control, coordinating planes departing from the runway, heading to the gate, and returning.
Turnarounds can take up to two hours, with the process described as “the slowest F1 pit stop ever seen”.
There are more than 30 “tasks” for each layover, such as opening/closing doors and loading luggage, all in plain view of security cameras “monitored” by AI software.
“Machine learning learned what an aircraft looks like with a choke and without a choke, and with and without a jet bridge connected,” Tilch said.
Generate a rolling timeline to predict when the next task or aircraft will be ready for departure and whether delays will cause gate conflicts.
“When a (new) aircraft enters the airspace, sensors and systems at the airport determine whether the gate is open or not,” Appleberry said. “If the gate is occupied, the target will turn red and controllers will know to hold the aircraft.”
An air traffic control (ATC) tower directs traffic from takeoff to landing, while another tower directs planes toward the gate after they taxi from the runway. Lamp tower. (Como)
The resulting visualization sends instant alerts to the control tower, and in some cases replaces continuous calls.
And they’re not just a delay nuisance. Retaining aircraft can cost the airport nearly $1 million a month in wasted fuel and personnel.
“There is no other airport in the world that has machine learning and AI predictions like what we are seeing here today,” Tilch said.
