But a new research project out of the University of Nottingham hopes to bring the power of computing to bear on how smoothly airports operate, with the goals of cutting waste and pollution while reducing delays and speeding the baggage (man)handling process.

Good luck, you say; but the group has gotten nearly £690,000 (US$ 1.1 million) from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to conduct its research in airports in Manchester, U.K., and Zurich, Switzerland.

The goal is to apply computerized scheduling to streamline four areas of operations:

    • Airplane takeoff schedules
    • ditto for landing schedules
    • Gate assignment
    • Baggage handling

The hoped-for result is a search engine that is capable of analyzing the billions of possible scheduling combinations and provide the most efficient options to air traffic controllers, who can then route planes in the best way.

Professor Edmund Burke, principal investigator on the project and dean of the Faculty of Science at The University of Nottingham, said in a statement that "Many people in the industry recognise that automating just one of these aspects could improve the efficient running of airport operations, so integrating all four would be a huge step forward."

Airlines, of course, have been in the spotlight for potential emissions; last month the global aviation industry announced plans to cut its emissions in half by 2050, and this could be a highly useful tool to achieve that goal.

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