An improvement on shelter airport selection model during large-scale volcanic disasters: A case study of Hakoneyama Japan

Abstract

Through the movement of passengers and cargo, air transportation contributes to economic growth and prosperity. As it expands in size and complexity, it becomes more susceptible to disruptions caused by weather conditions and natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions. The eruptions of the Eyjafjallajökull and Merapi volcanoes caused significant problems in Europe and central Indonesia concerning air traffic and the economy in 2010. Numerous active volcanoes in Japan could severely disrupt the country's airspace and damage aircraft. The study is aimed at the challenge of determining how to select an airport as a safe place to land during an aircraft evacuation in the event of a volcanic eruption. Airside, airline, and historical data were used to design the shelter airport selection model. Later, it was used to discover an approximate solution for aircraft evacuation using a genetic algorithm (GA).