-According to the theoretical model proposed in the study, with this system airlines could save a total of up to 50,000 euros a day, consuming 24,500 litres less fuel.

-The second prize goes to research comparing different pricing systems on metropolitan roads, taking social welfare into account.

The doctoral thesis “Optimising the assignment of aircraft to boarding gates at airports taking into account taxiing time” by Dr. Ruperto Fernández Candás is the winner of the 6th abertis Award for Research into Transport Infrastructure Management, presented annually by the UPC-abertis chair.

The winner received the prize – worth 6,000 euros plus publication of the research – at a ceremony presided over by the rector of the polytechnic university of Catalonia (UPC), Antoni Giró, together with the Catalan autonomous government’s councillor for regional policy and public works, Joaquim Nadal, and the chairman of abertis, Salvador Alemany. The event took place today at the Barcelona school of civil engineering, part of the UPC.

Assigning aircraft to boarding gates is an issue which up to now has always been solved by aiming for passengers to walk the minimum distance within the terminal. The thesis which won the 6th abertis Award proposes a more overall approach which takes four factors into account: the distance walked, the time taken for passengers (including aircraft taxiing time), the cost to airlines and the total cost to the system (passengers and airlines).

After applying the theoretical model suggested by the study of actual operations at Barcelona airport during one day, the thesis concludes that the airlines in general could benefit from a daily saving of up to 50,000 euros, which means an 18% saving on the current method of assignment. This saving would also avoid the use of some 24,500 litres of fuel a day.

For this sixth edition, the jury has also decided to award a second prize, which has gone to the research “Análisis de estrategias tarifarias para la gestión de la movilidad en carreteras metropolitanas” [“Analysis of pricing strategies for managing mobility on metropolitan roads”], by Dr. Miller Humberto Salas Rondón, a doctoral thesis which uses metropolitan road pricing as a system for sustainable regulation of mobility, setting rates to determine demand in order to provide the maximum benefit in terms of social welfare.

The methodology proposed by this study compares various pricing systems, making a quantitative assessment of various operational, economic and social factors. Application of this system on the network of high-capacity roads in the Barcelona metropolitan area has concluded that introducing a payment of a flat rate of 1.55 euros plus 0.09 euros per kilometre driven would cut demand by 10% in terms of vehicles per kilometre. Moreover, it establishes that the maximum gains in terms of social welfare would come from a reduction of 11.8% in vehicles per kilometre, which in economic terms would represent a social benefit of 93,000 euros per hour.

More categories and more prize money in the seventh edition

The purpose of the UPC-abertis chair, set up in 2003 by abertis and the polytechnic university of Catalonia (UPC) is to foster training and research in the field of transport infrastructure management.

The abertis Award is an initiative promoted by the UPC-abertis chair in transport infrastructure management and represents one of its principal schemes to foster research in this field. The rules for the seventh edition of the awards envisage two categories: the best doctoral thesis will receive a prize of 10,000 euros. In the case of the best graduate dissertation, paper or end of course project, master’s dissertation or other form of research work, the prize will be 4,000 euros. The awards are open to all students at Spanish universities and the deadline for submitting entries is on 31st December.