Investigation of Future Air Taxi Services Using Discrete-Event Simulation

This work conducts an analysis of the marketing and logistical considerations of an air taxi service using a discrete-event simulation. The air taxi service consists of a small fleet of aircraft transporting passengers on-demand within a regional network of cities. The discrete-event simulation models airports, passengers, aircraft and an aircraft dispatcher. The study conducted attempts to answer the following questions: What effects will aircraft capacity or fleet size have on system performance? What effects will additional service have on system performance? A factorial experiment revealed: increasing aircraft capacity increases passenger wait times; and increasing the number of cities served increases the passenger wait times, number of flights, number of deadheads, and aircraft utilization rates