General-purpose simulation
models of airside operations first became
viable in the early 1980s and have been vested with
increasingly sophisticated features since then. Three
models currently dominate this field internationally:
SIMMOD, The Airport Machine, and the Total Airport
and Airspace Modeler (TAAM). A report by
Odoni et al. (1997) contains detailed reviews (somewhat
out-of-date by now) of these and several other
airport and airspace simulation models and assesses
the strengths and weaknesses of each. At their current
state of development (and in the hands of expert
users), they can be powerful tools in studying detailed
airside design issues, such as figuring out the best
way to remove an airside bottleneck or estimating the
amount by which the capacity of an airport is reduced
due to the crossing of active runways by taxiing
aircraft.