NorthSky AERO / Products / AeroRunway
● Ready to deploy

The runway is your
single most expensive
asset. Run it like one.

AeroRunway is the runway-operations monitoring, throughput, and optimisation product. It fuses A-CDM milestones, the ATC clearance log, surface-movement radar, runway-end optics, the AeroTaxi pushback events, the AeroFOD detection events, weather, and friction — and lets the AI predict runway occupancy time per movement, recommend configuration changes ahead of the wind, optimise sequencing for wake-category gain, and quantify every minute of capacity delivered against capacity declared. Structured events stream into ATOMS. The operating record is continuous, gate-to-gate-and-back.

Outcome
+2–4 movements/hour
Decision
Config recommended
Measure
Delivered vs declared
Stream
Events into ATOMS

Every hour the runway
under-delivers, the airport
loses a slot it could have sold.

◆ THE PROBLEM ECONOMY
THROUGHPUT IS REVENUE
OCCUPANCY IS THE LEVER

The runway is the single binding constraint on the whole airport business. Every other metric — slots sold, fees collected, passenger throughput, on-time performance — is bounded by what the runway delivers per hour. Yet the gap between declared capacity and delivered capacity at a typical hub is two to four movements an hour, every hour, every day — and most of that gap is recoverable. Better RET utilisation, smarter wake-category sequencing, configuration changes called twenty minutes earlier, closure windows that don't bite the peak. None of it is new physics. All of it is new visibility.

◆ THROUGHPUT GAP
2–4mvts/hr
Typical gap between declared and delivered capacity at a hub — recoverable through sequencing, configuration, and RET targeting.
◆ ROT MATTERS
15–25s
Average seconds shaved off arrival runway-occupancy time through better RET choice — every second multiplies across every movement.
◆ CONFIG CHANGE COST
20–40min
Productive runway minutes lost to a poorly-timed configuration change. Called twenty minutes earlier, the queue absorbs into the flip.
◆ UNSCHEDULED CLOSURE
thousandsof t fuel
Annual airline fuel burned in holding stacks above a hub during unscheduled runway closures — most preventable with earlier visibility.

From spreadsheet
to operating record.

◆ OPERATIONAL CHANGE
WHAT THE TOWER GAINS
WHAT THE CEO GAINS
◆ TODAY · STATE-OF-PRACTICE
A monthly report. After the fact.
  • ROT is sampled by hand, not measured by the runway.
  • Sequencing is decided one aircraft at a time, by the controller's intuition.
  • RET choice is the pilot's habit, not the airport's optimisation.
  • Configuration changes are called when the wind already shifted.
  • Closure windows are scheduled by the maintenance team without operations weight.
  • Incursion risk is read after the event, in the safety review.
  • Utilisation reports arrive a month late, in a slide deck, in a meeting.
◆ WITH AERORUNWAY
Continuous. Predicted. Recorded.
  • ROT measured per movement, attributed to the tail, the RET, the weather.
  • Sequencing advisor surfaces the wake-category gain available right now.
  • RET recommendation briefed to arriving pilots before short final.
  • Configuration change proposed twenty minutes ahead of the wind, with the queue cost.
  • Closure windows optimised against the schedule and the forecast.
  • Incursion risk classified per intersection, surfaced before the event.
  • Utilisation reports generated on the same record, every day, audit-ready.

Data we fuse.
Models that learn.
Events on the bus.

◆ THE THREE LAYERS
INTAKE · INFERENCE · ACTION
LAYER 01 · INTAKE

We collect.

From every system that touches the runway

A-CDM milestones (AOBT, ATOT, ALDT, AIBT) give us the intent. The ATC clearance log gives us the call. Surface radar and MLAT give us position. Runway-end optics confirm touchdown, rollout, and exit. AeroTaxi hands over the pushback; AeroFOD publishes the detections that change runway availability. Weather, friction, and the AODB closure schedule close the loop.

A-CDM ATC log SMR · MLAT RWY optics AeroTaxi AeroFOD METAR · friction AODB
LAYER 02 · INFERENCE

The AI learns.

Models tuned to your aerodrome

A runway-occupancy predictor publishes the expected ROT per movement before the aircraft is on final. A sequencing optimiser finds the wake-category re-order that adds a movement an hour. A configuration recommender proposes the runway flip ahead of the wind. A closure-window optimiser schedules maintenance for the lowest revenue impact. An incursion-risk classifier flags the intersection before the read-back.

ROT predictor Sequencing optimiser Config recommender Closure optimiser Incursion-risk
LAYER 03 · ACTION

We emit events.

Into the operating record

Every inference becomes a structured event on the ATOMS bus. The tower watch manager sees the configuration recommendation. The duty controller sees the sequencing gain. The CEO sees the throughput delivered vs declared on the same dashboard the next morning. The DGCA inspector sees a continuous, timestamped operating record at audit. One taxonomy. One clock. One audit trail.

ATOMS bus Tower screen CEO dashboard Regulator audit

What we plug into.

◆ DATA SOURCES
EXISTING SYSTEMS · NO RIP-AND-REPLACE

AeroRunway rides on the systems already running your runway. Where a signal is missing, we bridge it; where you also run AeroTaxi or AeroFOD, the events arrive on the same bus and the operating record is continuous.

◆ A-CDM
AOBT · ATOT · ALDT
The milestones that define a movement. AeroRunway reads them and emits ROT, throughput, and slot-adherence events against them.
◆ ATC LOG
Clearance history
Line-up, take-off, landing, vacate-runway — every clearance becomes a training signal for the next shift.
◆ SURVEILLANCE
Surface radar + MLAT
Tail-attributed position to the metre, including runway entry and exit. The truth layer under every event.
◆ RWY OPTICS
Threshold + rollout
High-mast cameras at threshold and the rollout end — visual confirmation of touchdown, rollout, RET vacate.
◆ AEROTAXI
Pushback & VTT
The departure bookend. AeroTaxi publishes the TSAT advisory; AeroRunway closes the loop at line-up.
◆ AEROFOD
Detection events
FOD detections from AeroFOD change runway availability instantly — and avoided closures are tracked as a value metric.
◆ WEATHER
Wind · METAR · TAF
Configuration is a wind problem. AeroRunway's configuration recommender watches the forecast and proposes the flip ahead of it.
◆ FRICTION · AODB
Pavement & schedule
Friction trend tells you when the runway needs rubber removal. AODB closure schedule lets the optimiser pick low-impact windows.

Five models.
One operating record.

◆ INSIDE THE AI
WHAT THE MODELS DO
MODEL 01 · ROT

Predicted occupancy.

A per-movement runway-occupancy-time predictor publishes the expected duration from touchdown to vacate, or from line-up to airborne, before the aircraft is on final. Inputs include the aircraft type, the wake category, the pilot's RET preference, the surface state, and the time-of-day pattern. Output is a number with a confidence band, on the ATOMS bus.

MODEL 02 · SEQUENCING

Wake-category gain.

A sequencing optimiser evaluates the current queue against wake-turbulence separation tables — and surfaces the re-order that adds a movement an hour without breaking any separation rule. The controller decides; the AI assembles the option set.

MODEL 03 · CONFIG

Flip before the wind.

A configuration recommender reads the wind forecast, the queue length, the LVP probability, and the noise quota — and proposes the runway flip with a queue-cost estimate twenty minutes ahead of when the wind would force it. The watch manager accepts or overrides.

MODEL 04 · CLOSURE

Quiet windows.

A closure-window optimiser finds the maintenance windows that bite the schedule least — and converts the maintenance team's request list into a calendar that aligns with the forecast and the historical traffic pattern.

MODEL 05 · INCURSION

Risk per intersection.

An incursion-risk classifier learns the airport's hot intersections by time-of-day, configuration, and traffic mix — and raises an event on the tower screen when the live state crosses the learned threshold.

MODEL 06 · UTILISATION

Delivered vs declared.

A utilisation analyser rolls every movement into the per-runway, per-direction, per-weather-window throughput record — and surfaces the gap between what the airport said it could move and what the airport actually moved, with attribution by cause.

Events into ATOMS.

◆ EVENT CATALOG
NAME · TRIGGER · CONSUMER

AeroRunway publishes every inference as a structured event on the same bus the AeroTaxi taxi events and the ATOMS turnaround events flow on. The tower, the AOCC, the airline, the maintenance team, the CEO's dashboard, and the regulator audit log each subscribe to what they care about. The operating record is continuous and reconciled by construction.

Event What triggers it Who consumes it
ROT_RECORDED Per-movement runway-occupancy time logged at vacate (arrival) or airborne (departure). AOCC, airline ops, regulator audit, CEO dashboard.
MOVEMENTS_PER_HOUR Rolling 60-minute throughput stat per runway, per direction. Tower watch manager, AOCC, airport CEO.
THROUGHPUT_GAP_DETECTED Delivered capacity falls below declared by more than the configured threshold. Tower watch manager, AOCC.
SEQUENCING_GAIN_AVAILABLE Wake-category re-order would add a movement an hour without violating separation. Tower duty controller, departure manager.
RET_RECOMMENDATION Arriving aircraft briefed to the rapid-exit taxiway that minimises ROT. Tower, airline ops.
CONFIG_CHANGE_PROPOSED Wind, queue, LVP probability, and noise quota recommend a runway flip — with queue cost. Tower watch manager, AOCC.
LVP_STARTED · LVP_ENDED Low-visibility procedure entry and exit, with the throughput penalty quantified. AOCC, airline dispatch, regulator audit.
CLOSURE_OPENED · CLOSURE_CLOSED Any runway closure — scheduled or unscheduled — opened and resolved with duration and cause. AOCC, maintenance, airline ops, regulator audit.
FOD_CLEARED_NO_CLOSURE An AeroFOD detection cleared during a natural gap without an ATC hold — value metric. Airport CEO, AOCC, sustainability office.
INCURSION_RISK_ELEVATED Per-intersection risk index crosses the learned threshold for the current traffic state. Tower duty controller, safety register.
FRICTION_TREND_ALERT Friction coefficient trending below the operational threshold — rubber removal indicated. Maintenance, AOCC.
UTILISATION_REPORT_DAILY Delivered vs declared roll-up per runway per direction per weather window — audit-ready. Airport CEO, regulator, airline performance team.

One bus. One operating record.

Every AeroRunway event lands on the same platform bus the ATOMS turnaround events and the AeroTaxi taxi events flow on. AOBT in ATOMS, TSAT advisory from AeroTaxi, ROT from AeroRunway, AIBT back in ATOMS — same clock, same audit trail, same dashboard. Gate-to-gate-and-back.

See ATOMS

The watch manager's view.

◆ RUNWAY-OPS CONSOLE
HOW THE RUNWAY MOVED THIS HOUR
RWY 09L / 27R · LIVE 14:21 IST · 38 MVTS THIS HOUR · CONFIG STABLE
THR 09L THR 27R RET K2 RET K4 RET K6 AI 802 · A320 6E 471 · A321 UK 991 · B789 QUEUE · 3 EVENTS · LAST 60 MIN RET_REC 13:24 · K2 SEQ_GAIN 13:31 · +1/h ROT 13:42 · 51s FOD_NO_CLOSE 13:55 · AeroFOD CONFIG_REC 14:08 · 27R→09L MVTS/HR 14:21 · 38 DELIVERED / DECLARED THIS HOUR 38 / 42 ARRIVAL · DEPARTURE · RET · EVENT · ROT 51s · WAKE M/M · AVG ROT THIS HOUR 53s · BASELINE 68s
Arrival

Touchdown → vacate

Departure

Line-up → airborne

RET

Rapid-exit taxiway

Event

On ATOMS bus

What the CEO tracks.

◆ UTILISATION STATS
LIVE · DAILY · MONTHLY
◆ MVTS / HR · NOW
38/ 42 declared
Delivered vs declared this hour. Gap of 4 — opportunity in sequencing.
◆ AVG ROT · ARRIVALS
53s
Mean arrival occupancy this hour. Baseline 68 s. RET targeting active.
◆ AVG ROT · DEPARTURES
49s
Line-up to airborne, this hour. Aircraft-type weighted.
◆ THROUGHPUT · 24H
892
Movements since 00:00 IST. +47 vs same-day-prior-week.
◆ CLOSURES · UNSCHEDULED
0
Unscheduled closure minutes today. 3 FOD events all cleared in natural gaps.
◆ FOD AVOIDED · 7D
14
FOD events cleared without ATC hold via AeroFOD. ~28 slot-minutes preserved.
◆ CONFIG CHANGES · 24H
2
Both proposed 20+ min ahead of the wind, both accepted by watch manager.
◆ INCURSIONS · 30D
0
3 elevated-risk advisories this month, all resolved on read-back.

Delivered vs declared.
By the hour.

◆ UTILISATION REPORT
EXAMPLE · 24-HOUR ROLL-UP
RWY 09L / 27R · YESTERDAY 00:00 → 23:59 DELIVERED 892 · DECLARED 952 · GAP 60 · 6.3%
0 12 24 36 48 MVTS / HR DECLARED · 42 00 06 12 18 23 ◆ LVP · 09:30–10:45 · CAPACITY PENALTY

The FOD event that didn't close the runway.

Every FOD detection on the movement area is an event in AeroRunway. Some force an ATC hold; many are cleared during a natural gap because the detection happened in time. That distinction — closed vs cleared-without-closure — is one of the most valuable metrics on the airport CEO's screen. AeroRunway counts it explicitly, attributes it to AeroFOD, and quantifies the slot-minutes preserved. See AeroFOD for the detection product across runway, taxiway, and apron.

See AeroFOD

Who gains, and how.

◆ OUTCOMES
AIRPORT · AIRLINE · REGULATOR
◆ THE AIRPORT GAINS
Slots, without concrete.

The single largest capacity gain available without pouring runway — recovered from the gap between declared and delivered, shift by shift.

  • +2–4 movements per hour recovered from the throughput gap — sequencing, RET, configuration.
  • Unscheduled-closure minutes down — AeroFOD-found, AeroRunway-cleared.
  • Configuration changes called earlier — the queue absorbs the flip.
  • Continuous operating record for the regulator audit — daily, audit-ready, signed.
  • CEO dashboard — delivered vs declared, by runway, by hour, on the same screen the AOCC runs.
◆ THE AIRLINE GAINS
Predicted occupancy. Per movement.

The dispatch and the OTP team get a runway that publishes its intent, not one they read about in a delay code the next morning.

  • Predicted ROT per arrival and departure — block fuel and crew clock decisions get tighter.
  • RET briefing to the pilot — the runway expects this exit, at this speed.
  • Avoided fuel-burn in holds when the closure is cleared in a natural gap.
  • Slot adherence tracked per tail, per shift, audit-ready for the airline's performance team.
  • OTP gain — the queue at the holding point shrinks because the runway moves faster.

Built to the operating standards.

◆ COMPLIANCE POSTURE
RUNWAY · A-CDM · SAFETY
◆ ICAO
Doc 9870 aligned
Manual on the Prevention of Runway Incursions — informs the incursion-risk classifier and the safety event reporting.
◆ EUROCONTROL
A-CDM aware
Reads and emits events against the A-CDM milestone model — TOBT, TSAT, ATOT, ALDT, AIBT.
◆ DGCA · INDIA
Runway safety
Aerodrome runway-safety and utilisation reporting — AeroRunway outputs the timestamped record the regulator expects.
◆ FAA · ACI
Throughput standards
Declared-capacity methodology and runway-occupancy tracking informed by FAA and ACI guidance for hub utilisation reporting.

Common questions.

◆ FOR TOWER, AOCC & THE CEO
WRITTEN FOR PROCUREMENT

Do we need AeroTaxi or AeroFOD to run AeroRunway?

No. AeroRunway is standalone. If you also run AeroTaxi, the pushback bookend is exact and the configuration recommender gains a powerful input. If you also run AeroFOD, every FOD-cleared-without-closure becomes a CEO-visible value metric. All three pair natively; each runs alone.

Will the AI take decisions away from the tower?

No. Every model output is an advisory event on screen — sequencing gain available, configuration change proposed, RET recommended. The duty controller and the watch manager retain authority. Acceptance rates climb to 85–90% once the controllers see the predictions land against the live shift.

How is the throughput gap calculated?

Delivered movements per hour are counted on the ATC log and confirmed against surveillance. Declared capacity is read from your published slot model. The gap is the difference, attributed by cause — sequencing, configuration, weather, closure, or AOCC operating posture. The methodology is signed off during commissioning.

What about runway incursions?

AeroRunway's incursion-risk classifier learns the airport's hot intersections by time-of-day and configuration. It does not replace the incursion-warning systems (RWSL, ARIWS) where they exist; it surfaces the risk on the operating record so the safety register has a continuous, structured input.

Does it report to the regulator automatically?

Yes — UTILISATION_REPORT_DAILY is generated on the same record every morning, in the format your regulator requests. The audit log is continuous and tamper-evident.

How long until we see the +2–4 movements/hour?

The ROT predictor and the configuration recommender start producing within weeks of integration. The full throughput gain is characterised during commissioning, against the airport's published declared-capacity baseline, and reported back to the operating committee.

Start with one runway, scale to the system.

The data integrations, the AI commissioning, and the operating-record handover are production-tested. A typical first runway is scoped in days, integrated in weeks, characterised in a month. The CEO dashboard and the regulator audit log are continuous from day one; the throughput recovery compounds from week three.

Talk to us

Bring AeroRunway
to your runway.

A 30-minute walkthrough on your runway configuration, your current throughput gap, your top three operating constraints. We'll send a phased proposal — pilot runway, integration plan, characterisation timeline — within a week.