Investigation of terminal airspace complexity factors using multi-criteria decision making methods

The implementation of safely flight operations depends heavily on air traffic operations and the air traffic controllers in charge of those operations. The decision-making process of the Air Traffic Controller (ATCo) may be affected by difficulties, which could lead to poor decisions. The goal of this research is to investigate the factors that influence the complexity of the terminal airspace (TMA) while providing air traffic control (ATC) service in the approach control (APP) unit, and to highlight their significance by weighting them from the viewpoint of the ATCo. One of the qualitative research techniques, the questionnaire method, was used in the study to collect data. 40 ATCos constitute the first working group, while 20 ATCos constitute up the second working group. The factors determining the complexity of the airspace are first discussed in order to assess their impact on the complexity of the study. In order to, the results of the Content Validity Method were used to determine if the factors contributed to complexity or not, and the Best-Worst Method was used to determine how big of an impact they had on complexity. The number of convergences/intersections/hotspots in crossing routes was identified as the most significant element contributing to the complexity of the airspace based on the data gathered. When ATCos assessed the study's findings, it became clear from the interviews that followed the survey that the local and main criterion weighting were more reliable than the global weighting.