THOR
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The German government has the goal, to transform the German economy into the world leading energy efficient one and strategically reduce energy consumption by 50%. The DLR aviation strategy takes main factors as digitalization and climate change into account and heads for an emission reduction aviation. Airports, with their high energy demand on air- and landside, have a significant potential to contribute to emission and energy reduction.
The DLR project THOR (Towards Zero Emission Airports) evaluates different ways and possibilities to achieve emission free and energy efficient airport operations, which is set as a goal by airports around the world by 2050.
Based on analyses of the current situation and scenarios for future aviation developments (traffic numbers, traffic mix) technologies and processes are investigated allowing airports of the future to be operated ecologically and economically. Taking a holistic approach, THOR includes different areas of operation and different stakeholders to look for overall optimization of the system airport.
In addition to basic processes of handling passengers or freight, THOR covers the airport as an overall energy and emission system. Energy load, generation and storage are directly connected to airport operations and have interactions and effects on business decisions.
Different DLR institutes will bring together their knowledge in specialized areas of airport operations and energy systems to generate an overall view and build an environment to evaluate and validate future operations in terms of emissions and energy usage.
The central goal for THOR is to generate a roadmap, describing promising technologies, processes and infrastructure, that are relevant to reach Zero Emission Airport Operations. Developed concepts and models will be evaluated, classified and summarized in terms of ecological, technical, operational, economic, political and societal aspects. The project will be the base for further research and development, that are required for deployment and implementation at airports.
Six DLR Institutes from various research fields have grouped under the coordination of the Institute of Flight Guidace to pursue this project holistically.
Publications and results
Journal articles and conference proceedings
Knabe, Franz und Dreyzehner, Tim und Korn, Bernd (2022) Super Close Runway Operations (SupeRO): A New Concept to Increase Runway Capacity. In: 2022 Integrated Communication, Navigation and Surveillance Conference, ICNS 2022. ICNS 2022, 2022-04-05 - 2022-04-07, Herndon, VA, USA. doi: 10.1109/ICNS54818.2022.9771534. ISBN 978-166548419-0. ISSN 2155-4943. https://elib.dlr.de/189244/
Biella, Marcus und Krajenski, Volker und Papenfuß, Anne und Jakobi, Jörn und Lorrig, Patrick und Loth, Steffen (2023) How Human Factors can act as enabler for safety, efficiency, eco-efficiency and AI. 13th EASN International Conference on "Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons", 2023-09-05 - 2023-09-08, Salerno, Italien. https://elib.dlr.de/198543/
Schweiger, Karolin und Schmitz, Reinhard und Knabe, Franz (2023) Impact of Wind on eVTOL Operations and Implications for Vertiport Airside Traffic Flows: A Case Study of Hamburg and Munich. Drones, 2023. https://elib.dlr.de/197026/
Nöhren, Lennard und Schaper, Meilin und Tyburzy, Lukas (2024) Towards full ATC automation for aircraft ground movement: A first step. In: 43rd AIAA DATC/IEEE Digital Avionics Systems Conference, DASC 2024, 43. 43rd Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 2024-09-29 - 2024-10-03, San Diego, USA. doi: 10.1109/DASC62030.2024.10749019. ISBN 979-835034961-0. ISSN 2155-7195 https://elib.dlr.de/209427/
Knabe, Franz und Schmitz, Reinhard (2024) Airside Level of Service: Modelling the Influence of Weather Volatility on Runway Operations. In: AIAA Aviation Forum and ASCEND, 2024. https://elib.dlr.de/206227/
Dreyzehner, Tim und Korn, Bernd und Stricker, Cedric (2024) Analysis of Paired Approach Concepts and Potential Airports for the Implementation of Super Close Runway Operations (SupeRO). ICNS 2024 https://elib.dlr.de/203388/
Rudolph, Florian und Jung, Martin und Claßen, Axel (2024) Combining system dynamics and agent-based simulation to evaluate and visualise sustainable airport operations. In: IHIET 2024 Conference Proceedings and Edited Books. IHIET 2024, 2024-08-26 - 2024-08-28, Venedig, Italien. doi: 10.54941/ahfe1005491. ISBN 978-1-964867-33-5. ISSN 2771-0718. https://elib.dlr.de/205897/
Timmer et al., Sustainable airport development: a financial modelling and simulation approach for scenario-based decision making (2026) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2026.02.084, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146526001468?via%3Dihub
Rudolph et al., Hybrid Simulation Models for high-performance and versatile airport simulations: Integrating System Dynamics and Agent-Based Approaches, 14th International Conference on Air Transport, Zilina (2025) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2026.01.010 , https://elib.dlr.de/218298/
Dreyzehner, Tim (2025) Super Close Runway Operations (SupeRO): Review of Paired Approach Concepts on Closely Spaced Parallel Runways. CEAS Aeronautical Journal. Springer. doi: 10.1007/s13272-025-00828-z. ISSN 1869-5590. https://elib.dlr.de/203387/
Maik Friedrich, Meilin Schaper, Lennard Nöhren, Lukas Tyburzy, Kathleen Muth, Florian Rudolph, Olga Gluchshenko & Lisa Liepe, “Do Our Eyes Behave Differently When Automation Increases? The Influence of Automation on the Eye-Tracking Strategies During Ground Movement Management”, HCI International 2025 https://elib.dlr.de/216392/
Presentations
Timmer et al., Sustainable Airport Development: A financial modelling approach for informed decision air, 27th ATRS World Conference, Lisboa (2024)
Dreyzehner, Tim (2023) Super Close Runway Operations (SupeRO): Gekoppelte Anflüge auf eng benachbarte parallele Start- und Landebahnen. In: DLRK 2023. https://elib.dlr.de/199692/
Stricker, Cedric und Dreyzehner, Tim (2023) Potenzialanalyse von Verkehrsflughäfen hinsichtlich der Eignung für den Betrieb von Super Close Runway Operations (SupeRO). In: DLRK 2023. DLRK 2023, 2023-09-19 - 2023-09-21, Stuttgart, Deutschland. https://elib.dlr.de/199693/
Jameel, Mohsan und Nöhren, Lennard und Schaper, Meilin und Hunger, Robert und Schier-Morgenthal, Sebastian (2025) The Digital ATCO in Transition: Evolving from En-Route to Ground Operations. In: DEUTSCHER LUFT- UND RAUMFAHRTKONGRESS 2025. DEUTSCHER LUFT- UND RAUMFAHRTKONGRESS 2025, 2025-09-23 - 2025-09-25, Augsburg, Deutschland. https://elib.dlr.de/220695/
Schunkert, T., (2025) Infrastructure for Ground Handling of Hydrogen Aircraft at Airports. Infrastructures of the future at airports and airfields, AERO Friedrichshafen. https://elib.dlr.de/220849/
Meincke, Peter A. und Popa, Andrei (2025) Flughäfen neu denken: Wissenschaftliche Impulse für klimafreundlichen und attraktiven Luftverkehr. Aviation Days 2025 - Fachevent für Luftfrachtsicherheit, 2025-06-17 - 2025-06-18, Hamburg, Deutschland. https://elib.dlr.de/215090/
Timmer, Maurice und Lütjens, Klaus und Thies, Christian (2025) Sustainable airport development: a financial modelling and simulation approach for scenario-based decision making. In: 27th EURO Working Group on Transportation, EWGT 2025. EWGT 2025, 2025-09-01 - 2025-09-03, Edinburg, Vereinigtes Königreich. https://elib.dlr.de/220500/
Student papers
Eßing, Daniel (2023) Entwicklung von Rollverkehrskonzepten für Super Close Runway Operations. Studienarbeit, TU Braunschweig. https://elib.dlr.de/199719/
Yigit, Irem (2026) Development and application of an evaluation model for innovative airport operating concepts. Masterarbeit, Technische Universität Braunschweig. https://elib.dlr.de/223160/
Project | THOR (Towards Zero Emission Airports) |
Participants | DLR Institute of Flight Guidance (coordinator) |
Duration | 2023 – 2025 |
Funding | Institutional Funding |