The terminal control area is a key transitional airspace connecting airports and en-route airways. Its operation is characterized by complex flight procedures, dense traffic flow, frequent maneuvering, and strong coupling between arrival and departure flows. It has gradually become a major bottleneck restricting the improvement of air traffic safety and operational efficiency. With the continuous growth of traffic demand, traditional scheduling methods that rely on human experience are no longer sufficient to cope with the complex and dynamic operating environment of the terminal area. Terminal area operation scheduling techniques introduce operations research methods and intelligent algorithms to achieve dynamic management and orderly operation of arrival and departure traffic flows under given airspace structures and operational resource constraints. In recent years, relevant domestic and international studies have been systematically reviewed and analyzed around this topic. From the perspective of operational practice, terminal area scheduling problems were classified into approach optimization scheduling problems centered on hub airports and collaborative optimization scheduling problems oriented to multi-airport terminal areas. According to different modeling emphases, several representative subproblems were further identified and reviewed in depth. In addition, the engineering applications, system development, and demonstration and validation activities of terminal area operation scheduling conducted by air traffic management research institutions at home and abroad were systematically summarized. These results provide references for the overall framework design and implementation pathway of next-generation air traffic management systems and offer theoretical support for scientific research and engineering applications of intelligent air traffic management.