dynamic flight management

29 March 2022

Long Range Air Traffic Flow Management with Flight-Specific Flight Performance

^{J Rosenow, E Asadi, D Lubig, M Schultz, H Fricke. Future Transportation 2 (2), 310-327}

In long-range air traffic management, the arrival time of long-haul flights is controlled many hours before arrival. However, the control options and their effects on arrival time and fuel consumption are highly dependent on flight performance and the (hardly predictable) influence of the weather. In this study, the arrival time of 26 long-haul flights in the Asia-Pacific region arriving at Singapore airport is optimized. This is done by speed adjustments and by choosing alternative routes. First, each long-haul flight is optimized individually, taking into account individual control options and real weather conditions. Here, speed adjustments should begin three to four hours prior to arrival in the approach sector to maximize the fuel-saving potential of small deviations from the optimal cruise speed. Additionally, if the aircraft can select an alternate lateral route that differs from the filed flight plan, capacity in the approach sector can be further utilized and overall fuel consumption further reduced. Unlike speed adjustments, alternate route changes are also effective in the last hour of the cruise phase.

Link to the publication: https://doi.org/10.3390/futuretransp2020017.