Air Carrier Operations and Collaborative Decision-Making Study,

Abstract : Traffic Flow Management (TFM) is the process by which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) balances capacity and demand for National Airspace System (NAS) resources. In the current system, air carriers have little input into the FAA TFM decision-making process, while the FAA must make decisions with little information regarding air carrier rationale. Observations of air carrier information flows and decision-making structure conducted for this study led to the conclusion that improving communication, collaboration, and coordination between the FAA and air carriers regarding TFM can improve NAS resource utilization, and can better satisfy diverse FAA and air carrier objectives. This report describes generic air carrier operational decision making; the effect on air carriers of FAA TFM strategies; and some of the issues associated with improving FAA/air carrier communication, collaboration, and coordination in the TFM decision-making process.