Preliminary results of the impact of CTAS information on airline operational control

Continued growth of air traffic and increased air carrier economic pressures have created a need for greater flexibility and collaboration in air traffic management The ability of airspace users to select their own routes through so-called "free-flight", and the ability to more actively manage their fleet operations for maximum economic advantage are both receiving great attention. A first step toward greater airspace user and service provider collaboration is information sharing. In this work, arrival scheduling and airspace management data generated by the NASA/FAA Center/Terminal Radar Approach CONtrol (TRACON) Automation System (CTAS) and used by the FAA service provider is shared with an airline with extensive "hub" operations within the CTAS operational domain. The design and development of a specialized airline-CTAS information exchange system is described, as well as some preliminary results of the impact and benefits of this information on the air carrier's operations. FAA controller per-aircraft scheduling information, such as that provided by CTAS, has never before been shared in real-time with an airline. Preliminary results show that CTAS information sharing leads to improved predicted time of arrival accuracy, improved strategic fleet arrival planning, and improved divert/no divert decisions of aircraft to alternate airports when faced with uncertain airborne delays. No adverse impact on FAA air traffic control operations was found to have resulted from this experimental data exchange. * Project Manager. Senior Member AIAA. f Flight Dispatcher and Operations Coordinator. * Site Director. Copyright © 1998 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. No copyright is asserted in the United States under Title 17, U.S. Code. The U.S. government has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for Governmental Purposes. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner. Introduction Domestic and world-wide air traffic is expected to grow to unprecedented levels over the coming two decades; revenue passenger miles world-wide of 1.7 trillion in 1996 are anticipated to reach 3 trillion in 2006, then 4.5 trillion in 2016.' Existing demands on the air traffic system routinely exceed the capacity of airports, leading to air traffic imposed ground and airborne delays of aircraft. Combined with airborne route restrictions, such delays are estimated to cost domestic airlines $3.5 billion per year. In the increasingly competitive airline industry, with its market-driven pricing and very thin profit margins, such economic operating penalties are magnified. In order to address the anticipated surge in air traffic demand and resulting over-capacity, and to improve the economic viability of the air carrier users, government and industry have launched an initiative called "freeflight". A select committee of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) defined free-flight as flight "in which operators have the freedom to select their path and speed in real time", while air traffic restrictions are imposed only for separation, to preclude airport over-capacity, prevent flight into special use airspace, or to ensure safety. Under the free-flight paradigm, the air traffic service provider concentrates on safety and cross-airline fairness, while the users focus on their specific business objectives and operating preferences. A critical element of the free-flight initiative, as well as other initiatives to increase the flexibility of airspace operations and assist air carriers' economic objectives, is collaboration between service providers and users in air traffic management Such collaboration has taken the form of one-way data sharing, such as aircraft positional information provided by the Enhanced Traffic Management System/Aircraft Situation Display to Industry (ETMS/ASD-I), or the more recent