A Simulation Study of Adaptation in Traffic Management Decision Making under Free Scheduling Flight Operations

This research describes an investigation into the potential impact of alternative management control policies on air traffic flow. An experiment was conducted that analyzed the effect of four different arrival management conditions under two different goal conditions on computer-simulated traffic management decision making and on simulated performance. In the condition representing the least level of central arrival management, there was no central arrival management decision maker at all. Two of the arrival management conditions resembled “free scheduling” operations: in both, a central arrival manager provided information to support independent departure decisions by air carriers, but the two conditions differed on the type of information provided. The fourth condition represented a centrally controlled arrival management operation, where the arrival manager directly limited the number of departures the air carriers could make.Each arrival management condition was simulated under two different goal cond...