Modelling extra aircraft fuel consumption in an en‐route airspace environment

Abstract

This paper presents a model to quantify and minimise extra fuel consumed by aircraft flying at levels which are suboptimal in terms of fuel consumption due to relatively crowded airways. It is based on a dynamic queueing system model.

In analysing the sensitivity of the parameters influencing the consumption of extra fuel, the model allows for changes in the geometry of the airspace (the length and number of flight levels), the characteristics of the traffic (the intensity of the arriving traffic flow on the airway, the number, size and structure of various classes of aircraft requesting altitude changes (and the separation rules applied by Air Traffic Control in serving aircraft requesting altitude changes.

Key words:

• Airspace
• air traffic control
• en‐route environment
• aircraft fuel consumption
• dynamic priority queueing system