Maximizing airborne delay at no extra fuel cost by means of linear holding. (August 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xu, Yan; Dalmau, Ramon; Prats, Xavier
• Is Part Of: Transportation research. Volume 81(2017)
• Page Start: 137
• Page End: 152
• Publication Date: 2017-08
• Subjects: Air transportation -- Linear holding -- Speed reduction -- Trajectory optimization -- Air traffic flow management; Transportation -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; 388.011
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trc.2017.05.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0968-090X

Abstract

Highlights: Linear holding strategy is justified to be feasible for the whole flight phases. Trajectory optimization techniques are implemented to obtain the maximum air delay. Trade-offs of fuel and time along phases yield the increasing of linear holding. Inclusion of climb and descent makes the strategy appealing for short-haul flights. Abstract: This paper introduces a linear holding strategy based on prior works on cruise speed reduction, aimed at performing airborne delay at no extra fuel cost, as a complementary strategy to current ground and airborne holding strategies. Firstly, the equivalent speed concept is extended to climb and descent phases through an analysis of fuel consumption and speed from aircraft performance data. This gives an insight of the feasibility to implement the concept, differentiating the case where the cruise flight level initially requested is kept and the case where it can be changed before departure in order to maximize the linear holding time. Illustrative examples are given, where typical flights are simulated using an optimal trajectory generation tool where linear holding is maximized while keeping constant the initially planned fuel. Finally, the effects of linear holding are thoroughly assessed in terms of the vertical trajectory profiles, range of feasible speed intervals and trade-offs between fuel and time. Results show that the airborne delay increases significantly with nearly 3-fold time for short-haul flights and 2-fold for mid-hauls to the cases in prior works.