Eco-Aviation Channel

En Route Traffic Optimization could cut fuel use 6% in US

By Jerome Greer Chandler
Eco-Aviation Today, February 10, 2009, p.2

The Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction, a group led by MIT and funded by US FAA, NASA, DOD, DOT and Transport Canada, says it has developed a new procedure that could save 1 billion gal. of aviation fuel a year, a 6% reduction based on estimated 2009 fuel use. Through En Route Traffic Optimization, the theory is that air traffic controllers armed with new algorithms can route aircraft at the most efficient flight levels and via the most direct paths.

So, is this "free flight" eschewing VOR routings for more direct ones? "It could involve that," says Lourdes Maurice, chief scientist for the environment at FAA's Office of Environment and Energy. Essentially, it is just devising mathematical means of "moving from Point A to Point B in the most efficient way."

The cost to wring this kind of savings out of the en route part of the passage? Maurice can't say precisely. Between member contributions and industry matches, PARTNER is funded to the tune of $12-$13 million. "That's for all various projects," she says--continuous descent arrival, taxiing, emissions measurement, model development, cost/benefit analyses, climate research and such. However the cost is tallied, she believes that "the research investment is very much outweighed by the savings."

She emphasizes that billion-gal. bonanza is based on "conceptual research . . . But you've got you keep in mind that then you need to [move to field] research, towards implementation." That means testing the algorithms for real at one of FAA's regional ATC centers. Maurice says she doesn't know where or precisely when that will happen, but it's expected this year. "We have some ideas" as to where the tests will be run, she says, "but we're still trying to negotiate and allocate funds." The En Route Traffic Optimization Report and more on the project can be found at web.mit.edu.

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