Dynamic air-route adjustments — Model, algorithm, and sensitivity analysis

Dynamic airspace management (DAM) is an important approach to extend limited air space resources by using them more efficiently and flexibly. This paper analyzes the use of the dynamic air-route adjustment (DARA) method as a core procedure in DAM systems. DARA method makes dynamic decisions on when and how to adjust the current air-route network with the minimum cost. This model differs from the air traffic flow management (ATFM) problem because it considers dynamic opening and closing of air-route segments instead of only arranging flights on a given air traffic network and it takes into account several new constraints, such as the shortest opening time constraint. The DARA problem is solved using a two-step heuristic algorithm. The sensitivities of important coefficients in the model are analyzed to determine proper values for these coefficients. The computational results based on practical data from the Beijing ATC region show that the two-step heuristic algorithm gives as good results as the CPLEX in less or equal time in most cases.