Robust aircraft optimal trajectory in the presence of wind

As environmental awareness has increased, airlines are paying attention to fuel consumption during daily flight operations with the hope of reducing consumption. Because the direction and strength of the wind affects the fuel consumption of an aircraft, airlines are seeking to minimize the adverse effects of headwinds or maximize the beneficial effect of tailwinds when planning flight trajectories. According to the jet stream profile of the world, it is easy to notice that the jet streams flow in the eastwest direction instead of the north-south direction. Therefore, the flights on east-west routes are affected more by en route winds than the flights on north-south routes. In order to achieve the best flight performance in terms of flight time and fuel consumption, airlines may adjust the flight trajectories based on en route wind profiles. Consequently, it is necessary to consider en route wind effects when planning flight trajectories. However, it is difficult to identify the most suitable trajectory in a complex wind field because such field is not easy to estimate [17], [25], [8], [9], [26]. The wind directions and strength are varying in different regions, at different altitudes, and different times. Even though the problem is complex, solving it may benefit airlines in terms of fuel cost and on-time performance.