Operational preferences for ATC data link equipped aircraft: Severe weather reroutes

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) requires synchronized investments from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the flight operators who transit the National Airspace System (NAS). Flight operators have emphasized in public dialog that they are not willing to equip aircraft with avionics unless the investing operator directly gains monetized benefits and a competitive advantage. While financial incentives have been considered as a mechanism to close the equipage business case of meeting a threshold of return on investment, the FAA has proposed that operational incentives may be an appropriate mechanism to provide additional assurances to those who invest in NextGen technologies. This research evaluates one potential operational incentive as applied to traffic flow management reroute prioritization for Air Traffic Control (ATC) data link-equipped aircraft in a severe weather scenario. During severe convective weather, many airborne flights need to be rerouted and yet-to-depart flights need a new flight plan and/or ground delay. Prioritizing the scarce resource of constrained sector capacity by equipage capability (rather than by "first come first served") enables data link equipped aircraft to receive shorter reroutes and less departure delay than unequipped aircraft. Due to decreased workload associated with ATC data link aircraft, increased controller productivity should result in the ability to handle more traffic, increasing NAS throughput and capacity. Prioritizing equipped aircraft is not simply a transfer of value from one aircraft group to another; but, of rewarding investment in system enhancing capabilities by pioneering operators. By prioritizing access to constrained airspace to equipped aircraft and encouraging use of ATC data link communications, greater NAS throughput is achieved than would be possible in a voice-only environment. The overall effect is "doing well by doing good" where equipped aircraft are provided better services while improving overall airspace efficiency.