Reinventing high density area departure traffic management

As a complex dynamic system, today's National Airspace System (NAS) can be very sensitive to disruptive events. High density area departure management is particularly sensitive to such disruptions. This paper builds upon previous research that proposes an operational concept to ensure safe, efficient, and stable departure traffic management in the Next Generation Air Transportation System. This research first proposes the proper roles and responsibilities of Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) in different facilities and then defines the functions/capabilities needed to support the roles and responsibilities identified. This paper models, simulates, and compares the performance of the proposed operation with today's operation. The sensitivity of the proposed operation to events like over-head flow constraints is also examined and compared with today's operation. The results reveal that the proposed concept provides performance enhancements and system stability in response to disruption.