Fuel and Travel Time Benefits of Simultaneously Optimizing Cruising Flight Levels and Mach Numbers Using Satellite-Based Surveillance and Communication Technologies for Flights in Oceanic Airspace

Flights can achieve a significant amount of fuel burn reduction by simultaneously optimizing flight levels and Mach numbers (FL/M) in the U.S. domestic airspace. Satellite-based surveillance and communication technologies (S&C) have been widely used to improve the flight operations in oceanic airspace. This study estimates the fuel and travel time benefits achieved by simultaneously optimizing cruising FL/M for flights in oceanic airspace. We study the benefits in two cases. In the first case, pilots improve fuel efficiency by optimizing cruising FL/M with the constraint of avoiding conflicts with other traffic. In the second scenario, pilots improve fuel efficiency by optimizing cruising FL/M without the constraint of avoiding conflicts with other traffic. In the first scenario, we estimate that in 2020 airlines can save more than 9 million dollars of fuel and 1,300 flight hours inside the New York Flight Information Region (FIR) only. The corresponding fuel savings in the second scenario can reach about 29 million dollars. The benefit estimates are primarily based on the current air traffic management rules and existing satellite-based S&C in the New York FIR. This study can help airlines and pilots to improve fuel efficiency in oceanic airspace using satellite-based S&C.