Efficient climb and descent benefit pool

Over the last decade there has been considerable research into fuel efficient arrival and climb operations by the FAA, EuroControl, NASA, airlines, and other stakeholders. Fuel efficient arrivals are generally referred to as Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) or Optimal Profile Descent (OPD). In today's arrival operation, it is not unusual for a pilot to receive between 4–10 step-downs, level-offs, or altitude assignments by ATC, allowing controllers to de-conflict, sequence and space flights. OPD and fuel efficient climb, known as Continuous Climb Departure (CCD), eliminate level segments as much as possible while maintaining separation and flight safety. NASA has proposed a set of trajectory based operations that leverage improved trajectory automation and produce more fuel efficient profiles using near-term concepts. To transition the research from concept/demonstration/prototype efforts to fielded operational systems requires adherence to the FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS) process. The objective of this paper is to support the transition to NAS-wide implementation of OPD and CCD operations by defining the available benefit pool for fuel efficient arrivals and climbs. We do so by examining characteristics of flight level offs that occur in today's operations using several days of NAS-wide surveillance. The assumptions, data sources and challenges, metrics, and process are described. Results are first presented for operations in high density centers and are then described in NAS-wide benefits. The results provide the translation into NAS-wide fuel savings.