Air Traffic System Efficiency

Today's airspace systems are inefficient. Though safe, the current model is serving increased demand with outmoded technologies. The result: system congestion and delays.

Flight delays are of course an inconvenience, but they also waste fuel and increase emissions. In fact, reducing every flight by just one minute would prevent 4.8 million tons of CO 2 emissions each year. Manufacturers are building ever-more fuel efficient aircraft, and airlines are operating their fleets in the most efficient way possible. However putting even the most efficient aircraft into an inefficient system, negates the gains that could be achieved. Over the last decade, Boeing has been partnering with airports, airlines, and civil aviation authorities around the world to demonstrate, develop and implement operational improvements to increase efficiency, reduce congestion and reduce noise and emissions. Ultimately, the purpose of these regional programs is to replicate their successes on a broader scale around the world. Air Traffic Management: Collaboration required Current air traffic management systems are based on procedures that were developed in the 1950’s. As new technologies have been introduced, they have been laid in on top of the original procedures. Many of the assumptions for those procedures are no longer valid. Unlike the first jetliners five decades ago, modern commercial airplanes are designed to determine their positions with pinpoint accuracy. In fact, new airplanes can determine their position to within less than a meter. New methods for gathering and sharing data, cutting edge systems for trajectory calculation, and other tools on the ground and in the air allow for much more efficient management of air traffic while maintaining and even enhancing safety levels. Improvements to the air traffic management system need to take advantage of the quantum leaps in airplane capabilities, precision data, communications and network sharing technologies. Solving this complex problem requires the active collaboration of many stakeholders and the optimization of all three key system areas—ground infrastructure, airplane capabilities and air traffic management (ATM) procedures and regulations. Only then will we achieve the next-generation air traffic system. ATM success also relies upon global harmonization of systems and operations. Since airplanes fly all over the world, ATM procedures and requirements need to work similarly across national and regional boundaries. Global interoperability is a key component of success. Boeing is an active leader in the ATM transformation efforts in the US (NextGen) and Europe (SESAR). To advance aviation’s environmental focus and ensure global interoperability, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Vice President and Transport Minister of the European Commission (EC), in June 2007 announced the creation of the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE) Partnership. In addition, Boeing and Airbus recently signed an agreement to work together to ensure global interoperability in air traffic management as part of this effort to help reduce the impact of aviation on the environment.