Wind-Optimal Routing in the National Airspace System

A study analyzing the economic cost and benefit impacts of different flight routing methods in the National Airspace System is presented. It compares wind-optimal routes and filed flight routes for 365 days of traffic, from 2005 to 2007, in class A airspace. Routing differences are measured by flight time, fuel burn, sector loading, conflict counts, and airport arrival rates. From the results, wind-optimal routes exhibit an average per-flight time saving of 2.7 min and an average fuel saving of 210 lb, compared to filed flight routes. In addition, the airport arrival rates at the top 73 U.S. domestic airports do not show notable differences between wind-optimal routing and filed flight routing. The study shows an average of 29% fewer conflicts. Finally, wind-optimal routes have, at most, one high-altitude sector with increased sector workload than filed flight routes at any time instance.