Impact of Aircraft Performance Characteristics on Air Trac Delays

Air transportation has been suering for decades from delays caused by air trac congestion. This paper presents the eect of aircraft performance dierences on air trac delays. Rate of climb and cruising speeds of 70 dierent aircraft types are compared to demonstrate performance dierences in the current transport aircraft fleet. The eect of these performance dierences on air trac delays is proved by a deterministic calculation of delays for a departure queue consisting of 3 dierent types of aircraft. In addition, it is shown how a slower cruising speed can cause excessive fuel consumption in an aircraft that is obliged to follow a slower aircraft in an enroute queue. It is concluded that air trac flow management units should take into account aircraft performance dierences for sequencing, and that aviation authorities should consider establishing minimum performance requirements for each altitude for each aircraft category