Measuring Flight Efficiency in the National Airspace System

Abstract

Measuring and monitoring resources in the National Airspace System (NAS) is a key activity of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operational managers. Airports and associated terminal areas are complex systems and require a number of metrics to properly characterize performance. In this document, 13 performance measures are described, in three different categories: (1) flow efficiency, for both taxiing and airborne flights, (2) runway utilization, for both arrivals and departures, and (3) rate of flights not cancelled or diverted, for both arrivals and departures. These 13 metrics capture performance in the different stages of flight from push-back to gate arrival. Sample calculations and use cases are presented, using Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) as a subject airport. The multiple measures may be combined for an omnibus metric, for quick assessment of performance at that airport, in a next-day review context.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1107913

Entities

People

  • Alex Tien
  • James Dearmon
  • Steve Mcmahon
  • Tudor Masek
  • Wayne Cooper

Organizations

  • MITRE Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Navigation
  • Air Traffic
  • Aircrafts
  • Airports
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Boundaries
  • Complex Systems
  • Computations
  • Corporations
  • Crossings
  • Economic Forecasting
  • Efficiency
  • Flight
  • Flight Paths
  • Governments
  • International Airports
  • Measurement
  • Metrics
  • Terminals
  • Traffic
  • United States

Readers

  • Aviation Safety and Air Traffic Management
  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space