An assessment of flight efficiency based on the point merge system at metroplex airports

Abstract

Purpose - Metroplex is a system of two or more airports, in physical proximity, with highly interdependent arrival and departure operations. The purpose of this study is the construction of an efficient and effective air route model based on the point merge system (PMS) to reduce aircraft fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for three metroplex airports in Istanbul terminal control area (TMA). Design/methodology/approach - A PMS arrival route model is constructed for metroplex airports. In the proposed model, two situations are taken into consideration: for delay which can be defined as flying on sequencing legs (PMSdel) and for no delay (PMSno del). An empirical model is developed using a data set including the flight data records of ten actual B737-800 domestic flights. With this empirical model, both the baseline and the PMS models (PMSdel and PMSno del) are compared in terms of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and flight distance and time as a theoretical computation. Findings - In the proposed PMSno del arrival route model, according to different entry points for Istanbul Ataturk International Airport (LTBA), the analyses show an average reduction of 26 per cent in flight time, 24.5 per cent in flight distance, 17 per cent in fuel burned and CO2 emissions; in addition, for Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (LTFJ) there are 34, 23 and 32 per cent average savings for flight time, flight distance and fuel burned together with CO2 emissions obtained, respectively. Even if the PMSdel model, for LTFJ except only one entry point, for LTBA except two entry points, better results are obtained than baseline. Practical implications - The point merge model for metroplex airports in this paper can be applied by airspace designers and Air Navigation Service Providers to perform efficient and effective arrival routes. Originality/value - In this study, a point merge model is constructed for metroplex airports. Quantitative results, using an empirical model, are achieved in terms of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and flight distance and time at metroplex airports.