Mitigating Air Delay: An analysis of the Collaborative Trajectory Options Program

Abstract

Congestion is a problem at major airports in the world. Airports, especially high-traffic ones, tend to be the bottleneck in the air traffic control system. The problem that arises for the airspace planner is how to mitigate air congestion and its consequent delay, which causes increased cost for airlines and discomfort for passengers. Most congestion problems are fixed on the day of operations in a tactically manner using operational enhancements measures. Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) aims to improve air traffic management (ATM) considering National Airspace System (NAS) users business goals, particularities faced by each flight and airspace restrictions, making this process more flexible and financially stable for those involved. In CTOP, airlines share their route preferences with the air control authority, combining delay and reroute. When CTOP is created, each airline might decide its strategy without knowledge of other airline’s flights. Current solutions for this problem are based on greedy methods and game theory. There is potential space to improve. This paper examines CTOP and identifies important strategic changes to ATM adopting this philosophy, particularly in Brazil.