Green delay programes, absorbing ATFM delay by flying at minimum fuel speed

Abstract

Delaying aircraft on ground is one of the most used strategies when an imbalance between planned demand and actual capacity arises, either at an airport or in an airspace sector. This paper focuses on a new strategy consisting in delaying aircraft from their nominal cruise speed to the minimum fuel consumption speed. Therefore, trip times are increased and air traffic management delay can be partially performed in the air. For these flights, fuel consumption is reduced and consequently, their environmental impact. Based on data from ground delay programs at San Francisco International airport during 2006, this paper quantifies the impact that such a strategy would have had if applied to all delayed flights. Results show that for the majority of flights, the 5% to 15% of the initially assigned delay could have been absorbed in the air, leading to fuel savings in the order of 4% to 7% for each individual flight, if compared with the nominal situation