A fuel savings and benefit analysis of reducing separation standards in the oceanic airspace managed by the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center

Abstract

New or improved satellite-based technologies are being introduced to improve the surveillance and communication capabilities in remote airspace. We study the benefits of reducing the separation standards among flights in the oceanic airspace managed by the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (New York Oceanic) based on these technologies. We develop a model that simulates the activities of aircraft, pilots, and air traffic controllers (ATC) at the microscopic level to study the benefits of doing so in 2020 and 2025. With pessimistic assumptions on the reduced separation standards, the system-wide fuel savings within New York Oceanic are about (in million gallons) 2.25 in 2020 and 3.21 in 2025. After excluding additional variable cost, the monetary value of the fuel savings is about (in million 2018 US dollars) 3.65 and 6.38, respectively. The fuel benefits are more significant for aircraft with light or medium maximum takeoff weight. Some determinants of the workload of ATC and pilots can reduce by about 10% to 20%. With optimistic assumptions on the reduced standards, the corresponding statistics are about 2 to 3 times as high. This study can be used, for example, by air traffic control agencies to conduct benefit-cost analyses of adopting new/improved technologies, by airlines to develop strategies to make the best use of satellite services, and by satellite service providers to design service charging schemes and conduct market analysis.