Air Traffic Management Cost Assessment Tool, Phase I

The Robust Analytics air traffic management cost assessment tool provides the comprehensive capability to analyze the impacts of NASA Airspace Systems Program (ASP) air traffic management (ATM) research from individual flight trajectories through airline network operations and airline investments in equipment and training. Our model generates cost-benefit estimates for concept and procedure alternatives for individual airlines. The model also estimates a variety of impacts on industry, including input utilization and productivity, throughput, air transportation industry costs and fares, and broader economic effects such as employment and benefits to other industries. Existing cost models are typically limited to simple flight cost factors, with occasional added detail on fuel burn and flying time. Assessment of deployment times, the feasibility of obtaining the assumed benefits, and cost risk are typically ignored although always a constant concern of airlines. Our model suite overcomes these deficiencies by providing greater fidelity in the cost analysis of flight segments, explicit estimation of training and certification cost, and realistic treatment of deployment time and risk. Our cost analysis is performed using airline-specific data, enabling more realistic assessment of airline investment decisions and identification of disparate effects and willingness to invest among airlines. Robust Analytics expect to leverage the current body of knowledge by our partner Sabre Airline Solutions and two U.S. airlines to provide input and validate the model. An important use of the proposed model for the airline industry is that potentially this tool could help them make decisions in real time to improve their decision making during irregular operations and during severe weather events.