Says Air Traffic Program Saved $27 Million During First
Year
In the midst of the
second-worst ever year for flight delays, the Federal Aviation
Administration launched a software program called "Adaptive
Compression" in March 2007 aimed at saving
airlines money, and passengers in time lost, spent when aircraft
aren't in the air.
Now, over one year later, the FAA -- increasingly tasked with
proving its own relevance to lawmakers, and fighting to regain
credibility with the flying public following an embarrassing string
of blunders involving safety inspections at a number of airlines --
says that program saved $27 million for the airlines and 1.1
million delay minutes for the airlines and the flying public in its
first year of operation.
"This software pays an immediate dividend to passengers," said
Robert A. Sturgell, the FAA’s acting administrator. "When a
plane can't land because of weather, the software makes it possible
for that slot to be filled automatically by another plane. This
means that we’re able to get passengers where they want to go
as soon as possible."
Essentially, Adaptive Compression works by scanning for airport
arrival slots that would otherwise go to waste when a flight is
cancelled, delayed or re-routed. Open slots are filled with the
next available flight, minimizing passenger delays by maximizing
operations at constrained airports. (Conversely, Adaptive
Compression only works when other flights have already been
delayed, or cancelled... so it doesn't solve the inherent problem,
but takes advantage of it for other flights.)
When demand exceeds capacity at an airport or in the air -- as
often happens during the summer thunderstorm season --
delay-reducing efforts such as Airspace Flow Programs (AFP) are put
in place. AFPs allow the agency to manage traffic during storms
with greater effectiveness and efficiency by targeting only those
flights that are scheduled to fly through storms, issuing estimated
departure times. However, slots go unused if flights are cancelled,
delayed or re-routed, resulting in lost capacity or avoidable
delays.
Adaptive Compression, which was developed in collaboration with
the airlines, updates slot assignments without adding to controller
workload. Controllers are automatically notified of open slots and
the next available flights, rather than having to perform those
functions manually.