Environment
- Environment Home
- E-Change Program
- Audit
- Aircraft Emissions
- Management of Aircraft on the Ground
- Predicting and Managing Delays
- Monitoring Australia's Airspace
- Continuous Descent Approaches
- Green Approaches
- Flextracks
- Computer Simulation
- Airspace Management from Gate to Gate
- The Benefits of Gate to Gate Management
- How Air Traffic Management has Traditionally Worked
- Some Causes for Airport Delays
- The Brisbane Green Project
- The Challenge of Growth
- What is RNP?
- Environmental Savings from the Brisbane Green Project
- Sequencing Efficiency
Predicting and Managing Aircraft Delays
Tracking an aircraft enables us to predict its arrival time. If it's not possible for a plane to land at a scheduled time due to delays at the airport, there is an alternative to circling the airport in a holding pattern.
Air Traffic Control schedules aircraft arrivals by appointing them slots for landing. Delays at the airport result in the designated slots getting pushed back. By adjusting the cruising speed of the aircraft we can ensure they arrive at the optimal time and avoid costly holding patterns.
Managing delays in the cruise phase of a flight requires 4 to 5 times less fuel than the same delay in a lower altitude holding pattern above an airport. Jet engines are vastly more fuel efficient at high altitudes as opposed to low altitudes.
Pilots are advised of the required speed adjustments when aircraft are en-route to their destination, up to 2000 kilometres from the airport.
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