Mechanisms
for equitable resource allocation when airspace capacity is reduced
Kleoniki Vlachou, David J. Lovell
Transportation Research Record 2325,
pp. 97-102, 2013.
During bad weather and under other capacity-reducing restrictions, FAA uses
various initiatives to manage air traffic flow to alleviate problems associated
with imbalanced demand and capacity. A recently introduced alternative concept
to airspace flow programs is the collaborative trajectory options program, in
which aircraft operators are allowed to submit sets of alternative trajectory
options for their flights, with accompanying cost estimates. It is not clear
that these sets of alternative trajectory options can be generated or evaluated
quickly enough to respond to flow programs that arise unexpectedly or that the
program is intended to be folded into a formal resource allocation mechanism.
This research proposes (a) a meaningful, yet simple, way for carriers to
express some preference structure for their flights that are specifically
affected by flow programs and (b) a resource allocation mechanism that will
improve system efficiency and simultaneously take these airline preferences
into account. The results are compared with the events that could occur if an
airspace flow program were run by using a ration-by-schedule approach, with or
without the opportunity for carriers to engage in swaps among their own
flights.