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.

FMI: www.faa.gov, Read The FAA's Fact Sheet On Combating Flight Delays