Estimated Fuel Burn Performance for MDW Arrivals

摘要

The Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) arrival flows are an important component of overall NAS efficiency and airline costs of operation. The efficiency of TRACON arrival flows is a function of the relative position of the final waypoint on the Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) to the runway threshold, the type of approach (ILS, RNP, VFR), and the arrival vertical and longitudinal profile. A previous research established the presence of 16 unique arrival flows for the main runways (31C, 4R, 22L and 13C) at Midway International Airport (MDW), using 43 days of National Offload Program (NOP) radar track data. This paper uses an aerodynamic fuel burn model to estimate the fuel burn for these flows. The results of the analysis indicate that, during Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC), the RNP approach to 13C uses an average of 14% less fuel than the ILS approach on to 13C. For narrow body aircrafts, this is equivalent to on an average a savings of $47 per flight per approach (at $3 a gallon). During Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) the least average fuel burn arrival flow for VFR approach procedures is to runways 4R or 31C (174.9 kg) followed by 13C (+11%), and 22L (+19%). During Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) the least average fuel burn arrival flow for ILS approach procedures is to runway 31C (207.06 kg) followed by, 4R (+6.5%) and 13C (+33%). To ensure equity in fuel burn between flights arriving from the east and the west during VMC, 13C is the most equitable runway with the 14% difference in fuel burn between east and west flows, followed by 4R (18% difference), 22L (96% difference) and 31C (148% difference). During IMC, 13C (56%) is the most equitable runway followed by 4R (72%) and 31C (211%). For narrow body aircrafts at MDW, the fuel burn rate in level flight (35 kg/min) is 108% greater than the fuel burn for near-idle descent segments (15 kg/min) and 25% greater than fuel burn on the final approach segment (25 kg/min). These results quantify the benefits of the RNP approach onto 13C and identify an opportunity for a decision-support tool to select runway configuration based on wind magnitude/direction, as well as fuel burn.