Evidence suggests that air carriers are already exploiting wind variations to some degree within the present NAS architecture, so they clearly desire more efficient routing.rnThe average time savings of wind optimal routes relative to great circle routes varied greatly with flight distance, from almost none for short-distance flights to nearly 3 percent for long-distance (usually intercontinental) flights. The main cause of this behavior is the rapid increase of the energy spectrum of the Earth's high altitude winds with wavelength. Overall, this time savings was 0.4 percent for CONUS flights.rnThe time savings of wind optimal routes relative to actual and last-filed (before takeoff) flight plan routes was larger - 1.6 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively. For CONUS flights, the total fuel saved by using wind optimal routes instead of the current flight plan routes was determined to be $290 million per yr.rnUltimately, saving time and fuel also reduces associated costs for air carriers, such as those for crew and maintenance, which can triple the amount of dollar savings [7]. In addition, reducing the flying time for passengers can help to lower their individual costs.
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