Environmental Analysis of Fleet-Wide Implementation of Delayed Deceleration Approaches

Abstract

The capabilities and benefits of fleet-wide implementation of the delayed deceleration approach are presented through the modeled analysis of a day of implementation at Boston Logan International Airport. Conventional approach procedures can often involve early configuration in the flight trajectory, which results in aircraft having to deploy high-lift configurations early and thus having to operate at higher thrust levels. Employing a delayed deceleration approach involves delaying the configuration of high-lift devices and maintaining higher speeds for longer, thus allowing lower thrust settings and reducing approach fuel burn and community noise. There are challenges, however, with implementing delayed deceleration approach procedures on a fleet-wide basis. The deceleration rate for a given approach procedure can vary significantly depending on aircraft type, weight, and the procedure flown. In this work the study of an average day at Boston Logan International Airport is presented to analyze the feasibility and benefits of implementing delayed deceleration approaches on the most common aircraft and assesses the capability of sequencing multiple delayed deceleration approaches into a given runway. The results for the representative day indicate that 97% of sequences involving aircraft that account for 83% of the commercial fleet for Boston Logan International Airport in 2017 do not introduce a breach of separation when implementing a delayed deceleration approach. Furthermore, implementing the delayed deceleration approach provides an average fuel burn savings of 21.4% and reduces the ground track distance exposed to configuration noise by and average of 9 nmi. Such results provide evidence that the delayed deceleration approach and decision support tools should be implemented for commercial aircraft.