Evaluation of RNAV Departure Operations at Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport

On September 6, 2005 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented revised area navigation (RNAV) departure procedures at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). The route structure of the procedures was designed to enable diverging departure operations that distribute departure traffic flows over a wider area of DFW´s terminal airspace. Operational changes associated with the implementation were found to result in more efficient utilization of available runways and constrained airspace around the airport. This paper documents the results of comprehensive evaluations of observed operational changes. It reviews the design of the departure procedures and evaluates dependencies between DFW´s two general implementation objectives of (1) realizing departure efficiency benefits while (2) maintaining the distance flown in terminal airspace. This paper describes the analysis methodology developed to evaluate operational changes using radar data. It presents pre- and post-implementation comparisons of benefit metrics characterizing the distance departing aircraft fly in terminal airspace and the continuity of observed departure climbs. The results show that DFW´s gains in departure efficiency were realized without significantly impacting the flight distance and climb continuity of departure operations in DFW´s terminal airspace