Wind optimized routing: An opportunity to improve european flight efficiency?

Improving flight efficiency in terms of fuel efficiency and travel time reduction is of great interest for the aviation industry. An increase in efficiency is assumed to lower not only airline costs but also the environmental impact of aviation [1]. Among other strategies, improved route planning provides an opportunity to reduce fuel burn and travel time. In this context efforts should not be limited to finding routes that reduce the distance travelled, but attempts should be made to find routes that take weather effects into account. This study investigates whether following wind optimal routes has a positive impact on fuel consumption and travel time of inner-European flights. In order to evaluate the savings potential, fuel consumptions achieved from wind and distance optimized trajectories are compared. Moreover, it is discussed what wind conditions justify deviations from great circle routes. The paper provides an analysis of potential fuel savings achieved through the use of wind optimized routes for inner-European flights. The optimization process is carried out with respect to the provided wind direction and wind speed. For this purpose, DLR´s trajectory optimization tool was improved to take weather information into account and to calculate wind optimized routes. The corresponding calculations are performed for one specific traffic scenario under different weather conditions.