Requirements for Super Dense Operations for the NGATS Terminal Airspace

We present requirements for super dense operations (SDO) in a future next generation air transportation system (NGATS), targeted at a 2025 timeframe. The requirements emphasize the needs for dynamic weather avoidance maneuvering and performance-based services (PBS) based on required navigation performance (RNP). A net-centric operation (NCO) will provide a mechanism to inform all users of weather forecast information, hazardous weather constraints, and weather avoidance routing requirements. The future air traffic management (ATM) system will move away from static jet route navigation toward a system where routes are defined more dynamically, adjusted during the course of the day as required by traffic demand and the geometry of severe weather constraints. Such a concept of operation (ConOps) will be particularly useful for time periods where weather is a major terminal area constraint in the national airspace system (NAS), making it possible to achieve SDO, reduce traffic delays, and ensure safe operations that would otherwise not be feasible in current day operations.