Aircraft Departure Sequencing Tool

Sensis is developing a prototype Departure Manager, an airport operations decision support application, under a million-dollar project. The Sensis Departure Manager can provide air traffic controllers and airline ramp managers with a decision support tool that automates departure sequencing recommendations while maximizing runway utilization and minimizing aircraft taxi time at capacity constrained airports.

U.S. airports operate under a "first-come, first-served" departure sequence, whereby departure clearance is given by the local controller in the order in which the departure request is made by the pilot, adding extra time between departures to accommodate safety and airspace constraints. Consequently, departure queues form at the ends of runways and other points on the airport surface as aircraft await clearance to depart, causing aircraft to burn more fuel and emit more greenhouse gases.

The Departure Manager calculates the preferred pushback time for each aircraft to form an optimal departure sequence that minimizes excess taxi time and departure runway aircraft queuing. The Departure Manager will consider numerous constraints and factors affecting the departure sequence, including flight departure time, air traffic control traffic management initiatives, traffic flow constraints, wake vortex spacing rules and current airport configuration. As a result, the Departure Manager will maximize runway utilization by using all available runway departure slots while reducing queue delays and taxi times.