ANSP Measures of Flight Descent Performance

Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) aim to report on Continuous Descent Operations (CDOs) in their administered airspace to evaluate and monitor flight descent efficiency. However, the widely used methodology employed for measuring CDO, by assessing the presence of level segments, does not fully capture flight inefficiencies from the perspective of the aircraft operator. This paper evaluates a more suitable performance measure by identifying a managed descent that characterizes whether a CDO was executed by the aircraft’s automation, i.e. the Flight Management System (FMS). This measure is presented for Australian airports before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing insight on operational performance in both high and low traffic scenarios. During low traffic demand, the managed descent measure shows a 60% optimization margin, as opposed to 30% using the conventional measure for some airports. Therefore, ANSPs can use this measure as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to develop strategies to optimize CDO for aircraft operators and increase the benefits associated with CDO in their administered airspace. Although this study focuses on the Australian flight region, the managed descent measure is equally relevant to ANSPs and organisations around the world, like SESAR, that aim to assess and optimize flight operations.