Towards a Comprehensive Characterization of the Arrival Operations in the Terminal Area

This paper aims at providing initial elements for a comprehensive characterisation of the arrival operations in the terminal area. It brings together different metrics, existing and new ones, and illustrates their application on three European airports operating with different metering and sequencing techniques (Dublin, Stockholm-Arlanda and Vienna). Precisely, the characterisation relies on three main fight efficiency metrics— horizontal and vertical deviations, and additional fuel burn—in relation to a metric capturing the entry conditions in the terminal area—the metering effort. The analysis is made on a selection of peak periods from 2019 with more than 5,000 fights in total, and relies on the data from the OpenSky Network. The evaluation results uncover varied situations among the three airports. The median horizontal and vertical deviations range from 5 to 25 NM, and from 26590 to 30730 ft·minutes, respectively; and the median additional fuel burn from 96 to 176 kg. However, these values cannot be compared without considering the entry conditions to the terminal area. Here, for the peak periods, the metering effort is ranging from 1.2 to 3, reflecting very different entry conditions among the three airports. Further analysis would be required to study in more detail the arrival operations, in particular by considering comparable entry conditions.