Analysis of Fuel-Efficient Airliner Flight via Dynamic Programming Trajectory Optimization

Abstract

Fuel-efficient flight is in strong demand due to environmental concerns and skyrocketing fuel prices. This paper analyzes airliner flight trajectory from the perspective of fuel efficiency through comparison with the optimal trajectory. Since the optimal trajectory gives the maximum achievable performance without any constraint of air traffic control, it introduces reference data for quantitative merit of the ideal flight. Dynamic programming is adopted to calculate the optimal trajectory. Examples show that considerable reduction in the fuel consumption from the estimated values for actual flights could be achieved by the trajectory optimization, where wind conditions are taken into account as well.