Traffic Flow Management (TFM) Weather Rerouting Decision Support

During 1999, record air traffic delays (up 22.2 % from 1998) were experienced in the National Airspace System. These delays, 68.8% of which were weather-related, caused airlines to suffer substantial monetary losses and passengers to be subjected to widespread hardships. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation industry have initiated a partnership to improve communications between the FAA and airlines and to expand the use of technology to help alleviate air traffic delays caused by severe weather. Fortunately, recent advances in convective weather forecasting, such as the National Convective Weather Forecast (NCWF) and the Collaborative Convective Forecast Product (CCFP), may soon make it possible to develop Traffic Flow Management (TFM) decision support tools that can more effectively address weather-related traffic flow restrictions. To this end, MITRE/CAASD is enhancing its Collaborative Routing Coordination Tool (CRCT) to provide proactive TFM decision support for rerouting around forecasted areas of severe convective weather. The objective is to reduce aircraft delays and cancellations, maximize aircraft throughput around severe weather, and maintain safe levels of controller workload. This paper describes these CRCT weather enhancements, the operational concept upon which computer aided weather rerouting is based, and the methodology that will be used to assess TFM benefits. Preliminary results of that assessment will be available in September 2000.