Flight distance modelling to evaluate flight efficiency and environmental impact

Abstract

The main objective of this project is to create models and study the real flight distance, horizontal and vertical flight efficiency, fuel consumption, and emissions, for short and medium-haul flights in Europe, based on real flight data obtained from ADS-B readings, using the online application Flightradar24. With most studies on consumption and emissions relying on the great circle distance (GCD) to measure the flight distance in air operations, the need to better adjust the flight time and flight distance to reality arose. To do so, all the input data on which this project is based on corresponds to real commercial flights that took place in Europe, between October 2021 and May 2022. After collecting and processing the data using software tools such as Matlab and Excel, a model was created to better understand which factors affect the flight distance. These models can be useful to, for example, study the possibility of intermodality, a solution that proposes that some flights are replaced by more sustainable transport models, such as the train. Then, the real flight distance and maximum flight level are compared to the GCD and the reference altitude respectively, to find the Horizontal Flight Efficiency (HFE) and Vertical Flight Efficiency (VFE). Finally, a fuel consumption, and consequently, an emission study, is carried out not to only find out the relationship between emissions and flight efficiency, but also to assess how different air traffic management (ATM) solutions, such as free route airspace or continuous descent operations affect the consumption and emissions. The results obtained allow the user to, knowing the GCD between two airport pairs, find an estimation of the real flight distance and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, after assessing the current situation in European airspace regarding flight efficiency, it is studied if the defined ATM solutions indeed reduce, and how much, the fuel burnt and emissions.

Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::13 - Acció per al Clima