Operating cost sensitivity to required time of arrival commands to ensure separation in optimal aircraft 4D trajectories

•Sensitivity study of fuel and time consumption to imposed time advisories at fixes.•Case study of conflicting Airbus A320 departing two major airports in Catalonia.•Advancing or postponing a time request translates to an increase of fuel burned.•Conflict resolution efficiency of such methods as compared to current operations.•Sensitivity study to different airline cost index strategies.•Sensitivity study to different scenario geometries.

Trajectory optimisation has shown good potential to reduce environmental impact in aviation. However, a recurring problem is the loss in airspace capacity that fuel optimal procedures pose, usually overcome with speed, altitude or heading advisories that lead to more costly trajectories. This paper aims at the quantification in terms of fuel and time consumption of implementing suboptimal trajectories in a 4D trajectory context that use required times of arrival at specific navigation fixes. A case study is presented by simulating conflicting Airbus A320 departures from two major airports in Catalonia. It is shown how requiring an aircraft to arrive at a waypoint early or late leads to increased fuel burn. In addition, the efficiency of such methods to resolve air traffic conflicts is studied in terms of both fuel burn and resulting aircraft separations. Finally, various scenarios are studied reflecting various airline preferences with regards to cost and fuel burn, as well as different route and conflict geometries for a broader scope of study.