First results of the AURORA research project

The AURORA project obtains the first results on efficiency metrics from the perspective of the airspace users

CRIDA leads the AURORA project in which BOEING, CeADAR and FR24 participate together with four airlines. The AURORA project, financed by SESAR, which aims to define new metrics that encapsulate the operational objectives of the airlines (fuel consumption, schedule adherence, cost efficiency…), offers the first results after implementing innovative methods to calculate the new metrics.

For this first set of results, the Amsterdam (AMS) – London (LHR) route has been chosen, and four metrics have been evaluated: KEP, KEA, FEP_DW and FEA_DW. The first two indicators assess distance efficiency, KEP comparing the flight plan route and the geodesic route, i.e. the shortest distance path between two points on the Earth’s surface, and KEA comparing the surveillance data and the geodesic route. The last two indicators compare the fuel consumption of the flight plan route and the surveillance data against the fuel consumption of the geodesic route, considering weather impact, in particular the wind.

The complete results can be found on the blog of FR24.

Further information about the AURORA project on their own web page.