Patent ID: 8333078

Claim:
A method for controlling an aircraft air conditioning system, comprising: establishing a correlation between a plurality of values of a process air mass flow supplied to an air conditioning unit of the aircraft air conditioning system; and the fuel consumption of the aircraft, establishing a correlation between a plurality of values of an ambient air mass flow which is used to cool the process air mass flow supplied to the air conditioning unit of the aircraft air conditioning system; and the fuel consumption of the aircraft, associating a plurality of pairs of values of the process air mass flow and the ambient air mass flow with a predetermined cooling capacity of the aircraft air conditioning system, wherein the plurality of pairs of values enable the predetermined cooling capacity of the aircraft air conditioning system to be obtained, and controlling the process air mass flow and the ambient air mass flow in dependence on the predetermined cooling capacity of the aircraft air conditioning system such that the fuel consumption of the aircraft is minimized, wherein controlling the process air mass flow and the ambient air mass flow includes selecting the pair of values of the process air mass flow and the ambient air mass flow which enables the minimized fuel consumption of the aircraft from the plurality of pairs of values of the process air mass flow and the ambient air mass flow which are associated with the predetermined cooling capacity of the aircraft air conditioning system.