Patent ID: 8504281

Claim:
A method of evaluating flight substitution and reroute for a plurality of flights, wherein each of said plurality of flights is assigned a route, a FCA controlled time of arrival (FCA_CTA) slot, a controlled time of departure, and a destination controlled time of arrival, wherein said plurality of flights are sorted according to said FCA_CTA slot to pass sequentially through a flight constrained area, the method comprising: a. assigning a new route to a first flight, said first flight being one of said plurality of flights; b. making the FCA_CTA slot of said first flight available for assignment to a subsequent flight, said subsequent flight being one of said plurality of flights; c. determining a new destination controlled time of arrival for said first flight; d. assigning a new FCA_CTA slot to said subsequent fight according to a method comprising: i. determining whether said FCA_CTA slot assigned to said subsequent flight can be updated to substitute said FCA_CTA slot made available by a preceding flight, said preceding flight being one of said plurality of flights; ii. if said subsequent flight FCA_CTA slot can be updated to substitute said FCA_CTA slot made available by said preceding flight, then replace said subsequent flight FCA_CTA with said FCA_CTA slot made available by said preceding flight; iii, if said subsequent flight FCA_CTA slot cannot be updated to substitute said FCA_CTA slot made available by said preceding flight, then replace said subsequent flight FCA_CTA according to a slot credit substitution give away method, in which a slot credit substitution give away time is calculated; and iv. making said subsequent flight FCA_CTA slot available to other flights in said plurality of flights; e. calculating a re-route benefit as a function of at least the following: i. said FCA_CTA of said first flight; ii. said FCA_CTA of a last flight, said last flight having latest FCA_CTA slot among all flights in said plurality of flights; iii. difference between said new destination controlled time of arrival and said destination controlled time of arrival of said first flight; and iv. said slot credit substitution give away time assigned to each of said subsequent flights; and f. calculating a re-route cost as a function of at least the following parameters of said route and said new route of said first flight: i. a flight distance; ii. a flight air time; and iii. a flight fuel cost.