The Flight Centric ATC concept rethinks the approach to air traffic control and the greatest impact of the concept is expected in the areas of air traffic control officer (ATCO) productivity (flights per ATCO hour on duty), fuel efficiency, human performance and safety.
ATCO PRODUCTIVITY
The Flight Centric ATC concept aims to distribute workload evenly among air traffic controllers by applying appropriate allocation strategies. Thus, the available resources, in this case controllers, are used more efficiently and their capacities can be fully utilized. Under- and overloading of individual controllers is avoided and ATCO productivity can be increased.
FUEL EFFICIENCY
Fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions are reduced in a Flight Centric ATC operating environment, as it enables more direct routing between take-off and landing and conflicts can be resolved proactively with minimal deviations from the planned trajectories.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE
The introduction of Flight Centric ATC operations fundamentally reshape the way air traffic control is conducted and hence how air traffic controller work. The larger the Flight Centric ATC airspace to be controlled, the greater the change to the current role and task of the air traffic controller. Established and well-proven procedures in handling air traffic are not applicable one-to-one in Flight Centric ATC and have to be adapted accordingly, partly by using higher levels of automation, e.g. in FCA-specific support tools. The acceptance of air traffic controllers to change their way of working is one big challenge when introducing a concept like Flight Centric ATC which rethinks air traffic control.
SAFETY
A safe system, such as air traffic control, cannot be fundamentally changed without undergoing a comprehensive safety assessment. A change must not be made at the expense of safety in air traffic control operations; instead, it must be ensured that the introduction of Flight Centric ATC maintains or improves the current safety standards
