Coordinated capacity and demand management in a redesigned Air Traffic Management value-chain

We present a re-designed European Air Traffic Management value-chain, with a new role for the Network Manager, which coordinates capacity and demand management decisions, using economic instruments for both areas. A conceptual and mathematical model supports decision-making in that process, focusing on capacity management decisions taken at the strategic level. Total costs are minimized by jointly managing sector-opening schemes and trajectory assignments. A large-scale case study demonstrates clear trade-offs between the volume of capacity ordered and the scope of necessary demand management actions. In addition, the comparison against a baseline, which resembles the current system, shows that with the proposed concept less capacity is needed to serve the same demand, resulting in lower total cost for Aircraft Operators.