Over-ocean flights
By Crystal Kua
becoming more flexible
Star-BulletinNew technology and procedures by the Federal Aviation Administration will help airlines plan flights more efficiently when expected upturns in the mainland and Asian economies boost passengers to Hawaii, an FAA official says.
"As we continue to do improvements, what the passenger moving to and from the mainland and Hawaii, and from Asia into Hawaii, will see is a greater flexibility on part of the airline related to scheduling," FAA Director of Air Traffic Ronald E. Morgan said.
Morgan spoke before the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Tuesday, where he described advances in technology in air traffic control.
After his speech, Morgan detailed how advances will help flights over oceans and Hawaii.
"When you improve the oceanic air traffic control system, what the state will see, if the airlines choose, they'll be able to have more flexible routes," Morgan said.
These technologies will help airlines save fuel, get smaller, fuller jets across a large ocean and enable them to be flexible with schedules to meet the needs of their customers.
"It is most valuable when the economy turns around and there's a greater demand for travel services, but it is also a useful tool in scheduling during economic downtimes," Morgan said.
Because of the altitude and distance limitations, flexibility is difficult in ocean air travel but advances implemented by the FAA could help airlines with that.
For example, jets are less efficient at lower altitudes and they burn more gas.
"And when you get higher up, you're traveling the same speed but burning less gas," Morgan said.
"That's why you would want to get up and over with someone in front of you," he added, which is the advantage of an initiative in place called in-trail climb and in-trail descent.
Another advancement is the Dynamic Aircraft Route Planning which would enable a flight to update or revise its route when new weather forecasts are received.
"When you're a customer, you want to go when you want to go. You don't want to wait eight hours for the next flight," Morgan said.
"The airlines want to be able to do what they need to do depending on how the economy changes and how passenger requirement changes."
