Operation-Based Fight Profile Optimization with Continuous Cruise Climb Operations

The pursuit of sustainable aviation is crucial for the aviation industry, both from environmental and economical perspectives. Minimizing fuel consumption in commercial aviation, which is directly influenced by operational strategies, is an important element of this effort. This paper explores the optimization of flight mission profiles, particularly on the continuous climb profile while cruising to maximize range. Unlike previous research, which primarily focused on finding the optimal cruising altitudes, our present study also considers the entire flight profile, including take-off, climb, descent, and landing phases. These phases introduce unique constraints that are dependent on various airlines and routes. Our analysis of Quick Access Recorder (QAR) data shows that variations in flight paths can result in up to a 33% difference in fuel consumption for identical origin-destination pairs under similar conditions, which suggests some rooms for improvement in the current flight path planning procedure. To this end, we propose a comprehensive approach that optimizes the entire flight trajectory by accounting for constraints in all flight segments. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated through a comparative analysis of fuel consumption using historical flight data from 2019-2020. This analysis provides insights into achieving greater fuel efficiency in actual operations by employing the most optimal scenario.