Pre-planned air routes or dynamic 4D trajectories? A comparative study of UTM ConOps

The development of low-altitude airspace presents emerging social and economic opportunities alongside governance challenges as drone delivery operations expand globally. Recent discussions have highlighted China’s advancements in the low-altitude economy while emphasizing the need for evidence-based governance frameworks and technical solutions. Although various concepts of operations (ConOps) for UAS Traffic Management (UTM) have been proposed, they often remain standalone concepts or ad hoc ideas, lacking systematic evaluation. This study offers a simulation-based assessment of three representative UTM strategies: structured corridors without intersections, corridors with controlled intersections, and fully dynamic trajectory-based operations. We evaluate trade-offs between safety, efficiency, and computational requirements. The results indicate that structured corridor systems can provide safety benefits with relatively low computational demands, while fully dynamic “free flight” models show efficiency gains only under limited conditions and at the cost of significantly higher computational requirements. The simulation results are relative - the absolute numbers would change as the conditions and set-ups vary. However, they provide understanding of the trade-offs and challenges that must be addressed as global interest in drone delivery continues to grow.