Energy-Efficient Path Planning for Commercial Aircraft Formation Flights
Open accessAbstract
The increasing global demand for air travel over the past three decades has led to heightened congestion, environmental concerns, and operational inefficiencies. This study explores the potential of commercial aircraft formation flight, inspired by the energy-saving flight patterns of migratory birds, to enhance fuel efficiency on the busy Melbourne to Sydney city-pair route. The methodology is divided into macroscopic and microscopic levels, addressing both strategic planning and detailed flight optimisation. The macroscopic level focuses on route optimisation, formation flight planning, air traffic management integration, and environmental impact. The microscopic level involves adjustments to individual aircraft flight profiles to ensure minimum separation, flight safety, and efficiency. Using a gradient-based optimisation algorithm applied to a constrained nonlinear multivariable function, this study aims to minimise fuel consumption and travel time while maintaining the required separation distances. The mathematical formulation and algorithm pseudocode provides a clear framework for implementation. The experimental results demonstrate the potential of formation flight to optimise fuel efficiency and resolve path conflicts on the Melbourne to Sydney route; despite a conservative 5% fuel efficiency improvement for the follower aircraft, the total fuel consumption decreased by 2.5–2.65% compared to the non-formation flight. These findings support the feasibility of applying formation flight principles to commercial aviation in Australia for improved fuel efficiency and operation performance of busy short-haul routes.
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Eti, S., Karaman, F., Yüksel, S., Dinçer, H., & Yaylalı, İ. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-32988-7 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Curtis, O., Xie, Y., Liang, M., & Bil, C.
- Affiliations
- RMIT University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Curtis, Olivia
- Venue
- 2nd International Conference on Green Aviation (ICGA 2024)
- Publisher
- MDPI
- Published
- 2025-01-06
- Pages
- 15
- OpenAlex
- W4406115678
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1
- FWCI
- 2.45
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Conference on Green Aviation (ICGA) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Air Traffic Management and Optimization
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering › Railway Systems and Energy Efficiency
- Keywords
- aircraft formation flight, path planning, fuel economy, commercial aviation, air traffic management, route optimization, gradient-based optimization, fuel consumption reduction
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