There is information that pilots and airlines can find very useful to reduce fuel consumption during the flight. For example, when aircraft are approaching an airport, knowing the distance to the runway threshold where they must begin their descent to land, or knowing in advance if they will have to circle in the air to wait to land if there is heavy congestion, or knowing the landing order number, or what speed will be required for their final approach, would allow the pilot to calculate the appropriate altitude and speed to carry out a more efficient descent, reducing the impact on noise or fuel consumption.

Air traffic controllers and the systems they use could provide this information, but it is not information that is provided in a procedural way or calculated directly. In addition, at times of high congestion, providing this information would overload the controllers and therefore lead to safety problems.

The challenge is to develop a solution that provides this information that can be presented to the pilot without increasing the controllers’ workload.