Evaluation of Regional Jet Operating Patterns in the Continental United States by Aleksandra L. Mozdzanowska Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASSACHUSETTS INSTIfUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering JUL O 1 2004 at the LIBRARIES MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TCHNOLOGY AERO May 2004 @ Aleksandra Mozdzanowska. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. A uthor.............. ....... Ale andawMozdzanowska Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics A I ,,May 7, 2004 Certified by.............................................. R. John Hansman Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Thesis Supervisor Accepted by.......................................... Edward M. Greitzer H.N. Slater Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Chair, Department Committee on Graduate Students 1 * t eWe I 4 w 4 'It ~tI* ~I 'U Evaluation of Regional Jet Operating Patterns in the Continental United States by Aleksandra Mozdzanowska Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics on May 7th 2004, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering Abstract Airlines are increasingly using regional jets to better match aircraft size to high value, but limited demand markets. The increase in regional jet usage represents a significant change from traditional air traffic patterns. To investigate the possible impacts of this change on the air traffic management and control systems, this study analyzed the emerging flight patterns and performance of regional jets compared to traditional jets and turboprops. This study used ASDI data, which consists of actual flight track data, to analyze flights between January 1998 and January 2003. In addition, a study of regional jet economics, using Form 41 data, was conducted in order to better understand the observed patterns. It was found that in 1998 US regional jet patterns and utilization closely resembled those of the turboprops. Both aircraft were used for hub feeder operations. They flew relatively short distances, under 500 nautical miles, and exhibited similar cruise altitudes and speeds. These patterns began to change as the number of regional jets increased. By January 2003, the regional jets were no longer used solely for hub feeder operations, but were flying longer routes at higher altitudes and faster speeds than turboprops. As a result, regional jets have come to fill a gap in the market by flying on longer routes than the turboprops, but shorter than the narrow body jets. An economic analysis was conducted in order to better understand the observed regional jet patterns. It was found that regional jets have lower operating costs per trip and higher operating costs per ASM than traditional jets. As a result, regional jets are currently a lower cost alternative for traditional airlines because they cover the cost of regional jet flights on a per departure basis. However, if this structure were to change regional jets would become a less appealing alternative. To better understand the consequences of a change in the operation patterns, changes in the cost of regional and traditional jets were analyzed when trip length and pilot costs per block hour were normalized. It was found that regional jet costs per trip are very similar to traditional jet costs per trip when the trip length between the two aircraft categories is normalized, but that the normalization of pilot cost per block does not have a significant effect on the relative costs of the two aircraft types. 3 In 2003, the US regional jet operations showed a high density of flights in the north- eastern part of the country. This part of the US also has the largest concentration of traditional jet operations; this interaction may result in congestion problems since the two types of aircraft exhibit different performance. In particular, regional jets were observed to exhibit lower climb rates than traditional jets, which may impact air traffic control handling and sector design. It was also observed that as regional jets replace turboprops, they compete for runways and take off trajectories with narrow body jets. The combination of the different performance and the competition for resources between regional and other jets may result in increased delays and congestions as well as increased controller workload. The future growth of regional jets is uncertain. However, currently both US Airways and Jet Blue have placed orders for new Embraer aircraft indicating that the growth of regional jets will continue for the time being. In addition, both Embraer and Bombardier are currently designing and manufacturing larger regional jets. These aircraft will be designed to accommodate more passengers on further trips and as a result will further change the composition and performance capabilities of the national fleet. Thesis Supervisor: R. John Hansman Title: Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics 4 Acknowledgements Thanks to John Hansman, my advisor, for his support and patience. Thanks to Emil Sit, for his continuing support and for answering all my programming questions. Thanks to Dale Rhoda for helping me get access to ETMS data. Thanks to Jason Ruchelsman for helping with the economic analysis of regional jets. Thanks to all my family and friends for all their support and encouragement. 5 I Contents 1 Introduction 15 1.1 O bjectiv e ............................................................................................................. 15 1.2 M otiv ation ........................................................................................................ 15 1.3 B ackground .................................................................................................... 16 2 Methodology 21 2.1 A nalysis O utline ............................................................................................. 21 2.2 D ata S ources ................................................................................................... 2 1 2.3 D ata Processing ............................................................................................... 24 2.4 Visualization of Traffic Data........................................................................... 26 3 Operating Patterns of Regional Jet, Traditional Jet, and Turboprops 29 3.1 Regional Jet Growth and Operating Patterns ................................................. 29 3.2 Regional Jet Operating Patterns Compared to Other Aircraft Types............. 33 3.3 Stage Length Evolution ................................................................................. 35 4 Regional Jet Economics 39 4.1 Econom ic Analysis ........................................................................................ 39 4.2 R egional Jet C osts .......................................................................................... 41 4.2.1 Regional Jet Costs as a Function of Stage Length............................... 43 4.2.2 Operating Cost as a Function of Pilot Cost........................................... 45 4.3 O w nership C osts............................................................................................. 47 5 Understanding Regional Jet Growth and Patterns 51 5.1 Reasons for Regional Jet Growth .................................................................... 51 5.2 Constraints on Regional Jet Growth............................................................... 54 5.3 The Future of Regional Jets............................................................................. 56 6 Comparison of Regional Jet, Traditional Jet, and Turboprop Performance 59 6.1 Performance Study Motivation...................................................................... 59 6.2 Comparison of Cruise Speeds and Altitudes ................................................. 59 6.3 Comparison of Climb Rates .......................................................................... 63 7 Possible Consequences of Regional Jet Growth 67 7.1 A irport A rea................................................................................................... 67 7 7.2 Term inal Area................................................................................................. 70 7.3 En Route Congestion ...................................................................................... 73 7.4 Sum mary of A TC Concerns ............................................................................. 73 8 Conclusions 75 8.1 Sum mary of Findings ...................................................................................... 75 8 List of Figures Figure 1: US Regional Jet Growth Based on FAA Registration Data [2] ..................... 16 Figure 2: Examples of an E 145 (50 seats) and CRJ 2 (50 seats) [3][4]........................ 17 Figure 3: 3-view D raw ing of E145 [3] .......................................................................... 18 Figure 4: 3-view D rawing of CRJ2 [4]........................................................................... 19 Figure 5: Structure of Processed ASDI Data ............................................................... 24 Figure 6: Density Map of 24 Hours of Flights in January 2003: Limited Scale........... 27 Figure 7: Density Map of 24 Hours of Flights in January 2003: Unlimited Scale ..... 28 Figure 8: Density Map Close up of 24 Hours of Flights at Atlanta in January