Aircraft Operations and CNS/ATM

Dear Colleagues,

Cruise flight typically represents the longest flight phase, where most of the on-board fuel is burnt, most of the pollutant gases are emitted in the atmosphere, and where contrail-induced cloudiness might occur. Although aircraft aerodynamics and engines are carefully optimized for typical cruise altitudes, the lack of airspace capacity prevent airlines to plan and/or execute optimal trajectories due to multiple kinds of air traffic management (ATM) regulations and procedures. Moreover, different uncertainty sources, such as weather and airspace congestion itself, along with the communication, navigation, and surveillance capabilities of certain airspaces, might also have an important effect on how these trajectories are planned and executed.

There is still room for improvement in cruise operations in order to enhance flight efficiency while avoiding compromises to safety and airspace capacity. New on-board, ground-based or distributed technological enablers; 4-dimensional accurate and robust trajectory management; more accurate atmospheric and climate impact models; and new ATM paradigms and concepts of operation will certainly contribute to a cleaner, more profitable and sustainable aviation.

This Special Issue addresses a broad list of topics related to how cruise flight can be improved from a flight trajectory and air traffic management point of view. Papers related, but not limited to, the following topics are welcome:

• (Robust) cruise trajectory planning, optimization, prediction, synchronization, negotiation, guidance, and execution;
• Technological CNS enablers for improved cruise operations;
• En-route airspace management and air traffic control;
• En-route traffic flow management, trajectory options, and re-routing strategies;
• En-route separation and strategies to increase en-route capacity;
• Modelling and computation of gaseous emissions and climate impact due to cruise operations;
• Weather forecasting and weather-related products for cruise operations; and
• Modelling and computation of flight efficiency and airspace capacity performance indicators for cruise/en-route operations.

Dr. Xavier Prats
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.