ATC economic modeling

Airspace congestion has become an increasingly significant phenomenon in Europe during the last decade. In several geographic areas, the air traffic control system is functioning at full capacity, causing congestion and resulting in delays difficulty bearable for the airlines. Different approaches have been followed to solve the problem, but things have been mainly envisioned from a technical and operational point of view. On the operational side, several solutions have been brought into play : control sectors have been redesigned to optimize the flow of traffic, controllers work periods have been rescheduled to offer maximum capacity in periods of high demand, and the compatibility of national systems has been improved. On the technical side, new systems are being designed to help the controllers solve difficult conflict situations, and research is going on in several areas to enlarge control centers capacities in the future. However, these efforts are costly, and attention is now focusing more and more on the economic aspects of air traffic control, particularly costs estimations, project evaluation and demand management. Some important questions are : What is the optimal organization in terms of costs ? Is it possible to manage demand in order to have a more efficient use of existing capacity, considering the costs of dimensioning the system for peak periods ?