Departure Efficiency Benefits of Terminal RNAV Operations at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

On September 6, 2005 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented revised Standard Instrument Departure (SID) procedures at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). The procedures leverage Area Navigation (RNAV) capabilities that enable greater flexibility and accuracy in point-to-point navigation. Implementation of the procedures relies on flight automation systems currently available on the majority of commercial and corporate aircraft and promises more efficient utilization of available runways and constrained airspace surrounding the airport. This paper outlines the design of DFW's RNAV departure procedures and reviews the mechanism that enables operational benefits. It describes the Monte Carlo modeling approach taken to evaluate operational changes, the methodology used to validate model performance with radar data, and presents potential departure capacity and delay reduction benefits of RNAV departure operations at DFW. It shows that delay reduction benefits to users and operators of close to $10 million annually are possible for DFW when conducting RNAV departure operations. Key performance metrics of the model are compared to performance metrics obtained from extensive pre- and post-implementation evaluations. They confirm that the required operational changes that enable delay reduction benefits were largely realized within the first 2 months after implementation of the procedures.