FATHOM, EUROCONTROL’s new interactive analysis tool, helps aircraft operators achieve more efficient, sustainable flights

Aircraft operators can quickly determine how their actual performance compares to their planned performance, and take measures to adapt flight plans in the future. FATHOM has been put in place by the EUROCONTROL NM to share detailed operational performance data with the aviation community and improve the efficiency and sustainability of air traffic in Europe. The tool has been presented to airline representatives as part of the Operational Excellence Programme, and in the future will equally be made available to airports, air navigation service providers, aviation associations and other aviation stakeholders.

As the aviation sector strives to decarbonise, operational improvements to reduce fuel burn have a key role to play as they can be implemented fairly quickly and at relatively low cost. The potential for such carbon emissions reduction through operational improvement is significant: according to recent EUROCONTROL estimates, inefficiencies in the European air traffic management network result in an average additional fuel burn of 8.6%-11.2%. FATHOM users can easily recognise the potential for fuel burn improvements and cost savings for their flights with the metric the EUROCONTROL NM has developed for ideal fuel consumption for city-pairs based on the 10% of most fuel-efficient flights across the network.

Updated on a daily basis for a 5-week rolling period, FATHOM provides an overview of traffic and ATFM delays, enabling users to compare current traffic and delays with the results from the same period in the previous year. With the ability to drill down into details, the interactive analysis tool also gives insight into:

• flow traffic illustrating how flights are moving around within the network;
• ATFM regulations: showing users which regulation affected their flight and the attributed ATFM delays;
• flight plan event messages: allowing users to gain insight into which event grouping positively or negatively influenced their flight metrics;
• punctuality results for airlines’ top departure and arrival airports;
• sector configuration: enabling aircraft operators to understand better an area control centre’s ability to manage the demand based on the available capacity at a specific time.