Tanking Strategies for Transatlantic air-to-air refueling operations

Abstract

The project REsearch on a CRuiser Enabled Air Transport Environment (RECREATE) is about the introduction and airworthiness of cruiser-feeder operations for civil aircraft. Cruiser-feeder operations are investigated as a promising pioneering idea for the air transport of the future. The top level objective of the project is to demonstrate on a preliminary design level that cruiser-feeder operations (as a concept to reduce fuel burn and CO2 emission levels) can be shown to comply with the airworthiness requirements for civil aircraft. (The project is funded through the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission.) Air-to-air refuelling operations are an example of this concept. Currently Air-to-air refuelling operations are primary used to extend range of aircrafts in military operation. However some research has been done in the past to estimate fuel saving capabilities of air-to-air refuelling in both military and civil operations. Most of these estimations give highly positive results on the fuel saving capabilities. Nevertheless these results mainly based on a small number of optimised cases. As part of the primary design in the RECREATE project this paper will discuss air-to-air refuelling operations in a traffic scenario based on the Star Alliance transatlantic flight schedule for one day in December. Adapted from these flight routes the location and criteria for useful tanker bases will be discussed. Continuative different Tanking strategies will be designed for this scenario. The focus will lie on the fuel savings which can be achieved with different Tanking strategies and which will be estimated in a traffic simulation. Furthermore the Tanker workload during the day on each Tanker base used in this scenario will be identified. Thus the necessary number of Tankers on each base could be appraised. To archive these different tanking strategies, different tanker dimensions, different cruiser aircrafts as well as different durations for the refuelling operation will be taken into account in this paper. In Result the most promising cases will be used for more detailed analysis within the RECREATE project.