A General Approach to Equity in Traffic Flow Management and Its Application to Mitigating Exemption Bias in Ground Delay Programs

A primary objective of the FAA’s ATM functions is to provide fair and equitable access to the National Airspace System. Traditionally, the FAA has interpreted fairness as prioritizing flights on a “first-come, first-served” basis. The allocation procedures introduced under Collaborative Decision Making (CDM), however, represent a departure from this paradigm: allocations are based on carriers’ original flight schedules. The concept of fairness under CDM is largely left implicit in the procedures. Different and even conflicting concepts are sometimes used to describe these procedures. Moreover, the achievement of equitable allocations is often complicated by practical considerations. This paper describes a general framework for equitable allocation procedures within the context of air traffic management (ATM), and illustrates its use in reducing certain systematic biases that exist under current procedures. We also discuss other applications of this approach, and summarize practical considerations and implementation issues.