Improved flexibility and equity for airspace users during demand-capacity imbalance: An introduction to the user driven prioritisation process

ATFM slot-swapping represents the first step towards the participation of airspace users (AUs) in air traffic management and airport collaborative processes. SESAR is advancing this through development of the user driven prioritisation process (UDPP) to achieve additional flexibility for AUs to adapt their operations in a more cost-efficient manner in the presence of unforeseen demand and capacity imbalances that require the application of delays to flights. The contribution of this paper is twofold: (i) to present the challenges achieved so far with respect to UDPP concepts, in particular regarding fleet delay apportionment and selective flight protection; (ii) to pave the way towards future UDPP concepts through the introduction of enhanced selective flight protection.