Benefits Analysis of the National Traffic Management Log

Traffic Management Specialists within the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system strategically manage the flow of air traffic to minimize delays and congestion due to system stressors such as heavy volume, weather, and equipment outages. ATC facilities are required to log all traffic management initiatives (TMIs), coordinate the implementation of some initiatives with the Air Traffic Control System Command Center, and communicate TMIs to Traffic Management Specialists at all affected facilities and to the controllers within their facility. The Federal Aviation Administration developed the National Traffic Management Log (NTML) to provide a single system for automated coordination, logging, and communication of TMIs. This paper describes the results of an empirical comparison of TMI processing with and without NTML in terms of time, potential for user error, and workload.