World-Wide Air Traffic: Route-based versus Direct

In 2016, DLR launched the project World Wide Air Traffic Management (WW-ATM). The project creates a platform for optimization and validation of world-wide concepts considering feasibility, throughput, costs- and ecological efficiency, and robustness respectively fault liability. One of the early tasks within the project was the generation of a world-wide air traffic scenario. Having reached a good maturity level with a standard route-based scenario with more than 105000 flights, this paper evaluates the potential benefits when switching to free-route airspace as already implemented in some European countries like Hungary.