Originally Posted by
Fiordland
So are they running some computer code that figures out the cheapest route given ATC and fuel burn etc?
It is quite amazing the information that the computer needs to consider and can provide a route, fuel, costs, etc all within a minute or so of requesting a flight plan generation. At a very high-level, the flight planning systems need to consider:
1) Optimize type (Time, Cost, Fuel)
2) Weather, winds, icing, turbulence, etc
3) Route requirements: Preferred Routes, NOTAM closures, RAD/CDR constraints, FL profiles, ETOPS/ETP etc
4) ATC Constraints: Slot availability, Sector capacity, military activity, etc
5) Country Requirements: Permits, curfews, etc
6) Airline-specific requirements: Company routes, local ATC agreements
7) Aircraft capability: Payload, range, FL constraints, ETOPS/ETP, performance profiles, etc