Air Routing International’s Domestic Flight Watch (DFW) program, now in its second year, is designed to reduce the impact of ATC delays and reroutings on corporate and charter operators. “The DFW program has succeeded in boosting the domestic air operations efficiency and time management of Air Routing’s clients,” said vice president Tim Maystrik. The service relies on a partnership among Air Routing meteorologists and flight planners, NBAA’s general aviation desk and the FAA.

“Our client aircraft are now treated by the FAA the same way the FAA treats the airlines when it comes to issuing delays and reroutes,” Maystrik said. “Clients are finding that being informed in advance about potential delays is helping them make effective operational decisions. Everything downline, from ground transportation to important meetings as well as unnecessary stress on passengers, is affected by actual or potential delays. In addition, our ability to recommend alternate routings or feeder airports has, at the very least, minimized our clients’ delays and in many cases has shown a negligible effect on their schedule for the day.”

The DFW is in effect for all international trips planned and filed by Air Routing. Operators that file their own domestic flight plans can get DFW coverage by subscribing to the program and submitting their domestic schedules by phone, fax, e-mail, Air Routing Flight Manager or selected scheduling software programs. DFW clients can obtain fresh information on airspace flow programs, ground-delay programs, ground stops, arrival and departure delays, en route constraints, reroutes currently in effect, departure restrictions (for the client’s specific departure center), collaborative convective forecasts, notams and TFRs.

According to NBAA, during peak periods, between 4,000 and 6,000 aircraft operate in the National Airspace System, equivalent to 50,000 aircraft operations per day.