Methods and systems for managing air traffic

A method of negotiating air traffic comprising multiple aircraft that are within an airspace surrounding an airport and scheduled to arrive at least one of:

• a runway of the airport, and an intermediate metering fix, each of the multiple aircraft having existing user-preferred trajectory parameters comprising user-preferred altitude, speed and lateral route thereof, the method comprising:
• monitoring of the user-preferred trajectory parameters of each aircraft of the multiple aircraft as the aircraft enters the airspace, the monitoring being performed with an air traffic control (ATC) system that is not located on any of the multiple aircraft;
• generating with the ATC system a scheduled time-of-arrival (STA) for each of the multiple aircraft at least one metering fix point;
• storing the STA for each aircraft;
• receiving or inferring data with the ATC system for at least a first of the multiple aircraft, the data comprising a minimum fuel-cost speed and predicted trajectory parameters of the first aircraft, the predicted trajectory parameters comprising predicted altitude, speed and lateral route of the first aircraft based on current values of the existing user-preferred trajectory parameters of the first aircraft modified by any unintentional modifications thereto;
• receiving or generating auxiliary data for the first aircraft using the predicted trajectory parameters of the first aircraft, the auxiliary data comprising an earliest estimated time-of-arrival (ETAmin) and a latest estimated time-of-arrival (ETAmax) for the first aircraft at the metering fix point;
• performing a computation with the ATC system to determine if the STA of the first aircraft is in or outside an ETA range bounded by the ETAmin and the ETAmax thereof;
• transmitting to the first aircraft instructions to ensure that the first aircraft will arrive at the metering fix point at the STA or the ETAmin of the first aircraft;
• and
• updating the STA for each aircraft stored in a queue.