Schedule management system and method for managing air traffic

A schedule management system for managing air traffic comprising multiple aircraft that are within a defined airspace and approaching an arrival airport, each of the multiple aircraft having existing trajectory parameters comprising three-dimensional position and velocity, the schedule management system comprising:

• on-aircraft flight management systems individually associated with the multiple aircraft and adapted to determine aircraft trajectory and flight-specific cost data of the aircraft associated therewith;
• an air traffic control system adapted to monitor the multiple aircraft but is not located on any of the multiple aircraft, the air traffic control system having a decision support tool, the air traffic control system being operable to acquire the aircraft trajectory and the flight-specific cost data from the flight management systems and generate a scheduled time-of-arrival (STA) for each of the multiple aircraft for at least one location along an approach to the arrival airport;
• wherein if any of the multiple aircraft miss the STA thereof at the at least one location and thereby delays a second of the multiple aircraft flying towards the at least one location to impose a later STA for the second aircraft, the air traffic control system is operable to transmit the aircraft trajectory and the flight-specific cost data to the decision support tool, utilize the decision support tool to determine if a particular trajectory alteration is more cost-efficient for the second aircraft to absorb the delay associated with the later STA, and then transmit instructions to the second aircraft based on a human decision facilitated by the decision support tool.