Analysis of patterns and trends in air traffic behaviour in different en-route atc sectors using a complexity indicator

Abstract Air traffic is currently increasing. But the ATC service, which is responsible for providing control of aircraft crossing the airspace, is unable to increase its capacity to cope with this demand. This makes airspace an increasingly complex environment. Complexity is thus becoming an area of interest. This paper aims to develop a complexity indicator based on the behaviour of the main flows of a sector. By means of Exploratory Data Analysis, it is possible to obtain a study that allows the complexity of different sectors to be compared with each other, as well as to analyse in detail the complexity of a sector or its causes. This exploratory analysis carried out for the study of complexity is very extensive, and can allow the ATC service to have a general or specific view of the complexity of the sectors, or even of the behaviour of certain air traffic flows. This is of great help, and can be a tool for optimising human and technological resources within the ATC service.