Aircraft fuel optimization for multi-stop routes

1. A method, executed by one or more computing devices, for reducing operational costs relating to fuel burn of aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, trip data including an origin, an intermediate destination, a final destination, an aircraft, a payload, and a preexisting fuel amount from a client device;

receiving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, operational data including a set of airports including an origin airport corresponding to the origin, an intermediate destination airport corresponding to the intermediate destination, and a final destination airport corresponding to the final destination, a fuel price for each airport in the set of airports, and runway specifications for each airport in the set of airports;

performing, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, optimization logic to determine an optimized route having a minimum fuel cost,

wherein the optimized route indicates the amount of fuel to upload at each of the origin airport, the intermediate destination airport, and the final destination airport,

wherein the optimization logic considers each of the preexisting fuel amount, a maximum takeoff fuel amount for the aircraft, a minimum reserve fuel amount for the aircraft, the payload, a fuel burn for the aircraft to travel from the origin airport to the intermediate destination airport, a fuel burn for the aircraft to travel from the intermediate destination airport to the final destination airport, and the price of fuel at each of the origin airport, the intermediate destination airport, and the final destination airport; and

transmitting, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the optimized route to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying an additional airport in the set of airports determined to be within a fuel search corridor;

determining whether the additional airport has a runway compatible with the aircraft;

determining whether adding a detour to the additional airport to upload fuel would reduce a total fuel cost based on an additional fuel burn required to detour to the additional airport and the price of fuel at the additional airport, and

adding the additional airport and an amount of fuel to be purchased at the additional airport to the optimized route if it is determined that the runway is compatible with the aircraft and that the detour would reduce the total fuel cost.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fuel search corridor is one of a time variance and a distance variance from a flight path from the origin airport to the intermediate destination airport to the final destination airport.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving one of the fuel search corridor time variance and the fuel search corridor distance variance from the client device.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising receiving a time-based operating cost, wherein the step of determining whether adding the additional airport to the optimized route to purchase fuel would reduce the total fuel cost is also based on the operating cost of the detour to the additional airport.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving operational data includes receiving a fuel price for a plurality of fixed base operators at one or more airports in the set of airports having more than one fixed base operator;

the method further comprising determining a cheapest fixed base operator for each airport in the set of airports,

wherein the optimization logic considers the cheapest fixed base operator for each airport, and

wherein the optimized route indicates the cheapest fixed base operator at each airport having a plurality of fixed base operators.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the origin received from the client device is the origin airport.

8. A system for reducing operational costs relating to fuel burn of aircraft comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured for:

receiving trip data including an origin, an intermediate destination, a final destination, an aircraft, a payload, and a preexisting fuel amount from a client device;

receiving operational data including a set of airports including an origin airport corresponding to the origin, an intermediate destination airport corresponding to the intermediate destination, and a final destination airport corresponding to the final destination, a fuel price for each airport in the set of airports, and runway specifications for each airport in the set of airports;

performing optimization logic to determine an optimized route having a minimum fuel cost,

wherein the optimized route indicates the amount of fuel to upload at each of the origin airport, the intermediate destination airport, and the final destination airport,

wherein the optimization logic considers each of the preexisting fuel amount, a maximum takeoff fuel amount for the aircraft, a minimum reserve fuel amount for the aircraft, the payload, a fuel burn for the aircraft to travel from the origin airport to the intermediate destination airport, a fuel burn for the aircraft to travel from the intermediate destination airport to the final destination airport, and the price of fuel at each of the origin airport, the intermediate destination airport, and the final destination airport; and

transmitting the optimized route to the client device.

9. The system of claim 8 , the processor further configured for:

identifying an additional airport in the set of airports determined to be within a fuel search corridor;

determining whether the additional airport has a runway compatible with the aircraft;

determining whether adding a detour to the additional airport to upload fuel would reduce a total fuel cost based on an additional fuel burn required to detour to the additional airport and the price of fuel at the additional airport, and

adding the additional airport and an amount of fuel to be purchased at the additional airport to the optimized route if it is determined that the runway is compatible with the aircraft and that the detour would reduce the total fuel cost.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the fuel search corridor is one of a time variance and a distance variance from a flight path from the origin airport to the intermediate destination airport to the final destination airport.

11. The system of claim 10 , the processor further configured for receiving one of the fuel search corridor time variance and the fuel search corridor distance variance from the client device.

12. The system of claim 9 , the processor further configured for receiving a time-based operating cost, wherein the step of determining whether adding the additional airport to the optimized route to purchase fuel would reduce the total fuel cost is also based on the operating cost of the detour to the additional airport.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the step of receiving operational data includes receiving a fuel price for a plurality of fixed base operators at one or more airports in the set of airports having more than one fixed base operator;

the processor further configured for determining a cheapest fixed base operator for each airport in the set of airports,

wherein the optimization logic considers the cheapest fixed base operator for each airport, and

wherein the optimized route indicates the cheapest fixed base operator at each airport having a plurality of fixed base operators.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable code stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device, performs a method for reducing operational costs relating to fuel burn of aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving trip data including an origin, an intermediate destination, a final destination, an aircraft, a payload, and a preexisting fuel amount from a client device;

receiving operational data including a set of airports including an origin airport corresponding to the origin, an intermediate destination airport corresponding to the intermediate destination, and a final destination airport corresponding to the final destination, a fuel price for each airport in the set of airports, and runway specifications for each airport in the set of airports;

performing optimization logic to determine an optimized route having a minimum fuel cost,

wherein the optimized route indicates the amount of fuel to upload at each of the origin airport, the intermediate destination airport, and the final destination airport,

wherein the optimization logic considers each of the preexisting fuel amount, a maximum takeoff fuel amount for the aircraft, a minimum reserve fuel amount for the aircraft, the payload, a fuel burn for the aircraft to travel from the origin airport to the intermediate destination airport, a fuel burn for the aircraft to travel from the intermediate destination airport to the final destination airport, and the price of fuel at each of the origin airport, the intermediate destination airport, and the final destination airport; and

transmitting the optimized route to the client device.

15. The medium of claim 14 , the method further comprising:

identifying an additional airport in the set of airports determined to be within a fuel search corridor;

determining whether the additional airport has a runway compatible with the aircraft;

determining whether adding a detour to the additional airport to upload fuel would reduce a total fuel cost based on an additional fuel burn required to detour to the additional airport and the price of fuel at the additional airport, and

adding the additional airport and an amount of fuel to be purchased at the additional airport to the optimized route if it is determined that the runway is compatible with the aircraft and that the detour would reduce the total fuel cost.

16. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the fuel search corridor is one of a time variance and a distance variance from a flight path from the origin airport to the intermediate destination airport to the final destination airport.

17. The medium of claim 16 , the method further comprising receiving one of the fuel search corridor time variance and the fuel search corridor distance variance from the client device.

18. The medium of claim 15 , the method further comprising receiving a time-based operating cost, wherein the step of determining whether adding the additional airport to the optimized route to purchase fuel would reduce the total fuel cost is also based on the operating cost of the detour to the additional airport.

19. The medium of claim 14 , wherein the step of receiving operational data includes receiving a fuel price for a plurality of fixed base operators at one or more airports in the set of airports having more than one fixed base operator;

the method further comprising determining a cheapest fixed base operator for each airport in the set of airports,

wherein the optimization logic considers the cheapest fixed base operator for each airport, and

wherein the optimized route indicates the cheapest fixed base operator at each airport having a plurality of fixed base operators.

20. The medium of claim 14 , the method further comprising receiving a time-based operating cost, wherein the step of performing optimization logic is also based on the operating cost of the time required to upload fuel at more than one airport.