American Airlines Virtual

From the training department;

To all pilots at AAV;

Here are some facts on cost indexes for different airlines and or aircraft.

The cost index is a number used in the Flight Management System (FMS) to optimize the aircraft's speed. It gives the ratio between the unit cost of time and the unit cost of fuel.

With this number, and knowledge about the aircraft's performance, it is possible to calculate the optimal speed for the aircraft, which results in the lowest total cost.

Speeds slower than the optimal speed will result in less fuel burn, but also in more flying time. The cost of the extra flying time outweighs the fuel savings at speeds below the optimum speed.

Speeds faster than the optimal speed will result in more fuel burn, but also in less flying time. The saving of less flight time do not outweigh the fuel burn at speeds above the optimum speed.

A low cost index means that the cost of time is low or that fuel is expensive. It will result in a low speed. High cost index means high cost of time (e.g. passengers about to miss their flight connection) or low fuel price (rare these days).

At the minimum cost index (0) only fuel counts. This will result in the aircraft flying at Maximum Range Cruise. At the maximum cost index only time counts. This will result in the aircraft flying at Maximum Cruise Speed (Vmo / Mmo with a buffer)

Airlines generally have a standard cost index they use for planning and adjust them on a flight by flight basis.

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Air Baltic
28
B757 CI: 50

Air Berlin
30

Air Canada
B767s :100

Air France
Short/medium haul flight : 35
La Navette (France) : 250
Longhaul : 45
Delayed shorthaul : 250
Delayed longhaul : 135

Air Malta
B737 CI: 25

Air New Zealand
B767: 45
Austrian
35

British Airways Airbus Fleet:
A319/A320/A321
Climb at: Cost Index 0
Cruise at Cost Index 20
Boeing Fleet:
Boeing 737-300/400 and 500 Series
Climb at: Cost Index 0
Cruise at Cost Index 28
Boeing 747-400
Climb at: Cost Index 0
Cruise at Cost Index 90
Cost Index 0 (Sometimes used on East Coast USA to UK Flights and less often on UK to Singapore/Bangkok flights)
Boeing 757-200 and Boeing 767-300
Climb at: Cost Index 0
Cruise at Cost Index 40
Boeing 777-200
Climb at: Cost Index 0
Cruise at Cost Index 100
Cost Index 0 (Sometimes used on East Coast USA to UK Flights) British Midland 40

Cathay
B744 CI:80

China Airlines
85 (Nur B747)
Condor
Boeing 767-300ER: 30
Boeing 757: 18

EasyJet
Airbus A319 Cost Index: 12
Airbus A320 Cost Index: 12
Airbus A321 Cost Index: 23

EL AL
737's: 15-30
747's: 39(short/mid haul- Europe)757's: 20-40
767's: 30-45(30-40 for Europe, 40-45 long haul)
777's: 71(long haul, ex KLAX)

Emirates
Airbus A330-200 Cost Index: 25
FlyGlobespan
Boeing 737-700 Cost Index: 14
Boeing 737-800 Cost Index: 13

FlyNiki 35

Hamburg International
Airbus A319: 40
Boeing 737-700: 30

KLM
F70/100 Climb/Cruise : 30/15
737 Climb/Cruise : 30/15
A330 Climb/Cruise/Descend : 60/150(300)/30
MD11 Climb/Cruise/Descend : 50/100/20
777 Climb/Cruise/Descend : 50/100/20
747 Climb/Cruise/Descend : 150/300/50

Lufthansa
Airbusse: 30
Boeing 747-400: 70
Airbus A300-600: 35
Boeing 737-300: 25

Lufthansa Cargo 80

Luxair 50

Nordavia
Boeing 737-500 CI-27

NordStar Airlines
B737 NG: CI 30

Qantas
B744 CI: 100
Cost Index 40 for domestic flights
Cost Index 20 for most International plans, however they may be planned up to CI250 to meet schedule/duty limits

Ryanair
Boeing 737-800 Cost Index: 30
S7 30

SAS 45-50

Singapore Airlines
B747/B777 CI:150

Skyexpress Russia
B737 CL
?????????? = 28
????????????? = 32

South African 50

Southwest Airlines
737-300/500 CI:28
737-700 CI:36

Swiss Airlines
A32S:
FL290 and below: CI 10
above FL290: CI 20
A330-200 and A340-300:
LRC: CI 30
M.082 Cruise: CI 30 for Climb/Descend and Cruise up to FL280, above M.082 manually edited
M.083 Cruise: CI 150 for Climb/Descend and Cruise up to FL290, above above M.083 manually edited

Thomson Airways
Airbus A320 Cost Index: 13
Airbus A321 Cost Index: 17
Boeing 737-300 Cost Index: 10
Boeing 737-800 Cost Index: 9
Boeing 757-200 Cos Index: 10
Boeing 767-300
Long Haul Cost Index: 19
Short Haul Cost Index: 11

Ukraine International Airlines
cost index: 14
B737 Classic: 19-20
B737 NG: 28

United Airlines
Flight with duration < 4 Hours:
A319 and A320 = Cost Index 27
B737-300 and B737-500 = Cost Index 35
B747-400 = Cost Index 90
B757-200 = Cost Index 80
B767-300 = Cost Index 65
B777-200 = Cost Index 85
Flights with duration > 4 Hours:
A319 and A320 = Cost Index 22
B737-300 and B737-500 = Cost Index 30
B747-400 = Cost Index 85
B757-200 = Cost Index 75
B767-300 = Cost Index 60
B777-200 = Cost Index 80

Virgin Atlantic
A340-300 CI = 30
A340-600 CI = 40
B747-400 CI = 73 - 93
B747 :150

Westjet
B737NG :20-25

I didn't know you could go above 100.

Good question. I was wondering the same. I bet our FMC's in the simulators do not do those functions, but only take the one cost factor on the INIT page. Now I will have to look at the manual of the better payware, PMDG, aircraft and see if it is there.

Any real world commercial airline pilots in our ranks know?

WLP

Can you change the value on the INIT page mid flight maybe?

I just figured out that it is possible to change the value in the PERF page in the Aerosoft scAirbuses mid-flight. It recalculated the cruise speed almost immediately.

Yep, like Bert said; We were talking about this during the GFI ( another reason to fly the GFI's, Ya learn stuff) and I tried it on the PMDG 737. It changed the speed of cruise and probably other flight items. Different cost indexes for different modes of flight will now save the AAV much more fuel.

Wayne Pierce wrote: Different cost indexes for different modes of flight will now save the AAV much more fuel.

I should add so that Steve D can use the extra.

"Keep em' Flying "

Looks like the AA values may be proprietary. A cursory google search did not yield a number but it seems this is a somewhat lively topic of discussion amongst pilot types. I found this thread mildly informative: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/archi ... 55734.html

In JetBlue we use CI-35 on the A320.