A Qantas 747-400 departs Sydney on the long trans-Pacific haul. Flight planning using high powered computers has revolutionised this once arduous and labour intensive task. (Rob Finlayson)

Airline Flight Planning in the Computer Age

Anyone who has slogged through an ATPL Flight Planning exam or rotated a prayer wheel in the local flight briefing office knows what a time consuming and potentially error ridden exercise it can be.

Modern airline operations simply cannot afford the time and risks involved and, with ever rocketing fuel costs, the need to order precisely the right amount of fuel required for a flight and no more, means that airlines must invest large sums of money in state-of-the-art computer flight planning systems.

Fortunately the process is one that lends itself well to modern technology. Let us take a look at how the national flag carrier, Qantas, uses CFP (Computer Flight Planning) in its day to day operations.

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