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A system and method for generating a minimum-cost airline flight plan from a point of origin through a set of fix points to a destination point. A set of navigation airways from the point of origin to the destination point, including predefined fix points and vectors for high altitude flight, and a

A system and method for generating a minimum-cost airline flight plan from a point of origin through a set of fix points to a destination point. A set of navigation airways from the point of origin to the destination point, including predefined fix points and vectors for high altitude flight, and a set of predetermined flight planning altitudes is stored in a database. Operational data for the flight and weather data for the flight is also stored in the database, as well as station data, station approach and departure procedures, predefined flight restricted areas, and flight performance data. The predefined fix points are transformed from the Cartesian plane onto a new coordinate system based on the great circle route between the origin and the destination. Each transformed fix point is assigned an ordinal value, and an acyclic network is constructed based on the ordinal values and within a feasible search region which excludes any flight restricted areas. Using dynamic programming techniques and shortest path optimization, a minimum cost flight path from the point of origin through a plurality of predefined navigation fix points to a destination point is calculated. The minimum cost flight path calculations take into account weather data for predetermined flight planning altitudes, aircraft weight and payload data, and performance data. The system comprises a general purpose computer having a memory, a database stored in the memory, and a means executing within the general purpose computer for determining the minimum cost flight path from a point of origin through a set of predefined navigation fix points to a destination point.

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[ We claim:] [33.] A system for generating a minimum-cost airline flight plan from a point of origin through a plurality of fix points to a destination point, comprising:a land-based general purpose computer having a memory;at least one database stored in the memory, comprising navigation data, incl

[ We claim:] [33.] A system for generating a minimum-cost airline flight plan from a point of origin through a plurality of fix points to a destination point, comprising:a land-based general purpose computer having a memory;at least one database stored in the memory, comprising navigation data, including a Plurality of fix points, operational flight data, a plurality of flight planning altitudes, and weather data;means executing within the general purpose computer for determining the minimum-cost airline flight path from a point of origin through a plurality of fix points to a destination point so that the path is constructed in an acyclic network that is constructed within a feasible region that is determined within the boundaries of a two-dimensional rectangular macro region, wherein said feasible region is bounded on a first side by the normal to the great circle route intersecting the destination, on a second side by the normal to the great circle intersecting the origin, on a third side by a maximum deviation from the great circle plus a predetermined buffer value, and on a fourth side by a minimum deviation from the great circle region minus a predetermined buffer value.