How many simulated flights validated the concept?

Nearly 1,000 simulated approaches to seven airports, flown by more than 70 pilots, have validated the DYN-MARS concept for idle-thrust descents into congested airspace, the German aerospace research centre DLR announced in October 2026.

The dynamic vertical-profile management system — funded through SESAR, the technological pillar of the European Union's Single European Sky initiative — recalculates an aircraft's descent path in real time when air traffic control issues tactical speed adjustments during approach sequencing.

What problem does idle thrust face at busy hubs?

Approach sequencing at high-density airports routinely requires controllers to order short-notice speed changes, which can push crews off a continuous descent approach with minimum fuel burn.

"This allows an aircraft to continue its descent with idle thrust for as long as possible, even under changing conditions," DLR states.

The trade-off sits at the heart of European efforts to reduce per-flight fuel consumption and emissions without expanding runway or airspace capacity.

How does DYN-MARS adjust the descent profile?

DYN-MARS integrates route uploads delivered by controller-pilot datalink directly into the aircraft's flight-management system. The route arrives as a secondary flight plan; the crew activates it once ATC grants clearance, allowing the FMS to refine the descent against the expected remaining path.

"Digital route transmission improves the predictability of the approach for both the cockpit and air traffic control," DYN-MARS project co-ordinator Fethi Abdelmoula says. "It reduces manual inputs and creates an important prerequisite for more automated and efficient approach procedures."

DLR adds that loading the route early "means the flight-management system knows the expected remaining flight path earlier and can therefore adjust the descent profile more precisely."

Trial scenarios included expected shortcuts handled through direct datalink upload rather than voice readback, replacing a sequence of manual cockpit inputs.

Who are the partners?

• DLR — lead research organisation
• SESAR Joint Undertaking — programme funder
• Swiss International Air Lines — airline partner
• Thales — avionics/industry partner
• Eurocontrol — pan-European air navigation agency
• NATS — UK air navigation service provider
• NLR — Dutch aerospace centre

The consortium pairs research agencies, an airline operator, an avionics manufacturer and two of Europe's largest air-navigation organisations, giving the project both flight-deck and ATC perspectives on what idle-thrust descents require to work in revenue operations.

"The trials show that this principle can also be implemented in complex, busy airport approach areas," Abdelmoula says.

What separates simulation from certified operations?

DLR framed the work as a feasibility validation, not an avionics certification milestone. No certification date, rulemaking submission or revenue-trial partner accompanied the announcement.

SESAR-funded research typically feeds Eurocontrol and EASA rulemaking cycles over multi-year horizons, leaving a gap between the 1,000 simulated flights and any operational deployment.

That deployment would still need airline FMS database integration, ATC tooling updates and crew procedure work before a revenue-service trial could begin.

What comes next?

Validated DYN-MARS technologies will feed a successor project, DYN-MAX, which DLR says will extend the dynamic-profile principle to optimised departure procedures.

The follow-on work signals European air-navigation researchers' intent to apply continuous-descent logic to both ends of the flight, with fuel and emissions benefits to be weighed against dispatch reliability and the unit-cost savings airlines such as Swiss will assess before any revenue-service adoption.