Routings

Routings decouple flight plan waypoint strings from individual routes. A Routing is stored between an airport pair and is automatically available to all routes connecting those two airports. This means updating one Routing propagates to every route on that pair — no need to edit each route individually.

Accessing Routings

In Orwell, go to Operations → Routes → Routings. You need the Can Manage Routes permission (same as for Routes).

Why Use Routings

Routings are optional — you can continue using the routing field directly on each route. However, Routings offer several advantages:

• One update, many routes — a single Routing serves all routes between the same airport pair. When the routing changes, you only update it once instead of editing every route.

• Multiple routings per pair — you can create several Routings for the same airport pair, for example different paths for different days of the week. This is not possible with the route-level routing field alone.

• Faster AIRAC updates — updating Routings with new AIRAC data is quicker than editing individual routes, especially with importers.

• Persist across seasons — when a route is removed (e.g. end of season), the Routings remain. If the route is recreated next season, the existing Routings are immediately available without re-entry.

Creating Routings

Routings can be created in three ways:

• From a route edit page — open a route, go to the Routings tab at the bottom, and click New Routing. The departure and arrival airports are pre-filled from the route.

• From the Routings page — go to Operations → Routes → Routings and create a new Routing. You will need to select the departure and arrival airports manually.

• Via import — use Routing Import/Export for bulk creation and updates.

Fields

• Departure Airport — the origin airport (pre-filled when creating from a route)

• Arrival Airport — the destination airport (pre-filled when creating from a route)

• Routing — the flight plan waypoint string (required). Validated and cleaned against current AIRAC data — speed/altitude prefixes are stripped and waypoints are verified.

• Remarks — operational notes shown to pilots during dispatch and included in the SimBrief OFP

• Internal Remarks — staff-only notes, not visible to pilots

• Tags — organisation labels for filtering

• Days of Operation — which days this routing is valid for. Leave empty for all days.

AIRAC Validation

Routing strings are validated against current AIRAC navigation data (from Navigraph) every time they are saved. The system processes the input in several steps:

What Gets Stripped

• Speed/altitude prefixes (e.g., N0411F230, M085F400, K0460F350)

• SID and STAR names (not present in AIRAC enroute navigation data)

• Invalid or unrecognised waypoint and airway identifiers

• Special instructions (e.g., "MANUAL ROUTE PLANNING REQUIRED")

What Passes Through

• Valid airways from Navigraph enroute airways data

• Valid waypoints and navaids (VHF navaids, NDB navaids, enroute waypoints, terminal waypoints)

• DCT (direct routing indicator)

• Coordinate waypoints in various formats (e.g., 62N020W, 59N020W, 63N040W)

Automatic Formatting

• DCT is automatically inserted between adjacent waypoints or coordinates that are not connected by an airway

• Consecutive duplicate waypoints are removed

• Leading and trailing DCT are removed

Example

A route string entered as:

N0411F230 NIT2Y NIT M748 ERGOM/N0454F330 DCT TEGRI DCT ARTAT UP975 TEPKI/N0454F350 UP975 ERGUN UL124 EVSAS DCT SIDAD P975 SESRU M677 ITBUL Q322 DATOB DATOB5Y

Will be cleaned to:

NIT M748 ERGOM DCT TEGRI DCT ARTAT UP975 ERGUN UL124 EVSAS DCT SIDAD P975 SESRU M677 ITBUL Q322 DATOB

The speed/altitude prefixes (N0411F230, N0454F330, N0454F350), the SID (NIT2Y), and the STAR (DATOB5Y) are all removed. DCT is preserved between waypoints not connected by airways.

AIRAC Cycle Tracking

Each Routing is tagged with the AIRAC cycle it was last validated against, shown as a cycle number (e.g. 2504) in the AIRAC Cycle column. This lets you identify routings that may need revalidation after a new AIRAC cycle is published.

Routings in Phoenix

When Routings exist for an airport pair, a "Pick Routing" button appears on the dispatch page. Clicking it opens a selector showing each Routing's waypoint string as a selectable option, with the Routing's remarks and days of operation shown as a description below each option.

The default routing selection follows this priority:

• If the route has its own routing string, that is shown as the default

• If the route has no routing string, a random Routing from the airport pair is pre-selected

• If no Routings exist for the pair, the routing field is empty (pilots can still dispatch via SimBrief, which will generate a route)

When a Routing is selected, a "Routing Remarks" info box appears on the dispatch page showing the remarks text and the days the routing operates. Pilots can also manually edit the routing text in the field — doing so clears the Routing selection. The selected Routing is stored on the booking record.

Table Columns

Departure, Arrival, Routing string (truncated with tooltip for full text), Days of Operation, Tags, AIRAC Cycle, Created date.

Filtering

The table supports filtering by departure and arrival airport.

Actions

• Row actions — Edit and Delete on each individual routing

• Bulk actions — Delete selected routings. Select routings using the table checkboxes.

Import and Export

Routings can be managed in bulk via Routing Import/Export. The import supports creating, updating, and deleting routings via CSV. Available columns: ID, Departure Airport (ICAO/IATA), Arrival Airport (ICAO/IATA), Route String, Remarks, Internal Remarks, Tags (comma-separated), Days of Operation (comma-separated weekday names), and a _delete flag.

Imported routing strings are validated against AIRAC data and tagged with the current cycle, just like manually entered routings. Departure and arrival airports cannot be changed on existing routings via import.

A special PFPX export is also available, which outputs routings in the format required by PFPX for route validation. Requires the Import/Export Routes permission.

Related

• Routes — flight route definitions that use Routings

• Route Import/Export — bulk route management via CSV

• Routing Import/Export — bulk routing management via CSV