Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi airports show interest in AAI's ACDM

September 17, 2019: The Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi airports have evinced interest in the Airport Collaborative Decision Making (ACDM) system developed in-house by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The airport officials met senior officials of the AAI to discuss the use of ACDM, which results in reduction of congestion at holding point at the runway of an airport. It also helps reduce fuel consumption, carbon emission and taxi time of the aircraft. Implementation of ACDM helps air traffic control officers (ATCO) by reducing cognitive workload and resulting in safe and orderly flow of aircraft due to reduced number of simultaneous aircraft movements.

In a meeting that took place in Mumbai on September 16, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL), Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) and Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) explored the usage of ACDM.

ACDM focusses primarily on reducing aircraft holding delays at runway holding point, which further results in substantial saving of aviation fuel and reduction in carbon emissions. This is achieved by improving the decision making process by sharing of relevant information among aviation stakeholders.

ACDM was implemented at Mumbai international airport, where the in-house team of AAI completed all the project activities viz. software development, network design, hardware planning, live testing, implementation and software maintenance in 2015. The implementation led to better coordination between all operational partners, improved ground handling processes, improved programmability due to increased stability for all operational processes (airlines, airport, Air Traffic Control) based on reliable target times.

On May 24, 2018, an improved version of the in-house ACDM system was installed and commissioned at Chennai airport and on August 11, 2018 at NSCBI airport, Kolkata. The system is to be implemented at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports by January 2020.

International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Asia Pacific Office has assigned the task of drafting the Regional ACDM implementation plan to India, with the support of International Air Transport Association (IATA), Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) and Singapore.