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Munich, Frankfurt, Langen, Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leipzig – in all these cities, tower and airport colleagues sat in front of their computers on the morning of 1 December, wishing they were in Düsseldorf instead.

That was where Linda Gerritsen, Local CDM Manager and designated host of the 13th Harmonization Meeting, was also sitting in front of her own laptop and staring unhappily into her webcam. "I miss you," was one of the most frequently heard phrases on that and the following day.

In order to relate to this sentiment, it might help to have worked with the colleagues from airport operators and DFS for a while, who in 2010 decided to join forces and start the German Airport CDM Harmonization Initiative ACDM@GER. Within that group, a spirit of collaboration has since developed that managed to impress the expert jury of the renowned Jane’s ATC Awards enough to nominate it in 2016’s "Runway" category.

The group, recently having welcomed Leipzig/Halle Airport as its newest member, has tasked itself with harmonizing the German Airport CDM implementations as much as possible so airspace users are not confused by a multitude of rules across the country. ACDM@GER also represents its members with a single voice in international working groups.

"Can’t you do it like the Germans?"

This voice currently speaks for a total of seven airports and the German ANSP DFS and is often regarded by other organizations and airline operators as exemplary for how to prevent a proliferation of different procedures and approaches. "In European meetings at Eurocontrol, airline representatives present their experiences and often finish with, ‘Can’t you do it like the Germans?’" says Nico Ruwe and smiles subtly. Mr Ruwe of Flughafen Stuttgart and Erik Sinz of Deutsche Flugsicherung currently lead ACDM@GER as co-chairmen. "You can imagine that makes us somewhat proud," he adds.

Collaborative App Making

The two chairmen are equally proud of their common smartphone app that already contains essential Airport CDM data of four German airports. Its target users are flight crews who seek early information on expected departure runway, departure route (SID) or start-up approval time (TSAT), thereby lightening the load of related questions on DELIVERY frequencies and ATCOs. Development of the app was organized by Berlin’s airport operator FBB on behalf of all airports organized in ACDM@GER, but others are welcome to join as well.

This spirit of collaboration across company lines continues in regular conversations and smaller meetings between the more than 40 individuals, even if this year they mostly took place via web conference only. 

The main Harmonization Meeting itself was originally planned as a three-day event with participation of high-ranking managers from all partners and included an evening programme, however as Europe moved through the tidal waves of Covid-19 infection, the number of in-person participants and the agenda were adjusted multiple times until, a few weeks before the meeting, everything was pushed entirely into cyberspace. "In this medium, the valuable discussions we usually have could not develop, nevertheless I am still happy we managed to see and fill each other in on the latest news", says Erik Sinz.

Happy Birthday, and Lots of Luck

Personal contacts, discussions, participation of colleagues from the Network Manager unit in Brussels, and the usual social gathering on the evening of the first meeting day were not the only things participants had to do without this year: Also missing was the 10th Anniversary Party of ACDM@GER. "Next year our last meeting day will be 11/11, so we are going to save it all up for our 11th anniversary," says Erik Sinz.

He also has a notion of will be needed for this plan to succeed in Stuttgart in 2021: "Luck."

The 2019 edition of the Annual KPI Report is ready! This document contains important performance indicators that are comparable across all German A-CDM airports. It aids in recognising local as well as national trends and developments.

The Report for the year 2019 is available in English and German and can now be downloaded.

July 2018:

Awareness Campaign to reduce delay at Düsseldorf Airport

At the beginning of the summer period 2018 Düsseldorf Airport published an awareness campaign to improve punctuality, i.e. by better adhering to the A-CDM procedures.

Flyers, posters and stickers are addressed to the following target groups: Flight Crews, Ramp Handling and Pushback Service Providers.

Each of these stakeholders has to stick to the procedures to make sure that the existing capacity at the airport and in the airspace can be used optimally. In times of high demand no shows at the runway due to missing TOBT and TSAT as well as late TOBT updates result in unused resources which then means additional delay for the entire system.

In Düsseldorf this is really sensitive due to the local RWY usage permit. The A-CDM motto “Best planned – best served” is more important than ever. At DUS Airport a continuous check and realistic TOBT setting is desirable during the turnaround process. Flight Crew, Ramp Agent and Gate Staff should be in contact with each other so that potential delays might be advised to the TOBT responsible person as early as possible.

The campaign is published in German to the greatest extent, but flyers, posters and stickers for Flight Crews are also distributed in English.

June 2018:

Any change of more than 15 minutes to the EOBT of a filed flight plan has to be communicated to EUROCONTROL.

At selected Airport-CDM airports, EUROCONTROL is offering airline OCCs automatic EOBT updates of flights whose local TOBT is more than 15 minutes later than the current EOBT. Regardless of this new function, manual EOBT updates are still possible.

Are you interested in finding out more or organising a trial? Have a look at EUROCONTROL’s leaflet or contact our colleagues in Brussels via e-mail.