2019’s annual Harmonization Meeting of the Airport CDM Harmonization Initiative Germany (ACDM@GER) took place from 5. to 7. November 2019 at Hamburg Airport. Over the first two days, more than 20 representatives of the six German A-CDM airports, towers of Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS / German ANSP) and DFS Headquarters discussed the results achieved by the various ACDM@GER subgroups during the year 2019.
These subgroups deal, among other things, with necessary modifications in the DPI exchange with the Network Manager (NMOC), optimizations or adaptions of the A-CDM procedures, and the provision of standardized key performance indicators for the A-CDM process. During the meeting, national harmonization of the automated TOBT generation (elimination of alert CDM14), the “return to stand” procedure and a new definition of alerts CDM07 and CDM07a (feasibility check) were adopted.
Besides the reports of the subgroups, several presentations on both national and international topics were shown and some forward-looking projects introduced. Some airports started research on the use of artificial intelligence within the turnaround process. In addition, initial ideas on the optimization of the pre-departure sequencer by using pre-defined scenarios were developed. Some interesting local procedures at other European CDM airports were also presented, such as Madrid Airport’s implementation of a special prioritization procedure in case of expected significant decreases in departure capacity.
Traditionally ACDM@GER uses the third day for an intense exchange with different stakeholders. For this meeting, Airline OCCs, HCCs or dispatch units were invited to join the meeting. Unfortunately, due to the strike of Lufthansa cabin crews, the large majority of the airline representatives had to withdraw their participation. Nevertheless, a very constructive and professional discussion with the guests from the Network Manager and the airlines took place during which additional fields of closer co-operation could be identified, with first joint undertakings already having been agreed on.
The ACDM@GER Harmonization Meeting 2019 once again illustrated the large amount of topics and challenges to ensure efficient processes between the involved stakeholders. Close co-operation between the German A-CDM airports and DFS as their local and central partner contributes in an essential way to the successful accomplishment of all these tasks.
