News

New Film: The Importance of Timely TOBT Updates in the A-CDM Process

Punctuality, efficiency, and transparency are key elements in modern airport operations. The new TOBT Handling film vividly demonstrates how important a correct and timely TOBT update (Target Off-Block Time) is for smooth daily ground handling.

What is A-CDM?
Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) improves efficiency and operational stability at airports and in airspace by enabling coordinated information sharing between airlines, ground handlers, air traffic control, and the airport operator. A central element of this process is the Target Off-Block Time (TOBT).

What is TOBT?
TOBT is the planned time at which an aircraft is ready to leave its parking position. It is a key component of the Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) process and influences numerous subsequent steps in aviation – from ground resource management to slot allocation by EUROCONTROL.

Benefits of Timely TOBT Updates

The film makes it clear: an early and realistic TOBT update brings measurable benefits for everyone involved:

  • Optimized resource use and planning reliability: Handling teams, pushback drivers, de-icing crews, and other service providers can plan their tasks precisely. This reduces waiting times and idle capacity.
  • Reduced delays: Realistic TOBT entries allow bottlenecks to be identified and avoided early. This results in more consistent CTOT (Calculated Take-Off Time) assignments, improving network stability in European airspace.
  • Transparent communication: All partners – airline, ground handling, tower, and airport operator – access the same reliable time information.
  • Environmentally friendly operations: Less idle engine running on the ground means lower fuel consumption and fewer emissions.
  • Improved slot utilization: Timely TOBT adjustments prevent slot losses and reduce the risk of missing the allocated departure window.

Conclusion: The TOBT Handling film makes it clear: maintaining an accurate TOBT is not an extra effort – it is a vital contribution to stable and sustainable airport operations. Each timely TOBT update helps streamline processes and increase passenger satisfaction.

Watch the film now and be part of the change.

Video: TOBT Handling

18th Edition of the A-CDM@Germany Harmonization Meeting

From May 12 to 14, 2025, the 18th meeting of the “Initiative for Harmonization of Airport CDM in Germany” took place at Erbacher Hof in Mainz. This year, the event was hosted by DFS and brought together around 30 experts from participating airports and DFS on the first two days to discuss current developments and future challenges in the field of Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM). The third day, with six additional guests from Munich, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt airports as well as the Network Manager Eurocontrol, focused on advancing collaborative processes to further integrate airports into air traffic management processes.

Thomas Hoffmann, DFS, Head of FS Tower Operations, welcomed the participants with motivating words, reaffirmed DFS’s commitment to Airport Integration, and set a positive tone for the three days ahead.

The chairmen of the initiative, Nico Ruwe (Stuttgart Airport) and Heiko Fella (DFS), guided participants through a program that featured a wide range of operational and administrative topics.

Traditionally, the program began with updates from the participating airports Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Hamburg, and Leipzig-Halle. Their respective A-CDM Local Managers reported on topics such as customer and stakeholder involvement, developments since the last harmonization meeting, top priorities, and general airport-related issues.

In addition to organizational and specialized technical topics—such as the replacement of the NM software NMP Flow with NMUI-Airports, DPI data exchange via B2B, a new interface between airports and DFS, and the presentation of the “Silent Pushback” procedure in Frankfurt—the content followed the working structure of the harmonization initiative, which is divided into the following subgroups:

• NM-DataXchange: Data exchange between airports, DFS, and the Network Manager, participation in international working groups.

• Publications: Creation of training materials and other publications, customer briefings, and maintenance of the A-CDM website.

• Procedure: Harmonization and further development of procedures as well as the creation of procedure inventories.

• KPI: Quality assurance and preparation of the A-CDM@GER annual report and other reports.

• IT: Topics related to A-CDM IT infrastructure and participation in international working groups.

• Advanced A-CDM: Development of implementation recommendations for procedures and requirements (AOP/NOP and DCB) from EU Implementing Regulations, e.g., CP1 (EU 2021/116).

A special highlight of this year’s program was a workshop focusing on the structure and content of the harmonization meetings. The organizing team asked participants whether the current format still meets their expectations and needs in terms of organization and content. In group work, several related questions were addressed. The results showed that, overall, the initiative is still on the right track, but participants expressed a desire to work more proactively on topics, to include more operational content such as “best practices,” and to allow more time for discussion. The organizing team will take these wishes into account and shape the next meeting accordingly.

On the third day, dedicated to the future, David Booth from the Eurocontrol Airport Unit provided an overview of the status of the iNM program, which involves the replacement and renewal of the entire NM system landscape. Representatives from Munich Airport shared insights into the daily operations and challenges of their Ground Coordination Unit. Stuttgart Airport presented its concept for establishing an Airport Operations Center (APOC), scheduled to go into operation by the end of October 2025. From Frankfurt, updates were provided on a proof of concept for runway demand and capacity balancing based on simulation software, as well as the development of a Turnaround Dashboard closely linked to an AI-based turnaround prediction tool.

Following these presentations, there was a lively exchange with the guests, as all the topics presented will, in different forms, become relevant for all A-CDM airports in the future. Thanks to the harmonization initiative, continued knowledge-sharing across all areas is ensured.

The 19th A-CDM@GER Harmonization Meeting will take place in May 2026 at Berlin Airport.

Harmonised Annual KPI Report 2024

The harmonised annual KPI report for the year 2024 is available in English and German and can now be downloaded. This document contains important performance indicators that are comparable across all German A-CDM airports. It supports recognising local as well as national trends and developments.

Download Information

3rd Airport CDM Campus at Düsseldorf Airport

On November 14, 2024, Düsseldorf Airport invited its A-CDM community, including TOBT officers, ramp agents, ground handlers, cockpit crews, and airline representatives, to the 3rd A-CDM Campus DUS to prepare together for the winter season 2024/2025.

For those who have always wanted (or wanted even more) input on TOBT, TSAT, CTOT, and their correlation, the A-CDM@DUS team warmly welcomed them to another A-CDM Campus DUS, following similar events held before Easter and summer holidays in 2024.

The event was once again organized as a kind of "Open Door " session over a period of three hours, emphasizing the importance of communication between all parties on the apron and with the TOBT responsible persons, ensuring that everyone can achieve an excellent performance for the winter season 2024/2025 and beyond. Additionally, our special guest, the de-icing specialists from Düsseldorf Airport Groundhandling GmbH, were welcomed, who presented some interesting facts and figures from previous winters and highlighted the current local de-/anti-icing procedures.

The A-CDM Campus DUS is held airside to make it easier for ramp operations colleagues and crews to participate.

15th Annual ACDM@GER Harmonization Meeting in DUS

May 20, 2022 – After two years of COVID-19 pandemic and virtual meetings it was finally manageable to bring all Airport-CDM partners back around the table for a three-day-event at Düsseldorf Airport. From the 3rd to the 5th of May representatives of all German A-CDM airports and the German DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung - who in 2010 decided to join forces and start the German Airport CDM Harmonization Initiative ACDM@GER – came together to analyse last year’s figures and the upcoming developments and changes of the A-CDM process e.g. with regard to the EU Implementation Rule 2021/116 “Common Project 1 (CP1)”, supporting the implementation of the European Air Traffic Management Master Plan.

The group consisting of airport operators from Munich Airport, Fraport AG, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Leipzig/Halle Airport and Düsseldorf Airport as well as DFS members from the local Towers and Headquarters in Langen 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.

Making aviation more predictable and efficient

Airport Collaborative Decision Making, in short A-CDM, is one of the main coordination processes that consolidates the way of operational cooperation by planning each and every step of a flight’s turnaround from landing until the next departure and exchanging lots of relevant data with all the stakeholders involved. In the future, it is foreseen to even extend this data exchange to a far greater timeframe trying to enhance throughput with the resources airports and airspace can offer on any given day. “The initial A-CDM scope that tries to coordinate all stakeholders’ activities during the last three hours before departure is now evolving towards several days before departure, which means we aren’t looking as much at individual flights anymore rather than all cross-company processes at the airports, ending in post-operational reports that help the partners to steadily improve”, says Erik Sinz of Deutsche Flugsicherung, A-CDM expert from the very start.

“Although overall traffic volumes in Germany are still hovering around 75% of 2019 levels, we are already facing challenging operational peaks during the day. These peaks are now even higher than in the pre-COVID era. People are currently longing for vacation, but operational staff is lacking everywhere. Short-term work, fluctuation and dismissals made the aviation sector shrink in terms of employees nearly in all parts and it is hard to find new personnel”, says Nico Ruwe of Stuttgart Airport currently leading ACDM@GER together with Erik Sinz as co-chairmen.

External aviation experts invited to join us on 3rd day

After two days of internal discussions, ACDM@GER invited several European aviation experts to join them on the last day of the event. Colleagues from Lufthansa, Eurowings, Condor, Tuifly, SAS, AHS Aviation Handling Services, WISAG, Acciona and the Network Manager’s Airport Unit from EUROCONTROL came to Düsseldorf Airport and also benefited from personal contacts, discussions, networking and exchanging different points of view e.g. on the upcoming implementation of the Airport Operations Plan (AOP) - Network Operations Plan (NOP) Integration which is compulsory for the stakeholders by the European Commission within CP1 until the end of 2027.

“I am really happy for this personal meeting and thankful for the opportunity given by our airport management”, says this year’s host Linda Gerritsen, Local A-CDM Manager at DUS. “We are all looking forward to May 2023, when we will meet again for the 16th ACDM@GER Harmonization Meeting in STR”, she adds.

Participants of the 15th Annual ACDM@GER Harmonization Meeting in DUS
Participants of the 15th Annual ACDM@GER Harmonization Meeting in DUS

Airport Collaborative Decision Making App

A Joint A-CDM Platform

The development and release of a joint digital platform encourages more transparency and a more comprehensive data and information exchange amongst all A-CDM participants by visualizing and providing essential operational information. The app is supposed to support the harmonization of air traffic, the efficiency at airports and the safety on ground. It displays the relevant milestones, time stamps and status in an easy and efficient way and highlights changes, also by sending push notifications simultaneously to the user.

Target Groups:

  • Airport Operator
  • Aircraft Operator (AO)
  • Ground Handling Agents (GH)
  • Air Navigation Service Provider (Deutsche Flugsicherung DFS)
  • Network Manager Operations Centre (NMOC)

Download app

A-CDM App / Logo + QR- Code

The app can be downloaded free of charge in the well-known App Stores for iOS and Android. Every interested airport may become part of the A-CDM platform!

Download Information

Connecting Europe- A-CDM Connectivity Status

Airport Collaborative Decision Making aims to improve the efficiency and resilience of airport operations by optimising the use of resources and improving predictability of air traffic.

The exchange of more accurate and timely departure information (e.g. target take-off times) with the network lead to better airspace planning and more accurate and timely arrival information (e.g. estimated landing times) lead the focus on aircraft turnaround and pre-departure processes.

Nowadays, A-CDM is implemented at 31 European airports, i.e. 36% of all departures in the NM area are leaving from airports that are fully connected to NMOC (Network Manager Operation Center) in Brussels.

Download report

Network Manager EOBT Update Service

Further development as part of NM Releases 25.0

At selected Airport-CDM airports, EUROCONTROL is offering airline OCCs automatic Estimated off-block time (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.

Within the scope of the - NM EOBT Update Service - operative since 2016 there will be the following development as part of NM Release 25.0:

CR_040048 – Improvements of DLA delegation

Adaption of the EOBT Update Service for airlines departing from participating A-CDM Airports by allowing the airline to specify when the „DLA-transmission“ would be done. 

Begin of migration: 27/04/2021

Contact

Airlines that are currently using the EOBT Update Service and wish to make use of this additional feature, or other airlines that are interested in that service should contact the Network Manager at: airport-cdm@eurocontrol.int 

For information concerning the Network Manager EOBT Update Service you can also contact the A-CDM Local Manager of your specific German A-CDM Airport

Leipzig/Halle Airport joined ACDM@GER

On 01 December 2020 Leipzig/Halle Airport joined the German Airport CDM Harmonization Initiative (ACDM@GER) as the seventh German airport.

At Leipzig/Halle Airport a possible A-CDM project is currently evaluated. A respective draft paper has been developed by experts of Leipzig/Halle Airport, the German ANSP Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH and DHL as one of the local partners.

Apron of the airport Leipzig/Halle 
Flughafen Leipzig/Halle GmbH is now the seventh member of ACDM@GER © Mitteldeutsche Flughafen-Holding

The 13th ACDM@GER Harmonisation Meeting

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 ACDM@GER chairmen Nico Ruwe (FSG, left) and Erik Sinz (DFS) next to another important team member: a 360-degree webcam
The ACDM@GER chairmen Nico Ruwe (FSG, left) and Erik Sinz (DFS) next to another important team member: a 360-degree webcam

ACDM@GER-Harmonization Meeting 2019

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.

Automatic EOBT Update Service 

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.

Runway