AAI to use new system to reduce congestion at Chennai airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will implement the Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) which will help in reducing congestion and delay of flights at the airport and also aid in saving fuel for airlines, reports The Hindu.

A-CDM is a common sharing platform to process real time information regarding flights arriving and departing at Chennai airport between different stakeholders like airlines, air traffic controllers, AAI and ground handling agency.
Officials of AAI said this would be greatly beneficial during the peak hours particularly for the departure flights. “If a flight is scheduled to depart at a specific time from the airport, as soon as the passengers have boarded, fuel and food are loaded and the door is shut, the airline will key in the information to the system which can be accessed by the other stakeholders. So, from the parking bay till take off, at every step, this system will ensure that the clearance for the aircraft comes on time and the aircraft need not wait for it, thereby saving fuel and time,” an official said.

Implementing this system also gains significance since it comes at a time when AAI plans to increase the number of aircraft movements in Chennai airport from 35 per hour to 45 per hour. “For the last few years, we have been carrying out airside work which will improve the number of aircraft the runway can handle per hour. Since these projects will come to an end soon and the aircraft movement will go up, it will be very useful to have this system to bring down the congestion,” another official said.

This will also help in efficient use of aircraft parking stands, he added.

“The focus of A-CDM is for all airport partners to share information, so that each organization has a more complete operational picture, enabling the effective and timely resolution of issues. A-CDM 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,” according to a press release.