CANSO joins ACI EUROPE and EUROCONTROL’s partnership to combat airport congestion and reduce fuel burn and CO2 emissions

The threat of climate change, the global economic crisis and the resulting changes in the structure of the European aviation market have led to a renewed focus on efficiency and performance for Europe’s airports.

In October 2008, ACI EUROPE and EUROCONTROL signed a collaboration to increase operational efficiencies at European airports. This collaboration revolves around the implementation of an innovative operating practise called Airport Collaborative Decision-Making (A-CDM) which allows airports into the Air Traffic Management network and vice versa. This gives users access to a range of operational data allowing them to make their operations more efficient. Successful implementation of A-CDM leads to significant reduction in CO2 emissions, which in turn helps airlines save fuel.

Today at the 5th Annual ACI EUROPE Airport Exchange, CANSO – the global trade body for Air Traffic Management – is joining this partnership, giving the initiative even more momentum.

Over the last 2 years, the A-CDM programme has made great progress with more than 30 airports so far engaged in implementing the programme.

The latest target was announced today: to have A-CDM fully implemented at 10 of these airports by the end of 2011. Further roll-out of the programme will continue with ACI EUROPE, EUROCONTROL and CANSO all actively encouraging new participants, through promotion of the benefits gained early pioneers of the programme.

David McMillan, Director General of EUROCONTROL said “A-CDM is also a fine illustration of the way that improvements in performance can often be achieved without major capital expenditure. But it depends upon partnership – working together to improve performance. It is based on an integrated approach, with information being shared across different players. It emphasises the network nature of ATM where an apparently local decision can have implications across Europe. And of course it is focused on airports – at the heart of the need to increase capacity.”

Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE commented “I am delighted to welcome CANSO into this initiative, as the enhanced, timely exchange of information that is at the heart of A-CDM creates a virtuous circle of operational gains on the ground for all partners involved: airports, air navigation service providers, airlines and ground handlers. Ultimately, this optimisation of resources helps to make the journey smoother for the passenger and reduces environmental impact.”

Graham Lake, Director General CANSO said “Delivering operational improvements through collaborative partnerships is a key objective of CANSO. I am delighted that we have been approached to assist with this valuable A-CDM project. CDM is a key component of the European Flight Efficiency plan, which CANSO supports, and over the coming months CANSO’s European members will be working with our airport partners and colleagues at EUROCONTROL to find ways to accelerate CDM roll-out in Europe.”