IGI gets new tech tool to improve efficiency

The national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) has become the first airport in the country to introduce Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM).

The initiative has been jointly taken up by the Air Traffic Control (ATC), the GMR Group-led consortium DIAL and the airlines operating from the airport. The system is named as DA-CDM (Delhi Airport-Collaborative Decision Making). 'This is a concept focusing on improving air traffic flow and capacity management at airports by reducing delays, improving the predictability of events and optimising the utilisation of resources. It involves airport operators, airlines, ground handlers and ATC collaborating and sharing data to increase overall airport efficiency,' said a DIAL official.

DIAL CEO,  I Prabhakara Rao said, 'The DA-CDM is a true game changer in the Indian aviation industry. This move will allow us to achieve annual savings of 2,500 tonnes of airport turbine fuel (ATF) and also leadto 7,850 tonnes of saved CO2 emission by reducing the taxiway time by a mere one minute per aircraft. In addition, with three operating runways and the upcoming state of the art ATC tower we are poised to handle a robust air traffic with best accuracy and efficiency.'

In the CDM approach, milestones for incoming aircraft, turnaround time and departure of the flight are defined to make the operation precise and predictable. Two of the most important milestones are the Target Off Block Time (TOBT) fixed by the airline or the ground handler between 45 minutes and 20 minutes before the estimated departure and Target Start-up Approval Time (TSAT).

P K Mishra, executive director (ATM-ASM) added, 'The DA-CDM project aims to improve the overall efficiency of operations at an airport, with a particular focus on the aircraft turn-round and pre-departure sequencing process.