Incheon Airport South Korea Evaluates European A-CDM

Being an advocate of best practices to implement airport collaborative decision making implies agenda flexibility, and investing ample time to allow A-CDM candidates to grasp the concept of A-CDM as it is practiced in live operations. Be it after business hours for a small party of Romanian air traffic control, on their way back to Bucharest, or for the complete stakeholder group of Stockholm Arlanda airport on a one-day visit, or for a delegation of Single European Sky experts of the European Commission's Directorate General Move - Mobility & Transport.A couple of weeks ago, we had the honour to host a team of 5 from South Korea's Incheon International Airport, on a European A-CDM familiarization trip. ICN/RKSI, South Korea's main airport and among Asia's biggest 6, seems to be securing the 'World's best airport' award by Airports Council International year after year, and is now seriously considering efficiency and capacity optimizing measures by adopting the European airport stakeholder collaboration model. Project horizon is mid 2017, running along yet another dazzling construction project.

First Stop: Preparation

Since we have the habit of preparing thoroughly for each visit, we like to scan our visitors' level of A-CDM knowledge beforehand. That way, we avoid the risk of stating the obvious in the presentations, or 'losing' them at an early stage and giving the impression of talking double Dutch after a while.

We were forwarded an extensive presentation, which proved that the Eurocontrol concept elements and milestones had been surprisingly well studied. Unsurprisingly, the Incheon party was delegated by the ICT department of the airport operator and an ICT service provider, and aimed at understanding the 'A-CDM system' of Brussels Airport. After introductions, upon explaining to them that there is none, they were slightly taken aback, but nevertheless they engaged enthusiastically in a packed one-day A-CDM airport tour across 4 stakeholders.

So, talking double Dutch was never an issue, but understanding plain English was a bit tougher. Luckily, the Incheon party brought along an interpreter who really went out of his way to understand and translate almost simultaneously. He must have been exhausted by the end of the day...

Brussels Airport

Second Stop: In the Field

Brussels Airport isn't much in favor of explaining A-CDM in the classroom. It is understood at best when witnessing it enrolling in operations. So after an opening presentation on our interpretation of the A-CDM concept by ourselves, we don our safety jackets and go out.

We scheduled a concise presentation on departure planning information exchange between our ANSP and the Network Manager, presented by the Belgocontrol team, and try for a visit to the Delivery position in the tower for a brief exchange of thoughts on departure sequencing (which we usually manage in off-peak moments).

A-CDM

Next up is a visit to the A-CDM working positions of one of our home carriers and main ground handlers, each in turn explaining their approach on Collaborative Decision Making, the way procedures and data elements were integrated in their operations, and got adopted by all staff over time. The dreaded culture change...

In this way, we almost always achieve the goal we have in mind at the start of every familiarization visit: to let our visitors discover for themselves how A-CDM blends into day-to-day operations on an airport, and how the concept pops up in the procedures and technical solutions at each stakeholder. It's definitely worth the preparation and the required agenda space.

Lastly, Taking Up the challenge

The Incheon A-CDM team gave themselves 3 years to deliver a data sharing platform, which in my opinion shouldn't pose any major problems. However, there are some concerns about stakeholder commitment, and they left us with lots of things to consider on that subject, on data disclosure and responsibilities.

Although Incheon Airport  is known for sporting an 18-hole golf course, it may well be that putting Airport Collaborative Decision Making into business will turn out to be a different ball game...

What is your take on A-CDM at non-European airports? Unlike Europe, there is no option to interlink airport operations in a network manager controlled environment, thus lacking the 'netwoHence, does local capacity optimization justify substantial investments in collaborative decision making technology and culture change?

Editor's NoteWe will be on holiday in August and back with a new blog post in September. The New Airport Insider team thanks you for your readership and wishes you a great summer!

Image credit: Vitor Azevedo