Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The real potential of Airport Collaborative Decision Making

The current scope of Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) is focused on Air Traffic Management (ATM) problems, i.e. the turnaround process and departure sequencing process. In the words of a CDM project manager: "I do not care if a flight is delayed for one hour, as long as I have a predictable and accurate departure sequence."

This is limiting the full exploitation of the CDM philosophy.

To fully unleash the potential we should include ALL processes at the airport which include aircraft, passenger, baggage and cargo. Furthermore, CDM is not about information sharing only but also about communication and objective critique. Before making a decision in a silo, for instance a short term change of baggage belt, that functional area should consult immigration and the ground handler. And, if things go wrong in a process consistently (based on facts), we should work together on an action plan to improve.

Because, in the end, isn't CDM about excellence in the way we operate and perform, together and as individual stakeholders?