Guidebook for Advancing Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) at Airports (2015)

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72 During the summer months of 2010, the PANYNJ planned to close JFK’s runway 13R/31L for reconstruction. Due to several events during the previous year with multi-hour taxi-out delays at JFK, the FAA, PANYNJ, and the flight operators were concerned about the impact to air traf- fic movements during the construction period. In addition, there was particular sensitivity to lengthy delays given the recent implementation of FAA’s “Tarmac Rule” where flight operators became subject to significant fines for taxi-out delays exceeding 3 hours. The PANYNJ held meetings with the flight operators and FAA local, regional, and Air Traffic Control System Command Center representatives to discuss possible mitigation of delays during this construction period. The PANYNJ and flight operators decided that a departure metering function needed to be established to estimate and generate a virtual queue for departure flights. The objective was to absorb expected delays at aircraft parking positions (or designated holding areas if gate availability was an issue). Thus, delays would be absorbed with engines off until a departure was allocated a slot in the virtual queue. Additionally, an orderly and controlled flow of departure traffic from the parking positions/gates would reduce air traffic controller workload and result in a more efficient operation. The virtual queue was determined by a software tool developed and deployed for centralized departure metering under contract to the PANYNJ. Each flight operator would input expected flight departure times into the software and the central metering function would assign a pushback time that would ensure an efficient flow to the runway. This was accomplished in advance so that loading of the flight to conform with the assigned pushback time could be achieved, thus almost eliminating any concern about tarmac rules violations. This project was not officially labeled as an Airport CDM project, but almost all flight oper- ators at JFK had extensive experience in CDM. Additionally, the PANYNJ requested advice from European ACDM airports that had experience in departure metering. Their advice to the PANYNJ was that meetings about such an operation could not be held too often and that these meetings produced effective participation. Many meetings were held concerning the implementation of this departure metering because flight operators knew that departure capacity would be reduced and wanted to ensure that their operations received the least delay possible. After implementation, weekly meetings were held to gather feedback and to report on the effectiveness and accuracy of the system as well as the accuracy of the input data from each operator. There was significant concern about accuracy of operator input data and possible “gaming” of the system. This latter concern was eliminated by utilizing the CDM technique of sharing, in real time, everyone’s data input and system out- puts and employing a neutral slot allocation manager. This type of data sharing had never been previously attempted between flight operators at any U.S. airport because it provided all flight operators with a real-time picture of their competitors’ flight departure planning. Once this “transparent” sharing occurred, flight operator input quality improved. A P P E N D I X C JFK International Airport Departure Metering

JFK International Airport Departure Metering 73 The difference between this project and full ACDM was that the FAA was not a direct par- ticipant in the central ground metering function and that the metering function did not have access to FAA air traffic management information. The FAA benefited by the result of this col- laboration, but the PANYNJ and the flight operators were responsible for an effective metering operation. The success of this program has been studied by multiple research organizations, each of which confirmed empirically that significant operational benefits were realized, and at reasonably low cost. Two studies at MIT (Nakahara et al. 2011; Stroiney et al. 2013) estimated the annualized benefits of this system at JFK as reducing taxi out times by 14,800–21,000 hours; reducing fuel burn by 3.26–4.98 million gallons of fuel; and reducing CO2 emissions by 32,000–47,800 metric tons. The true testament to the success of the project is that the original duration of the metering was only going to be during the construction. Once the flight operators saw the success, they requested the PANYNJ to establish a permanent metering function.

Abbreviations and acronyms used without definitions in TRB publications: A4A Airlines for America AAAE American Association of Airport Executives AASHO American Association of State Highway Officials AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials ACI–NA Airports Council International–North America ACRP Airport Cooperative Research Program ADA Americans with Disabilities Act APTA American Public Transportation Association ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials ATA American Trucking Associations CTAA Community Transportation Association of America CTBSSP Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program DHS Department of Homeland Security DOE Department of Energy EPA Environmental Protection Agency FAA Federal Aviation Administration FHWA Federal Highway Administration FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration FRA Federal Railroad Administration FTA Federal Transit Administration HMCRP Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 ITE Institute of Transportation Engineers MAP-21 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (2012) NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASAO National Association of State Aviation Officials NCFRP National Cooperative Freight Research Program NCHRP National Cooperative Highway Research Program NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NTSB National Transportation Safety Board PHMSA Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration RITA Research and Innovative Technology Administration SAE Society of Automotive Engineers SAFETEA-LU Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (2005) TCRP Transit Cooperative Research Program TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (1998) TRB Transportation Research Board TSA Transportation Security Administration U.S.DOT United States Department of Transportation

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