Airport Collaborative Decision Making (ACDM) to Manage Adverse Conditions (2021)

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3 Background The United States has been using the CDM process for many years, and until very recently, this process has focused mainly on cooperation and data sharing between FAA and the flight operators. Airports are now at the threshold of becoming fully active partners in CDM and implementing its principles locally, using the term ACDM. ACRP Report 137: Guidebook for Advancing Collabora- tive Decision Making (CDM) at Airports provides guidance to airport operators about the value of CDM and how to integrate the process into airport operations and planning (Vail et al. 2015). This project—ACRP Project 10-27, “Using Collaborative Decision Making to Enhance the Management of Adverse Conditions”—aims to develop an electronic toolbox for facilitating the implementation and utilization of ACDM by the stakeholders of airport operations. The electronic toolbox—the first of its kind—provides content about ACDM; guidance on implementation; and tools and templates for fostering collaboration before, during, and after adverse events. This guidebook presents a selection of narrative contents available in the toolbox to understand the benefits of ACDM for enhancing the management of adverse conditions, to present the main concepts used in ACDM and learn the processes proposed in the toolbox, and to document best practices for implementing ACDM at the airport. A training program is proposed at the end of the report. Training materials for each of the modules are available in the toolbox. What Is ACDM? CDM is “a process applied to support activities such as demand/capacity balancing. CDM can be applied across the timeline of activities, from strategic planning to real-time operations. CDM is not an objective but a way to reach the performance objectives of the processes it supports” (ICAO Doc 9971, 2018). Behind these high-level objectives, CDM typically consists of two key ideas: • Air traffic management (ATM) should be based on the same flight data updated in real time and shared between the different stakeholders. However, information sharing alone is not sufficient to realize CDM and the objectives of CDM. • Decision-making should be coordinated and collaborative, especially during adverse conditions, including crisis. Collaborative operating procedures should be defined to facilitate the decision- making process and crisis management. ACDM is the application of this approach to airport operations. This guidebook and the toolbox focus on the second part of CDM for airports: the enhancement of the decision-making process for managing adverse conditions. Introduction

4 Airport Collaborative Decision Making (ACDM) to Manage Adverse Conditions Airport collaborative decision making is abbreviated “A-CDM” in most parts of the world. It is the acronym used by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and industry organizations when talking about the concept of airport CDM. The similar acronym ACDM was used in ACRP Report 137 (Vail et al. 2015). The current report uses this acronym when referencing airport CDM in the United States in order to differentiate it from other ACDM initiatives that might be more ATM-centric (e.g., EUROCONTROL). Why Are the Guidebook and the Toolbox Needed? While CDM emerged more than two decades ago in the United States, the process has focused on flight operations from takeoff to landing. Collaboration in airport operations is still an ongoing effort as well. It has progressed at some of the Part 139 certified airports with the implementa- tion of collaborative frameworks for irregular operations management and contingency planning based on guidance provided by ACRP Reports 65 (Nash et al. 2012) and 153 (Cogliandro et al. 2016). However, continuity events are not covered by these processes, and interviews with airport operators and stakeholders confirmed the lack of direct coordination during regular operations. Nearly all participants in the survey and interviews conducted during the project called for more cooperation in airport operations management. This guidebook and toolbox promote collaboration at all levels for increasing operational resilience. They are a timely response to a strong need for tighter cooperation in operations planning and real-time operations. What Is the Purpose of the Toolbox? The ACDM toolbox serves as a go-to manual for airport operators and their stakeholders for effective implementation and use of CDM to enhance the management of the continuum of dis- ruptions at a variety of types and sizes of airports. The toolbox addresses and includes the following: • A compendium of implementation practices to apply CDM principles and tools as they apply to the continuum of disruptions, • Identification of the benefits of CDM as applied to the mitigation of the continuum of disruptions, • The use of data sharing to drive internal and external communications, • Techniques for engaging stakeholders with an emphasis on airline partners at the system operations level, • An effective approach to standardization, • A consolidated glossary of key and new common terminology, • Guidance on how to use CDM to ensure scalability and flexibility across all types and sizes of airports for managing the continuum of disruptions, and • Templates for communication criteria for international operational diversions. The toolbox also features a comprehensive joint training program for the local ACDM spon- sors, project managers, and practitioners as well as several resources on collaboration in airport operations. Who Should Use the Guidebook and the Toolbox? The guidebook and toolbox are intended to be used by all the stakeholders of airport opera- tions who are looking for (1) information on ACDM and its benefits, (2) guidance to implement ACDM locally, (3) guidance to more generally enhance collaboration between stakeholders, and (4) resources on adverse conditions and how to manage them collaboratively. Typical users

Introduction 5 are the internal stakeholders of airport operators—including airport operations, emergency and irregular operations management, and other divisions—and the partners of real-time operations, which include air traffic controllers, flight operators, ground handlers, fixed-base operators, tenants, and federal and law enforcement agencies. While the ACDM benefits might seem more evident for hub airports of the National Airspace System, the contents featured in this guidebook and toolbox can be used to implement ACDM and improve resilience at all aviation facilities (including smaller commercial service airports and general aviation facilities) and to foster collaboration within multi-airport systems, regional groups of airports with interdependencies, and state aviation systems. Moreover, the materials are not intended to be only used for implementing a formal ACDM organization. The guidance and best practices provided can help aviation operations stakeholders to simply enhance collaboration without entering into any kind of formal agreement and develop- ing an ACDM initiative. Even so, when feasible, implementing ACDM practices is recommended to maximize the benefits in the long term. The toolbox should be used as a resource to develop collaboration “à la carte” to address local issues on operations efficiency and resilience. How to Use the Guidebook and the Toolbox The guidebook features a selection of narrative contents from the toolbox. They provide infor- mation and case studies on ACDM and, more broadly, on collaboration in airport operations for enhancing the management of adverse conditions. They propose collaborative processes to develop plans for adverse conditions, implement these changes successfully, and operate with ACDM in real time. They dispense best practices for ACDM implementation and project management and a step-by-step approach to conducting the ACDM initiative. A comprehensive training program is available to educate the operations community about ACDM and train each population of the ACDM organization, depending on its role, with a tailored set of modules. The toolbox application is the main deliverable of this ACRP Project 10-27. Through the main functions—Learn, Implement, Train, and Operate—users can progressively increase their knowl- edge about ACDM and have the knowledge and tools they need to contribute to the local ACDM initiative depending on their role within the ACDM organization. This toolbox also has a set of Quick Reference Sheets, tools, and templates listed by categories that can assist the operations community in addressing operational issues in real time. Finally, it also contains a glossary, abbreviations, and an electronic library that cover operations matters beyond ACDM. Finally, this guidebook encourages individual airports to partially customize the toolbox in order to disseminate the collaborative procedures and plans and other useful information about their operations to their members. Consequently, this toolbox is intended to be used as a practice-ready, straightforward “Swiss Army knife” by the airport operations community.