Overview
Crisis events cause the air transport system and society huge cost and the passenger bears the practical consequences.
The objectives of META-CDM (Multimodal, Efficient Transportation in Airports and Collaborative Decision Making) are to study the conditions under which Collaborative Decision Making, which has been so successful at enabling advanced air transportation concepts such as ground delay programs and airport departure managers, can help air transportation stakeholders deal with major disruptive events that affect civil aviation.
This project will take an integrated look at the effectiveness of airside and landside CDM and its effectiveness in minimizing the impact upon the traveller. In this work, the passenger becomes the centre of attention, and the goal is to make his journey as short and as efficient as possible, beginning when he leaves his living or working quarters at his origin location and ending when he drops his luggage at home or at the hotel. The possible impediments to travel are highly disruptive events, such as strong snow storms, volcano ash clouds or labour unrest. The coherence and coordination of the many systems that are part of delivering the traveller through an airport will be examined and also, when crisis hits, how well contingency plans can help to minimise penalties to the passenger. The passenger-centric approach also looks at how alternative transport modes and communication can step in during crisis situations to minimize personal disruption.
The study will specifically deliver a broad understanding of systems strengths and weaknesses, the areas where coordination can be improved and an assessment of the implications of disruptive events from many perspectives. It will also deliver a comprehensive update on airside-CDM throughout the world. Clear messages in these areas will help scope the frame for new EU research that can deliver tools and procedures to ensure greater system resilience and a better passenger experience when crises strike.
Funding
Results
Improving access for airport passengers
An EU team aimed to expand collaborative decision making as applied to aviation (A-CDM) to handle crises and the landside part of airports. Work involved gathering and implementing the passenger-focused suggestions of stakeholders having experience with such systems.
A-CDM has a record of success, for example in minimising the delay consequences of missed air traffic control slots. However, the present system cannot deal with crisis events nor airport transportation access (including roads and parking), thus warranting an expansion.
The EU-funded 'Multimodal, efficient transportation in airports and collaborative decision making' (http://www.meta-cdm.org (META-CDM)) project aimed to define the future of A-CDM. The vision incorporated CDM techniques for handling major disruption and to prioritise passengers. The three-member project ran between July 2012 and June 2014.
Initially, the consortium reviewed and consolidated existing CDM activities. That initial knowledge base formed the basis for subsequent gathering of information from stakeholders. Project researchers interviewed stakeholders who had previously dealt with disruptive events. The interviews focused on interaction with A-CDM in those instances and on potential improvements.
The team concluded that airside and landside CDM can be united as a total airport CDM concept. However, ability to handle disruption may require CDM reaching beyond airport precincts, to incorporate other transportation nodes and passengers. The consortium identified means by which such goals could be achieved, and the necessary milestones.
Recommended targets included focus on passengers' complete journey, and access to real-time information concerning flight delays, traffic congestion and anticipated airport processing time. In the event of crisis, passengers would be able to make alternative transportation arrangements.
The group held a series of three stakeholder workshops.
META-CDM efforts yielded coordination of various travel stakeholders, who were able to compare strategies for handling disruption. Furthermore, the consortium's review benefited research in the field, while also providing a specific roadmap for implementation.