Airport operations

The clear objective of the airport related work undertaken by EUROCONTROL is to assist stakeholders in reducing any airport generated delay and provide greater flexibility and consistency in airport operations.

With air traffic growth now returning after the setbacks of the global financial crisis, the need to work closely with all those involved in airport operations is a priority, as this represents one of the most challenging elements with the European Air Traffic Management network.

Against the growing traffic situation the need is to safely optimise the use of available infrastructure in a cost effective way, whilst taking full account of all environmental considerations.

The goal is to link in the airport operation real time into the operation of the European network which will bring rapid and measurable benefits to those airports which are connected. Due to the very dynamic nature of airport operations it is essential that for the future they do not work in isolation but rather as a vital and integral element of the overall network operation.

The DMEAN Programme

Integrating airports more effectively on both a strategic and real time basis into the overall operation of the Network will bring measurable benefits to airports through improved performance and reduced emissions - key targets of the Single European Sky.

The EUROCONTROL Dynamic Management of the European Airspace Network (DMEAN) programme includes a clear focus on the airport dimension and in providing greater flexibility in airport operations.

• More about the DMEAN Programme

Airport operations in network management

Based upon the successful completion of the earlier airport programmes, the focus now is on working with stakeholders to enhance the performance of airport operations in the key areas of safety, delay reduction, environment and efficiency.

A core part of this work is the wider introduction of the collaborative decision making (CDM) concept, which links airports real time into the network. This information on what is actually happening at an airport on the day of operation will allow a more proactive service to be delivered and much greater flexibility that will take full account the real difficulties that are encountered in daily airport operations.

• More about airport operations under Network Manager