Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport (BOG) will become the first air station in Latin America to incorporate the Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) solution, developed by SITA, a leading IT provider to the airline industry.
The software company confirmed the agreement at the ALTA AGM & Airline Forum 2022, which took place in Buenos Aires. “The technology will minimise disruptions and improve air and ground traffic flow management through increased collaboration between stakeholders”, the company said in a press release.
Operador Aeroportuaria Internacional (OPAIN), which manages the airport, signed a six-year contract to implement SITA’s Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) modules. The tool will aim to optimise ground operations in a context of sustained recovery. It is expected to be fully implemented by the end of this year.
In the same vein, SITA noted that El Dorado (Colombia’s main airport and with one the highest passenger traffic volumes in the region) is facing increasing stress to cope with demand growth as activity approaches its pre-pandemic levels.
The capital airport will incorporate a pre-departure sequencing (PDS) tool from the CDM solution to optimise operations performance on the tarmac.
By optimally sequencing flights and reducing aircraft movements on the ground, unnecessary waiting times with engines running can be avoided. This can reduce fuel consumption and associated emissions, as well as reduce the noise impact of operations.
An evaluation of seventeen European airports already using the solution showed that the A-CDM solution avoided the emission of 102.700 tonnes of carbon dioxide. In addition, it allowed to save more than 2.2 million minutes of aircraft taxiing time and 26.7 million euros in fuel, as reported by SITA.
“With traffic levels almost back to our pre-pandemic levels, we have selected SITA airport technologies to improve the efficiency of our operations and enhance our emissions reduction efforts”, said Tomás Aragón, OPAIN’s COO. “Minimising operational disruptions helps ensure that we provide the best possible customer experience at the airport”, he added.
“We are proud to support the introduction of the Airport Collaborative Decision Making solution at airports in Latin America”, said Matthys Serfontein, President of SITA Americas. “It is a win-win situation for El Dorado International Airport and its partners, because increased collaboration will generate substantial cost and carbon savings”, he said. Finally, the executive highlighted that “the improvement in punctuality is also great news for passengers”.
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