Improving Air Traffic Management Together

Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is a joint government/industry initiative aimed at improving air traffic flow management through increased information exchange among aviation community stakeholders. CDM is comprised of representatives from government, general aviation, airlines, private industry and academia who work together to create technological and procedural solutions to the Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) challenges faced by the National Airspace System (NAS).

CDM is an operating paradigm where ATFM decisions are based on a shared, common view of the NAS and an awareness of the consequences these decisions may have on the system and its stakeholders. There are two central tenants to CDM; that better information will lead to better decision-making, and tools and procedures need to be in place to enable air navigation service providers and the flight operators to more easily respond to changing conditions. By sharing information, values and preferences, stakeholders learn from each other and build a common pool of knowledge, resulting in ATM decisions and actions that are most valuable to the system.  CDM plays in integral part in Air Traffic Management and is instrumental global harmonization.

The leadership team behind CDM is the CDM Stakeholders Group (CSG).  The CSG meets monthly and provides recommendations to the FAA on CDM priorities and activities, oversees the general direction and mission of CDM and provides prioritization and tasking on possible technology, communication tools, etc., towards enhancing system efficiencies for the NAS. The CSG will form sub-teams and assign specific tasking to develop options for potential opportunities that may be presented to the FAA for action.

The current sub-teams are the Flow Evaluation Team (FET), the Future Concepts Team (FCT), the CDM Training Team (CTT), the Weather Evaluation Team (WET), the Surface CDM Team (SCT), and the CDM Automation Team (CAT).  The sub-teams are comprised of members of the FAA and Industry and serve at the discretion of the CSG.

CDM Multimedia:
CDM Movie
CDM Overview Presentation