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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 tenets 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 Executive Committee (EC).  The EC 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 EC will form sub-teams and assign specific tasks to develop options for potential opportunities that may be presented to the FAA for action. The sub-teams are comprised of members of the FAA and Industry and serve at the discretion of the Executive Committee. The EC also oversees the goals and objectives of the NAS Customer Forum (NCF). NCF is a monthly informational and collaborative problem solving opportunity for Industry and FAA stakeholders in the NAS. The current sub-teams are:

Flow Evaluation Team (FET)

Future Concepts Team (FCT)

CDM Training Team (CTT)

Weather Evaluation Team (WET)

Surface CDM Team (SCT)

CDM Automation Team (CAT)

Stakeholder Engagement Team (SET)

CDM Multimedia:
CDM Movie
CDM Overview Presentation