Airservices Australia Selects Metron Aviation to Advance International Collaborative Decision Making Operations

Metron Aviation announces that Airservices Australia has selected the company for the next phase of its Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) program. The next phase will address optimizing international flight operations in the Australian airspace. The program will engage international stakeholders in CDM processes and enable arriving international flights to improve flight efficiency by targeting an arrival time that dynamically balances air traffic demand with capacity.

Metron Aviation brings to the program a proven Concept Engineering methodology to engage all stakeholders, including international operators, in the successful operational concept and procedure development.

Margaret Staib, Chief Executive Officer, Airservices Australia, said that this program will further improve air traffic efficiency while regulating controller workload in congested terminal and en route airspace and will be another step to introduce air traffic flow management (ATFM) into the Asia Pacific region and is consistent with the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) program.

"Close collaboration with Metron Aviation has led to the successful deployment of ATFM in Australia. It has given us the confidence and stakeholder buy-in to work on the next levels of ATFM innovation. With the new CDM program, we will bring significant operational benefits to international flights and the entire aviation community, while reducing flight delays, fuel burn and emissions," Ms. Staib said.

"Airservices is a global leader in the application of CDM to improve the performance for its key stakeholders and air traffic management systems," said Jim Gaughan, CEO, Metron Aviation. "We are proud that we have the opportunity to assist Airservices Australia in expanding the collaborative capabilities of Metron Harmony in Australia, to include international arrivals and benefit their global stakeholders."

Airservices Australia successfully deployed Metron Harmony in 2012 to increase the operational efficiency for aircraft operators and improve the safety and capacity of the Australian airspace. With more than a year in operation, the system has resulted in significant savings for airline operators.