Enabling General Aviation Departure Readiness Information Exchange

To support the maturation of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) vision for integrated departure scheduling, one must understand the departure readiness of all flights. Departure readiness data enables the creation of a strategic picture of departure demand to manage both airport surface and airspace constraints. Specifically, FAA traffic managers benefit from an accurate picture of departure demand several hours in advance to determine whether traffic management initiatives or sectorization changes are necessary. The FAA plans to improve surface traffic flow management by deploying surface scheduling and surface metering capabilities in the Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) system at 27 major airports across the National Airspace System (NAS). To operate effectively, TFDM scheduling and metering will require accurate estimates of all flight operators’ departure times including general aviation (GA) flight operators (e.g., pilots, dispatchers, fleet operators). Without accurate departure readiness data, TFDM surface scheduling and metering may be less effective at managing surface congestion. Even at airports not planned to receive TFDM, accurate departure readiness will still be needed to manage airspace and surface traffic congestion effectively.