ATFCM General
Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM) is a critical operational process in modern aviation that ensures the safe, orderly, and efficient flow of air traffic while preventing airspace or airport overload.
In general, ATFCM ensures that:
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Too many aircraft do not enter the same airspace sector at the same time
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Airport arrival and departure capacities are respected
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Delays and congestion are minimised across the network
Airport Capacity
Because only one aircraft can land or depart from a runway at a given time, and because aircraft must be separated by a certain distance or time to avoid collisions, every airport has a finite capacity; it can safely handle only so many aircraft per hour. Additionally, certain factors, such as weather, can influence airports' capacity.
In overloads, traffic demand is higher than the aerodrome's capacity. Therefore, ATFCM aims to reduce the number of arriving/departing traffic to avoid the risk of overloads.
Enroute Capacity
Every sector has a defined hourly capacity and/or an occupancy limit. These aim to keep traffic volume at a level which is workload in each sector. Sector capacity can also vary depending on certain conditions (e.g. weather) or certain sector combinations.