Ever wonder what exactly an EDCT is or how private jets navigate them? Find out all the information you need to know in our guide below.
Everything You Need to Know About EDCT
What Is EDCT? What Does It Stand For?
EDCT stands for Estimated Departure Clearance Time. It is essentially the time slot that an aircraft must depart from an airport in order to arrive at the destination airport at the specific time. They’re generally only assigned when an arrival airport or its surrounding airspace are congested. It’s common to see an Estimated Departure Clearance Time during peak days, holidays and during adverse weather events.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that and EDCT isn’t flexible. It’s an agreed upon time dictated by the affected air traffic facilities and the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) in Virginia. For this reason, your aircraft must be wheels-up within five minutes of your assigned time. If not, then you forfeit it.
In addition, the Air Traffic Control at your departure airport is required to call the ATCSCC and receive a new EDCT. This often results in additional delays.
How Is it determined?
The FAA utilizes software that collects and displays the known demand at airports across the nation. A Ground Delay Program (GDP) will be put into effect at airports where the demand out-weighs the capacity. Aircraft that file to an airport with a GDP, will be issued an EDCT. This is an effort to meter the amount of arrivals to an airport so that the capacity isn’t exceeded.
Your Flight Support Team is constantly monitoring delays and will provide regular updates to you if your flight is issued an EDCT.
