Definition
A flow-management value used by air traffic control representing the time at which an aircraft is expected to actually touch down at its destination airport. ACLT is computed from the aircraft's most recent estimated time of arrival adjusted for any delay vector applied through traffic management programs such as ground stops, ground delay programs, or arrival metering.
Plain English
It is ATC's best calculated guess of when a flight will really land, after accounting for any delays controllers have added to manage traffic flow.
Context Anchor
You may see ACLT in aviation notice lists, airport operations records, or traffic-management messages that use shortened terms.
Why Pilots Care
ACLT is the value traffic managers use to sequence arrivals and assign delays. A pilot's expected gate time, fuel planning, and any assigned delay all trace back to this calculated landing time.
Intuition Check
Do not read “actual” here as “perfectly exact.” It means the landing time being used as the post-landing record, not a planned or estimated time. Do not read “calculated” as something the pilot must calculate in flight. It means the system or operation has determined the time from available data.
Example Sentence 1
The traffic management unit assigned the flight a delay so that its ACLT matched the airport's arrival rate.
Example Sentence 2
The flight plan listed an ACLT of 1427 Zulu for the destination airport.