What Is ATA? Definition & Meaning in Aviation
ATA (actual time of arrival) is the time an aircraft really arrived, usually measured when it touched down or reached the gate.
In plain language
Airlines and airports use the ATA to calculate delays. Some systems use the landing time, others the time the aircraft stopped at the gate.
Example
If a flight scheduled for 14:10 reaches the gate at 14:35, the ATA is 14:35 and the delay is 25 minutes.
Why it matters
The ATA is the fact behind every delay statistic. Without an accurate actual time, an airline cannot compute whether a flight was on time, and a tracker cannot tell you how late it really was.