Estimated time of arrival

Estimated time of arrival ( ETA short, English for estimated time of arrival ) refers to the scheduled arrival time of a means of transport at the destination under the given conditions. This is given as an absolute value. Example: ETA 17:00 means arrival date: today at 17:00 clock.

If you want to specify the time is still needed to achieve the goal of using ETE ( estimated time enroute and estimated time elapsed, and time to go, TTG ). Example: ETE 12:12 Arrival means in 12 minutes, relative time.

The time is estimated from the current situation (eg speed, direction). Example: Flaut while sailing off the wind, also the ETA may change, unless these changes have already taken into account properly in the time of arrival estimate.

The estimation can be quite complex, for example, can weather changes, different line types, with different speeds and detours (curves ) to be taken into account. ETA values ​​, which are calculated from GPS devices are usually much easier. Consider usually only the current speed and its route that is only approximated roughly.

In the maritime field, this term is used by default. It is often used in the aerospace industry and is also in the jargon of the English military use. However, ETA has become very widespread, especially in the English-speaking world. It is used for example, for " production times " or remaining time to maintenance. Particularly on the Internet, it appears again and again in connection with download times of servers and services. There the concept of ETE but almost never shows up, that is the concept of ETA - fachsprachlich incorrectly - used for both information.

The ATA (actual time of arrival ), however, refers to the actual arrival of means of transport at the destination. So you can only be determined on or after arrival.