UNIT4 AIRPORT Planning

and SURVEY
SUBJECT : AIRPORT STRATEGIC PLANNING
• What is airport planning and design?
• It involves planning, designing, and construction of
terminals, runways, and other ancillary facilities for airlines
to operate. Developing an airport requires huge amount of
capital and anticipation of future growth of airlines and
passengers.
• Airport Designing
• Airport projects are involved with many considerations and issues
hence they are highly collaborative. Designing of airport is taken up by
architectural firms. The architects work in collaboration with civil
engineers to come up with the Airport Layout Plans. The experts come
up with master plans which is referred to for further developments.
• Operational Concepts
• The Integrated Plan’s discussion of operational concepts describes
the performance of the future air transportation system in five
areas:security operationssafety assuranceairport operationsaircraft
operationsATM operationsNational Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Technology Pathways: Assessing
the Integrated Plan for a Next Generation Air Transportation System.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
https://doi.org/10.17226/11420.
• Safety and security are best achieved when they are viewed as inherent
in each operational phase, when they are integrated into each phase
from the beginning, and when they are considered an integral
component of system reliability and efficiency. Safety and security are
less effective when they are patched onto technologies and processes
by an outside group after the process of developing operational
technologies and processes is well under way. In addition, just as safety
is enhanced through the use of multiple, redundant systems, security
can be enhanced through the use of a layered system in which multiple
security features are connected and provide backup for one another
(NRC, 2002). Layered security is effective, however, only if it is guided by
a risk-based approach that quantifies the cost of each layer and its
contribution to overall goals for the mitigation of security risks.
• The other three performance areas described in the Integrated Plan—
airports, aircraft, and ATM—reflect how responsibilities for the
manufacture, ownership, and operation of physical assets are
distributed among different organizations, but they do not correspond
to distinct phases of operation. As discussed further in the next
chapter, implementation of NGATS would be easier if each IPT
corresponded to one group of operational concepts. With such an
approach, each set of operational concepts would encompass
integrated operations by pilots, air traffic controllers, and all of the
other people and equipment involved in a particular phase of
operation..
• The systems-oriented grouping of operational concepts currently in the
Integrated Plan should be replaced by a functional grouping of
operational concepts that corresponds to how the air transportation
system actually operates:
• airport operations
• terminal area operations
• en route and oceanic operations
• Operational concepts for airport operations will be needed for flight
operations during approach, landing, and takeoff; for ground operations;
and for curb-to-gate processing of passengers within the terminal.
• Operational concepts for terminal area operations will be needed for
flight operations between the last en route waypoint and the initial
approach waypoint at major airports. This includes multicenter
operational concepts for terminal areas that are so close together
that responsible traffic control centers should take a collaborative
approach to traffic flow management.
• Operational concepts for en route and oceanic operations will be
needed for aircraft operating between the terminal areas at their
points of origin and destination, including aircraft operating in
oceanic airspace. Operational concepts at this level should also
encompass national traffic flow
• 1  ATM responsibilities for airspace over international waters is
delegated to various countries; the United States is responsible for
much of the oceanic airspace over the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic
oceans. Implementation of new operational concepts for oceanic
airspace would require collaboration with the International Civil
Aviation Organization, which is responsible for setting ATM standards
and procedures for oceanic airspace.
• This approach—of grouping operational concepts by phase of operation—
corresponds naturally to the way that aircraft operate as they move from the
departure gate to the arrival gate. In addition, this approach would greatly simplify
the interfaces between operational concepts compared with the complex
interfaces needed in the Integrated Plan, which implies the creation of five sets of
operational concepts—one for aircraft operations, one for ATM, one for safety, etc.
• Future versions of the Integrated Plan would also be improved by defining both
the goals that must be achieved by each operational concept and the process or
approach by which those goals will be accomplished. Specific technological
solutions should be viewed as speculative until they have been demonstrated to
be the best means available to implement a particular operational concept.
Therefore, it is important to develop the tools needed to assess operational
concepts that will meet the primary objective of resolving demand issues and
increasing capacity while also satisfying enabling, interrelated requirements for
safety, security, environmental effects, consumer satisfaction, and industrial
competitiveness.
• Until that assessment is complete, the Integrated Plan should avoid
prescribing specific solutions that may be too limiting. For example,
the Plan’s discussion of security operations states that “sensor
technology and countermeasures will be used to detect and render
man-portable air defense systems ineffective” (NGATS JPDO, 2004, p.
11). Developing, deploying, and maintaining missile defense systems
on commercial aircraft would be very expensive and may not
represent the most cost-effective solution to this problem, even if one
assumes that small missiles will become a significant security threat in
the future.
• The need for an integrated, systematic approach to operational concepts
is further illustrated by the discussion of remote piloting capabilities in
the aircraft operations section. This capability is mentioned as a possible
means for enabling “ground intervention in case of pilot incapacitation or
for security reasons.” This discussion does not seem to consider that
remote piloting capabilities also create the potential for remote hijacking
of multiple aircraft by terrorists who have taken over a traffic control
facility. The Integrated Plan should more carefully consider the strengths
and weaknesses of specific technological and procedural approaches
(e.g., remote control of aircraft by ground controllers) as they relate to
the stated goals (e.g., to be more secure)
• Changes in the airline industry that have occurred since it was
deregulated in 1978 demonstrate the futility of trying to predict
whether the air transportation system of 2025 will be dominated by
point-to-point or hub-and-spoke route systems and by jumbo jets or
regional jets. However, no matter what types of users dominate the
future air transportation system, operational concepts for in-transit
operations should strive to satisfy increased demand for passenger
and cargo traffic, with safe separation between aircraft and with the
ground, in all types of weather.
• As soon as possible, the JPDO should use available analytical capabilities to
define guiding principles for the development of new operational concepts.
The guiding principles that are ultimately adopted by the JPDO should also be
reflected in the NGATS vision and goals. Four possible guiding principles are
described below, for purposes of illustration:
• . Use precise information. The current air transportation system is based on
certain assumptions about the availability and precision of information related
to aircraft position and velocity, atmospheric conditions, etc. In recent
decades, the accuracy and timeliness of this information has improved by
orders of magnitude. Therefore, one guiding principle could be that NGATS will
take full advantage of precise information about aircraft performance and
flight status, adverse weather, wake vortices
• and the state of the air transportation system that is quickly disseminated to
improve situational awareness and support effective decision making by all
system users. Such an approach could increase safety, reduce vertical and
horizontal separation, eliminate operational restrictions on closely spaced
runways, enable operation of more than one aircraft on a runway at a time,
and eliminate the adverse effect of reduced visibility on system capacity.
• Such a guideline would promote research to safely increase system capacity
by making better use of existing runways and airspace, and it would improve
the performance of the air transportation system regardless of which aircraft
types dominate the airspace or which route structures are employed by the.
• Use existing flight management system capabilities. Another guiding
principle could establish that NGATS will take full advantage of the
flight management systems, the Global Positioning System (GPS),
traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS), and terrain alerting and
warning systems (TAWS) that are installed in more than 4,000 air
transport aircraft. More than 20,000 aircraft in the worldwide fleet
will be equipped with these systems by 2025. Operational concepts
that take full advantage of these performance-based capabilities
could be implemented much more quickly and more economically
than concepts that require new equipment to be retrofitted into all
aircraft in the fleet.
• Taking full advantage of the advanced navigation capabilities and
other precise information that current systems provide could
dramatically improve the situational awareness of system users. The
FAA is already taking a step in this direction in the form of the
Required Navigation Performance Program. This program is
establishing aircraft performance standards that would allow aircraft
to use already installed technology to break free of the traditional
ground-based navigation system. In addition, operational concepts
could be developed on the performance capabilities of current air
transport aircraft, that allow simultaneous, independent, parallel
approaches to closely spaced runways in low visibility conditions..
• Reduce the impact of aviation on local communities. Operational concepts
for NGATS should be designed to improve operational efficiency while
reducing community impacts (noise and emissions). For example,
trajectory-based flight operations would, among other things, allow
continuous descents and eliminate the need for adding power to level off
during approaches. This would reduce emissions, fuel consumption,
community noise, and travel time. Continuous descent approaches would
also minimize level flight at low altitudes, which produces more noise and
requires a higher thrust setting than descending flight. Continuous descent
approaches also keep aircraft at higher altitudes during most of the
approach to landing, which increases noise attenuation (NASA, 2004)..
• Increase the productivity of air traffic controllers. Another guideline
might establish the principle that new technologies, systems, and
procedures will increase capacity by increasing the productivity of
controllers (rather than rely on a business-as-usual approach that
strives to double or triple the capacity of the air transportation system
by doubling or tripling the number of controllers). For example, one
way to increase the productivity of controllers in crowded airspace
would be to have controllers monitor the placement of an aircraft
route “tube” between two cities or waypoints, while relying on aircraft
to self-separate within the tube.
• Whatever approach is ultimately used to define and assess operational concepts—and
the operational roles that human beings should play—it should focus on the area of
greatest importance to the future of the air transportation system, which is satisfying
increased demand, while also satisfying enabling, interrelated requirements regarding
safety, security, environmental effects, consumer satisfaction, and industrial
competitiveness.
• Safety and security risk management systems should be embedded in each of the above
operational concepts, not set apart as separate considerations. The Integrated Plan
should describe an iterative process for defining and assessing operational concepts as
they relate to quantifiable system performance goals. The process should involve
discussions with stakeholders and progressively more detailed modeling and simulation
to assess performance and identify problems and guiding principles. The JPDO should
support research to enhance and assess modeling and simulation capabilities.
• What are the methods of controlling airport noise?
• Methods for controlling aircraft noise include runway use
principles and flight route planning. These actions direct
traffic to the least populated areas within the limits of flight
safety regulations. At Helsinki Airport, for example, noise
pollution is reduced by choosing aircraft takeoff and landing
directions.
• Noise
• Noise is the most predominant objection raised by opponents to new airports and
• airport expansion projects. Numerous efforts are being made by industry and
government to
• seek new and better ways to reduce aircraft sound levels. Many of the older jet
aircraft are now
• being retrofitted with noise kits that are designed to reduce noise. Engine
manufacturers are
• exploring new engineering concepts and designs that will reduce this source of noise
to an
• absolute minimum. Pilots of airliners are required to maintain certain power settings
and to fly
• prescribed routes that reduce noise levels in the vicinity of takeoff and landing areas.
Noise
• certification standards have been established by the FAA for new aircraft
• What is meant by vehicular traffic?
• Definitions of vehicular traffic. the aggregation of vehicles
coming and going in a particular locality.