atm-i _second assignment_ emerging operational challenges in airport management

8/3/2019 ATM-I _second Assignment_ Emerging Operational Challenges in Airport Management

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2011

HamsathulHarisKNALSAR9/26/2011

EMERGING OPERATIONAL

CHALLENGES IN AIRPORT

MANAGEMENT


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INTRODUCTION

Since its beginning in the early twentieth century, civil aviation has become one of the most

fascinating, important, and complex industries in the world. The civil aviation system,

particularly its airports, has come to be the backbone of world transport and a necessity to

twenty-first-century trade and commerce. The magnitude of the impact of the commercial air

transportation industry on the world economy is tremendous, contributing more than $2.6

trillion in economic activity, equivalent to 8 percent of the world gross domestic product, and

supporting 29 million jobs. In the United States alone civil aviation is responsible for $900

billion in economic activity and 11 million jobs.

Airports are an essential part of the air transport system. They provide the entire

infrastructure needed to enable passengers and freight to transfer from surface modes of

transport to air modes of transport and to allow airlines to take off and land. The basic airportinfrastructure consists of runways, taxiways, apron space, gates, passenger and freight

terminals, and ground transport interchanges. Airports bring together a wide range of

facilities and services to fulfill their role within the air transport industry. These services

include air traffic control, security, fire and rescue in the airfield. Handling facilities are

provided so that passengers, their baggage, and freight can be successfully transferred

between aircraft and terminals, and processed within the terminal. Airports also offer a wide

variety of commercial facilities ranging from shops and restaurants to hotels, conference

services, and business parks. Apart from playing a crucial role within the air transport sector,

airports are of strategic importance to the regions they serve. In a number of countries they

are increasingly becoming integrated within the overall transport system by establishing links

to high-speed rail and key road networks. Airports can bring greater wealth, provide

substantial employment opportunities and encourage economic development these factors

can be a lifeline to isolated communities. However, they do have a very significant effect,

both on the environment in which they are located and on the quality of life of the residents

living nearby. A growing awareness of general environmental issues has heightened the

environmental concerns about airports.

This report provides a broad overview of the emerging operational challenges in airport

management. It does this by firstly understanding the historical factors that had driven

airport development. Then some of the major operational challenges are outlined and the

report is concluded by considering the dynamic nature of the operational challenges.


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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF AIRPORTS

When aviation was in its infancy the aviator first constructed an aeroplane and then began to

search for a suitable airfield where he could test the machine. The aerodrome parameters

were selected on the basis of the performance and geometrical characteristics of the aircraft.

The first aeroplanes were light, with a tail wheel, and the engine power was usually low. A

mowed meadow with good water drainage was sufficient as an aerodrome for those

aeroplanes. The difficulty in controlling the flight path of these aeroplanes required the

surrounding airspace to be free of obstacles over a relatively wide area. Since the first

aeroplanes were very sensitive to cross wind, the principal requirement was to allow taking

off and landing always to be into wind. In the majority of cases, the aerodrome used to be

square or circular without the runway being marked out. The wind direction indicator that

was so necessary in those days still has to be installed at every aerodrome today, though its

use now at big international airports is less obvious. Other visual aids that date from that

period are the landing direction indicator and the boundary markers. The latter aid determined

unambiguously where the field was, and where the aerodrome was, this flight information for

the pilot not always being evident in the terrain.

Immediately after World War I in 1919-1920, the first air carriers opened regular air services

between Paris and London, Amsterdam and London, Prague and Paris, among others.

However, in that period no noticeable changes occurred in the airport equipment, or in the

basic operating concept, other than some simple building for the processing of passengers and

hangars for working on the aeroplanes. Even in the 1930s, the new technology of the Douglas

DC-2 and DC-3, which were first put into airline service in 1934 and 1936 respectively, was

not sufficiently different to require large changes in the physical characteristics of

aerodromes, so the development of airports up to that period may be characterized as gradual.

The first passengers on scheduled airlines were mostly business people or the rich and

famous, but this was a small scale activity, most of the flying being done by the military. The

main change in the airfields physical characteristics was the runway length. The multiengine

aircraft required the length to increase to approximately 1 000 m.

After World War II, there were unusually favorable conditions for the development of civil

aviation and air transport. On one hand there were damaged ground communications, while

on the other hand, there were plenty of surplus former military aircraft. There was also the

requirement to support the supply chains from the USA to Latin America, to Japan and to


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Europe under the Marshall Plan. All of that activity allowed civil air transport to recover

quickly and then to continue to a higher level than before World War II. The requirements for

aerodromes changed dramatically in that same short period of time. The new aircraft required

paved runways, partly because they were heavier and partly because regularity of service

became more important. However, they were still relatively sensitive to the crosswind,

despite having nose-wheel steering. Therefore the big international airports adopted a

complicated system of between three and six runways in different directions in order to

provide sufficient operational usability from the entire runway system. The large number of

runways often reduced the amount of land available for further development of the airport.

One of the runways, most often the runway in the direction of the prevailing winds, was

gradually equipped with airport visual aids, thus being regarded as the main runway. At the

same time terminal facilities were constructed which, besides the services required for the

processing of passengers and their baggage, provided also the first nonaeronautical services,

such as restaurants, toilets, and duty free shops.

The next substantial change that significantly influenced the development of airports was the

introduction of aircraft with jet propulsion. Jet aircraft required further extension of the

runway, together with increases in its width and upgrading its strength. The operation of jet

aeroplanes had an effect also upon other equipment and technical facilities of the airport. One

of them was the fuel supply system. Not only did the fuel type change from gasoline to

kerosene, but also the volume per aircraft increased considerably, requiring reconstruction ofthe fuel farms and the introduction of new refueling technologies.

The introduction of the first wide body jet aircraft, the Boeing B 747-100 in 1970, had a large

impact on the design of terminals. Before the B747-100, the runway or apron were limiting

capacity factors for some airports but, after it was introduced, the terminal building capacity

became critical. The B 747-100 capacity could replace two or three existing aircraft. Thus the

number of aircraft movements was relatively reduced, and the number of passengers per

movement increased. The B 747-100 required a further increase in the strength of

maneuvering areas, the enlargement of stands, and other changes such as to airport visual aids

which resulted from the greater height of the cockpit giving a different view from the cockpit

during approach and landing. The B 747-100 in fact symbolized a whole new era of wide

body air transport, as well as causing the system to adapt to it. At the same time, it signified

that there had to be a limit to which airports could adapt fully to whatever the cutting edge of

aircraft technology demanded of them. The manufacturers themselves came to realize that if


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they constructed an aeroplane with parameters requiring substantial changes of ground

equipment, they would find it difficult to sell it in the marketplace. Futuristic studies of new

aircraft in the early 1980s, with a capacity of 700-1000 seats were not taken beyond the paper

stage, partly for this reason as well as because the airlines had found it hard to sell all the

capacity offered by the 747. Following this argument, the Boeing B 777-200 was designed

with folding wingtips. The Airbus A 380 was designed to fit into an 80 m box which the

airport industry regarded as the maximum it could cope with economically.

Most recent changes to airports have not been provoked by new aircraft technology, but by

political and economic developments. The airport situation in Europe has changed

considerably since the 1960s. The airport in the past was a shop-window of the state, and

together with the national flag carrier, also an instrument to enforce state policy. After the

successful corporatization and then the privatization of the British Airport Authority and

some other airports, many governments have gradually changed their policy towards airports,

particularly in regard to subsidy.

The threat of terrorism required expensive changes of airport terminal buildings with a

consistent separation of the arriving and departing passengers and installation of technical

equipment for detecting explosives.

The deregulation that began in the USA in 1978 produced a revolution in the development of

that industry. Up to then, air transport had been developing in an ordered fashion.Deregulation represented a free, unlimited access to the market, without any capacity and

price limitations, unblocking the previously stringent regulation of the market in the United

States. The percentage of the population who had never before travelled by plane reduced

from 70 % to 20 %. However, it also brought about negative consequences for airport

capacity due to the concentration of traffic at the major hubs and due to the gradual creation

of extremely large airlines with the features of strong monopolies.

The rate of growth of air transport worldwide since 1990 was strong. The volume of

passengers in regular air transport doubled in the period from 1990 to 2000, and in the region

of the Pacific Basin it even quadrupled. The air space in Europe became seriously congested.

Airspace slots, into which a flight can be accepted by prior arrangement, became scarce. The

queues of aeroplanes lengthened, both on the ground and in the air. The costs incurred by

delayed flights reach annually USD hundreds of millions.


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EMERGING OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES AND COMBATING STRATEGIES

1. CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS AND CONGESTIONAll the components of an airline i.e. passengers, crews and planes operate as a network,

interweaving into one another so closely that airline delays have strong network effects. A

disruption in one operation can propagate into several other downstream operations creating

havoc and propagating disproportionately through the entire network. The primary cause of

disruptions is the mismatch between the increasing demands for access to airports and the

limited operational capacity restricting the number of landings and take-offs at airports. The

limited capacity is due to the constraints on runway (spacing between the planes for safety),

gate availability and air-traffic control either due to unforeseen circumstances, like bad-

weather or due to over-scheduling of the fights during peak demands. Congestion mitigation

procedures are critical to a nation's air system and the economy to ensure that delays and

congestion costs do not increase excessively with the projected increasing growth in air

traffic. Different methods adopted to mitigate congestion include

A. Common response is to expand the capacity of airports in the most afflicted regions.

Consequently, airport expansions have occurred and are occurring in many major cities

Expansions are costly, complex, and controversial. For example, the cost of Phase 1 of

the current expansion of LambertSt. Louis international Airport is $1.1 billion. The key

component of this project is the construction of a new runway. To add this runway, theapproved project entailed the acquisition of more than 1,500 acres of land, which ignited

protests from affected homeowners and businesses; the reconfiguration of seven major

roads; the movement of some airport support operations and the Missouri Air National

Guard facility. The benefits of an expansion project to users of air transportation services

extend throughout the local economy and likely beyond, whereas some significant social

and environmental impacts are concentrated near the airport. Airport expansions

frequently disrupt neighborhoods and nearby communities, an example of which is the

destruction of homes in Bridgeton that was judged to be a necessary part of the Lambertexpansion. Homeowners received compensation for their property, but entire

neighborhoods were destroyed. Another disruption is the additional noise imposed on

surrounding communities due to larger airports.

B. Congestion-based pricing of landing fees - At most airports, landing fees are structured

according to aircraft size or weight, and the runway capacity is allocated to aircraft on a


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first come, first served basis. Under the current system, there is a market failure due to

the fact that aircraft owners fail to internalize (i.e., fully bear) the costs to society that

arise when they choose to land at an already busy airport. These costs come in the form of

travel time delay due to longer taxi lines, circling of aircraft before being cleared for

landing, etc. With congestion-based pricing, the owners of aircraft would pay landing fees

based on the marginal damage in terms of runway delay that is caused by their aircraft

rather than pay fees based on aircraft size or weight. These fees might vary at a particular

airport depending on the time of day. This way, when deciding when and where to land,

an owner of an aircraft would be forced to consider the marginal social costs of landing at

a particular airport at a particular time, instead of merely looking at the marginal private

costs. Thus, congestion based landing fees can correct for the externality that causes

congestion at certain airports at certain times of the day. But it also has implications for

equity, since small planes would pay as much as large ones at any given time of day.

C. Slot Allocation - a slot is a reservation for an instrument fight rule takeoff or landing of

an aircraft by an air carrier in air transportation. Congestion at airports has led to the

formation of slot-controlled airports where there is an administrative limit on the number

of landings, and hence take-offs, at an airport. The guiding principles of the current

procedures of allocating landing slots grand-fathering, lotteries and setting of landing fees

independent of demand levels (peak vs. non-peak hours). Such allocation schemes not

only are inefficient methods of utilizing a scarce resource but also act as barriers for new

entrants. Slot allocation techniques can be classified into two types based on the time-

frame over which the landing slots are allocated to the airlines:

1. Strategic (medium-term) initiatives: With these initiatives, slots are allocated to the

airlines over a medium-term horizon (usually on the order of a few years). The

airlines are allowed to schedule planes only in the slots allocated to them. This

approach is called a strategic demand-management technique as airlines can establish

their priorities, anticipate issues and plan for the long-term. These initiatives are

applied to airports that have prolonged periods of congestion every day, even on a day

with good weather.

2. Operational (real-time or short term) initiatives: These initiatives are applied just for

the day of operation when there is an unforeseen circumstance, like bad weather,

causing a sudden drop in capacity on the day of operation. On these days, 50%

capacity drops over a period of 4-5 hours are not uncommon.


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Congestion is a problem at many of the airports. Because of the network features of the air

transportation system, congestion at one airport can have adverse effects on the operations at

other airports. The large cost associated with congestion provides the incentive for mitigating

congestion. But, finding satisfactory solutions is complicated by the interconnectedness of the

air transportation system.

2. ENVIORNMENT PROTECTIONThe potential impacts of aviation on climate and impacts of climate on aviation are of

particular concern and urgency. Efforts to minimize environmental impacts increasingly

dominate aircraft design and the design, construction, and operation of airports. While

environmental issues have become a fundamental constraint to increasing aviation system

capacity, constrained capacity can exacerbate certain environmental problems, such as

noise and impacts on local air quality. Some environmental impacts are well understood,

while significant research will be required to understand other existing and future ones, as

well as the opportunities for mitigating or avoiding them. The different areas that requires

focus are

A. Noise Pollution - aircraft noise has been a major constraint to increasing civil aviation

capacity. Despite the facts that community exposure to aircraft noise has decreased

markedly over the past several decades and that various nations have ambitious

technology goals for the future, community expectations of continued decreases innoise levels may not reflect the reality of the extended time frame required for

development and adoption of advanced technology for the next generation of quieter

aircraft. Moreover research on effect of noise on various areas like health and welfare,

national parks and wilderness should be done to understand the impact of this

pollution. New methods have to be introduced that use sustainability initiatives and

measures to reduce the airports environmental effects and provide or enhance its

social and economic benefits.

B. Local Air Quality - Over the past two decades air pollution associated with aviationand airport-related sources has become a prominent issue facing many air carrier and

general aviation airports in the world. Today, aviation emissions are estimated to

account for less than 1 percent of concentrations of the criteria pollutants carbon

monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone(O3) and its precursors, oxides of

nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and


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particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) over the United States,. Nevertheless, aviation

sources, like those associated with other transport modes, can contribute to air quality

degradation issues and that contribution may grow. Worldwide aviation traffic is

expected to increase at an average annual rate of approximately 4.2% per year

between 2010 and 2030. Increased aviation demand and activities will likely lead to

an increase in aviation emissions. The means to understand, quantify, and mitigate

aviation emissions of traditional criteria pollutants, as well as pollutants of more

recent concern (such as PM, HAPs, greenhouse gases, and diesel emissions from

aviation ground service equipment), must be continually developed. There is also a

need to conduct the studies required to scientifically assess health risks first to human

beings, and then to other sensitive organisms from aviation emissions.

C. Water Pollution - Operations and development activities at airports have the potential

to affect a variety of water resources. Over the past two decades, interest in and

concern over the potential impacts of airport operations on water resources have

increased as environmental regulators look beyond the more obvious sources of water

pollution, such as end-of-pipe industrial waste discharged into large water bodies, and

attempt to address issues such as storm water run-off and nonpoint sources. Airports,

which typically include large areas of impervious surfaces and host activities that can

generate discharges of potential contaminants, such as vehicle and aircraft fueling,

maintenance, and deicing fluids. The aviation industry needs to encourage the

development of programs to address the different aviation needs relating to water

quality.

D. Waste Management - An airport with a capacity of approximately 5 million

passengers a year can generate as much waste as a small town. Airports generate

between 0.5 and 1.0 tons per annum per 1000 passengers. To minimize the negative

impact on the environment in connection with waste dumping, it is necessary to look

for ways to decrease the quantity of waste particularly by recycling, composting,

reuse and introduction of wasteless technologies. In developed countries the concepts

of separation and recycling are supported by legislative measures. These measures

include tax relief and direct state subsidies. This will further be accelerated by the fact

that in all countries there will be a gradual increase of prices for the dumping of

waste. Airport waste contains a high proportion of substances and raw materials

which really need to be sorted out and recycled. The sorting of waste must be

considered not only as a measure for protecting the environment but also as a


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financial asset. One of the main problems in some of the third world countries is a low

social conscience. Economic growth is felt to be more important than the problems of

waste management in these countries. It is therefore important to pay increased

attention to the education of the airport employees in waste management, in particular

in the key workplaces which are the main generators of waste.

Research activities are going on in various areas to minimize pollution and its impacts.

Research is being carried out on new aircraft engine technologies to understand their

emissions reduction potentials and the trade-offs between emissions, noise, and fuel

consumption, as well as the interplay among the various pollutants. Research is also being

conducted to optimize reductions in noise, emissions, and fuel burn through operational

measures including continuous descent arrivals, airport surface movement optimizations, etc. Research is underway regarding emission reduction benefits of ultra-low sulfur fuel,

alternative fuels, and additives and on reformulated aviation gasoline to remove lead. Studies

are being conducted to find other mitigation techniques to aid in the development of emission

reductions, and evaluate such mitigation measures relative to operational, environmental, and

economic consequences.

3. SECURITYFast changing security threats require different design and construction of terminal buildings

and other areas of the airport. The earlier terminals seldom comply with todays

requirements. Old terminal buildings mostly do not allow separation of departing and arriving

passengers, so that temporary solutions have to be adopted in order to separate the flows of

passengers. It is also problematic to estimate which security requirements will have to be met

in the future. It is therefore necessary to design the terminal buildings with the maximum

flexibility. Measures to combat unlawful acts required substantial intervention into the check-

in process and into the design of the airport terminal, which originally had not been taken into

account. The first measures consisted in setting up security control of passengers and their

cabin baggage in the gate, immediately before boarding the plane, or alternatively directlybefore boarding the plane upon the exit from the gate. For flights with special security

requirements, the inspection of checked baggage was carried out bag by bag. Sometimes, the

baggage was reconciled with the passenger on the apron before boarding. It was possible to

hold the air cargo in the warehouses for some time to eliminate the possibility that a

consignment with a concealed explosive and timing device would be loaded onto an aircraft.


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However, these measures turned out to be impractical. When the inspection of the passengers

took place at the gates, there was often a delay to flights. Decentralized check locations had

to be established at the entrance to the holding area for each gate. This increased demands on

personnel at the check points and on their technical equipment requirements. The queues of

passengers before the security control prevented other passengers from moving freely.

Therefore the centralized system of security inspections tends to be given preference in the

design of new terminal buildings. Thus, by the time the passengers reach the entrance to the

gate (or to the transit concourse) they will already have passed through one or several

security filters.

Security requirements are often contrary to the architectural intentions of the design of the

terminal building. Balconies, terraces and entresols, which divide the internal area of the

building in a suitable way, could be convenient observation points for the terrorists, or a place

from where shooting could take place. In the event of a bomb attack, large glass areas,

providing natural light, can be very dangerous. Glass shards are a source of extensive

injuries. All glass in these areas should be toughened and secured firmly to a robust structure.

A blast which would do only superficial damage to a modern framed construction would

cause moderate damage to load-bearing masonry. In the check-in hall and in other passenger

areas, controls should ensure that it is difficult to leave baggage which might contain a bomb.

A particularly easy place to leave a bomb is inside a rubbish bin. They should therefore be

transparent or, as is the case in Copenhagen, bombproof so that the horizontal blast wave isnegated.

It is necessary to pay special attention to maintaining security during construction or

reconstruction of the airport premises. The workers of construction companies are sometimes

not too willing to undergo the security measures. It is very difficult to find out whether they

are criminally unimpeachable. Because of a generally high turnover of staff, it may not be

difficult for a terrorist organization to infiltrate their members into a construction company.

Inspection of material movement is made difficult by a great number of cars, Lorries and

other delivery vehicles. The only solution is a consistent separation of the areas where the

work takes place from other premises of the airport. Even then, it is not possible to exclude

the possibility that weapons or explosives might be smuggled into the airport and placed there

for later use.


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Each airport must have an airport emergency plan, the extent of which corresponds to the

airport size and its importance. In addition to other things it must specify not only the duties

of security departments but also of individual employees for different kinds of emergency

situations. Examples of such situations can be fire, attacks on the airport and its premises

(stores, fuel farms, air traffic control, apron etc.), planes or hijacking of planes or landing of a

plane with the terrorists on board. The plan has also to identify the emergency staff that will

proceed according to the planned procedures.

A higher quality of technical facilities decreases the probability that the saboteurs can get the

explosives or weapons on board aircraft by traditional means. However this does not mean

that they will give up their activities. On the contrary it is possible to assume that they will

look for other ways to achieve their objectives. Therefore it must be ensured that all routes to

the aircraft are protected. It is no use installing facilities for detection of explosives for

millions of dollars if the security measures are such that it is easy to get to the apron and to

the planes without being detected. Equally it is a waste of money if the operating personnel

are not sufficiently trained and motivated. In other words high quality technical facilities are

welcome, however it must not be forgotten that they can be effective only when fully

integrated into a sophisticated security system.

4. ACCOMODATING NEW VERY LARGE AIRCRAFTSAccording to Boeing, air traffic will double by 2020 and new runways will be needed at 60 of

the worlds largest airports by 2025. Boeing predicts that the world aircraft fleet will double

by 2025 and estimates a need for approximately 27200 new commercial airplanes (passenger

and freighter). Over the next 20 years airlines will take delivery of approximately:

3450 regional jets - 90 seats and below

16540 single-aisle airplanes - 100-240 seats, dual class

6230 twin-aisle airplanes - 200-400 seats, tri-class

990 airplanes 747-size or larger - more than 400 seats, tri-class.

Thus the biggest demand will be in the 100-240 seats aircraft segment. In the same time

horizon Airbus predicts need for 21860 new aircraft with stronger growth in the Very Large

Aircraft (VLA - A380 and B 747) segment where about 1263 new aircraft will be needed.

However, the VLA will be flown on the densest routes only. About 44% of the aircraft will

be centered on the ten largest airports and 66% of the routes will be flown by VLA from the


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top 20 airports in 2025. Airports will require significant facility improvements to handle the

large aircraft. The majority of these changes are needed to meet the design group

characteristics of the largest aircraft. Although this sounds like a simple process, it will

involve millions of dollars in construction and improvement activity.

These VLAs will require the separation standards and other operational limitations that are

associated with its design group. Airports that do not meet the requirements of this design

group will all require the appropriate modifications and improvements necessary to meet the

design groups criteria. Airports currently serving the B747-400 should be the easiest to

upgrade because they are already close to meeting the criteria for VLA. The process will still

require significant amounts of costly construction. Aircraft manufacturers are primarily

focusing on a few airports for initial operations because of the significant modifications that

will be required at these airports. The bulk of VLA traffic will most likely be on densely

traveled, long-haul routes terminating in major cities such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, or

Hong Kong. Although some of the most recent airports like that at Hong Kong have been

designed to cope with the introduction of the A380, so that only minor changes like the

location of airside signs has been necessary, the airports which were originally designed

around the needs of Piston-engine aircraft have had to make very substantial changes to

accept it. Londons Heathrow airport has lost more than 20 stands due to having to increase

taxiway separations and has had to build a new pier, the total cost being 450 million.

The current requirements for runway widths appear to present no immediate problem for

VLA so long as airports have the appropriate widths for the applicable design group.

Research may be required to determine if any additional safety margins are required for VLA

operations. It is assumed that most VLA will be equipped with state-of-the-art devices such

automatic landing and rollout, eliminating significant deviation from the centerline of the

runway. In cases where it is likely that VLA will deviate from the centerline, it may be

appropriate to recommend an expansion of runway width sufficient to safely handle the larger

main gear width of the VLA. Airports that currently have D-IV status or lower will

undoubtedly be required to expand their runways to facilitate the VLA that are considered

design group D-V and D-VI aircraft. Airports that currently meet D-VI status will not require

any runway width modifications, unless, for other reasons, is it determined otherwise.

The airport terminal is perhaps the most complex element of the overall airport design that

will require modification for VLA operations. The introduction of VLA at large airports


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currently capable of handling wide-body aircraft will create minimal, yet still noticeable,

increases in passenger congestion. The full impact of a VLA arrival or departure will be

lessened by the airport terminals capability to handle large surges of passengers associated

with the loading and unloading of a large aircraft. There will, however, be other areas of

terminal design that will exceed their designed maximum limits and require some

improvements or expansions. VLA will be carrying up to 100 more passengers than a

traditional wide-body aircraft, and all will need to be processed in the same amount of space

and time as those on todays aircraft. Passenger waiting lobbies, which generally include

public seating and access to passenger amenities, will also be affected by VLA flights. Up to

100 additional passengers, plus an average of one visitor per passenger, will be utilizing these

facilities while waiting for a single VLA flight. It may be feasible for airports to add

additional seats or facilities in these areas to accommodate the increase in passengers and

visitors, providing sufficient space exist.

The number of passengers waiting to collect their baggage at a baggage claim facility will

also increase in proportion to the size of the aircraft. A typical arrival of a single Airbus A380

with 555 passengers will produce over 1,000 people at the airport for a single aircraft arrival.

The majority of these people will be traveling from the gate to the baggage claim area. This

mass of people, in addition to the increased number of bags, will require substantially more

room than provided in the traditional baggage claim area. Passengers and the visitors that are

arriving on or waiting for a VLA flight will be circulating between the ticket counters, gates,and baggage claim areas. Public corridors must be designed to accommodate the mass flow

of people associated with a flight arrival or departure.

As VLA flights are international in nature, it is most important that VLA passengers are

screened properly without any safety compromise. Airports may be required to expand their

security stations to facilitate the increased number of passengers. This could be done by

installing additional walk-through weapons detectors and x-ray machines. Without

modifications, airports may find that security checkpoints will create bottlenecks for

passengers trying to make their way from the general terminal area to the proper aircraft gate.

Very frequently passengers find themselves missing bags or waiting for long periods for their

bags to appear on the baggage carousel. Current baggage handling facilities at large airports

are expected to handle VLA baggage loads in the same manner as they handle those of

current aircraft, despite the significant increase in the number of pieces. Passengers traveling

on a typical commercial aircraft are estimated to carry 1.3 bags per person. A VLA with 555


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passengers will produce approximately 722 bags per flight that will need to be sorted and

forwarded to the appropriate locations. Typical baggage conveyor belts that move the

baggage between locations are capable of handling 26 to 50 bags per minute.

Airport design issues will need to be resolved in a timely manner because airports are going

to require guidance on this subject as soon as possible. Basic airport construction projects can

take up to 8 to 10 years to complete, depending on the number and complexity of

environmental, funding, and operational problems that are encountered.

5. AIRSPACE MANAGEMENTCNS/ATM systems will improve the handling and transfer of information, extend

surveillance and improve navigational accuracy. This will lead to, among other things,

reductions in separation between aircraft, allowing for increased airspace capacity. Advanced

CNS/ATM ground-based systems will exchange data directly with flight management

systems aboard aircraft through data link. This will benefit the ATM provider and airspace

user by enabling improved conflict detection and resolution through intelligent processing,

providing for the automatic generation and transmission of conflict free clearances, as well as

offering the means to adapt quickly to changing traffic requirements. As a result, the ATM

system will be better able to accommodate an aircrafts preferred flight profile and help

aircraft operators to achieve reduced flight operating costs and delays. With CNS/ATM

systems, communications will increasingly take place via digital data link over existing

communications channels. Satellite data and voice communications, capable of global

coverage are also being introduced. Secondary surveillance radar Mode S, which is

increasingly being used for surveillance in high-density airspace, also has the capability of

transmitting digital data between air and ground. An aeronautical telecommunications

network will provide for the interchange of digital data between end users over dissimilar air-

ground and ground-ground communication sub-networks. The regular use of data

transmission for ATM purposes will introduce many changes in the way that communication

between air and ground takes place, and will at the same time offer many new possibilities

and opportunities. Improvements in navigation include the progressive introduction of area

navigation (RNAV) capabilities along with the global navigation satellite system (GNSS).

These systems provide for world-wide navigational coverage and are being used for world-

wide en-route navigation and for non-precision approaches. With appropriate augmentation


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systems and related procedures, it is expected that these systems will also support most

precision approaches.

Traditional secondary surveillance radar modes will continue to be used for surveillance,

along with the gradual introduction of Mode S in both terminal areas and high-density

continental airspace. The major breakthrough however, is with the implementation of

automatic dependent surveillance (ADS). Using ADS, aircraft will automatically transmit

their position, and other data such as heading speed and other useful information contained in

the flight management system, via satellite or other communication links, to an air traffic

control (ATC) unit. Software is currently being developed that would allow these data to be

used directly by ground computers to detect and resolve conflicts. ADS-broadcast (ADS-B) is

another concept for dissemination of aircraft position information. Using this method, aircraft

periodically broadcast their position to other aircraft as well as to ground systems.

When considering implementation of new communications, navigation and surveillance

systems and all of the expected improvements, it can be seen that the advancements in CNS

technologies will serve to support ATM. When referring to ATM in the future concept, much

more than just air traffic control is meant. In fact, ATM will include air traffic services, air

traffic flow management, airspace management and the ATM-related aspects of flight

operations. An integrated global ATM system should fully exploit the introduction of new

technologies through international harmonization of standards and procedures. Ultimately,

this would enable the aircraft operators to conduct their flights in accordance with their

preferred trajectories, dynamically adjusted, in the most optimum and cost-efficient manner.

The global ATM system will require access to global meteorological information on a far

shorter time scale than has been customary in the past. In many cases virtually "instant"

access, including real-time data will be required. Such stringent requirements will dictate that

as many of the processes as possible must be automated. Development of the meteorological

systems to support a global ATM system is taking place, specifically in, among others, the

automatic uplink of aerodrome weather observations to aircraft on approach or departure, anddedicated systems to detect hazardous weather; and, automatic downlink of meteorological

information derived from aircraft sensors (wind, temperature, turbulence and humidity) to

ATC computers.

For CNS systems to provide maximum benefits through enhanced ATM, the support of

aeronautical information services is essential. The role and importance of aeronautical


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information will continue to change significantly with the implementation of area navigation,

required navigation performance (RNP) and airborne computer-based navigation systems. An

integrated ATM system along with the requirement for precise navigation capability will

therefore require high quality aeronautical information in order to be able to provide guidance

for gate to gate operations between origin and destination. With the increased quantity of

aeronautical information and with the clearly defined operational requirement for

aeronautical data quality, the emerging aeronautical databases are improving, among other

things, the speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of aeronautical information. For these

reasons, many States have begun or are planning to begin developing electronic aeronautical

databases with the intent to use such data to prepare and update their aeronautical information

publications and/or to exchange electronic aeronautical information between all parties

concerned.

A major goal of CNS/ATM systems is to create a seamless global air navigation system. A

seamless air navigation environment will require an international team that is prepared to

perform their jobs in such an environment. To achieve this, it is essential that personnel

throughout the world who will form this team receive a consistent, quality level of training.

The evolution of aviation technologies has been gradual in the past, and trainers have, for the

most part, been able to meet the challenges associated with change even though sophisticated

training methodologies and tools have not always been at their disposal. However, the new

CNS/ATM systems are based on many new concepts, and their implementation presents agreater challenge to trainers.

The legal framework for provision of air traffic management services currently in place, the

Chicago Convention and its Annexes, governs the conduct of services providers (including

providers of elements of the services, such as navigation aid positioning signals), and users

(including air operators). CNS/ATM systems will bring significant benefits to States. There is

a consensus that GNSS shall be compatible with the Chicago Convention, its Annexes and

other principles of international law.

Two important characteristics of major CNS/ATM components are their capacity to serve a

large number of States, even regions of the world, and the major investments usually

involved in their implementation. This has organizational implications because States will

need to co-operate in order to ensure optimal benefits from the efficiency CNS/ATM systems

offer. The structure of the international co-operative effort required will differ depending on


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the implementation option chosen for a specific systems component and the States involved.

The international co-operative effort can be in the form of an International Operating Agency,

a Joint Charges Collection Agency or an ICAO Joint Financing Arrangement. At the national

level, implementation of CNS/ATM systems will be facilitated where financially-autonomous

bodies have been established to operate air navigation services. Such authorities may also

operate airports or be in the form of an autonomous civil aviation authority.

Whether at the national or international level, financing of CNS/ATM systems components as

well as other air navigation services infrastructure will be enhanced where such autonomous

bodies are responsible for infrastructure provision and operation. To ensure the successful

implementation of CNS/ATM systems, the providers of air traffic services, the users of these

services and financing organizations all need to be advised of the financial implications and

convinced of the economic viability of new CNS/ATM systems. This can be achieved

through a comprehensive cost/benefit analysis which includes the financial consequences

affecting all the partners involved in the implementation process. Cost/benefit analysis can

also provide guidance on the appropriate timing for implementation of various elements of a

new system. In addition, to demonstrate the financial viability, business cases for

homogeneous ATM areas could be conducted at the regional, sub-regional or national level.

The implementation of CNS/ATM systems will contribute positively towards the economic

impact of civil aviation and could also improve the environmental impact.

6. ACCOMODATING LOW COST CARRIERS AT MAIN AIRPORTSFrom the perspective of the airports, dealing with the low-cost carriers may be hard. These

new clients are interested in inexpensive facilities often quite different from those already

in place. To date, they have also frequently drawn traffic away from the primary to the

secondary airports in the metropolitan region. In general, their presence poses questions for

the long-term business plans of the main airports, and many airports are accordingly likely to

be forced to reorganize their business and design objectives. On the physical side, we may

see main airports increasingly slide away from their historic ideal of providing a consistent

level-of-service across all their passenger buildings, towards offering a range of differentiated

processes for handling passengers and aircraft. Low-cost carriers have a business model that

needs to be carefully understood. It largely determines how they will deliver air transport

services to metropolitan regions, and consequently what kind of airport facilities they desire,


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and how much they are willing to pay for them. Key common features of their strategic plans

are their aim to avoid Congestion, and Expensive capital charges, all else being equal.

Low cost carriers prefer to avoid congested airports because this strategy permits them to

achieve extraordinarily high productivity from their aircraft, compared to the legacy carriers.

They aim to fly their aircraft as much as possible by minimizing unproductive time either on

the ground or in the air. They achieve this by avoiding congestion that will keep the aircraft

on the ground, either because they are waiting for air traffic control clearance, have to queue

up for a open gate, or have round-about taxi distances. This is a central aspect of their service,

in the same vein as the more easily observable fact that they cut the turn-around time on the

ground to a minimum (about 25 minutes in the case of Southwest, and between 30 and 45

minutes in the case of jetBlue, depending on its two current types of aircraft, in contrast to the

more typical hour or more used by the traditional carriers). Low cost carriers thus commonly

avoid congested airports and fly instead to secondary airports in metropolitan regions,

notably Boston/Providence and Boston/Manchester, Dallas/Love, Los Angeles/Long Beach

and Los Angeles/Ontario, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, and San Francisco/Oakland and San

Francisco/San Jose in the United States, and Brussels/Charleroi, Frankfurt/Hahn,

London/Luton and London/Stansted, Oslo/Torp, Rome/Ciampino, and Stockholm/Skvasta in

Europe.

Low-cost carriers also reduce costs by avoiding expensive rentals for ground facilities. This

practice is frankly new in the airline industry. Traditionally, airlines could and did generally

neglect the cost of ground facilities these were barely noticeable in their cost structure. A

$20 per passenger airport fee (which has been around the range for many big airports, for

example Denver International) is not salient in a $500 fare. However, it would definitely be a

large expense for an airline charging $100 or less for a flight. Low-cost airlines achieve low

rental costs both by using older, less expensive facilities on airports, and by using their space

more intensely, and thus requiring comparatively less of it, and specifically fewer gates. One

of the main ways that low-cost airlines reduce their need for expensive facilities is by putting

more flights, and thus more passengers, through each gate. They do this by exploiting their

capability to turn-around their aircraft quickly. The results can be remarkable. Thus jetBlue

apparently manages to process between 600,000 and 700,000 passengers annually through its

gates at New York/Kennedy in contrast to the approximately 250,000 passengers that

American


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Airlines achieves through its own gates. In this way, the low-cost carriers need far fewer

gates. Put another way, they can process many more passengers through a building than the

legacy carriers, and thus reduce their costs per passenger substantially. At Los

Angeles/International for example, Southwest apparently manages 10 daily turns per gate

whereas the other airlines only get about 4 on average.

The low-cost carriers have created a situation at the main airports that is not encouraging.

Many factors cumulate to put a number of them in a bind. In general, the main airports in

varying degrees face some combination of the following issues:

declining market shares;

The enfeeblement of their traditional primary clients

A legacy of excellent, yet possibly inappropriate facilities;

An entrenched mindset.

Managers of main airports need to recognize the reality that low-cost carriers are becoming

dominant in the world. Acknowledging the reality that the low-cost business model will be a

driving force in air transportation may require a deep shift in attitudes and expectations. Most

obviously, this recognition imposes a discipline of economy, of simplicity that is counter to

traditional practices of airport development. Airport passenger buildings have typically been

conceived on a grandiose scale. Transition to explicit product differentiation in the design and

operation of airport passenger buildings is likely to arrive sometime soon at airports. The

surge of low-cost airlines seems to make this inevitable.


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CONCLUSION

The changing structure of air transport, including not only the increasing number of aircrafts,

but also the trend to liberalization and the universally growing transport volumes, will even

further increase the pressure on airport capacity. In addition, the airports must also satisfy the

changing profile and new categories of passengers. They must prepare for increasing

numbers of elderly people, of young parents with children and of the disabled. New standards

have made it necessary to reconstruct completely some airport terminals. All these pressures

will require substantial increases in investment. Similar changes will appear in the carriage of

freight. The existing and new airports will have to cope with the traffic in 30 and 40 years

time. Yet it is not possible to foresee the changes that may occur in management and

technology by then. There may be new types of supersonic aircraft. The growing Pacific

Basin seems to be the most suitable area from that point of view. With a capacity greater than

200 passengers and flight range over 12 000 km, a supersonic transport would allow a

considerable saving of time for passengers and contribute to a dynamic economic growth in

the Pacific area, if the high altitude global warming problems can be solved. Its introduction

would have a major impact on the airport infrastructure. So too would a 1 000 seat blended

wing-body aircraft.


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REFERNCE/BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Airport Design and Operation Antonin Kazda & Robert E. Caves

2. Managing Airports: An International Perspective Anne Graham

3. Congestion at Airports: The Economics of Airport Expansions - Jeffrey P. Cohen and

Cletus C. Coughlin

4. Mitigating Airport Congestion: Market Mechanisms and Airline Response Models -

Pavithra Harsha, Operations Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

5. Critical Issues in Aviation and the Environment 2011 - Number E-C148,

Transportation Research Circular March 2011

6. Planning and Design of Airports - Robert Horonjeff, Francis X. McKelvey,

William J. Sproule, Seth B. Young

7. Impact of New Large Aircraft on Airport Design - U.S. Department of Transportation

/ Federal Aviation Administration

8. World Wide CNS/ATMSystemsImplementationConferenceRio de Janeiro, 11 to 15

May 1998

9. Accommodating Low Cost Airlines at Main Airports - Richard de Neufville Professor

of Engineering Systems and of Civil and Environmental Engineering M.I. T.

atm-i _second assignment_ emerging operational challenges in airport management

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