Primer: Operations
What does it take to make an airport function smoothly? Largely invisible to airport passengers is a large team of people who work mostly outside the terminal. Their primary goal: to ensure aircraft can land, take off and move around safely and efficiently. An airport’s operational system, and related planning, design and maintenance disciplines, includes terminal, apron, airfield and roadway planning and design; satellite navigation and enhancements to airport capacity; pavement design, construction and maintenance; signage, lighting and airfield markings; as well as airport maintenance systems.
Terminal, apron, airfield and roadway planning and design
These activities are central to the passenger experience and the overall image of an airport. Terminals and roadways are immediately visible to customers and good planning and design makes an important contribution to the entire passenger experience.
Modern design emphasizes intuitive directional signs and, in the case of terminals, comprises of:
- Clear sight lines
- Open spaces
- Excellent concession offerings
- Adequate ticketing and check-in kiosks
- Efficient security screening areas
Roads and curbs are designed to be well lit and include features such as:
- Adequate, convenient parking
- Good pedestrian amenities
- Cell phone parking lots
- Clear signage
Although less visible to passengers, the design of the airfield and airport ramps, also known as “aprons,” is still significant and should:
- Facilitate quick aircraft access to terminals
- Be ample enough to minimize delays since it where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled or boarded
Satellite navigation and enhancements to airport capacity
“NextGen” is the FAA’s plan for the next generation air transportation system. The project is a multi-agency effort to transform the current air traffic control system into one that can accommodate two to three times more air traffic by 2025.
New operations technology
The ADS-B, a satellite-based tool that will provide higher-accuracy positioning information to air traffic controllers and aircraft crews, is among the new technologies being deployed to accommodate the increased capacity.
Other technical requirements to be included in NextGen are:
- Capability to permit closer separations between aircraft approaching airports
- Increased utilization of existing runways during times of reduced visibility
- More efficient taxi operations on the airport surface
- Faster processing of passengers through airport terminals
Pavement design, construction and maintenance
Airport pavements represent a significant investment and its design, construction and maintenance are important parts of operating an airport. While highway pavements can tolerate a certain level of defects, airport runways have much less tolerance for defects. An aircraft landing at 150 mph is not able to swerve to avoid a pothole.
In order to assure long-life and high-quality surfaces, airport paving designers must:
- Use sophisticated computer programs to design runways and taxiways
- Ensure it can perform satisfactorily for the life of the concrete – at least 25 years
- Inspect runways daily and hold regularly scheduled non-destructive tests to assure pavement integrity
Signage, lighting and airfield markings
Typical air carrier airports use thousands of lights, thousands of feet of painted markings and hundreds of signs in an internationally standardized system of providing direction to pilots as they maneuver around the airport surface.
Measures in place to ensure marking systems have maximum visibility to air crews include:
- High reflectivity paint
- Blast resistant internally lit signs
- In-pavement lighting to delineate center lines, runway edges and taxiways
Guidance initiatives
With the increasing concern over runway incursions, signage, lighting and marking systems are being scrutinized to assure that guidance to air crews is clear and unambiguous; particularly as air crews approach active runways while taxiing.
New technologies that sense the presence of an aircraft on a runway are designed to:
- Automatically activate red lights at the runway intersection to warn approaching aircraft that the runway is occupied.
- Warn aircraft at the start of their takeoff roll prior to landing, that an aircraft or vehicle has intruded on the runway.
Airport maintenance systems
Given the enormity of airport facilities which sometimes contains as many as 100 buildings, airport maintenance is managed to minimize costs while providing high-quality facilities.
Airport personnel
Special skills, such as maintaining airfield lighting circuits, are usually performed by trained airport personnel.
Contract personnel
Other maintenance, such as providing terminal janitorial services, is often performed by contractors.
Capital projects
Major rehabilitation of terminals or runways are usually treated as capital projects and performed by specialty construction companies following designs prepared by engineers and architects selected by the airport. In addition to airport maintenance staff, FAA and airlines also use their own maintenance organizations for electronic navigation equipment, radars and airplanes.
Issues Affecting Operations
Operational issues affecting airports span a variety of subjects, from modifications needed to accommodate new aircraft like the Airbus A380, to developing operational plans to assist airlines with the accommodation of passengers during periods of delay.
A380
While the world’s largest commercial airliner, the Airbus A380, is now in commercial operation, an ACI-NA ad hoc working group provided a 10-year forum to iron out issues involving airports and future A380 flights.
Issues that needed to be addressed before the A380 could use U.S. airports included:
- Need for wider runways and taxiways along with greater load bearing pavement.
- Potential for special handling or preferential routing.
- Impact on airport’s capacity.
- Potential need to slow traffic on taxiways.
- Potential impact of wake turbulence, especially on smaller planes.
- Desire for two-deck loading bridges to quickly deplane the 550 or more passengers.
During meetings of the working group, participants shared operational plans to develop alternative taxi routes, parking plans and design modifications to allow the A380 to operate into older airports with minimal restrictions.
For example, view a slideshow prepared by Miami International Airport on what’s needed there to handle six daily A380 flights.
An FAA slideshow outlined a variety of adaptations airports would need to make in terms of both structural improvements and operational changes.
Delayed Flights
Periodically, an aircraft is stranded for hours on a runway as a snowstorm or torrential rainstorm engulfs an airport. These strandings have garnered high-profile media attention and generated a call for reforms in airline practices. Known in the industry as “irregular events,” they strain both the airlines and the airport. Airports and its concession operators often are charged with handling hundreds of stranded passengers because flights have been delayed or canceled.
Passenger Rights
These “irregular events” have prompted a growing passenger rights movement and Web site (http://www.flyersrights.com). It has pressured Congress to adopt an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights.
Bill of Rights
The Coalition for Airline Passengers Bill of Rights was formed by hundreds of passengers who were stranded on several American Airlines planes for up to 9 hours at Austin International Airport in December 2006, reportedly without necessities. The new measures allow for prevention of these kinds of actions by ensuring better communication between passengers and the airlines. For its part, Congress has included elements of the proposal in future FAA funding legislation. The House and Senate plan to spell out duties airports need to take during these delayed or stranded flights.
Airports’ Role
However, ACI-NA and airports are not waiting for the new laws to mandate new procedures. ACI-NA joined airports, airlines and others in September 2007 for a meeting in Dallas to discuss the issue. A follow-up meeting will be held in January to draft ideas that can be implemented to better handle passengers stuck in airports due to delayed or canceled flights.
The proposal addresses providing needs such as:
- Infant formula
- Pharmaceuticals
- In-terminal extended concession hours
- In-terminal sleeping arrangements
- Public information announcements
- Expedited airline rebooking
Complied by Dick Marchi (rmarchi@aci-na.org)
Senior Advisor, Government Affairs, Policy and Regulatory Affairs