2011

EMERGING OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES IN AIRPORT MANAGEMENT

HamsathulHarisK
NALSAR
1 9/26/2011

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 airport infrastructure 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 of the 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.

EMERGING OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES AND COMBATING STRATEGIES 1. CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS AND CONGESTION All 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 badweather 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, the approved 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 Lambert expansion. 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 timeframe 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.

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 PROTECTION The 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 in noise 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 aviation and 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. SECURITY

Fast 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 checkin 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 directly before 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 is negated. 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 AIRCRAFTS

According 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 MANAGEMENT

CNS/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 airground 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 worldwide 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, and dedicated 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 a greater 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 AIRPORTS

From 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/ATM Systems Implementation Conference Rio 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.

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