Airport planning design and operations (l. 1-5)

Q: What is the definition of an airport?

A geographic site enabling aircraft to land/take off and associated activities such as passenger boarding, cargo (un)loading, refuelling, and maintenance.

Q: Name three economic roles airports play.

Enable global movement of people and goods; create employment; act as business gateways that drive tourism and local economic development.

Q: List the main stakeholders in the air transport system.

Passengers, airlines, airports, ATC/ATM, manufacturers, government, local communities, freight operators, and industry lobbies.

Q: What defines an airfield (vs a commercial airport)?

Primarily general aviation activities (pilot training, business aviation) with little or no airline scheduled traffic.

Q: Give examples of Origin & Destination airports.

Regional airports such as Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen, Maastricht, Düsseldorf.

Q: What characterizes a hub airport?

High traffic volumes, capacity constraints, and dominance by one or a few carriers (examples: AMS, LHR, CDG, ATL).

Q: Which airports lead in flight movements and passengers according to ACI 2024 highlights?

Atlanta (ATL) led in both movements and total passengers; other top movement airports include ORD, DFW, DEN, LAS; top passengers include DXB, DFW, HND, LHR.

Q: Which airport ranked #1 for cargo tonnage in 2024?

Hong Kong (HKG).

Q: Which airport was #1 for international passengers in 2024?

Dubai (DXB).

Q: What are the three primary mechanisms through which air traffic growth occurs?

Increase in number of routes; increase in flight frequency on existing routes; increase in aircraft size (seat capacity).

Q: How are growth profiles layered for planning?

Annual envelope; seasonal envelope; daily and hourly (peak) profiles.

Q: Why is forecasting described as an art rather than a precise science?

It requires many assumptions, has inherent risk, and must account for uncertain future events and data limitations.

Q: Name typical inputs used in airport traffic forecasting.

Historical data span, price, income, employment, population, and chosen functional form (linear, log, exponential).

Q: What kinds of uncertainties must forecasts account for?

Economic recessions, fuel/oil shocks, pandemics, geopolitical events, and data quality issues.

Q: What practical forecasting approach is recommended in the lecture?

Short-term extrapolation (~5 years), long-term scenario ranges, and sensitivity testing.

Q: When should demand management be considered?

When capacity expansion is too costly, infeasible, or faces regulatory or local barriers.

Q: What are the main objectives of demand management at airports?

Reduce peak surges, lower delays, improve level of service, and reduce operational costs.

Q: Name three administrative demand management tools.

Slot coordination, schedule coordination with airlines, and lotteries or slot trading/swapping.

Q: What are common key principles in slot coordination?

Historical precedence, use-it-or-lose-it, and special provisions for new entrants.

Q: Give examples of economic tools for congestion management.

Congestion pricing, minimum landing fees, weight-based surcharges, flat fees, multipliers and minimum charges to internalize delay externalities.

Q: What is a hybrid demand management approach?

Combining administrative allocation (slots) with economic instruments (peak pricing, auctions, or surcharges).

Q: Provide a real-world operational example of demand management mentioned in the lecture.

LaGuardia (LGA) uses a slot lottery and hourly slot caps to control scheduling and peaks.

Q: What does a master plan for an airport start with?

A forecast that drives analysis of development options and selection of a preferred sequence of infrastructure projects.

Q: How are airport charges commonly structured (example Schiphol)?

By MTOW (weight), noise category, and time of day (peak/off-peak and night surcharges).

Q: What trade-offs are highlighted when comparing congested vs uncongested airports?

Movement profiles, passengers per movement, throughput, and how demand management affects delays and productivity (example comparisons: ATL vs LHR).

Q: What operational data are practical for informing planning decisions?

Monthly/annual traffic tables, continent summaries, and origin/destination rankings.

Q: What is the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule in slot management meant to prevent?

Slot hoarding and underutilization by ensuring slots are used or returned, promoting efficient use of constrained capacity.

Q: How can pricing internalize delay externalities?

By setting landing or peak charges that reflect marginal delay costs so airlines face the true cost of congesting the system.

Q: Why should demand management avoid distorting competitive markets?

To preserve fair access, avoid anti-competitive bias, and ensure market efficiency while addressing capacity constraints.

Q: What sensitivity checks are recommended for robust airport forecasts?

Test alternative assumptions, scenario ranges (optimistic/central/pessimistic), and compare functional forms and input variable sensitivities.

Q: What planning levels are used in airport planning?

Strategic (national/regional system), Tactical (airport master plan), Project (specific infrastructure), Operational/logistic (process and systems).

Q: Typical horizon and update cycle for strategic system plans?

Up to ~30 years; update every 5–10 years.

Q: Typical horizon and update cycle for an airport master plan?

15–20 years; update every 3–5 years.

Q: Typical horizon and update cycle for facility planning?

5–10 years; update roughly every 2 years.

Q: Typical horizon for project planning?

0–2 years; ad hoc updates.

Q: What are core outputs of a master plan?

Phased development path with layouts and capacities plus complementary studies (environmental impact, regional needs, economic impact).

Q: What is the primary aim of master planning?

Provide a staged development path that preserves long-term options while meeting short- and medium-term needs.

Q: What secondary aim of master planning is increasingly important?

Acting as a marketing instrument to attract airlines, investors, and developers by presenting a compelling vision.

Q: What are the core steps in the master planning process?

Collect data; develop strategy; forecast traffic; capacity analysis; size facilities; develop alternatives; assess impacts; financial feasibility; select preferred plan and phasing.

Q: List key demand and traffic data required for planning.

Annual, monthly and hourly passengers; movements; cargo; route data; peak-day profiles.

Q: What aeronautical and navigational data are needed?

Procedures, navaids, airway routes, declared runway distances and operational restrictions.

Q: What environmental and physical site data are required?

Meteorology, topography/GIS, noise regulations, air quality, flora/fauna, and protected areas.

Q: What operational inventory and financial data are necessary?

Facility inventory, gate/apron counts, revenues, expenses, debt, CAPEX, assets, legal constraints, construction and equipment costs.

Q: Name major site selection factors for airports.

Airspace and obstruction limits, land availability and expansion potential, ground access, acquisition and development costs, environmental and socioeconomic impacts, and regional plan consistency.

Q: How are runway numbers assigned?

By magnetic heading divided by 10.

Q: How are parallel runways labeled?

With L (left), C (center), R (right); when there are more than three parallels, adjacent headings are commonly staggered by 10 degrees.

Q: What weaknesses are commonly observed in traditional master planning?

Limited stakeholder collaboration; reliance on a single forecast; narrow strategy sets; reactive, inflexible plans vulnerable to uncertainty and public opposition.

Q: Why is stakeholder engagement a planning challenge?

Diverse goals and values across airlines, ATC, regulators, governments, communities and investors create conflicts and require careful involvement.

Q: What is the main risk of basing plans on a single forecast?

Hiding scenario risk, which can lead to stranded assets or missed opportunities.

Q: What is Dynamic Strategic Planning?

A scenario-based, flexible approach that uses a range of plausible futures, prioritizes modular first-phase investments, preserves optionality, and updates decisions as new information arrives.

Q: How does Dynamic Strategic Planning differ from traditional master planning?

It replaces a single forecast with multiple scenarios and selects robust, adaptable phased investments rather than a single fixed path.

Q: In the passenger building decision example, what are the three design options?

Large fixed build (6M pax, $100M); small/extendable (3M initial $60M, later $70M); small with transporters (3M initial $70M, extension $40M).

Q: What forecasting probabilities were used in the example?

6M pax (60%), 3M pax (30%), no growth (10%).

Q: What method is used to compare the passenger building options?

Decision tree computing expected costs or expected net present values by weighting outcomes by probabilities and including extension costs only when needed.

Q: What do sensitivity analyses show in investment decisions?

How changing scenario probabilities or extension costs shifts the preferred option and reveals tipping points that favor flexibility.

Q: What does Benefit Cost Analysis include for airport investments?

Travel efficiency benefits, environmental/public benefits, local economic development, government revenue, and discounting to present value to compute B/C ratios and NPV.

Q: Give examples of cultural design differences between US and European airports.

Apron design (US often allows roads/vehicles on apron leading to shorter air bridges), baggage handling practices, governance and operational norms affecting terminal footprint and costs.

Q: What is Airport Business Suite (ABS)?

An integrated decision support modeling suite for Airport Strategic Exploration that links forecasting, capacity, operations, financials, retail revenues and societal impacts for scenario testing.

Q: What modules are typically included in ABS architecture?

Demand forecasting, runway and gate capacity, terminal performance/delay models, financial/cashflow tools, retail/revenue models, and societal impact assessment (noise contours).

Q: What use cases does ABS support?

Comparing runway/terminal layouts, quantifying delays and capacity, testing demand scenarios, estimating investments and returns, and assessing noise and socioeconomic footprints.

Q: What capacity-constraining airport elements must be modeled?

Runway system and procedures, apron and gate supply, passenger terminal process elements (curbside, check-in, security, boarding, baggage), and environmental constraints like noise.

Q: What financial modelling tools are useful in airport planning?

Cashflow and income statement templates, investment loan schedules, and BCA spreadsheets aggregating travel, environmental, economic benefits and project costs.

Q: What practical planning lessons are emphasized at the lecture’s end?

Couple master plans with scenario thinking, stakeholder engagement, flexible staged investments, rigorous decision analysis and integrated operational/financial/environmental modelling.

Q: Why is flexibility and staged investment valuable in airport planning?

It reduces risk from forecast errors, preserves options, lowers the chance of stranded assets, and allows adaptation as realities change.

Q: How should planners communicate uncertainty and options to stakeholders?

Use scenario outputs, sensitivity analyses, modular phasing plans and integrated models (like ABS) to show tradeoffs and facilitate transparent decisions.

Q: What role do operational day-level analyses play in strategic planning?

They reveal peak-day constraints, delay dynamics and practical capacity implications that drive infrastructure sizing and phasing choices.

Q: How do environmental constraints affect capacity and planning choices?

Noise contours, air quality and biodiversity limits can restrict operations, shape operating hours, and increase mitigation costs influencing preferred development options.

Q: What is the recommended update approach for robust planning under uncertainty?

Regularly update plans with new data, re-run scenarios, and revise phased investments rather than waiting for large long-term re-plans.

Q: How do decision trees and expected value analysis help planners?

They quantify tradeoffs under uncertainty, show expected outcomes for flexible strategies, and identify when staged investments outperform single large commitments.

Q: Final takeaway for using tools like ABS in planning?

Integrated tools let planners explore uncertainty, quantify tradeoffs across operations, environment and finance, and present credible options to stakeholders for robust decision making.

Q: What is the role of the passenger terminal?

Interface between landside (curbside, parking, public transport, airport city) and airside (apron, gates); contains passenger processing and baggage flows.

Q: Name key functional areas inside a terminal.

Curbside/forecourt, check-in, security, border control, hold rooms/gates, baggage reclaim, landside arrival halls, transfer corridors, retail/lounges, ground handling, ATC/airside interfaces.

Q: What are the main passenger process chains?

Separate chains for departing, arriving and transfer passengers linking access → check-in → security → passport/immigration → hold room → boarding → aircraft (with reverse for arrivals).

Q: What additional steps do transfer passengers face?

Interterminal transfer movements and possibly additional security and passport checks.

Q: Which flows must planners track for capacity?

Passengers, bags, and cargo.

Q: List primary traffic drivers that shape terminal demand.

Airline mix (scheduled/charter/LCC), passenger types (business/leisure/transfer), route network (domestic/continental/intercontinental), aircraft size/fleet mix, and peak behavior.

Q: How do terminal priorities differ for hubs vs O&D airports?

Hubs prioritize transfer efficiency; O&D airports prioritize short walking distances and O&D processing.

Q: How do LCCs affect landside peak intensity?

LCCs yield higher pax per flight, higher load factors and faster turnarounds, creating sharper hourly peaks and different revenue patterns.

Q: What are the five basic terminal configurations?

Linear; Finger piers; Satellites; Midfield (linear or X); Transporter (bus/people mover).

Q: When is a satellite terminal preferred?

For concentrated gates and high transfer shares where APM can link satellite to main terminal.

Q: What is static capacity?

Storage potential: seats, total area, number of check-in desks — largely constant.

Q: What is dynamic capacity?

Processing rate: people/hour processed through security lanes, check-in desks or gates; varies with service rate and peak duration.

Q: Distinguish sustained vs maximum dynamic capacity.

Sustained capacity is what can be maintained over longer periods; maximum is short-duration peak processing rate.

Q: What is Level of Service (LoS) and how is it used?

LoS A–F indicates acceptable crowding/delays; LoS C is typical normal design, LoS D acceptable for peaks; higher LoS requires more space/service.

Q: Give an example IATA LoS area standard for waiting/circulation at LoS C.

Approximately 1.9 m² per person.

Q: Typical check-in queue area for LoS C?

About 1.4–1.7 m² per person depending on baggage and trolley use.

Q: Hold-room seating area LoS C standard.

Around 1.7 m² per seated person or 1.2 m² standing per person.

Q: New IATA baggage reclaim LoS C area standard.

Approximately 1.7 m² per person.

Q: What are PMM flow standards and why are they used?

Persons per Minute per Meter (PMM) measure corridor flow capacity to size circulation widths and stairs.

Q: Typical corridor PMM values by LoS (examples).

LoS A ≈ 10 PMM; B ≈ 12.5 PMM; C ≈ 20 PMM; D ≈ 28 PMM.

Q: Typical stairs PMM values for LoS A and C.

A ≈ 8 PMM; C ≈ 12.5 PMM.

Q: What reduction should be applied to gross corridor width?

Subtract roughly 1.5 m to account for edge effects, giving effective width for PMM.

Q: Define the core sizing variables for area calculation.

Load (pax/hr), Space_per_person (m²/pax from LoS), Average dwell time (hours).

Q: Formula for required area using LoS, dwell time and load.

Area = Load × Space_{pp} × T_{dwell}.

Q: Formula for space capacity given area A.

Pax/hour = A/(Space_pp⋅T_dwell ).

Q: How to size an area step-by-step?

Choose LoS → read Space_per_person → estimate dwell time → estimate peak load (pax/hr) → compute area with Area = Load × Space_{pp} × T_{dwell}.