Ch 12 Capacity and Delay
Chapter 12: Airport Capacity and Delay
Overview
Discusses the concepts of airport capacity and delay management.
Capacity
Definition
Capacity: Practical maximum number of operations that a system can manage in a given time.
Measured in aircraft operations per hour.
Passenger Processing Capacity
Number of passengers efficiently processed through the terminal in a given time.
Example: 428 passengers per hour.
Throughput
Throughput: Ultimate rate of aircraft operations that can be handled without considering minor delays due to operational imperfections or small random events that might occur
Practical Capacity
Practical Capacity: Number of operations accommodated over time with a nominal amount of delay.
FAA Capacity Measures
Practical Hourly Capacity (PHOCAP)
Practical Annual Capacity (PANCAP)
These are measured as the number of operations that may be handled resulting in not more than 4 minutes average delay during the busiest (peak) 2 hour operating period hourly and annually
Factors Affecting Capacity and Delay
Variability Influences
Use of runways.
Type of aircraft operating.
Percentage of takeoff and landing operations.
Climatic conditions.
FAA regulations on runway use.
Layout of runway, taxiway, and apron environment (p. 430).
Additional Influences
Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) presence.
Runway configurations:
Single runway.
Parallel runways (greater capacity).
Open-V runways.
Intersecting runways.
Capacity is generally greater in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) compared to Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC)
Runway Configuration
Types of Configuration
Parallel Runways:
Capacity varies based on separation:
> 4,300’
Independent simultaneous
>2,500’
Dependent simultaneous
<2,500’
Single runway
Single Runway:
Operates under specific conditions.
Open-V Runways:
Configuration for specialized operations.
Intersecting Runways:
Capacity depends on traffic management strategies.
Under certain conditions aircraft may land and hold short (LAHSO) of intersecting runways
Estimating Capacity
When a runway is constantly occupied, it is operating at capacity
Based on:
Type of aircraft.
Runway Occupancy Time (ROT):
Shorter ROT leads to greater capacity
Departure Capacity
Impacted by time to roll and rotate
Arrival Capacity
Affected by approach speeds and longitudinal separation, which is influenced by wake turbulence
Defining Delay
Delay Dynamics
Delay: The duration between the desired time for an operation to occur and actual time of occurrence
Causes of Delay
Mechanical issues.
Luggage handling.
Weather conditions.
Scheduling conflicts with other aircraft (p. 446).
Approaches to Reducing Delay
Strategies
Increase system capacity.
Manage system demand (p. 451).
Creating New Infrastructure
Important Developments
DIA Completion (1995): Significantly reduced delays at a cost of over $5 billion.
Challenges in financing and constructing new infrastructure due to:
Community development.
Environmental concerns.
Property and funding shortages.
Lack of public support.
Rival interests (p. 452).
Projects Timeline
January 1997 – October 2002:
Developed 7 new runways and 19 capacity projects including 15 runway extensions.
Planned 39 additional projects (2002-2007), including 13 new runways.
Increased taxiway placements help reduce ROT (p. 452).
Converting Military Airfields
Transition to Civil Use
Downsizing military in the 1990s led to increased capacity from military airfield conversions.
Military airfields designed for heavy aircraft, examples include Bergstrom AFB, Austin, TX, replacing smaller airports (p. 453).
Administrative and Demand Management
Regulatory Strategies
Administrative Management: Airport authority allocates airport access by setting quotas on passenger enplanements or on the number and type of aircraft operations
Economic Management: Structure pricing so that market forces allocate scarce airport facilities
Demand management does not increase capacity rather promotes more effective or economically efficient use of facilities
Traffic Diversion
Diverting traffic to underused airports is recommended.
General Aviation (GA) traffic contributes 10-20% of operations at large commercial service airports (p. 455).
Quotas or Slots
an administratively established limit on the number of operations per hour
Because delay increases exponentially as demand approaches capacity, a small reduction in the number of hourly operations can have a significant effect on delay
Operational Limits
Quotas limit operations per hour to reduce delays when demand approaches capacity
Demand Management
Economic Approaches
Relies on price mechanism and is favored by economists
Economists suggest that by including costs and demand as determinants of user fees, delay can be significantly reduced.
Leverages price mechanisms to manage demand and advocate for delay reduction through:
Differential pricing
Auctioning of landing rights
Continued Economic Focus
Emphasis on using economic strategies for managing demand persists (p. 459).