Relationship between Different Components of an Airport - Research Paper Example

Airport Operations Table of Contents Introduction 2 Objective 3 Future: Some forecasted numbers 3 Analysis 4 Recommendations and expansion plan 8 9 Main areas regarding infrastructural expansion 10 Society and environment: 14 Conclusion 14 Reference and bibliography 14 Appendix 16 Introduction Airports should be looked at as a ‘system’. It consists of the airport itself, the fliers and other users (friends, relatives and internal workforce) and the different airlines. For proper function of this system it is absolutely essential to ensure seamless interaction between these three components of the system. Any airport has a capacity to handle a certain number of aircrafts, passengers and other allied activities owing to its size and capability. For example, If traffic is growing continuously at a airport the it would have to go for capacity expansion in terms of runways, terminals, peripheral services like taxiways, retail outlets, restaurants and others to take care of the increasing flow of traffic as well as the future probable increase in the same (Ashford N., Stanton H.P.M. and Moore C.A., 1996). Objective To conduct a ‘scoping study’ in context of expansion of the airport which would form the basis for further detailed study by the engineers. Future: Some forecasted numbers Studies have been conducted which have forecasted increase in number of passengers, freight, number of aircrafts flying and number of employees working in the airport. Passengers: It is being forecast that by 2015 the airport would be handling 4.5 million passengers from the present 1.5 million annually. Freight: In terms of freight the present number is 100 tonnes per year. This being a medium sized airport does not deal with heavy cargo and therefore there won’t be much increase in freight movement. The number might go up to 200 tonnes per year. Aircrafts flying: At present there are 25,000 aircraft movements taking place per year which is scheduled to increase to 43,000 by the year 2015. Employees: The present norm in Europe for general airports is having 1000 employees for every 1 million passenger handled per year. Therefore for 4.5 million passengers per year there should be at least 3500 employees. Analysis Components of an airport: Fig.1 Interaction and Relationship between different components of an airport Source: (Ashford N., Stanton H.P.M. and Moore C.A., 1996) The above figure shows the relationship between the different components of the airport as a system. The airport capacity, flight capacity, of fliers as well as the non-users (those who stay in the vicinity) all interact between themselves. As the airports handle large number of cargo and passengers they need significant infrastructural support in terms of taxiway, size of terminal building, number of runways and peripherals. The volume of passenger and cargo, the number of aircrafts, kind of aircrafts, international flights, domestic flights, international boarding area, national boarding area, all of these need to be taken into account before going for expansion. Fig.2 Airport as a System Source: (Ashford N., Stanton H.P.M. and Moore C.A., 1996) An airport has three portions, these are: Urban access portion; this portion takes care of the parking, the approaching roads, vehicles which come into the airport. Landside portion; this portion consists of the arrival and departure enclosures, passenger handling area, baggage handling area, cargo handling and processing area, retail and catering area. Airside portion; this portion consists of the runway, taxiway and the area where the aircraft stands before and after take off and landing respectively. The above figure shows that an ideal airport should be having one side for its ‘departure’ functions while the other side is kept for ‘arrival’ functions. Both of these converge into the front or the urban access portion for seamless integration. Suppose at present the airport handles 2.5 million passengers and it is being estimated that by 2016 it would have to handle 5 million passengers annually. The airport would have to go for expansion in context of runways, terminals, taxiways and allied services. The airport is important for the adjoining area from the perspective of economy, business, tourism and social development. Points of consideration: Land issues: The existing airport when going for expansion would require huge amount of land. There could be scientific, social, environmental as well as political issues in context of acquiring land, which have to be taken into account. Runway-taxiway: Runways and taxiways should ideally run parallel. The dimensions of the former would depend on the number, size, and type of aircrafts being handled. The size and dimensions of taxiways would depend on the number of passengers being handled and the probable increase in the number in future. Aircraft parking area or apron: The parking area for aircraft would also depend on the kind, type, number of aircrafts. This area deals with parking, fuelling or refuelling of aircrafts and is a crucial component of the airport infrastructure. Terminal building: The airport terminal building consists of the passenger area, retail area, the food area, the baggage processing area, offices, toilets and other allied portions. The size of the terminal building after expansion would depend upon the scale of operations which is envisaged for the future which in turn would depend upon the number of passengers being flown. Cargo area: Though the medium sized airport does not handle much cargo yet there should be amenities present to handle the expected level of increase in cargo. Cargos being inherently of heavier nature access points, security check points play an important part in this context. Administrative-technical operations- The airport along with its expansion would entail a expanded workforce, administrative and technical operations. These would include power generation systems, fuel stations, fire fighter station, kitchen and allied service stations, aeroplane maintenance stations. Security area: Usual security amenities would be present but there would be an expansion in terms of the area as there would be more security personnel and security related equipments needed for the future (Ashford N. and Wright P.H., 1992). Recommendations and expansion plan Fig. 3. Expansion Plan Source: Self The airport should follow a holistic approach towards expansion. The above figure shows the existing terminal building and also the proposed terminal building which are to be built adjacent to the existing one. Runway expansion has been proposed in addition to the existing ones, both running parallel to each other. A bigger apron has been proposed adjacent to the existing one. But the proposed apron would be bigger in size owing to the future expanded operations of the airport. A new road has been proposed in addition to the existing one both reaching to the front of the airport gate for ease of connectivity. More retail and office space have been proposed which can be leveraged to earn more revenue for the airport and these would cater to the increased passenger traffic. Other than these there should be adequate parking areas to meet the increased demand. Also there should be provision for adequate area regarding security checks both for passengers and cargo; this could be done in the expanded terminal area. Besides these parallel taxiways should be built so that aircrafts can move freely between the runway, the apron, the refuelling space. Main areas regarding infrastructural expansion Terminal building: One of the primary areas of importance in context of airport expansion is the terminal building. IT being the operational nerve centre of the airport, it takes care of passenger check in – departure, security checks, customs issues, luggage related matter, ticketing and other official activities. So with increase in passenger flow the terminal building has to be expanded. The best idea would be to go for an expansion plan which is done adjacent to the existing building, so that there is coordination between the existing and the proposed terminal building areas. One key issue in developing or expanding the existing terminal building to do it in such a way that it is drawn out from the apron area as much as possible as this would ensure that there is land available for even further expansion for apron in the future, which might crop up due to further increase in demand. Apron: The apron area needs to be expanded to accommodate more number of aircrafts in the future. For example the Leeds Bradford International Airport is planning to expand its apron area which would be able to accommodate 31 aircrafts in 2016 from 19 in 2006. In fact the Leeds Bradford International Authorities have decided to take off some runways which are shorter and are not capable of handling bigger jets to give space for construction of new bigger aprons. The airport under consideration also has to go for this kind of expansion keeping in mind the exact number of aircrafts and their size in future. Runway: Runway composition depends upon various factors and one of the most important among them is the number of Air Transport Movements or ATMs which is to be handled by the airport. With increase in the number of passengers there would be increase in the number of flights and consequently the number of Air Transport Movements or ATMS. In case of the Leeds Bradford International Airport in the yearv2005 they handled 2.6 million passengers which is expected to rise to 5.1 million by the year 2016. Corresponding to these numbers, Aircraft movements per peak hour or PPH in 2005 has been 16 which is again expected to rise to 25 in 2016. To accommodate the increased number of ATMs the Leeds Bradford International Airport has gone for expansion of runways and also for minor technical changes in the angle at which the aircrafts approach the run way; this would make it possible for them to make better use of the runway configurations. For the airport under consideration it is advisable that it keeps some land in hand for further expansion in future if need be just like what Leeds Bradford international airport is doing. Taxiway: A strategically located parallel taxiway goes a long way in cutting time consumption, bringing operational efficiencies and enabling easier movement of aircrafts between apron, runway and other areas of the airport. In case of Leeds Bradford International airport, it has been concluded that there would be a need for construction of new parallel taxiways and preferably to the north of the runway. The airport under consideration would also have to go for new parallel taxiways much in line with what Leeds Bradford Airport is doing, keeping in mind the future need and the best possible strategic location to gain the maximum out of it. Terminal building and allied services: In the proposed plan, the future expansion of the terminal building has been proposed to be done in such a way that the new buildings are adjacent to the existing one. This would ensure that the operational integration takes place seamlessly and continuity prevails. Moreover the expanded overall operations also call for increase in number of employees, number and kind of equipments, fuelling stations, and maintenance and support functions. One of the most important functions in an airport is that of fuelling of aircrafts and this also depends upon the ATMs which an airport handles. With the rise in demand and allied expansion of services, the storage capacity of the fuelling stations also needs to be increased. In case of Leeds Bradford International Airport in the year 2005, the storage capacity was for 7, 00,000 litres of Air Turbine Fuel or ATF. This is expected to increase to 1,800,000 litres in the year 2011 which would again go up to 2,300,000 in the year 2016. Therefore the airport is planning to take care of this increase in fuel consumption through newer facilities and that too in such locations which does not limit the use of space and enables even bigger and taller fuel tanks to be put into use. Moreover the Leeds Bradford international airports authorities are also cognisant of the fact that with the expansion of operations there would be need for bigger maintenance area. So they are planning to create a bigger and expanded maintenance base which they are planning to use for in house operations and augmenting their cash flow by using it for external works also. As various airliners would be suing the airport the authorities have the opportunity to provide services for them to increase their revenue. For the airport under consideration it is advisable to allocate similar kind of space and location and technicalities in context of a maintenance base which they could use for servicing internal as well as external airliners and thus earn more revenue. Retail-office space: The proposed expansion plan also takes into account the development of new retail and office space which are to be built adjacent to the new terminal buildings. These are to be leveraged to earn more revenue for the airport and also to cater to the increased footprints of more number of passengers. The Leeds Bradford International Airport has planned significant expansion of office space which is to be used for increased workforce and operation which would emanate form the increase in passenger demand. The authorities have also kept away some land for developing a hotel on it in the future which could again bring in newer business opportunities and increased revenues. Access and transport: Surface or road access is a very important component of any airport. Easy and fast access to the airport is always desirable from the perspective of passengers. But this depends on government initiatives and location of the airport in the first place. In case of Leeds Bradford International airport it was noticed that 64% of fliers reached airport in their cars. The UK government in the year 1998 made it mandatory for important airports to SAS or Surface Accesses Strategy in place which could be used to increase the proportion of fliers reaching the airports through public transport and not in their private cars. So for the airport under consideration this matter has to be kept in mind and proper access strategy has to be implemented (Leeds Bradford International Airport Master Plan 2005-2016, n.d) . Society and environment: Airports cause various kinds of pollution namely, air, noise and water pollution. They are responsible for emanating carbon dioxide, harmful volatile organic compounds as well as nitrogen oxides along with other toxic chemicals. Therefore sections of society namely environmental groups , NGOs and parts of media have been against various airport expansion projects under the pretext of protecting the environment. Case in point, the Leeds Bradford International airport project which has also faced opposition in this front. Therefore it is highly recommendable that the airport under consideration takes into account the environmental allied social issues so that the project goes on smoothly. Conclusion This report would form the basis for further detailed studies by the engineers. The airport has been advised to go for a holistic expansion plan which takes care of various issues such as infrastructural, along with keeping the social and environmental concerns in mind. Reference and bibliography Annuzio J.J., (No Date), Environment 102 – The Interrelationship of Airports, Environmental Law and Politics, retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/aviation03downloads/annunzio03.pdf . Ashford N. And Wright P.H., (1992), Airport Engineering, Published by Wiley-Interscience. Ashford N., Stanton H.P.M. and Moore C.A., (1996), Airport Operations, Published by McGraw-Hill Professional. Graham A., (2008), Managing Airports, Published by Butterworth-Heinemann. Holzman D., (1997), Environmental Health Issues, Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 105, Number 12, retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.ehponline.org/qa/105-12focus/focus.html . Leeds Bradford International Airport Master Plan 2005-2016, (No date), retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk/pdf/LBIA_Masterplan_REVJ.pdf. Neufville R.D. and Odoni A. R., (2002), Airport Systems, Published by McGraw-Hill. Wells A.T. and Young B.S., (2003), Airport Planning and Management, Published by McGraw-Hill Professional. Halifax International Airport Master Plan, (October 2003), Halifax International Airport Authority Magister T., (February 2004), The Real Issues and Conflicts That May Affect Efficient and Timely Ground Handling At Airports, retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.fpp.uni-lj.si/~mtone/Airports/Aircraft_turn_around.ppt. Schunk D.L., (October 2008), Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the Construction Phase of Expansion at Myrtle Beach International Airport, BB&T Center for Economic and Community Development Coastal Carolina University, retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.coastal.edu/business/econcenter/airportEIS.pdf. Big Business Commit to Cutting Flights, (July 2009), Airportwatch, retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/news/detail.php?art_id=3444&art_AIRPORTWATCH=Y. Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans approved, (July 2009), Airportwatch, retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/news/detail.php?art_id=3455. AReCO, (1999), S 775 IS, , retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.areco.org/s775.htm . Halifax, Nova Scotia, retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.hiaa.ca/images/pdf_files/Master%20Plan%20Summary.pdf Appendix 1. Fig.1 Interaction and Relationship between different components of an airport ….Pg.5 2. Fig.2 Airport as a System ……Pg.6 3. Fig.3 Expansion plan…..Pg.9 Read More