Airport Planning Issues and Existing Conditions

Almost every airport has some deficiency that the airport board or the community or some other airport stakeholder would like to see addressed. These issues can range from improving the capacity (and hence reducing the delay) to a desired improvement in the baggage-handling system. The study is undertaken by first identifying and gathering the issues obtained by examining prior studies and reports and by having in-depth discussions with the all concerned agencies of airport management, the air traffic controller, the airlines, and others involved in the airport use. Next, data are collected on the airport, the airspace infrastructure, and the non aviation areas of airport land use. The data consist of an inventory of the existing physical plant, including an assessment of its condition and useful life, and other relevant items, such as land use surrounding the airport, financial data on the airport operation, community social and demographic data (to aid in forecasting), operational data on the airport, meteorological data, environmental data, ground access data, and air traffic management data. To avoid collecting unnecessary data, the particular issues defined in the preplanning will help to focus the efforts.