Study Results on Knowledge Requirements for Entry-Level Airport Operations and Management Personnel

This paper identifies important topical knowledge areas required of individuals employed in airport operations and management positions. A total of 116 airport managers and airfield operations personnel responded to a survey that sought to identify the importance of various subject matter for entry level airport operations personnel. The results from this study add to the body of research on aviation management curriculum development and can be used to better develop university curriculum and supplemental training focused on airport management and operations. Recommendations are made for specialized airport courses within aviation management programs. Further, this study identifies for job seekers or individuals employed in entry level positions those knowledge requirements deemed important by airport managers and operations personnel at different sized airports

Benefit Assessment of the Integrated Demand Management Concept for Multiple New York Metroplex Airports

Benefits of the Integrated Demand Management (IDM) concept were assessed utilizing a newly developed automated simulation capability called Traffic Management Initiative Automated Simulation (TMIAutoSim). The IDM concept focuses on improving traffic flow management (TFM) by coordinating the FAAs strategic Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) with its more tactical Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM) system. The IDM concept leverages a new TFMS capability called Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) to strategically pre-condition traffic demand flowing into a TBFM-managed arrival environment, where TBFM is responsible for tactically managing traffic by generating precise arrival schedules. The IDM concept was developed over a multi-year effort, focusing on solving New York metroplex airport arrival problems. TMIAutoSim closely mimics NASAs high-fidelity simulation capabilities while enabling more data to be collected at higher speed. Using this new capability, the IDM concept was evaluated using realistic traffic across various weather scenarios. Six representative weather days were selected after clustering three months of historical data. For those selected six days, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) arrival traffic scenarios were developed. For each selected day, the historical data were analyzed to accurately simulate actual operations and the weather impact of the day. The current day operations and the IDM concept operations were simulated for the same weather scenarios and the results were compared. The selected six days were categorized into two groups: clear weather for days without Ground Delay Programs (GDP) and convective weather for days with GDP and significant weather around New York metroplex airports. For the clear weather scenarios, IDM operations reduced last minute, unanticipated departure delays for short-haul flights within TBFM control boundaries with minimal to no impact on throughput and total delay. For the convective weather scenarios, IDM significantly reduced delays and increased throughput to the destination airports

Arriving at Consensus: Airport/Aviation Administration Advice Provided to Airport Managers by State Aeronautic Agencies

Recently a study was undertaken to determine the depth of information provided to small airport managers throughout the United States by State Aeronautical agencies. The study centered on efforts to provide formal, written advice to airport managers about airport and aviation administration matters. For the purpose of the study, advice is considered as material provided to airports exclusive of regulatory codes and rules. More specifically, such advice provides airport managers with valuable insight on how to effectively manage various aspects of airport operations. The survey material is concerned with a broad range of indigenous airport topics dealing with subject matter from General Aviation Airport Operations to Storm water compliance, and a host of topics in between. The many topics addressed in the state documents that were found in the survey were then compared with two key aviation industry sources of information to arrive at a recommended list of topics for inclusion in ANY airport management handbook for use in any state. The genesis of the study and report was a grant received by Southern Illinois University Carbondale from the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics. The goal of the grant was to develop and prepare a small airport manager handbook\u27\u27 for smaller non-hub airports in Illinois. Due to the varying nature of laws and regulations concerning airport management and operations from state to state, state aeronautical agencies are in the best position to provide small airport managers with much needed and necessary information on the totality of management functions. However, not all states aeronautical agencies have the human or financial resources to author a comprehensive guide to small airport management. This study found that, at the time the survey was accomplished, only nine states provided some form of advice to airport managers

Leveraging Aircraft Avionics

Airport operations count data are used for a variety of purposes ranging from allocation of Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funding to environmental assessments and budget justification. Operations counts are hard to obtain at small, non-towered airports, which constitute the majority of airports in the United States, and are frequently estimated unscientifically by airport managers. Current acoustic and video counting technology is limited, but with the FAA NextGen mandate for installation of ADS-B Out transponders by Jan. 1, 2020, transponder data is rapidly emerging as a viable data source beyond traditional NextGen applications. To date, the NextGen literature has focused on the use of this technology for navigation, safety, and airspace management. This paper introduces a method of applying ADS-B data to fleet management and airport operations. With a 1090 MHz receiver and appropriate signal processing hardware and software, Mode S and Mode S Extended data can be used to track runway operations and fleet usage in an accurate and cost-effective manner

A sustainable approach to airport design and operations: Case study of Munich airport

The aim of this research is to empirically examine the sustainable aspects of airport design and operations, in the context of Munich Airport, one of the world's major airports. The primary research question addressed by this work is: What aspects of airport design and operation in a major airport are critical to its sustainability and mitigating its contributions to climate change? An exploratory single site case study methodology was utilised and the research concentrated on Munich Airport, Germany's second busiest airport, located in Bavaria, in south east Germany. The primary business of the airport is commercial and general aviation services. Air cargo, catering and retail, and real estate are other important strategic market segments. Data was gathered from the Flughafen M nchen GmbH annual sustainability reports and company websites. Finally, the data was analysed using content analysis. All major aspects of airports infrastructure design and operations were explored, focussing on the environmental impacts. This included water usage and management, energy consumption, waste management, and other key aspects of pollution, including noise. In the case of Munich Airport, the most significant environmental impact factors identified were aircraft emissions and noise, waste, and water management. The significance of sustainable operations in the global aviation industry is, of course, relevant to airports. Since the commencement of operations in 1992, Munich Airport's strategic objectives have incorporated key sustainability focus areas. Indeed, the airport's strategy is essentially sustainability-driven. The airport has implemented systems and procedures to optimise its environmental footprint, and to ensure its compliance with all applicable statutory requirements

The sky is the limit?: The determinants and constraints of European airports' commercial revenues

This study investigates the determinants of commercial and retail airport revenues as well as revenues from real estate operations. Cross-sectional OLS, 2SLS and robust regression models of European airports identify a number of significant drivers of airport revenues. Aviation revenues per passenger are mainly determined by the national income per capita in which the airport is located, the percentage of leisure travelers and the size of the airport proxied by total aviation revenues. Main drivers of commercial revenues per passenger include the total number of passengers passing through the airport, the ratio of commercial to total revenues, the national income, the share of domestic and leisure travelers and the total number of flights. These results are in line with previous findings of a negative influence of business travelers on commercial revenues per passenger. We also find that a high amount of retail space per passenger is generally associated with lower commercial revenues per square meter confirming decreasing marginal revenue effects. Real estate revenues per passenger are positively associated with national income per capita at airport location, share of intra-EU passengers and percent delayed flights. Overall, aviation and non-aviation revenues appear to be strongly interlinked, underlining the potential for a comprehensive airport management strategy above and beyond mere cost minimization of the aviation sector

System Oriented Runway Management: A Research Update

The runway configuration used by an airport has significant implications with respect to its capacity and ability to effectively manage surface and airborne traffic. Aircraft operators rely on runway configuration information because it can significantly affect an airline's operations and planning of their resources. Current practices in runway management are limited by a relatively short time horizon for reliable weather information and little assistance from automation. Wind velocity is the primary consideration when selecting a runway configuration; however when winds are below a defined threshold, discretion may be used to determine the configuration. Other considerations relevant to runway configuration selection include airport operator constraints, weather conditions (other than winds) traffic demand, user preferences, surface congestion, and navigational system outages. The future offers an increasingly complex landscape for the runway management process. Concepts and technologies that hold the potential for capacity and efficiency increases for both operations on the airport surface and in terminal and enroute airspace are currently under investigation. Complementary advances in runway management are required if capacity and efficiency increases in those areas are to be realized. The System Oriented Runway Management (SORM) concept has been developed to address this critical part of the traffic flow process. The SORM concept was developed to address all aspects of runway management for airports of varying sizes and to accommodate a myriad of traffic mixes. SORM, to date, addresses the single airport environment; however, the longer term vision is to incorporate capabilities for multiple airport (Metroplex) operations as well as to accommodate advances in capabilities resulting from ongoing research. This paper provides an update of research supporting the SORM concept including the following: a concept of overview, results of a TRCM simulation, single airport and Metroplex modeling effort and a benefits assessment

Airport Characterization for the Adaptation of Surface Congestion Management Approaches

Surface congestion management has received increased attention worldwide, largely due to its potential to mitigate operational inefficiencies and environmental impact. Most prior efforts have focused on demonstrations of a proposed congestion management approach at a particular airport, and not on the adaptation of a particular approach to a range of airport operating environments. This paper illustrates the challenges involved with adapting any class of surface congestion management approaches to different airports. Data and case studies from Boston Logan International Airport, New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Philadelphia International Airport are used to illustrate the diversity in operating environments. The paper then proposes techniques for characterizing airport surface operations using site surveys and operational data. Finally, it shows how these characterizations can be used for the adaptation of a given congestion management approach to different airports.This work was supported by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Environment and Energy through MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER)

Operational Characteristics Identification and Simulation Model Verification for Incheon International Airport

Incheon International Airport (ICN) is one of the hub airports in East Asia. Airport operations at ICN have been growing more than 5% per year in the past five years. According to the current airport expansion plan, a new passenger terminal will be added and the current cargo ramp will be expanded in 2018. This expansion project will bring 77 new stands without adding a new runway to the airport. Due to such continuous growth in airport operations and future expansion of the ramps, it will be highly likely that airport surface traffic will experience more congestion, and therefore, suffer from efficiency degradation. There is a growing awareness in aviation research community of need for strategic and tactical surface scheduling capabilities for efficient airport surface operations. Specific to ICN airport operations, a need for A-CDM (Airport - Collaborative Decision Making) or S-CDM(Surface - Collaborative Decision Making), and controller decision support tools for efficient air traffic management has arisen since several years ago. In the United States, there has been independent research efforts made by academia, industry, and government research organizations to enhance efficiency and predictability of surface operations at busy airports. Among these research activities, the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) developed and tested by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a decision support tool to provide tactical advisories to the controllers for efficient surface operations. The effectiveness of SARDA concept, was successfully verified through the human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations for both spot release and runway operations advisories for ATC Tower controllers of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in 2010 and 2012, and gate pushback advisories for the ramp controller of Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (CLT) in 2014. The SARDA concept for tactical surface scheduling is further enhanced and is being integrated into NASA's Airspace Technology Demonstration - 2 (ATD-2) project for technology demonstration of Integrated Arrival/Departure/Surface (ADS) operations at CLT. This study is a part of the international research collaboration between KAIA (Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement)/KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) and NASA, which is being conducted to validate the effectiveness of SARDA concept as a controller decision support tool for departure and surface management of ICN. This paper presents the preliminary results of the collaboration effort. It includes investigation of the operational environment of ICN, data analysis for identification of the operational characteristics of the airport, construction and verification of airport simulation model using Surface Operations Simulator and Scheduler (SOSS), NASA's fast-time simulation tool