Airports, as terminals for a new and dynamic form of transportation, are not only places for the movement and storage of aircraft — they have a major influence on urban development. This fact is often underestimated by civic officials, airline officials, and planners. Airports as terminals are no different in function from the older and more well established port and rail terminals around which many of today's cities have developed. Today, as in the past, industry often demonstrates a preference for sites near major transportation terminals and routes in order to minimize transfer cost, and to increase convenience of handling. The airport, as another type of transportation terminal, could therefore, be expected to exercise a similar influence, as the efficiency and utilization of air-freight and corporate air travel increase. Within the context of the total airport-community relationship, a determination of the desirability to industry of sites located in proximity to a major airport is considered significant. To this end the hypothesis is advanced that: AS THE MAJOR AIRPORT EVOLVES INTO A PASSENGER AND FREIGHT TERMINAL, CERTAIN TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENTS OTHER THAN THOSE DIRECTLY CONCERNED WITH AVIATION, WILL DESIRE LOCATIONS ON OR NEAR THE AIRPORT SITE. A CASE STUDY: THE VANCOUVER METROPOLITAN AREA, B.C. The first stage in the investigation was to ascertain the nature of air freight and corporate air travel, and to describe the methods whereby these two new forms of transfer could benefit the operation of certain types of firms. Commodities presently being carried by air freight were then described, and their common characteristics determined. A high ratio of value to weight, perishability, fashionability, or emergency desirability were the most common characteristics of these commodities. For corporate air travel, a ranking of firms by 'propensity to travel' was established. Specific examples were found of airport location, by various industrial firms in several cities in the USA. These firms either produced, utilized, or distributed items suitable for air freight, or required extensive corporate travel. The hypothesis was, therefore, shown to have some relevance in these cities. From the established data, a list was derived of the types of firms considered to be those most likely to desire location near a major airport. The list was general and did not take into account regional differences in economies. In order to delineate the most suitable types of firms and to carry out interviews in the Case Study Area, it was necessary first to study the local economy and to amend the above list. By this method, only those firms would be interviewed that were representative of conditions in the Case Study Area. A Study Group was then chosen that represented a cross-section of suitable local firms. In order to investigate airport industrial location independently from other industrial location criteria, the attractiveness of an airport site location was ascertained under the following assumptions: i) Suitable land at a competitive price must be available at or close to Vancouver International Airport; ii) Good quality road and rail facilities must connect the airport to the major traffic generators of the metropolitan area; iii) Market factors must indicate the desirability of plant expansion, relocation, or creation; iv) Services such as water, sewer, and drainage must be available at reasonable cost; v) Airport and Municipal zoning regulation must permit the development anticipated; vi) Air freight rates will decrease as more efficient aircraft are introduced and freight volume increases; vii) A Customs Port will be established at the airport in the near future. Analysis of the survey response indicated that the majority of the managers of firms in the Study Group had considered the potential effects of air freight and corporate air travel on their operations. Twenty-five percent of the firms interviewed signified that relocation of part or all of their plants to a site near Vancouver International Airport was a distinct possibility in the near future. Thirty-five percent agreed with the hypothesis in principle, but believed it impractical for them because of other factors. Some of these factors (such as, for example, a need for locations central to service areas) may be reduced through future metropolitan growth. Forty percent of the firms rejected the hypothesis. Although further, more scientific surveys are required, several criteria emerged that may have significance for planning in the Vancouver Metropolitan Area or in regions economically similar to this area: i) Wholesale Distributors of Auto Parts, Textiles, and Industrial Machinery, and Distribution firms were those most favourable to airport location. Manufacturers were generally unfavourable; ii) Warehouses would comprise the predominant type of industrial use in any development in proximity to the airport; iii) Large firms of national or international scope were those most favourable to the hypothesis; iv) Firms that imported close to 100 percent of their stock tended to be those most favourable; v) There is a direct relationship between present regular use of air freight, and anticipated future regular use, with disposition to locate at or near the airport. Corporate air travel, though of concern, is not a definitive incentive to such location. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

No description available.

In the past, the planning of airports has largely been an intuitive process, leading to an often serious misallocation of resources. It is the contention of this thesis that the adoption of a more economic and integrated method of evaluating alternative airport plans could eliminate some of this mis-investment, and that the groundwork for such an evaluation process has already been done in the field of port planning. The evaluation method proposed is the use of a mathematical model of the airport's operation and of the benefit and cost interrelationships arising from the activities performed. The model can then be used to simulate the value of the benefits and costs of a number of possible alternative plans. It is the purpose of this thesis to discuss the applicability of the port model as a tool for airport planning and to point out the ease with which it could be applied both from the point of view of modifications and data requirements and availability. As background to the evaluation process, Chapter 2 presents some general theory and problems of economic evaluation and of the measurement of benefits and costs. Chapter 3 presents a description of planning processes currently being used by the Department of Transport in planning Canada's airports and points out some of the flaws in this approach. Chapter 4 then describes the type of port model now developed in so far as it can be used to determine interrelationships between investment, cost to ships of using the port, cost of port operation, and net community benefits. The calculations derived from the application of the model can then be used to determine the net present value of the benefit and cost streams arising from alternative ways of achieving a given level of port output, and thus to select the best possible combination of facilities. Chapter 5 then points out the similarities and differences between port and airport operation and hence the applicability of and the modifications required in the application of the port model to airport planning situations. The remainder of the chapter delineates the type of data required to construct and use an airport model and the availability of this data to the airport planners. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes the findings and concludes that, while it has its limitations as a terminal model, as a representation of airport operation and as an evaluation process, the port model can be adapted relatively easily to airport planning to provide a more integrated, more economic approach to the evaluation of alternative airport plans. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 321-324. / by John Philip Nordin. / Ph.D.

The increasing demand on the air transportation system is causing delays due to congestion, leading to monetary losses and passenger inconvenience. Traditionally, research has been conducted to improve the airside component of the airport. This led to improvements in the airside component in tum leading to increased demand. The landside was not considered as a serious threat to the capacity of the airport. However, the increased demand and inconsistent improvements to the landside has made this airport component critical at some facilities. Research in recent years has produced many methods to assess landside capacity and to predict the behavior of the system under different demand scenarios. Many of these tools are cumbersome and are not suitable for every day use of planning professionals. This research is aimed at developing a computer based simulation model (ALPS) to estimate or predict the capacity of the landside components under varying scenarios. ALPS is a discrete-event simulation model developed using EXTEND (version 2 © Imagine That inc., 1992) a simulation software based on the 'C' programming language. This model is designed to be able to simulate a given airport in a short time with accurate results. The model runs on a Apple Macintosh computer and needs no special programming for effective use. The model is well suited for every day use of planning professionals. / Master of Science

A prototype computer software was created to predict airport hourly capacities and delays~ taxiway hourly capacity, gate group hourly capacity, overall airport hourly capacity, and annual service volumes. The possibility to replace the existing Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 15015060-5 in the future was also explored. The development of the computer software, ICAD--Integrated Airport Capacity and Delay Model was based primarily upon HyperCard as well as other supporting statistical and drafting computer software such as CA Cricket Graph III, Minitab 7.0, MacPaint and MacDraw II 1.1. A friendly user interfaces and internal computations were the two main concerns for ICAD development. In a. typical application interface, runway use configuration is identified from various diagrams. Input parameter are inserted in the model and outputs are readily obtained in table and graphical form. ICAD scripts have been developed i~ HyperTalk, the language associated with HyperCard. Regression equations were used to convert graphs from the FAA AC 15015060-5 into equations in ICAD. This thesis presents descriptions and validations of the prototype model. Conclusions and recommendations are also included. / Master of Science

The purpose of this research thesis is to develop an integrated framework methodology to assess the effects of VLCA operations at existing and future airports. The procedure described here investigates airport, airline and user impacts of VLCA operations using a systems engineering approach to understand the trade-off between economic and technological operational factors. Specific areas included in this systems engineering analysis are: a) the effect of VLCA operations in the airside and runway capacity, b) development of new airfield geometric design guidelines, c) terminal and landside impacts and gate compatibility issues, and d) possible noise and pavement design impacts. This research defines realistic parametric templates of feasible aircraft design using computer methods [MATLAB, 1992]¹ and then explores the impacts of proposed aircraft designs in airport operations, planning, capacity and economics. The analysis focuses on the airside and landside, terminal capacity, geometric design constraints and pavement and noise impacts of VLCA operations using a systems engineering perspective where aircraft design inputs have quantifiable outcomes on airport capacity, infrastructure changes and ultimately in the cost of operations. The main thrust of this effort is to identify cost effective ways to facilitate the operations of VLCA aircraft at existing and future airports including development of new design guidelines. / Master of Science

The increase in the types of airspace users (large aircraft, small and regional jets, very light jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.), as well as the very limited number of future new airport development projects are some of the factors that will characterize the next decades in air transportation. These factors, associated with a persistent growth in air traffic will worsen the current gridlock situation experienced at some major airports. As airports are becoming the major capacity bottleneck to continued growth in air traffic, it is therefore primordial to make the most efficient use of the current, and very often, underutilized airport infrastructure. This research thus proposes to address the increase in air traffic demand and resulting capacity issues by considering the implementation of operational concepts and technologies at underutilized airports. However, there are many challenges associated with sustaining the development of this type of airports. First, the need to synchronize evolving technologies with airports' needs and investment capabilities is paramount. Additionally, it was observed that the evolution of secondary airports, and their needs, is tightly linked to the environment in which they operate. In particular, sensitivity of airports to changes in the dynamics of their environment is important, therefore requiring that the factors that drive the need for capacity expansion be identified and characterized. Finally, the difficulty to evaluate risk and make financially viable decisions, particularly when investing in new technologies, cannot be ignored. This work thus focuses on the development of a methodology to address these challenges and ensure the sustainability of airport capacity-enhancement investments in a continuously changing environment. The four-step process developed in this research leverages the benefits yielded by impact assessment techniques, system dynamics modeling, and real options analysis to 1) provide the decision maker with a rigorous, structured, and traceable process for technology selection, 2) assess the combined impact of interrelated technologies, 3) support the translation of technology impact factors into airport performance indicators, and help identify the factors that drive the need for capacity expansion, and finally 4) enable the quantitative assessment of the strategic value of embedding flexibility in the formulation of technology portfolios and investment options. The proposed methodology demonstrates, through a change in demand at the airport modeled, the importance of being able to weigh both the technological and strategic performance of the technology portfolios considered. Hence, by capturing the time dimension and technology causality impacts in technology portfolio selection, this work helps identify key technologies or technology groupings, and assess their performance on airport metrics. By embedding flexibility in the formulation of investment scenarios, it provides the decision maker with a more accurate picture of the options available to him, as well as the time and sequence under which these should be exercised.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The demand in air travel is continuously increasing. In order to handle this increase in demand, airports need to physically expand or the management of the airports needs to improve. When the demand at OR Tambo International Airport gets too high, more passengers will need to travel to Lanseria International Airport, which will therefore need to be expanded. The study was done in collaboration with Virtual Consulting Engineers, who decided that the concept of Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, USA, which is ranked the busiest airport in the world, will be used in this expansion. The aim of the study was to minimise passenger walking distances and waiting times at Lanseria International Airport. This was done by comparing di erent airport apron layouts, using simulation, and improving the aircraft gate assignment, using the cross-entropy method. Four di erent designs of airport layouts, all based on that of Atlanta International Airport, were compared in the study. A model of each was developed using simulation. The performance measures used to compare the designs included 1) the average walking distance of arriving and departing passengers at the airport, 2) the average time spent at the airport by arriving and departing passengers, 3) the average distance travelled by aircraft at the airport, 4) the average time by which each aircraft is delayed and 5) the average number of aircraft present at the airport. The walking distance of arriving and departing passengers was largely a ected by the way in which ights were assigned to gates. The gates at the airport are of three di erent sizes: small, medium and large. Small aircraft can park at any of the gates, while medium aircraft can only park at medium or large gates and large aircraft can only park at large gates. Three rules for the ight-to-gate assignment process were developed. In the rst two rules an arriving ight was assigned to the available, suitable gate closest to the terminal building. The constraint that small aircraft cannot be assigned to medium or large gates if there are small gates available and that medium aircraft cannot be assigned to large gates if there are medium gates available, was used in Rule 1 and not in Rule 2. In the third rule, metaheuristic optimisation was used to determine a ight-to-gate assignment schedule with the objective of minimising the passenger walking distances. This metaheuristic optimisation was performed in real-time and was thus repeated every time a delay occurred at the airport. The background of airports, simulation, metaheuristics and relevant case studies were investigated in the literature review. The simulation and metaheuristic optimisation models were then developed. The results identi ed the best of the four designs that were compared. It was also concluded that the use of metaheuristic optimisation, using the cross-entropy method, results in a reduction in passenger walking distances at the airport. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die aantal lugpassasiers neem aanhoudend toe en om in staat te wees om hierdie toename in vraag te hanteer moet lughawens sies uitbrei of die bestuur van die lughawens moet verbeter. Wanneer die vraag by OR Tambo Internasionale Lughawe te hoog raak, gaan meer mense na Lanseria Internasionale Lughawe moet reis. Die lughawe sal dan dus moet uitbrei. Die studie is in samewerking met Virtual Consulting Engineers gedoen. Hulle het besluit dat die konsep van Atlanta Internasionale Lughawe in Georgia in die VSA, wat die besigste lughawe in die w^ereld is, gebruik sal word in die uitbreiding Lanseria Internasionale Lughawe. Die doelwit van die studie was om die loopafstand en die wagtyd van passasiers op Lanseria Internasionale Lughawe te minimeer. Die doelwit is bereik deur verskillende lughawe uitlegte te vergelyk met behulp van simulasie en deur die toekenning van vlugte aan hekke te verbeter, deur gebruik te maak van die "cross-entropy" metode. Die konsep van Atlanta Internasionale Lughawe is gebruik om vier verskillende lughawe uitlegte te ontwerp. Simulasie is gebruik om die vier ontwerpe te vergelyk op grond van 1) die gemiddelde loopafstand van passasiers wat aankom en vertrek, 2) die gemiddelde tyd wat passasiers wat aankom en vertrek spandeer op die lughawe, 3) die gemiddelde afstand wat vliegtuie a ^e op die lughawe, 4) die gemiddelde tyd wat vliegtuie vertraag word, 5) die gemiddelde hoeveelheid vliegtuie teenwoordig op die lughawe. Die loopafstand van passasiers wat aankom en vertrek is grootliks beinvloed deur die manier waarop vliegtuie aan hekke toegeken is. Die hekke op die lughawe is klein, medium of groot. 'n Klein vliegtuig mag by 'n klein, medium of groot hek parkeer, 'n medium vliegtuig mag by 'n medium of groot hek parkeer en 'n groot vliegtuig mag net by 'n groot hek parkeer. Drie reels waarvolgens vliegtuie aan hekke toegeken kan word is ontwikkel. In die eerste twee reels word 'n vliegtuig wat aankom aan die beskikbare hek naaste aan die terminaal gebou toegeken as die hek geskik is vir die vliegtuig. In die eerste reel is die beperking dat klein vliegtuie nie aan medium en groot hekke toegeken mag word as daar klein hekke beskikbaar is nie en dat medium vliegtuie nie aan groot hekke toegeken mag word as daar medium hekke beskikbaar is nie, ingesluit. Hierdie beperking is nie in die tweede reel ingesluit nie. In die derde reel is metaheuristiek optimering gebruik om vliegtuie aan hekke toe te ken. Die doelwit van die metaheuristiek optimering was om die loopafstand van die passasiers te verminder. Elke keer as 'n vliegtuig op die lughawe vertraag was, is die optimering proses is herhaal. Die agtergrond van lughawens, simulasie, metaheuristieke en gevalle studies is bestudeer in die literatuur studie. Daarna is die simulasie en metaheuristiek optimering modelle ontwikkel. Die resultate van die studie het aangedui watter een van die vier lughawe ontwerpe die beste is. Dit is ook beslis dat die gebruik van metaheuristiek optimering, en spesifi ek die "cross-entropy" metode, die loopafstand van passasiers op die lughawe verminder.