Page 166 - Planning and Design of Airports

CHAPTER 4

Airport

Planning

Studies

Introduction
The planning of an airport is such a complex process that the analysis
of one activity without regard to the effect on other activities will not
provide acceptable solutions. An airport encompasses a wide range
of activities which have different and often conflicting requirements.
Yet they are interdependent so that a single activity may limit the
capacity of the entire complex. In the past airport master plans were
developed on the basis of local aviation needs. In more recent times
these plans have been integrated into an airport system plan which
assessed not only the needs at a specific airport site but also the over-
all needs of the system of airports which service an area, region, state,
or country. If future airport planning efforts are to be successful, they
must be founded on guidelines established on the basis of compre-
hensive airport system and master plans.
The elements of a large airport are shown in Fig. 4-1. It is divided
into two major components, the airside and the landside. The aircraft
gates at the terminal buildings form the division between the two
components. Within the system, the characteristics of the vehicles,
both ground and air, have a large influence on planning. The passen-
ger and shipper of goods are interested primarily in the overall door-
to-door travel time and not just the duration of the air journey. For this
reason access to airports is an essential consideration in planning.
The problems resulting from the incorporation of airport opera-
tions into the web of metropolitan life are complex. In the early days
of air transport, airports were located at a distance from the city,
where inexpensive land and a limited number of obstructions per-
mitted flexibility in airport operations. Because of the nature of air-
craft and the infrequency of flights, noise was not a problem to the

133