Aviation: A World of Growth

China's economy has been rapidly growing with an average growth rate of 10% since 1990s. China's transformation, undoubtedly in response to its robust economy growth, has certainly become both so-called "the world's biggest market" and "the world's factory" in relation to its economy-related changes over the past decades. As a result, the perspective of China's air transport, in general, has been regarded as a fertile and competitive market in the current stage and even future years. The segment of air cargo services, in particular, is quite attractive and emerging industry in China's market recently, so that the competitors from all over the world are eager to scramble for part of China's air cargo markets. The purposes of the paper are to: (a) provide an analysis and the relationship between economic trends and air cargo traffic in China; and (b) forecast the aggregate demand of China's air cargo by using econometric method and extrapolate specific projections at China's major airports. In order to further realize the potential demand and competition of air cargo market between China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, we also provide an overall discussion on the interaction for the forecasting period.

Airport automated people movers (AAPM) typically consist of driverless trains with up to about four cars each capable of carrying 20 to 100 passengers who are mostly standing. They have been successfully used for surface transportation in airports for over thirty years. A new category of automated people mover called personal rapid transit (PRT) is being implemented at London's Heathrow International Airport. Although the Heathrow system will replace shuttle buses, it may be more pertinent to examine the differences between PRT and traditional AAPM. PRT uses small (3 to 4 passenger) vehicles (transportation pods or T-Pods) to automatically transport passengers and their luggage non-stop to their destinations along designated guideways. Trips are typically on-demand and T-Pods are often waiting at stations prior to the arrival of passengers. The resulting short wait and trip times combine with seated travel to provide an exceptionally high level of service. This paper compares AAPM systems to PRT systems similar to the type being installed at Heathrow Airport. Items compared include infrastructure items such as stations, guideways and tunnels; level of service items such as waiting, standing and trip times; cost items such as capital and operating costs; as well as safety and security issues. The paper discusses PRT viability and concludes with a brief discussion of the ability of PRT to facilitate solutions to common airport issues such as in-concourse transportation and curbside congestion. PRT is found to have many advantages over AAPM for transporting passengers and their luggage on airports. It is suggested that PRT alternatives should be included in airport planning projects.

A perimeter taxiway (PT) or end-around taxiway (EAT) operation is a new concept being developed at several airports with parallel runways around the United States to reduce the number of active departure runway crossings during peak periods. PTs will enhance capacity by permitting uninterrupted, safe, continuous takeoffs and landings and improve safety by reducing the likelihood of runway incursions. For this research, the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's (DFW) proposed PT operations are considered for analysis and evaluation. This concept is tested using Visual SIMMOD simulation modeling software where the input data is based on actual historical DFW flight data and preliminary design documents. The PT operational analysis is based on the simulation results using forecast air traffic data for 2010. The operations analysis, and the standard taxiway procedures and guidelines developed based on the simulation gives an indication of the types of operational issues that may develop at DFW and other airports after PT implementation.

Globalization and technology development have led to rapid world-wide growth, which has in turn significantly enhanced competition among airports around the world. Competitive threat of privatized airports and second-tier airports create pressures on airport's operation. In order to increase revenue and decrease expenditure, more and more airport managers are searching for an optimal and customized maintenance management concept policy. There is a desire to improve the airport safety and quality and increase mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) of facilities to achieve an optimal customized maintenance management. The research reported in this paper, adapted a framework for maintenance concept developed for industrial management. In addition, the paper offers some guidelines to develop maintenance management concept policy. Furthermore, the paper identifies the effectiveness of using a fuzzy multi-criteria decision making (FMCDM) approach to evaluate maintenance management concept policy based on five basic maintenance concept policies. The approach discussed in the paper will help airports develop appropriate maintenance management and increase sustainable competitive advantage.

Airports are essential and irresistible assets in major disaster responses. Traditional and newly emergent roles—e.g., command posts, shelters, temporary hospitals, —alternative communication hubs—were filled by airports after Hurricane Katrina and for 9/11 flight diversions with essentially no warning. The basic thesis of this paper is that sound emergency management measures should be built into airport preparedness functions to not only maximize the use of airports during major disaster responses but also to preserve airport operations during the disaster and to facilitate resiliency afterwards. Qualitative analysis applied to historical case studies at New Orleans and Gander and preparedness measures at Memphis and Düsseldorf gives results bearing on necessity to enhance capabilities of airports and methods to fund and sustain such new assets. National standards and new sources of funding to build sound emergency management into airports are critical to the development of resiliency through timely management of catastrophes.

A family of nested logit random utility models was developed to study intercity mode choice behavior in the United States. The models were calibrated using a nationwide revealed preference survey (1995 American Travel Survey) and two stated preference surveys conducted by Virginia Tech at selected airports in the U.S. The focus of this paper is on the ability of the models to estimate market share for the new category of Very Light Jet aircraft used in on-demand air taxi services. Analysis was performed to compare the stated preference surveys and the American Travel Survey within the same random utility framework. The main explanatory variables in the utility functions are travel time and travel cost stratified by household income. The model has been integrated into a large-scale computer software travel demand framework called the Transportation Systems Analysis Model to estimate nationwide intercity travel demand flow between 3,091 counties in the U.S., 443 commercial service airports and more than 3,000 general aviation airports in the U.S. A pared down version of the model will be integrated into the National Strategy Simulator that the FAA uses for strategic level planning the aviation system.

The time taken to get to the airport and the time spent in the airport terminal are two primary phases of an air passenger's journey. About 1300 departing air passengers were surveyed and individual passenger processing time at the check-in queues were collected at 5 different airports. Data shows that air passengers' pre-flight time, which is comprised of the ground travel time, processing time, and non-airport activity time, is about the same as their flight time. Passengers arrive at the terminal at suggested hours prior to departure. At the terminal, the time spent at the check-in counters as well as the security queues is not very high. It is the non-airport activity time that is a major portion of the pre-flight time. Data also suggests an inherent and high variability in the various elements of the passengers' pre-flight time.

Airports serve different regions and different economies. Some airports serve as an origin and destination (O&D) point to point system while others serve as a hub and spoke system. The type of airport and modes of transportation available to the airport cause great variations in traffic volumes on roads in the vicinity of the airport. In particular, O&D point to point airports have a profound effect on the local road infrastructure. Research documents very few studies to estimate the number of trips generated by airports. In the most current volume of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual, only 3 commercial airports were analyzed to determine comparisons of employees, passengers, or airport demand versus trip generation. Anecdotal evidence indicates that estimates of number of trips generated by airports based on these studies are very different from the observed data. The focus of this paper is to research and study the relationships between airport type, airport demand, and traffic volumes. Data such as the type of airport, airport demand (total number of enplaning and deplaning passengers), total enplaned and deplaned cargo in tons, number of airline operations, number of employees, metropolitan area population, presence of large scale transit systems, the percent of connecting passengers, and traffic volumes along a major access road connecting arrival/departure gates at selected airports in the United States were collected and analyzed to study the relationships and develop equations to estimate the number of trips generated by the airports. The results from this research are expected to help planners and engineers better identify required infrastructure for improved traffic operations at existing and new airports.

Implementing new transportation services for servicing only a special population subgroup presents a severe problem on transport operation process because one has to separate them from the common users and provide them specific transit services under the quality and cost restrictions. A significant counterpart of this problem is the definition of the time lag required, between the initial marketing campaign and the starting time of the service itself. Informing the potential users by mass media may lead to misuse of monies with doubtful results especially in the case of handicapped people. This population group is, on one hand scattered within the population, but on the other hand has special communication habits and the use of "word of mouth" constitutes an efficient information process. The viability of a project dealing with services for these special population subgroups mainly depends upon the number of people aware of a particular service, and the required time for the information dissemination within the population studied. This paper discusses a modeling approach based on Markov stochastic process to simulate the person-to-person information dissemination process. Application of this model focuses on the elderly and handicapped subpopulation group and takes into account the communication behaviors and habits of three separate subgroups to estimate the required time to be informed, prior to the commencement of the service.

At the beginning of its Master Plan, Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport had two pressing questions, did the airport need four simultaneous instrument flight rules (IFR) landing runways and would end-around taxiways be a cost effective improvement? During the alternatives analysis it was determined that quadruple IFR landing runways were not only part of the preferred alternative, but aircraft simulation analysis also proved that triple IFR landing runways would not reach the desired hourly capacity goals or annual delay reduction goals. Simulation analysis of the implementation plan showed that a fourth IFR arrival runway should be the first of two needed runways and that an end-around taxiway was needed even before the next runway can be constructed.

With airports and airways already experiencing congested conditions, and the demand for passenger and cargo transport expected to grow for the foreseeable future, a number of strategies have been developed to plan for increased safety, access, efficiency, and capacity at our nation's airports and around the world. One such strategy is the use of RNP (Required Navigation Performance) which is supported by the FAA and its Roadmap for Performance-Based Navigation. With the ability to follow a GPS-based route and use narrow, constant-width RNP containments, approaches and departures can follow precise, curvilinear paths to avoid difficult terrain and complex airspace. Airspace efficiency is improved, safety is enhanced, and airport capacity is increased by the implementation of procedures that use the technology already onboard most new aircraft. This paper details the benefits of RNP, describes the current process of change, provides a case study of RNP benefits, and looks into the future.

In this paper, a Systems Dynamics methodology to model and simulate air traffic, aviation weather and communication systems is presented. Two computer models are developed with ITHINK and MATLAB software packages: 1) Air Traffic Flow Model (ATFM) and 2) Aviation Weather Information and Bandwidth Requirement Model (AWINBRM). The ATFM model is used for quantifying the volume of air traffic at each phase of flight in three flight regions. The results of the ATFM model are used as inputs for the AWINBRM model. The AWINBRM model is used to define required aviation weather information and their sizes at each phase of flight in three flight regions. These models could be deployed as decision support systems to aid airport and airline personnel. The models' results demonstrate that all types of aircraft need large quantities of weather data before taking off from the airport. The aircraft in the terminal area require less aviation weather data but the weather may have the most impact in terms of flight safety. Models also provide detailed information for planning aviation weather communication systems in the future.

This study develops one of the performance modules of the FAA's NAS Strategy Simulator project. An aggregate model that estimates the annual enroute controller requirements for serving the low, mid and high density airspace over the contiguous United States is developed. The current physical boundaries of sectors in each enroute center is neglected while the average sector size and the resulting average sector demand are determined by a theoretical relation, given the peak hour demand of a chunk of airspace and other parameters of airspace characteristics. A statistical relation is then estimated to predict the number of controller positions based on the number of sectors. An iterative procedure connects all components in the model and, after converging, determines average sector size and total number of controllers. The model can provide an estimate of future capacity for evaluating enroute performance and can also be used to examine the current approach to determine annual requirements for controllers.

As the aviation industry continues to change and the airlines strive to return to profitability, airport owners are faced with a variety of infrastructure challenges to provide capacity for future industry growth. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has undertaken an aggressive development program to position the Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) to meet these challenges. IAD is in the midst of a $3.4 billion development program, named Dulles Development (D²). The focal point of this paper is airfield capacity enhancements and improvements at IAD. The paper presents the steps taken to increase the airfield capacity with the addition of a new runway complex, Runway 1L–19R, and the implementation of taxiway geometric improvements for the A-380 aircraft at the Runway 1R–19L complex. The paper also discusses other major airfield improvements such as the reconstruction of Runway 12–30 and Runway 1C–19C. The paper examines the origins of the aforementioned projects, the implementation and progress of the airfield development portion of the D² program and the expected future benefits of the program in providing the IAD airfield with the flexibility to adapt to an ever changing aviation industry.

The relocation of the Panama City-Bay County International Airport to a new site about 25 miles northwest of Panama City, Florida, exhibits demanding site conditions and poses certain design and permitting challenges. In order to make the project compatible with all aspects of the community, the Design Team envisioned and proposed unique solutions to the new. Green Field airport's permitting and mitigation processes. The paper describes a new airport that is planned and permitted around an ultimate 4,000-acre development footprint including two parallel commercial service runways and a crosswind general aviation runway. This project involves using a groundbreaking ecosystem team permitting (ETP) process in which state permits and approvals pertaining to wetlands, storm water management, water supply, wastewater, air quality, threatened and endangered species, and air permits are addressed in a holistic manner. The ETP approach involves a coordinated process whereby the project design and conditions of approval are presented, discussed, and negotiated in an open public forum, resulting in net ecosystem benefits and allowing greater flexibility in project design, issue resolution, and permit issuance.

San Antonio International Airport's $446 million expansion program focused on redevelopment of terminal, roadway, parking, and support facilities to accommodate growth anticipated through 2012, or approximately 5.0 million annual enplanements. Like many mature, urban airports, San Antonio International has grown around its original 1940s era layout to include two terminals, surface and structured parking, and a variety of tenant facilities in the densely developed terminal area. The Airport's master plan addressed options for expansion, recommending replacement of the older 1950s era terminal, extension of the two level terminal roadway, construction of new structured parking, and future expansion of the terminal area to the west. In a schematic design study conducted between 2000 and 2002, the program was validated and defined. In 2003 the City retained two principal A/E teams to design the improvements and a Program Management Team comprised of Carter & Burgess, Inc., Parsons Brinkerhoff, Foster CM Group, and Ricondo & Associates, Inc. The Aviation Department, Program Management Team and the Airport's financial consultants worked to manage the overall budget, contain the effect of rising construction costs, and develop a realistic financing plan. This paper discusses a number of management challenges result from the redevelopment of the "urbanized" airport site. Included in the discussion are highlights such as the extensive contractor and industry outreach for acquiring quality contractor, alternative procurement strategies, and the public outreach program.

This paper discusses a major construction project at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport where a new parallel runway with two taxiways was constructed as part of the airport expansion. The paper focuses on the geotechnical aspects of the project, which included time issues (construction expedients), use of chemical additives, slope stability, settlement, and subgrade stabilization. One of the unique challenges of the project was that cuts and fills of up to 30 meters were made as part of the grading for the runway platform and involved moving approximately 12 million cubic meters of soil. In addition, the cut was almost entirely below the groundwater table. The project also involved construction of the first highway tunnel in the state of Missouri.

Runway 10–28, which runs parallel to Taxiway H, and connector taxiways at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (LMMIA) were originally constructed in 1971. The rehabilitation of Runway 10–28 and associated taxiway system involved upgrading the capacity of the pavement system to handle the growing traffic volume at LMMIA. The existing runway and taxiway pavements were significantly past the original 20-year design life and were showing extensive signs of overstress due to growing traffic volume and to an increasing number of wide-body aircrafts operating at the airport. Following the pavement design analysis, the Owner accepted the total reconstruction alternative instead of partial rehabilitation (slab by slab) of the pavement. The total reconstruction of the pavement system included the rubblization of Runway 10–28 and parts of Taxiway H, a leveling course and a new 16-inch (406 mm) Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) overlay. All the connector taxiways and the middle portion of Taxiway H included full depth repair with a combination of permeable drainage layer placed over a 4-inch (101 mm) P-401 asphalt base course and an underdrain system installed on the outer edges. Transition from the new taxiway elevations to the surrounding apron areas took place through full-depth reconstruction in those segments. This alternative removed the causes of the distresses, provided a stable construction platform (rubblized PCC), and provided a full 20-year life to the project pavements.

The U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center is investigating methods to construct a contingency airfield for C-17 aircraft loadings within a 72-hour construction period. The proposed method to satisfy these stringent design requirements is to use a chemically stabilized in-situ top soil layer as a runway surface. A suite of soil-chemical mixture combinations was examined to optimize the stabilized soil mixture behavior. A numerical approach is developed in this study to supplement limited C-17 full-scale testing data. Three stabilized soil mixture types are investigated using as stabilizing agents: 6% cement, 4% cement, and 4% cement + 1.5-in. (38-mm) long polypropylene fibers. Unconfined compression tests under monotonic loading and unconfined compression tests using repeated load tests were conducted to evaluate the stabilized soil mixture for strength and durability. Results have shown that the stabilized soil mixture exhibits damage and plastic behavior. In this study, the Army Corps' finite element code STUBBS is enhanced by including material damage to predict stabilized soil behavior when subjected to repetitive loadings. Damage behavior in the Valanis numerical model is calibrated using only two material properties and two damage parameters. Preliminary work on incorporating plastic behavior to supplement damage is discussed. In earlier work, forces induced by a C-17 aircraft on a runway were limited to a vertical force. However, C-17 aircraft braking forces induced during landing are substantial. Therefore, in this work, in addition to the vertical pressure exerted by the aircraft wheels, preliminary work is presented which considers an aircraft braking force.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires airfields to have a 1000-ft. runway safety area beyond the design runway length for aircraft overruns. However, at many locations, this requirement cannot be satisfied because of natural or man-made barriers. An alternative solution to the 1000-ft. runway extension is to use an engineered material arresting system (EMAS). An EMAS system is designed to significantly reduce an aircraft's stopping distance during an aircraft overrun without significant passenger discomfort or aircraft damage. The FAA computer code ARRESTOR is used in this study to evaluate aircraft stopping distance as a function of characteristic parameters that are typically considered in an EMAS design. This study considers the sensitivity of stopping distance as a function of arrestor material compressive strength behavior, aircraft characteristics, and aircraft type for a given arrestor bed geometry. During this study, 121 computer overrun simulations are performed to develop a sensitivity study of the EMAS. The sensitivity of aircraft stopping distance is examined as a function of a specific study parameter (arrestor material characteristic or aircraft characteristic). Results are normalized using typical design parameters as a basis. Results for stopping distance are summarized as plots as a function of variability in material strength. The sensitivity analysis conducted in this work identifies critical EMAS design parameters and therefore, provides a means to optimize an EMAS design.

The technology that led to optimized concrete paving mixtures was born of a need to develop a method to specify and control the quality of concrete mixtures for construction of a $600 million office building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the early 1970s. However, there were no materials standards in the kingdom. It was necessary for this author to learn how to achieve that goal using the non standard, locally available materials. The research was done in a laboratory in Athens, Greece. The results included the introduction of a nomograph on which six independent variables can be plotted and used to assess concrete mix performance. That technology is being applied today for construction of buildings, highways, and airfields all over the world. The first verification of the technology for airfield construction was done at the Jeddah International Airport in Saudi Arabia.