Case Study on the
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Planning & Capacity
Department and its importance in the Aviation Industry
Operations and Quality
Management
Year: 2012
Executive Summary
The Airport
Planning and Capacity is a department of the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) which is the National Aviation Authority of the United
States. The FAA has the authority to monitor and regulate all aspects of civil
aviation in the United States.
The Airport
Planning and Capacity office plays a major role in the FAA due to the increasing
number of airplane users in the United States. The National Airspace system of
the United States has become increasingly congested over time, thus, imposing
additional costs of delay on passengers and the region. The various continuous
problems being generated in the national airspace system of the U.S. is not
only a difficult challenge for the Airport Planning and Capacity department,
but also one that would require an advanced level of critical thinking from an
operational perspective, for the days that lie ahead for the National Airspace
system.
Contents
Introduction
The Importance of the
Airport Planning and Capacity Department
Capacity Needs
Airport Improvement
Program (AIP)
Factors Affecting the
FAA’s AIP Funding Decisions
Challenges Faced by
Airports in Planning
Conclusion
Reference(s)
Itroduction
Airport
Planning and Capacity is an important body of the FAA. Airport Planning ensures
the long-term maintenance of the individual facilities and the entire system as
a whole. Airport planning can include a wide variety of studies that included –
airport facility planning, air capacity and system planning, environmental
studies and more. (WSDOT, 2011)
According
to the Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation Division (WSDOT
Aviation) it is generally recognized that there are three primary levels at
which airport planning can be performed or segmented into:
Strategic-Level
– The strategic level examines the long-term structures and determines the
effectiveness of the various structures in terms of its ability to identify
goals and objectives.
Tactical-Level
– This level deals with the short-term and medium-term courses of actions that
fit into the overall strategic plans and goals
Project-Level
– The project-level identifies a defined aspect of a tactical plan and also
determine the optimum manner required to execute that aspect into a project
form.
Airport
planning can be an extremely complex process. This is because an airport covers
a wide range of activities that often have different and sometimes, conflicting
requirements. Also, there are multiple industries, federal and international
regulations and best management practices that are commonly employed to tackle
such issues.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
The Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) was founded in August 23, 1958 by the Federal
Aviation Act of 1958. It is an agency of the United States Department of
Transportation. The FAA is given the authority to monitor and regulate all
aspects of civil aviation in the United States.
Some of the
major roles of the FAA are:
·
The regulation of United States commercial space
transportation
·
The regulation of the air navigation facility’s
geometry and flight inspection standards
·
Development of civil aeronautics including new
aviation technology
·
Issuing, suspending or revoking pilot certificates
·
Monitoring civil aviation for the promotion of safety,
especially through local offices cal Flight Standards District Offices
·
Developing and Operating a system of air traffic
control and navigation for both civil and military aircraft
·
Conducting research and development for the National
Airspace System and civil aeronautics
·
Developing and carrying out programs to control
aircraft noise and other environmental effects involved in civil aviation (FAA,
2008)
According
to FAA’s website, their mission and vision states that it is FAA’s continuing
mission to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world and
that they strive to reach the next level of safety, efficiency, environmental
responsibility and global leadership. The FAA is also accountable to the
American public and their stakeholders as stated in their website.
The FAA is
made up of various departments which include the Airport Planning and Capacity
department. Some of departments in the FAA are – The Aircraft Certification
Offices (ACO), Airports Regional Offices, Flight Standards District Offices
(FSDO), Manufacturing and Inspection District Offices (MIDO), Aircraft
Evaluation Groups (AEG), International Field Offices and Units (IFO) (IFU),
Certificate Management Offices (CMO) and more.
The Importance of the
Airport Planning and Capacity Department
According
to the FAA, the national airspace system will become increasingly congested
over time, imposing costs of delay on passengers and regions. Many airports in
the United States are or will become significantly congested in the coming
years and the Regional Airport Planning has the potential to identify solutions
for this issue. (GAO, 2009).Such issues
of congestion of the airspace system in the United States can lead to many
problems in the transportation field of the nation.
Capacity
Needs
In 2003,
the FAA created a team to begin the Future Airport Capacity Task (FACT). The
team was led by the FAA’s Airports organization (ARP) and consisted of
representatives from the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) and the MITRE
Corporation’s Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD). FACT is
an assessment of the future capacity of the Nation’s airports and metropolitan
areas. Its goal is to determine which airports and metropolitan areas have the
greatest need for additional capacity. By embarking on this initiative, the FAA
wanted to assure that the long-term capacity of the U.S. aviation system
matched forecasts of demand. (The MITRE Corporation, 2007)
National plan of integrated airport system(NPIAS)
It is an
inventory of the United States Aviation Infrastructure Assets. It is developed
and maintained by the FAA. The NPIAS identifies all the airports in the U.S.
that are considered to be the significant components of the national aviation
infrastructure network. It also regulates the quality of the current state of
development, technology, and maintenance at each of these airports. The NPIAS
estimates the necessary funding required, bringing each of the airports up to a
current standard of design, technology, and capacity. Also, the airports in the
NPIAS are eligible for Federal grants from the Airport Improvement Program.
(FAA, 2008)
The NPIAS
consists of all the commercial service airports, all the reliever airports, and
the selected general aviation airports.
Airport Improvement Program (AIP)
The Airport
Improvement Program (AIP) is a United States federal grant program. The AIP
provides funds to airports to help improve safety and efficiency. The various improvement
projects are related to runways, taxiways, ramps, lighting, signage, weather
stations, NAVAIDs, land acquisition, and some areas of planning. The funds are
raised through taxes on airplane tickets sold to the public and a tax on the aviation
fuel. (Frank Thomas, 2009)
Factors Affecting the FAA’s
AIP Funding Decisions
The FAA’s AIP program to raise
funds for the improvement of the national airports is faced with many
challenges, especially during the raising of funds for its program. Some of the
factors affecting the AIP funding decisions are as follows:
·
The availability of funds
·
Specific type of AIP funding requested
·
State of readiness
·
Priority of the proposed project compared to the other
projects within the same timeframe
·
Location of proposed project
·
Type of project (e.g. new, expansion, standards, etc.)
·
Timing of proposed project
·
Type of proposed facility (e.g. runway, taxiway,
apron, drainage, etc.)
·
Size of the Airport (i.e. types and volume of aviation
activity). (Elliot Black, 2010)
Challenges Faced by Airports in Planning
The FAA’s
Airport Planning and Capacity department is faced with challenges in airport
planning that’s needs to be tackled strategically and frequently in order to
maintain the standards of the Airports in the United States. Some of the
challenges faced are as follows –
·
Fluctuation of demand
·
Accommodating
peak demands
·
Lengthy processes to plan, design, finance and
construct
·
High cost of construction
·
Preservation of flexibility for changing user needs
·
Need to align planning, environmental and financial
issues. (Elliot Black, 2010)
Conclusion
The FAA
overall is faced with multiple challenges in the fast-growing air travel
industry. Due to cheaper air travel and high population growth, the number of
problems faced in the airports is increasing ten-folds every year, with
congestion being on top of the list. In
my opinion, the Airport Planning and Capacity department would need far more
assistance and increased government funding in order to capacitate the issues
faced by the airports in the United States.
In 2010, the Airport Planning and Capacity department
introduced the Sustainable Master Plan Pilot Program. The intention of this
program is to make sustainability a core objective in airport planning. This
pilot program involves the funding of long-range planning documents at airports
throughout the United States. These documents, called Sustainable Master Plans
and Sustainable Management Plans, includes initiatives for reducing
environmental impacts, achieving economic benefits, and increasing integration
with local communities.
Such initiatives brought by the department are ways that
would help in the better development of the FAA’s plans and goals in achieving
a safe, secured and advanced air-travel in the United States.
Reference(s)
·
Black, Elliott. (2010). The Role of Activity
Forecasting in FAA's Planning, Environmental and Financial Decisions. Federal
Aviation Administration - Airports Infrastructure Session. 1 (1), p1-22.
·
Frank, Thomas. (2009). Feds keep little-used airports
in business. Available: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-09-17-little-used-airports_N.htm.
Last accessed 1st March, 2012.
·
GAO. (2009). National Airspace System - Regional
Airport Planning Could Help Address Congestion If Plans Were Integrated with
FAA and Airport Decision Making. Report to Congressional Requesters. GAO-10-120
(1), p1-75.
·
U.S. Department of Transportation. (2012). Airport
Planning & Capacity. Available:
http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/. Last accessed 3rd March, 2012.
·
Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation
Division (WSDOT Aviation). (2011). Airport Planning Guidelines. WSDOT
State-Managed Airport Handbook. 3072 (6), p1-38.
