Book Description

Since airports in metropolitan areas complement and interact with each other, they must be planned and operated as part of a system of airports. Furthermore, as air traffic continues to increase, more airports in metropolitan areas approach and reach capacity operation. Therefore, it is desirable to plan each airport in a metropolitan area as part of a system of airports in order to obtain the most efficient traffic flow, as well as the most efficient use of facilities. The operational factors involved in planning a system of airports in metropolitan areas are analyzed and used to determine the causes of congestion. Data obtained from previous studies is used to understand and demonstrate the operational factors and congestion. Airport congestion is defined in quantitative form for an individual airport and a system of airports. A methodology is presented that permits the many factors affecting the operation of an airport in a metropolitan system area to be evaluated quantitatively. The annual demand at which these airports will reach their practical annual capacity is determined by considering the effects of airport interactions and by determining quantitatively when congestion will occur at one airport and in the airport system. (Author).