If you are curious to know what airport master plans are, let us answer them for you. A master plan is detailed guidance on how the airport will operate in the foreseeable future, including economic, environmental, and infrastructural development.
An airport is a complex infrastructure containing multiple runways and buildings to help in the operation of commercial flights. Airports have many facilities for passengers to keep them safe and comfortable.
Airports are an integral part of society as they enable people to travel from one place to another, and they also contribute to the economic growth of a country. Hence, the plan of airport should be perfect for ensuring smooth operations.
It must also cover all the barriers an airport may face in the long term. Developing an ideal master plan for an airport should include different elements such as airport layout plans, Emergency Response Plan (ERP), and Traffic analyses and forecasts.
So, stick around to find out how to develop a master plan for your airport.
Developing A Master Plan For An Airport
A master plan consists of many components that are explained below to help you get a better grasp on what master plans are.
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Airport Property Development
To make your airport as efficient as possible, you need the flawless development of airport property. Airport property development incorporates the infrastructural development of an airport.
Airport’s infrastructure is very complex, as each and every component should be at its best location. Moving forwards, we can talk about a few of these components, such as the runway, parking, waiting area, and cafeterias.
1. Runways
Runways should be constructed according to your airport’s needs. Considering the location of your airport, you can figure out how busy your airport will be.
If it is located in a big city, the incoming and outgoing traffic will be huge. In that case, at least 2-3 runways must be constructed.
Another question that arises is the type of runways that must be built. This can be accomplished by knowing what type of planes will be used in an airport.
2. Parking
One of the most vital aspects of an airport is its parking. Airports are operational 24 hours a day, and they experience a lot of traffic.
To avoid any congestion and blockages, the parking is required to be spatial. The drop-off lanes should be stretched out even more to accommodate more cars at the same time.
3. Waiting Areas And Cafes
What is an airport without comfortable waiting areas and good cafes?
Waiting areas of an airport can be the key to customer satisfaction. Most often, flights get delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. In such cases, passengers have to wait for hours at the airport which can be really tiring.
To keep passengers comfortable and happy, waiting areas should have some of the most basic necessities, such as charging ports, cushion chairs, and access to the internet to prevent the passengers from getting bored in the meantime.
Moreover, cafeterias are very significant at airports. Passengers often have to wait for hours, and the only way to kill time and hunger is through good food.
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Terminal Design and Operation
Terminals are the hub of an airport. They serve as a connecting part between the departure and the arrival of passengers. In a real sense, the terminals perform all the key processes of an airport, without which an airport cannot function at all.
The terminals include check-ins, boarding, security checks, and baggage check-in/collection. These are the most important activities taking place at an airport that indicate how important a terminal is in the master plan of an airport.
However, it requires immense knowledge and expertise to develop a smooth-running terminal.
Terminal capacity analysis and sizing is an imperative part to include in the master plan of an airport. This information will help in the decision-making of how many terminals this airport needs.
A single airport can have many terminals, depending on its size and usage. If an airport experiences a huge amount of traffic, 2-3 terminals must be built to handle all the incoming and outgoing passengers in a shorter amount of time.
Similarly, terminal process optimization studies must be performed for the master plan. In this study, cost and time efficiency are a must to focus on. It involves selecting a specific point that is optimal for an airport.
Every process has a cost and time in the airport. For instance, check-in and boarding pass booths have individual operational costs, and every passenger processing takes a specific amount of time.
Moreover, this study can help in deciding how many security checkpoints, boarding, and check-in booths are required with the help of estimated passenger amounts.
Furthermore, baggage check-in/collection is part of these studies. An efficient system will be developed to handle all sorts of baggage, and in case of any misplacement, there will be preventive measures active to sort out any issue quickly.
Lastly, the aesthetics of a terminal must always be taken into account. A terminal is a part where passengers spend a significant amount of their time. Therefore, it must be visually appealing and well-designed in order to make passengers happier.
Emergency Situations
No one wishes for an emergency situation to fall upon them. However, we must always be prepared for it.
Therefore, airports must always have an emergency preparedness plan for workplaces that states what to do if an emergency situation arises. If you encounter a case of emergency, the primary objective is to save lives and equipment from damage.
According to airport emergency management policy and procedure, staff member roles are predefined for which they have been practised in emergency drills. Therefore, if any emergency situation arises, every individual must know what duty they need to perform.
All in all, there can be many different emergency situations. A few of them include the following:
- Terrorist threats
- Aeroplane failure
- Natural hazards
- Fires
Moreover, an airport emergency response procedure defines all the approaches to take in such situations. For instance, in a terrorist threat scenario, the response will be to quickly evacuate the entire airport building and contact respective authorities for help.
On the other hand, on the subject of airplane failure upon landing or takeoff, such as a landing gear malfunction or an engine catching fire, the emergency procedure will be to deploy fire trucks alongside runways quickly.
The main focus will be stopping the fire from covering the whole area and saving everyone onboard.
Moreover, natural hazards and building fires are also emergency cases. Airport buildings must incorporate large-scale fire prevention systems which can help extinguish huge fires within buildings.
Similarly, natural hazards include heavy snowfall, tornadoes, and earthquakes. These natural disasters can completely bring airport services to a halt. After all, in such severe conditions, no airplane can take off or land.
Emergency situations are unavoidable. Therefore, every airport must have an emergency crisis plan included in its master plan.
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Runway Safety Area
Runway safety is one of the highest priority matters in the airport master plan. The runway safety area guarantees that an airplane will land and take off safely, regardless of any emergency.
The approximately 500 feet of width and 1000 feet of extra space left empty alongside the runway strip is known as the Runways Safety area.
As previously mentioned, airplane failure and natural hazards can make it challenging for airplanes to land in emergency situations. If the landing gear brakes fail, it will get extremely difficult to stop that plane upon landing.
Similarly, if strong crosswinds are blowing, they will stop the aircraft from landing straight. Hence, extra space is left in width and length to stop any overshooting plane.
In the case of takeoffs, if an aircraft is unable to reach sufficient speed to lift from the ground, the runway safety area can be used to reach that required speed.
Keeping in mind that the runway safety area is usually not fully carpeted, so in the quest to slow down aircraft, sand is often placed on the sides and the ends of the runway strip.
Therefore, regardless of actually damaging the planes, saving lives must be a priority at the end of the day.
For the runways safety areas in the master plan, it is mandatory to have everything pre-planned for every possible scenario. A safety area team will be assembled to carry out their responsibilities.
Moreover, runway safety area technologies help in reducing the risk of any possible mishaps. A few of those technologies are Surface Detection and Runway Status Lights.
One of the most important parts of runway safety area study is accident analysis. In this, all the previous data is used to statistically calculate the risks of unsafe or damaged landings and takeoffs.
This analysis will help in understanding if there is a need to improve the airport’s runway safety area further.
The master plan has all strategies in place for the future and can help ease any further development of runway safety area features.
Traffic Analyses and Forecasts
The airport master plan cannot be completed without traffic analyses and forecasts.
Earth’s population is increasing day by day, and it has reached a staggering 8 billion. More population directly correlates to more transportation. It is safe to consider that airport usage will only increase in future years.
Traffic analyses of the airport will determine how to further develop the airport and future facility’s requirements according to the increase in passenger traffic.
These results are significant in order to enforce the best techniques to be used for predicting future traffic. First of all, past data is the main point of reference as we can plot the data and figure out traffic trends.
Moreover, Econometric Relationship Modelling and Market and Industry Surveys are the techniques that must be employed to project further data accurately.
The econometric relationship is related to GDP growth. Market and industry identify the current and future situation of investments and business prospectus.
Moreover, this analysis will suggest the future development of airports, which include capacity extension projects, added runways, and terminals.
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Furthermore, traffic analysis can potentially help solve future security problems since overpopulated airports can cause much confusion and security risks.
These can be successfully reduced if the further development of airports starts soon enough according to traffic forecasts.
Lastly, the types of aircraft to be used in an airport in the future must be taken into account. It is possible that the current airport may not be busy.
However, due to the ongoing construction projects and economic development around the airport, it will get extremely busy in the future.
Therefore, to accommodate different types of aircraft, different types of machinery and trained staff are required to handle such apparatus.
In short, the study of future traffic analysis is key to the success of airports in the future.
Dividing Master Plan Into Phases
Till now, we have primarily discussed only the planning part of the master plan. Now comes the implementation part. Hence, before getting down to discussing the implementation, the whole master plan must be divided into phases.
Dividing a large project into smaller phases makes it less confusing and easier to implement. Multiple phases will focus on different elements of the airport.
Therefore, we must prioritize the most critical aspects of airports without which they cannot function, such as runways, terminals, and security. Moreover, tight deadlines must be set to get the important phases completed as early as possible.
Our aim should be to get done with the prioritized phases as quickly as possible so that the airport can become operational. Other phases can be completed side by side, with the airport being up and running.
Environmental Feasibility
In this era, environmental awareness has gained a lot of significance. Therefore, we must consider the environmental effects of an airport while planning its construction.
Airports cover a vast surface area, which can be quite damaging to nature. To build an airport, lots of lands must be cleared, leading to deforestation. Moreover, aircraft produce extreme levels of noise pollution, which can be disturbing for the surrounding community.
Therefore, a way to consider such aspects is by generating an environmental effect report in order to figure out the true impact of this airport. It should encompass sound pollution, air quality, and natural habitat.
The results of this report should highlight if it actually is the best place for constructing an airport or not.
Financial Side
The real skill required is to adjust every aspect of a master plan within a budget. On paper, we can implement the best of the best facilities and systems. However, when it comes to implementation, it can easily fall behind because of limited budget and funding.
Therefore, a master plan should be well planned in accordance with the funds available so that in later stages, there are no delays and the project can continue smoothly.
We must also align the project phases according to the funds available, and at that particular stage, each phase should be completed in one go.
Financial efficiency is extremely significant in such large projects, without which there can be huge losses, even for minor mistakes.
The Flexibility of Master Plan
Large projects like airports’ master plans must be flexible. This means that due to constantly changing surroundings, trends, economy, and aviation demands, any element of a plan may become inefficient.
Therefore, to avoid such scenarios, a plan should have the ability to be changed on the go without disturbing any other components.
The end goal of a master plan must be the successful implementation of it while staying as efficient as possible. Being able to adapt to any significant changes is the sign of a great master plan.
Why Airport Engineering Services (AES) Is The Best Option
Airport Engineering Services(AES) is one of the best in their airport and aviation consultancy. They have successfully completed many large projects throughout the US. Their engineers have more than 20 years of experience and can handle any problem at hand.
Therefore, AES can help you create the best master plan for your airport. Whether it is an operational airport or a future project, you will get the best service at hand. We at AES first complete the surveys and draw conclusions to come up with a draft master plan.
The team at AES works together to create the best possible master plan for you according to your needs. Once the plan is approved, AES provides customer support so you can get your queries answered as soon as possible.
Out of the numerous services AES provides, some of these include the following:
- Airport Engineering & Airfield Design
- Terminal Design
- Airport Special System
- Aerodrome Certification
- ORAT & Operational Support
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So, if you need assistance regarding the airport or aviation industry, AES is the best option for you.
Wrapping Up
The airport master plan is the blueprint for the future of an airport. It covers a wide range of components such as design, construction, traffic forecast, and safety features.
A lot goes into devising a master plan, and its implementation is even more daunting. Every component of the airport is linked to the other, and they should be perfectly in sync to avoid inconsistency.
Since it is evident that coming up with a comprehensive plan for an airport is no easy task, we recommend hiring a competitive airport master planner such as the ones at Airport Engineering Services to get the job done in an excellent manner.
