AIRPORT
CHARACTERISTICS
-SWAPNIL A SHIVTARKAR
172TS023
What is an AIRPORT?
Airport is defined in the law as any area of land or water used or intended for landing
or take off of aircraft including appurtenant area used or intended for airport buildings,
facilities, as well as rights of way together with the buildings and facilities.
Classification of Airports
• International
• Domestic
• General Aviation
• Military
International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) Classification
The classification by ICAO is based in the following two ways:
• The code letters A to E are used, as shown in table 3-1, to indicate
basic runway length, width of runway pavement and maximum
longitudinal grade.
• The number 1 to 7 are mentioned, as shown in Table 3-2 to indicate
single isolated wheel load and tyre pressure.
ICAO Airport Classification
Basic Runway Length (m)
Width of Maximum
Airport Runway longitudin
Type Maximum Minimum
Pavement al grade
(m) (%)
A Over 2100 2100 45 1.5
B 2099 1500 45 1.5
C 1499 900 30 1.5
D 899 750 22.5 2.0
E 749 600 18 2.0
ICAO Airport Classification
Single Isolated Wheel Tyre Pressure
Code No. Load (Kg) (Kg/cm2)
1 45,000 8.5
2 34,000 7.0
3 27,000 7.0
4 20,000 7.0
5 13,000 6.0
6 7,000 5.0
7 2,000 2.5
Relationship between Aircraft and Airport.
• Aircraft and Airport are dependent on each other for providing service for passengers
• Operating cost of Aircraft contributes to 85% of operating cost of entire air transport system
• Airport contributes to 10%
• 5% goes to navigation charges and overheads of governmental control.
• Airports adopted tendency to accommodate changes in aircraft design and performance to lower DOC
• Due to environmental issues and increase in land acquisition value and construction cost runway length
was not increased
• Further advances in technology of aircraft for producing high lifts for takeoff and landing reduced
runway requirement
• Other factors that influences airport designing are:
Taxiways, cargo handling facilities, aprons.
Components of Airport
Terminal
Building
Runways Apron
Airfield/ Terminal
Landing Area Area
Taxiways Hangers
Control
Tower
Runway
• According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),
a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a
land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft.
• Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is
generally the magnetic azimuth of the runway's heading.
• A runway numbered 09 points east (90°), runway 18 is south (180°),
runway 27 points west (270°) and runway 36 points to the north (360°
rather than 0°)
Taxiway
• A taxiway is a path for aircraft at
an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and
other facilities.
• They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete
• Busy airports typically construct high-speed or rapid-exit taxiways to
allow aircraft to leave the runway at higher speeds.
Types of Taxiway
• Exit taxiway
• apron taxiway
• dual parallel taxiway.
• terminal taxilane
Aprons
• The airport apron is the area of an airport where aircraft are parked,
unloaded or loaded, refuelled, or boarded.
Types of Apron
• Terminal
• Cargo
• Parking
• Service
• General Aviation
• Other ground servicing.
Hanger
• A hangar is a closed building structure to hold aircraft.
• Hangars are used for protection from the weather, direct sunlight,
maintenance, repair, manufacture, assembly and storage of aircraft
on airfields.
Terminal Building
• Airport terminal is the major connection between ground access
system and the aircraft.
• It includes facilities and amenities for processing of passengers and
baggage, cargo handling, airport administration, operations and
maintenance.
Control Tower
• The control tower is the centre of airport traffic control.
• Air controllers use radar, radio, signal lights and other
electronic equipment to guide planes when they take off and land
• They give pilots permission to take off or tell them which runway to
use.
• At busier airports controllers handle up to 200 aircraft per hour.
Airport Capacity
• Capacity is defined as the maximum number of aircraft or passengers
that can be accommodated in a certain period of time when there is
continuous demand.
• ICAO generally defines capacity as the number of movements per unit
of time that can be accepted during different meteorological
conditions
Delays
• The definition of delay can vary. There are ‘acceptable delays’,
network or reactionary delays, on-time performance (OTP) delays
per flight (gate to gate), average delays over varying periods, arrival
delays, departure delays, surface taxiing delays and so on.
• The imbalance between demand and capacity is a key cause of
delay.
ALL-Allowed capacity ACC-Acceptable capacity TEC-Technical capacity
References
• Airport Planning and Designing- Khanna and Justo
• Wilken, D. (2014). Course: Airport Capacity and Slot Management.
Cologne, Germany: DLR
• ICAO (2004). DOC 9626: Manual of the Regulation of International Air
Transport
• ACAM Manual
• Airport Cooperative Research Program “Report 104: Defining and
Measuring Aircraft Delay and Airport Capacity Thresholds, 2014.
Thank You
