Practical Airport Operations, Safety, and Emergency Management

Protocols for Today and the Future

Jeffrey Price, Jeffrey Forrest

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780128006016
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Sécurité nationale

Practical Airport Operations, Safety, and Emergency Management: Protocols for Today and the Future focuses on the airport itself, not the aircraft, manufacturers, designers, or even the pilots. The book explores the safety of what's been called 'the most expensive piece of pavement in any city'— the facility that operates, maintains, and ensures the safety of millions of air passengers every year.

The book is organized into three helpful sections, each focusing on one of the sectors described in the title. Section One: Airport Safety, explores the airport environment, then delves into safety management systems. Section Two: Airport Operations, continues the conversation on safety management systems before outlining airside and landside operations in depth, while Section Three: Airport Emergency Management, is a careful, detailed exploration of the topic, ending with a chapter on the operational challenges airport operations managers can expect to face in the future.

Written by trusted experts in the field, users will find this book to be a vital resource that provides airport operations managers and students with the information, protocols, and strategies they need to meet the unique challenges associated with running an airport.

• Addresses the four areas of airport management: safety, operations, emergency management, and future challenges together in one book
• Written by leading professionals in the field with extensive training, teaching, and practical experience in airport operations
• Includes section on future challenges, including spaceport, unmanned aerial vehicles, and integrated incident command
• Ancillary materials for readers to reinforce concepts and instructors teaching operations courses
• Focuses on the topics of safety, operations, emergency management, and what personnel and students studying the topic can expect to face in the future

Chapter 1

Airport Operations, Safety, and Emergency Management

Abstract

Airports enable flight operations and the movement of passengers and cargo and also serve as locations to conduct commerce, hold meetings, and provide services and goods. Chapter 1—Airport Operations, Safety, and Emergency Management—provides an introduction to Airport Operations (Ops) as domains responsible for the effective and efficient planning, implementation, and control of the production of air service at commercial and general aviation (GA) airports. The primary functions of Ops include sustaining safety, enhancing security, and being able to respond to emergencies. A framework of operational systems, regulations, and other obligations of commercial and GA airports is presented. A case study describing the responsibilities of airport management and operations is also included.

Keywords

Airport Operations; Airport Administration; Airport Policy; Airport Environment; Airport Operating Certificate; Operations Management; Aerotropolis; Part 139; Commercial Air Service; General Aviation (GA)

Airport airside “Ops” at Denver International Airport, CO, Terminal A. Image by Shahn Sederberg, courtesy Colorado Division of Aeronautics, 2013.

Airport landside construction and operations at Denver International Airport’s South Terminal Development Project. Image by Shahn Sederberg, courtesy Colorado Division of Aeronautics, 2014.

Centennial Airport ATCT and Administration Building, CO. Image by Shahn Sederberg, courtesy Colorado Division of Aeronautics, 2007.

The prime function of Airport Operations is the effective and efficient planning, implementation, and control of the production of air service at an airport. Those familiar with Airport Operations management know that “every successful flight begins and ends at an airport.” In that sense, Airport Operations focuses on providing quality services that ensure safe air service at the airport and effective operational support of all arriving and departing passengers and aircraft. As a distinct function within airport management, Airport Operations is also strategically comprised of policies, regulations, resources, and methods that are committed to supporting safety management and emergency management within the airport environment. Within Airport Operations, safety management is charged with planning, implementing, and controlling processes for identifying and reducing potential hazards or risks associated with providing air service at the airport. In contrast, emergency management focuses on planning, implementing, and controlling actions that mitigate or respond to crises in ways that reduce risk to life and property at the airport.

Although related and systematically integrated, Airport Operations¹ is not directly responsible for Airport Security, which is a duty shared by airport management, law enforcement, and many governmental agencies. Airport Security personnel are responsible for identifying and eliminating threats or risks that are deliberately initiated against the populace interacting within the airport environment, as well as property and infrastructure. In this textbook, Airport Operations, along with safety and emergency management, are examined in relation to threats or risks derived from incidents, accidents, or natural hazards.

Federal, state, and local regulations permeate many concerns in Airport Operations, safety management, and emergency management. Airport Operations is responsible for managing and complying with these regulations as they apply to supporting the movement of passengers and cargo on the airport. Airport Operations is not directly responsible for managing safety regulations that apply to the operation of aircraft for the purpose of flight.

Airport Operations management must ensure safe air service in variable conditions to thousands of passengers, airport employees, vendors, cargo shipments, and other stakeholders and resources. The primary objective for Airport Operations is to safely move departing passengers (and other stakeholders), bags, and cargo from landside² (public access and transportation areas), through the terminal or other related facilities, and then to airside³ (Secured Areas and flight operations) sections of the airport. This process is reversed for arriving passengers. This objective must be sustained while operating in many dynamic and high-risk operating conditions, such as greatly varying weather conditions and continuous variations in passenger frequency and related demands or needs. Additionally, Airport Operations must provide these services in ways that allow the airport to continuously function as a “system-within-systems” of complex regulatory, security, and National Airspace concerns.

The profession of Airport Operations, along with all areas of aviation management, must be conducted within a framework of strong ethics and regulatory requirements. Many professional aviation organizations and airport authorities publish standards of ethical conduct and methods for instilling ethical values in airport employees. The business of aviation is laden with high risks to many members of the global community. Therefore, all stakeholders in Airport Operations management systems must conduct business at an airport within a shared value of professional ethics.

Managing Airport Operational Systems

Airport Operations Managers frequently refer to their airport and runway systems as the “most expensive piece of pavement in the city.” This adage highlights the importance of the airport as a system of relatively high expense that must support and integrate safely and reliably into the National Airspace System (NAS) and the local community infrastructure. Airport Operations must continuously maintain and inspect a plethora of airport infrastructure all related as a system-of-systems designed to ensure the safety of millions of passengers per year. When a runway is out of operational service at a hub or major airport, the flow of aircraft within the NAS can be affected regionally, nationally, and in some cases internationally. The “domino effect” of delayed traffic throughout the NAS as caused by a single operational slowdown at a single airport demonstrates how most airports must be designed and operated in a way to seamlessly integrate with some of the busiest airspace systems in the world (Sharghi, 2012). Any flight delay can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars to multiple airlines. These concerns of operational costs must balance with the ability of the airport to function safely, within regulatory compliance, and in an ethical manner. All stakeholders affected by airport operational issues must be treated with the highest regard for their safety and also be considered fairly in terms of their concerns and specific needs. Furthermore, the traveling public has a social expectation of the airport to provide adequate and effective resources for emergency management and response should an incident, accident, or hazard occur. This expectation is not unreasonable, given the high intensity of security barriers and related systems that air travel passengers have to contend with in comparison to other modes of travel.

Providing effective and ethical operational services in response to emergency situations is a universal principle in Airport Operations management. At a macro level, these values and processes also extend to the planning of systems that enable the airport to adapt to advances in technology, such as new types of aircraft, ranging from the large “heavy” Airbus 380 to the Cessna Mustang-Very Light Jet. Additionally, new innovations and applications, such as those associated with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs),⁴ are currently creating significant operational and regulatory concerns for airports and the NAS. Concurrently, the United States is also advocating the development of commercial spaceports in conjunction with commercial air service at various airports. Presently there are more than 12 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) designated spaceports, as well as other categories of airport-related facilities that support various types of space vehicle launch and landing operations.⁵

As a strategy for helping ensure compliance and effectiveness of Airport Operations, FAA encourages airport authorities to increase or develop ancillary revenue sources. In addition to revenue earned from aircraft or airline operations, airport authorities seek to stimulate sources of nonflight (known as non-aeronautical)-related revenue as a way to help sustain airport infrastructure and operating requirements necessary to remain in compliance with federal and local requirements, including policies and regulations. For example, many airports now offer services to the public that are similar to shopping mall environments or other similar concentrations of retail and service businesses. The many services of a shopping mall and other passenger or visitor services, including restaurants, health spas, and business centers, must integrate with airport functional areas, such as security-screening operations, cargo acceptance and processing facilities, and aircraft services (e.g., fueling, maintenance and ground handling). While these for-profit or service-fee entities and facilities contribute significantly to the revenue of an airport, they must also be provided operational and emergency response services by the airport authority.

Airport Operations and Commerce

Much like a small town, an airport is a place where multiple types of business and commerce are conducted. Generally, there are two primary operational activities taking place at an airport: aeronautical and nonaeronautical. Aeronautical-related activities include the commercial air carriers, Fixed Base Operators (FBOs), Specialized Aviation Service Operators (SASOs) (flight schools, maintenance shops), and other types of flying-related activities, such as charter flights, skydiving, banner towing, and recreational flying. Airports also commonly have large corporate flight departments, aircraft based and operating through the facility, or aircraft manufacturers; in some cases, airports are colocated with military bases. Non-aeronautical-related activities include concessions, Ground Transportation (parking, commercial and private vehicle pickup and dropoff), vendors who provide supplies and services to the tenants and concessions, and contractors who provide services and construction activities at the airport.

The Aerotropolis: A Major Challenge for Airport Operations

Various metropolitan areas are now developing integrated business and industrial parks that feature an airport as the center node for supporting commerce. This concept is frequently referred to as an “airport city” or aerotropolis.⁶ An aerotropolis is similar to the more traditional geographic designation of a “central business district,” or CBD. In contrast to a CBD, the aerotropolis is developed from land-use strategies and tactics centered on the airport as the foci for commerce (Price & Forrest, 2014). The integrated nature of the aerotropolis with the community and commerce places significant new demands on airport management and operational personnel.

An aerotropolis bonds the airport and related operational concerns more directly to the geography, culture, and sociology of the surrounding community than most traditional airport settings. The prime airport within an aerotropolis is a significant asset to the community in (a) supporting law enforcement activities within and external to the airport, (b) providing responses to emergency or natural disaster situations, and (c) facilitating the effective and efficient flow of passengers, cargo, and other stakeholders throughout the aerotropolis’ region and within the NAS. An aerotropolis creates new concerns related to security, as it is potentially a si...