This document discusses various aspects of airport operations and air traffic control. It covers topics such as: - How airspace is divided and types of airspace (controlled vs uncontrolled) - Components of the air traffic control system like radar, flight strips, and navigational aids - Air traffic control procedures at airports including approach, aerodrome, and ground controllers - Runway configurations and factors that influence runway capacity like weather, traffic mix, and separations - Procedures to optimize runway usage and reduce occupancy times through stacks, SIDs, STARs, and RETs.

1. Airport Operations
Nov 2009

2. Air Traffic Control
 Airspace divided into F.I.R’s – Flight Information Regions
– In UK there are 2 FIRs – London and Scottish
 Two types of airspace
Controlled Uncontrolled
 Separated by Internally agreed standards  Fly wherever and whenever
 Aircraft allocated different heights and/or headings  Subject to simple set of flight rules
 If at same height, minimum horizontal distance must  No legal requirements to contact ATC
be adhered to (distance depends on altitude)
 Provided to protect commercial airlines  Pilot determines whether to fly VFR (visual flight rules) or
IFR (instrument flight rules)
 Aircraft must be equipt to certain standards and pilot
must have necessary qualifications
 A clearance must be obtained by pilot prior to enter
 All ATC instructions must be adhered to except in
emergencies

3. Upper air routes
• Above airways
• FL’s 250-460
• Airspace above FL245 =
Air Traffic Control
class B, special rules
airspace
• aircraft above FL245
subject to full mandatory Airways
ATC service
• Motorway corridors of airspace
TCA – Terminal Control • Connect TCA’s and link airways
Area Upper Air Routes from other countries
• Established at confluence • Normally 10 miles wide
of airways
•Separation differencesRVSM is applied TCA
Above FL290 due to slower speeds in
• Within vicinity of one or CTA – Control Area
Reduced Vertical Separation Minima
more major aerodromes, • Controlled airspace
e.g. London TCA deals with
aircraft arriving and
• aircraft allowed to be separated by established around an airport,
from specific altitude to
departing from 1000ft specified limit
LHR,LGW,STN,LTN,LCY
ATZ - Aerodrome Traffic Zone • Provides protection for
• aircraft must have high degree of climbing & descending aircraft
CTR – Control Zone • Airspace established around an aerodrome for
accuracy of aerodrome traffic, i.e. landing, take-off and in
protection with altimeter and comply with • Gives protection to aircraft
• Controlled airspace around
an airport extending upwards strict criteria
circuit using ILS on approach to
airport
from airport surface to specific Rules:
upper limit • Provides safe airspace for
• Aircraft shall not take-off/land within ATZ without ATC
• It protects aircraft on take- aircraft in hold
permission
off, landing & ensures all
• Pilot must maintain R/T watch whilst in ATZ
aircraft in vicinity of airport are
provided with a safe ATC •Pilot must report height & position on entering ATZ &
service. immediately after leaving

4. Air Traffic Control
Primary Radar
 Can show high terrain/weather & flocks of birds
 Shows aircraft within its coverage
 Show basic info about aircraft position from radar
Secondary Radar
 All aircraft in controlled airspace must have a transponder
 Before aircraft departs it is allocated a four-digit code
 Before aircraft becomes airborne ground based radar interrogates transponder, code is recognised &
radar displays aircraft height & call sign next to aircraft position
Flight Progress Strips
 Electronic or manual, display departing & arriving aircraft details such as;
– Estimated departure time
– Requested flight level
– Call sign
– Aircraft type
– Requested start time
– Actual departure time
– Estimated speed
– Routing & destination
– Clearance notes

5. Air Traffic Control
Navigational Aids
VOR DME NDB ILS
VHF Omni-directional Directional Measuring Non-directional Instrument landing
Range Equipment Beacon System
•Most accurate • Some VOR’s have associated • Less accurate than VOR • Ground based radio guidance
DME’s which show pilot how far system
•Emits radial signal which • range is about 25miles
from VOR aircraft is
aircraft can fly along • Transmits 2 directional radio
• emits signal which pilot beams, localiser and glide path
•360 radials which fly towards navigates towards
and away from • Glide path, situated at side of
runway, transmits signals which
•Range of 125nm
define decent path, usually 3°
•Each radial represents 1° from
• Enables aircraft to arrive at
0-360°
airport threshold
• Localiser is situated at each
end of runway
• Transmits 25miles along
approach path
• Defines runway centreline

6. Air Traffic Control
ATC at airports
Approach Controller
Responsible for:
• aircraft wishing to land or transit the aerodrome control zone
• aircraft holding in stack
• ensuring correct landing intervals between aircraft on final approach
• issuing instructions to enable the aircraft to intercept the ILS
When aircraft are established on final approach (6-12 miles from runway) aircraft is transferred to
aerodrome controller
Aerodrome Controller Ground Movement Controller
Responsible for: Responsible for:
• issuing permission to land • movement of all vehicles & aircraft on airport
• issuing permission to enter runway • at night or during low visibility GMC is responsible for
• issuing permission to take-off controlling ground lighting panel
• issuing permission to “go around” • guides aircraft to and from stand
Once aircraft has landed safely and vacated

7. Air Traffic Control
Runways
Always laid near to prevailing wind as possible (usually between South West/West in UK)
Aircraft wish to land and take-off into wind
because;
6. This minimises cross-winds that the aircraft are subjected to (aircraft are designed to with stand
smaller crosswinds than headwind or tailwinds)
7. This allows aircraft to maintain desired airspeed of 120knots to enable it to fly, i.e. if aircraft lands or
takes off into a 20knots wind its ground speed will be 100knots which for landing aircraft is better for
tyres & breaking and for departing aircraft means it requires less runway
Runways are built from either concrete or layers of asphalt.
Dimensions
 Runways vary in width and length, however a main instrument runway at an airport will be between
45-60m wide and 1800m in length.
 Runways wishing to allow A380 operations have to be a minimum of 60m wide, with strengthened
hard shoulders
Each runway is marked by two numbers indicating the magnetic heading of the runway direction taken to
the nearest 10°, e.g. magnetic heading 238° would be designated as runway heading of 24 and a
magnetic heading of 058° would be designated as runway heading of 06
Due to the earth’s tilt, every 10 years runways will require recalibration and designation may alter.

8. Air Traffic Control
Holds
 Holds or stacks are provided at busy airport to cope with congestion
 Aircraft are entered into a holding pattern until there is a space for them at the airport
 Aircraft enters spiral pattern, each level is separated by 1000ft and once the aircraft
has completed a full revolution it descends to next level, until it reaches the bottom
level
 Most stacks are located above a beacon
 LHR has four stacks, 2 south, 2 north. The direction from which aircraft approach
airfield normally dictates which stack it enters, although a peak times aircraft can be
cross-fed to other stacks.
 Min level of stack is usually 7000ft
SIDs
Standard Instrument Departure’s
 Design to reduce amount of R/T conversation required between ATC and aircraft in
busy airspace
 Aircraft are told of their SID prior to departure, allocated depending on runway and
destination
 Each route has set pattern of heights and routes
STARs
Standard Arrival routes
 Similar to SIDs only for arriving aircraft

9. Air Traffic Control
LHR

10. Air Traffic Control
Runway Capacity
Weather conditions Runway Configuration
ATC procedures
Airport Layout
Factors affecting
Vortex wake runway capacity
Traffic mix
Runway occupancy
Separation minima
time

11. Air Traffic Control
“Runways are one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world,
aircraft delays equals extra costs in wasted fuel burn, extra maintenance and
loss of utilisation of aircraft and crew”
Runway Service Rate
 Maximum average throughput for a given set of conditions, such as weather or aircraft mix.
It is average number of movements per hour which can be handled on a runway assuming
that there are always aircraft waiting to use it
Runway Capacity
 The number of aircraft movements that may be scheduled to use a runway such that their
average delay during the airport’s busy period does not exceed a specific value

12. Air Traffic Control
Runway Occupancy
The time interval required for aircraft to cross threshold and clear runway. Depends on type of aircraft and
location of exits.
Extended runway occupancy time will reduce capacity
e.g. Delays to take-off clearance of 10 secs are not uncommon, if 20 aircraft linger for 10 sec each = 200sec =
3m20sec
Hourly runway rate = 60 aircraft per hour = 3m20 x 3 = 10mins lost due to lingering on runway
AT LHR an aircraft lands or takes off every 90 sec = 10mins/90sec = 6.6 movements lost per hour!!!
Procedures introduced to limit runway occupancy time include
 Pilots should ensure they are able to taxi to correct position & line-up on runway as soon as proceeding
aircraft has commenced take-off roll
 Cockpit checks should be completed prior to line-up, runway checks should be kept to a minimum
 Pilots should commence take-off roll immediately once take-off clearance is issued
For departing aircraft For arriving aircraft
• Suitable number of holding areas required near • Rapid exit taxiways (RETs) are key
runway • Location of RET should be chosen to match
•Holding area’s should be big enough to allow fleet mix, heavy or light aircraft etc
aircraft to overtake so optimal sequence can be
achieved
• Optimal departure sequence sought

13. Runway Occupancy
Air Traffic Control
 RETs
– ICAO standard design for RETs specifies 30° at 30knots.
30°
– At LHR the close proximity of outer taxiways to runways doesn’t allow enough stopping distance for aircraft using RETs at
30knots & so are designed to suit airport and aircraft requirements
 Wake Vortex
Departure sequence
– successive departures are separated according to their relative speed, the point at which their departure track diverge
and the subsequent angle between diverging tracks, e.g. For LHR a speed limit of 250knots applies to all aircraft below
FL100. Aircraft following the same initial routes from LHR require 2min separation. However due to proximity of some
departure routes separation is > 3mins
– The departure controller’s objective is to reorder aircraft at holding point so as to minimise departure intervals, ideally 1
min, by choosing the best departure sequence
– At LHR aircraft are also subject to “Approved Departure Times” (ADTs) & “Min Departure Intervals” (IDTs) assigned by
flow management at Eurocontrol.
SIDs
– Standard Instrument Departure routes at some airports also known as NPRs (Noise Preferential Routes)
– Find these routes at airports near densely populated areas
– Aim is to minimise noise that communities are subjected to
– Ideally an NPR should overfly rural areas
– Many NPRs restrict aircraft to a set height, i.e. limit aircraft at lower levels.

14. Air Traffic Control
Runway Capacity
 Ground movement congestion
– Location of terminal to runway key to determine runway capacity, e.g. Terminal 4 at LHR means aircraft landing on
north runway have to taxi across central area and across the southern runway to get to T4.
– Runway crossings reduce the available time for landings and take-offs
– E.g. of runway crossing is Manchester airport, two staggered runways, means aircraft landing on runway furthest
away must cross other runway to get to terminal
– Some runways don’t have enough or any RETs, e.g. LCY and Luton, require aircraft to backtrack – significantly
increases runway occupancy
London Luton
London City

15. Air Traffic Control
Runway Capacity
 Traffic Mix
– Airports ideally want balance in demand for arriving and departing aircraft thru day
– Reality though traffic demand peaks, i.e. Early morning large demand from Far East arrivals into UK,
STN has large no. of departures between 6am-8am (90% traffic departing)
– This imbalance makes it hard to maximise runway usage
 Runway Mode
– 3 types of runway modes
1. Segregated Mode – each runway has one mode only, i.e. LHR, one runway used for landing,
one for take-off
2. Mixed Mode – each runway used for both landing & take-off, e.g. Airports with one runway
only, LGW, STN
3. Dependent runways – runway’s that are two closely spaced can operate different modes on
each, but not at the same time, i.e. MAN
 Weather
– Runway capacity is based on “average” weather conditions, i.e. visibility is >3km & cloud base is
above 700ft
– In poorer weather & longer hours of darkness average separations between aircraft are increased
– Airport equipment and ground based aids also determine what category an airport is, Cat 1,2,3 and
therefore dictates what low visibility operations can be carried out.

16. Air Traffic Control
LHR Mixed Mode consultation
LHR – 2 runways LGW – 1 runways
One used for take-off Used for landing and taking off
One for landing
Current average hourly Current average hourly
movements = 84 movements = 54
In theory making LHR mix mode operations similar to LGW should give LHR double
the hourly movements LGW achieves from one runway, shouldn’t it??
i.e. 54 x 2 = 108
WRONG – under mix mode plans average hourly movement at LHR will increase
from 84 to 96 (increase of 12, but 12 short of 108 target)

17. Air Traffic Control
LHR mixed mode
 Where are the missing aircraft?
– Due to spacing needed between aircraft for wake vortex, the traffic mix and the sequencing LHR faces
daily capacity is limited
– E.g. 7pm-9pm most aircraft departing LHR head towards Middle East/Asia, so request similar routes
and are larger aircraft that need 2mins separations
 Forecasting capacity
– In order to evaluate what average movements could be achieve by operating mixed mode, BAA used
simulation techniques, based on current flight schedule and forecasted growth in different aircraft types,
to forecast the mixed mode capacity
– Due to the horizontal distance between LHR’s two parallel runways the ATC regulations restrict full
mixed mode, instead requesting the aircraft are staggered

18. Air Traffic Control
LHR Mixed mode
 Balanced runway usage
– In the consultation for mixed mode, LHR also wanted to demonstrate a balanced use of the
runways, so as not to subject any one area under the flight path to the airport with constant noise
– BAA supplied the forecasted % use of each departure route, this was then complied in table 1
Table 1. Average number of flights per day that use each route
Total Daily Departures
Total % of runway usage
DVR MAY MID SAM CPT TOTAL
09R 57.9 0.3 141.3 35.5 45.9 280.9 43%
DVR BPK BUZ1 BUZ2 CPT TOTAL
09L 57.9 155.1 56.9 56.9 45.9 372.7 57%
TOTAL 653.6
– Imbalance seen with first forecast – 43%/57%
– In order to create a more balanced usage total no. of flights on each route was kept same, but ratio
on each runway was altered

19. Air Traffic Control
Table 2. Average number of flights per day that use each route - balanced view
Total Daily Departures
DVR MAY MID SAM CPT TOTAL Total % of runway usage
09R 103.9 0.3 141.3 35.5 45.9 326.9 50%
DVR BPK BUZ1 BUZ2 CPT TOTAL
09L 11.9 155.1 56.9 56.9 45.9 326.7 50%
TOTAL 653.6
– The same process was repeated for runway 27R and 27L
– In order to achieve an overall balance one route (27L WOB) was deemed not
required, removing the need for this route reduced the number of people that
would have been affected by aircraft noise.

20. Airfield Operations
Airport Lighting
Calvert System – centre line and 5
cross bars, for day and night use on
Simple system with Centre ILS equipped runways.
line and cross bar – used Calvert System starts 900m prior to
at visual aerodrome at runway threshold
night
This system is installed at Cat II and III
certified aerodromes

21. Airfield Operations
Runway aids
 PAPI – Precision Approach
Path Indicator
– Comprises of single row of 4 light
units
– Normally installed on left side of
runway as seen from approach
– STOL (Short Take Off and Landing
airports) normally situate PAPI on
right & set steeper than standard 3°

22. Runway Lighting
Airfield Operations
 All runways licensed for night use have Edge, Threshold and End lighting.
 Centreline and Touchdown Zone lighting is provided as guidance in low visibility operations
Runway Edge Lighting
– Located along edges of area declared for use as the runway
– Runway edge lighting is white
Runway Threshold and Runway End lighting
– Runway Threshold lighting is green
– Indicates start of available landing distance
– Runway End lights are Red
– They mark the extremity of the runway
– Pilots should not land before the green lights or taxi after the red lights
Rapid Exit Taxiway Indicator Lights (RETILs)
– Provide pilot with distance to go information to the nearest rapid exit taxiway
– They consist of six yellow light adjacent to runway centreline
Taxiway lighting
– At aerodromes equipped for low visibility taxiways are provided with green centreline lighting
– If aerodrome is not equipped for low visibility taxiway will have blue edge lights only
Runway Guard Lights
– These are pairs of alternately flashing yellow lights, either side of the taxiway to provide warning of
the close proximity of runway
– Often referred to as “Wig Wags”

23. Airfield Operations
• Runway Strip
• is the cleared, grassy area around the paved runway. It is kept free from any obstacles that might
impede flight or ground roll of aircraft, although the grass is not always necessarily in good condition.
The grass is often marked with white cones or gables.
• Runway
• is the entire paved surface, which typically features threshold markings, numbers, centerlines, and
overrun areas at both ends.
• Stopways
• are often constructed just before the start of a runway where jet blast produced by large planes during
the takeoff roll could otherwise erode the ground and eventually damage the runway.
• Overrun areas
• are also constructed at the end of runways as emergency space to slowly stop planes that overrun
the runway on landing(RESA), or to slowly stop a plane on an aborted take-off.
• Blast pads
• are often not as strong as the main paved surface of the runway and are marked with yellow
chevrons. Planes are not allowed to taxi, take-off or land on blast pads, except in an emergency.

24. Airfield Operations
There are three types of runways:
There are three types of runways:
 Visual Runways
– are used at small airstrips
– are usually just a strip of grass, gravel, asphalt or concrete.
– Although there are usually no markings on a visual runway they may have threshold markings,
designators, and centerlines.
– Additionally, they do not provide an instrument-based landing procedure; pilots must be able to see the
runway to use it.
 Non-precision instrument runways
– are often used at small-medium size airports.
– These runways, depending on the surface, may be marked with threshold markings, designators,
centerlines
 Precision instrument runways
– which are found at medium and large size airports,
– consist of a blast pad/stopway (optional, for airports handling jets), threshold, designator, centerline,
aiming point and 3,000 ft (914 m) touchdown zone marks.
– Precision runways provide both horizontal and vertical guidance for instrument approaches.
– Precision runways have several categories, known as Cat I, II, IIIA,IIIB, IIIC
Cat I An instrument runway served by instrument landing system (ILS) & visual aids, intended for use in operations with a decision height of
200ft and an RVR of 2600ft
Cat II As above with decision height of 100ft and RVR of 1200ft
Cat IIIA RVR of 700ft & 0 decision height (using visual aids during final phase of landing)
Cat IIIB RVR of 150ft & 0 decision height (using visual aids for taxiing)
Cat IIIC Ops without reliance of visual aids for landing & take-off – all instruments and guidance given to navigate

25. Airfield Operations
 In order to comply with regulations set for airfield lighting and marking,
regular inspections of the airfield are carried out by Airfield Operations.
Inspections include:
Runway Inspections
– Inspecting lights all working and all covers present
– Inspecting for foreign object debris – if found needs reporting & identifying, so if its from aircraft,
airlines can be advised
– Runway Surface – break up of surface, impact strength and create FOD hazard
– Determine Runway condition – Split into 3 sections, each section is assessed for condition,
either dry, damp or wet. Often hear reported to ATC as “runway is dry, dry, dry”, one for each
section. Grip tests are also carried out regularly, especially in winter, ice and snow
 Airfield inspections
– Similar to runway inspections
– FOD, check signage, lighting, condition of taxiway
 Bird Control
– Disperse bird nesting or resting within airfield boundary or that pose risk to aircraft
 Marshalling
– If stand entry guidance system isn’t available Airfield Ops marshal aircraft onto stand

26. Airfield Operations
Marshalling

27. Airfield Operations
 Bird Control
What attracts bird
– Food – FOD and food waste attract birds. Keeping aerodrome clean of FOD prevents engine
ingestion and bird attraction. Bins should be kept well sealed, not overflowing and rubbish shouldn’t
be left out in open.
– Open terrain – Birds are attracted to the openness of airport as it provides them with an unobstructed
view and open space, providing could vantage point to spot predators. Therefore grass must be
maintain to an appropriate height, not kept too short.
– Water – open standing water attracts certain species. Since most airport have balancing reservoirs on
site, precautions must be taken to discourage birds from gathering. Ideally all water area should be
covered with netting

28. Airfield Operations
 Aerodrome Safeguarding
Surrounding aerodromes any constructions requiring planning permission should be assess for following hazards
and permission granted with conditions
• Bird strike Hazard – water features, landscaping, landfill and wetlands in area surrounding airports
should be minimised to reduce attraction of birds to the area
• Lighting – street lights, stadium lights etc should only be allowed if proved not to dazzle approaching pilots or
ATC
• Cranes – within 6km of aerodrome all cranes require permission from airport operators to be allowed to be
erected. The height of the crane should not exceed 10m or go above the surrounding height of trees. Cranes can
effect the radar and in certain cases may need Civil Aviation Approval to operate.
• Wind Turbines – as well as providing an obvious physical obstruction they also distort radar performance
• Road and Railways – could provide obstructions due to overhead lines or street lights and must get
aerodrome approval first.
LCY Airport
London City Airport was designed as a Short Take-Off and Landing airport (STOLport) and is licensed
accordingly to unique criteria, including obstacle limitations e.g. Canary Wharf
Aircraft arriving at LCY descend on a glide path of 5°, originally 7° until the runway extension.
Aircraft departing LCY are limited to 3000ft until outside TCA due to flight arrival routes into LHR and due to the
positioning of Canary Wharf aircraft can only turn right from the westerly runway, limiting the airport’s capacity.
Until recently the types of aircraft certified to use the airport was limited, however Embraer business Jets and
new small airbus jet have recently been certified to use the airport.

29. Airfield Operations
LCY Airport

30. Airfield Operations
Aircraft Stands
• Stands are designed according to the forecasting
number of different aircraft types, for instance
airports with more long haul flights will tend to
provide more stands capable of accommodating
A380’s and B747’s
• Some airports opt for flexibility with stand layout
and chose to implement Multi-Aircraft Ramping
Stands – MARS. These types of stands offer a
main centreline, a right and a left centreline, often
referred to as 21M, 21R, 21L. The airport can
either chose to park one large aircraft on the
middle centreline, or two smaller aircraft on the left
and the right at the same time.
• Most stands provide the pilot with a Stand Entry
Guidance System (SEG) – the two main types of
systems used are AGNIS (Azimuth Guidance for
Nose-In Stands) and PAPA (Parallax Aircraft
Parking Aid)

31. Airfield Operations
Aircraft Stands
PAPA
– Positioned to right side of stand centreline
– Consists of a blackboard marked with white
vertical lines bearing aircraft type labels and
small slot
– Vertical florescent tube mounted behind
markers, which aligns with the markers as the
selected aircraft type moves into position
– Indicates to pilot when the stopping point has
been reached for that aircraft type
 AGNIS
– is centreline guidance system and is used in
conjunction with PAPA board.
– consists of 2 closely separated vertical light
bars, one red one green
– red light means pilot needs to steer away from
red towards green light
– two green lights means correct alignment

32. Airport Operations
Environmental Issues
 Aircraft Noise
Noise is measured in Decibels (dB). A human ear can hear sounds in the range of 0-120dB.
Table 1 shows the different sound levels produced by different objects.
In order to collect and measure aircraft noise, noise monitors are placed under aircraft flight
paths and record the level of noise each aircraft makes.

33. Airport Operations

34. Airport Operations
Noise Contours
– Once the data on aircraft noise has been collected by the noise monitors, noise contour maps are
produced. These are lines on a map defining the areas around an airport that will be subjected to
specific levels of noise.

35. Airport Operations
LHR Mixed Mode consultation
 As part of the UK government consultation to approve LHR request for mixed mode runway operations,
noise contour graphs had to be produce to determine the population that would be effected by aircraft noise
from the new proposed routes.
 In order to calculate the total population likely to be effected by aircraft noise from these new routes, a
program called ARC-VIEW was used.
 This creates a noise contour map showing the areas that will be affected by noise. It uses historical data
collected from noise monitors to plot noise limits.
 The latest population census data is then added to the map, using the above program and an output file is
created that details the number of people that will be effected by each noise banding, table one shows the
current population affected and table two shows the new potential population likely to be affected.
C o nto u r Are a (km 2 ) P o p (000s ) Hs ehlds (000 C o nto u Are a P op Hs ehlds % % ch ange
s) r (km 2 ) (000s ch a in P o p
> 57 1 07.6 220.6 93.3 ) (000s ) nge
> 57 1 08.9 232.4 98.1 + 1 Are a
in .2 + 5.3
> 60 60.4 1 02.1 41.4 > 60 62.6 1 1 3.4 46.3 + 3.6 + 1 1 .1
> 63 36.9 50.5 20.0 > 63 37.3 52.4 20.9 + 1 .1 + 3.8
> 66 21 .9 1 9.9 7.4 > 66 21 .4 1 9.4 7.2 -2.3 -2.5
> 69 1 0.9 6.1 2.2 >69 10.9 6.9 2.2 0.0 +13.1
> 72 5.6 2.1 0.7 > 72 5.7 2.1 0.7 + 1 .8 0.0
 From these figures it can be seen that around 13% more people would be affected by aircraft noise at a
range of 69 decibels, which is around 800more people.
 The above tables reflect the number of people that would be affected if LHR was to increase its total
movements a year from 465,000 to 515,000. The process was also repeated for annual movements of
550,000.

36. Airport Operations
Noise control procedures adopted at airports include:
 Quieter Aircraft
– Some airports restrict types of aircraft able to use airports or limit noisier aircraft to day time operations
– This has led some airport to introduce night curfews (e.g. LHR, Zurich and Sydney)
– Some airports restrict movements altogether, others allow a limited number of movements (i.e. freight
carriers) but these operations must be carried out with quieter aircraft
– LHR operates a quota system, each airline wishing to operate at the airport is given quota of total
nightly movements each season. Louder aircraft use up more points from the quota than quieter ones
and certain aircraft types can not operate at all.
 Noise preferential runways
– E.g. Amsterdam and LAX
– Use normally unfavoured cross field runways or runways over sea for heavier aircraft.
– At 3pm every day LHR changes the runways used for landing and taking-off to alleviate communities
under flight path of aircraft noise.
 Noise abatement procedures
– Use of SIDs or NPR (noise preferential routes) are used by many airports to limit communities exposed
to aircraft noise.
– Arriving aircraft have to comply with CDA (continuous descent approach) procedures in order to reduce
noise.

37. Airport Operations
CDA case study at Stansted Airport
Background
 During late 90’s UK government identified steps to reduce aircraft noise on arrival, this saw the introduction of CDA.
 Arriving aircraft at all major UK airport are expected to follow, where possible, a continuous descent from 6000ft to establish
on the glide path for that airport
 Studies have proved that a level segment of flight at 2000ft likely to generate a noise of 8dB greater than if level segment
was flown at 5000ft
 In addition to a noise benefit, CDA also reduces fuel burn and reduces emissions.
CDA DEFINITION
An arrival aircraft is classified as a CDA if it contains, at or below an altitude of 6000ft,
 No level flight; or
 One phase of level flight not longer than 2.5nm

38. Airport Operations
CDA case study at Stansted Airport
In order to determine CDA rate at a given airport the NTK system is used (Noise and Track keeping
system)
NTK System
 Every flight that departs from LHR, LGW and STN is tracked and recorded in the NTK system
 For aircraft arriving at Stansted the system tracks the height & position of every aircraft below 1000ft & 40nm
away
 Flight data relating to each flight is stored in the system, this includes;
– Flight No.
– Call sign
– Aircraft registration
– Aircraft type

39. Airport Operations
CDA case study at Stansted Airport
The graph below shows the CDA rate at STN
I have worked on two projects relating to the noise and track keeping systems at STN and LCY airports to
determine what factors effect an aircrafts ability to stay on track. Some things that can be a factor include:
Weather  ATC traffic avoidance Aircraft Performance Aircraft speed Pilot experience
Many airport fine airline for persistent bad tracking, so long as it can be proved that the airline was
negligent.

40. Airport Operations
Aircraft arriving or departing
Landside vehicles Airport Emissions
– private cars etc are produced from Taxiing/idle aircraft
Airside servicing vehicles
Measures adopted at airports to improve air quality
 Air Quality measuring – similar to noise measuring
 Review of airport ops
– Introduction of F.E.G.P (reduces need for APUs)
– Where possible tow aircraft between gates and maintenance areas
– Improve airfield design – reduce taxiing distances
– Starter pads close to runway
– Alternative fuelled airside vehicles
– Airside vehicle pooling scheme
 Reducing ATC delays – increasing runway capacity reduces airport delays which reduces engine idle
time
 Emissions based landing fees – Zurich airport imposes surcharges to encourage use of “cleaner”
engines

41. Terminal Operations
5 basic configurations for passenger terminals
 Finger piers
 Satellites, with or without finger piers
 Midfield, usually linear
 Linear, with only one side devoted to aircraft
 Transporters
Finger piers – e.g. LHR, San Fran, Frankfurt Main
Advantage
 Provide central check-in area and retail area, likely to > revenue as all pax must walk thru it to get to gates.
Disadvantage
 Long walking distance from check-in to gate have led to the introduction of moving walkways – costly to
airport
Satellites – e.g. NRT T1 & T2, Paris T1
Advantage
 If connections from main terminal to satellites are underground, this allows aircraft free movement on
airfield, saving time and money for airlines
Disadvantages
 Long distances from central area to satellites, means provision of people movers. Underground
connections are move extensive to build and with many satellites the airport has to duplicate facilities such
as retail, increasing costs of building

42. Terminal Operations
Midfield Piers – e.g. T5 LHR, London Stansted
Advantage
 Provides much more room for gates, some piers can have up to 50 gates on one side.
Disadvantage
 Clear solutions to transporting passengers from main building to midfield piers need to be
develop. These types of terminals don’t suit transfer passenger well
Linear – e.g. Munich
Advantage
 Original concept was to minimise distance from landside to airside, by limiting the width of
the main building and reducing walking distances compared to the Finger pier layout
Disadvantages
 Design has proved inefficient, unproductive and impractical to have passengers flow
directly from landside to airside without on central area for security.
Transporters (or remote stands) e.g. Zurich, Berlin
Advantage
 Avoid long walking distance for passenger by coaching passenger to and from aircraft –
some airport provide small gates areas remotely
Disadvantage
 Although they limit the cost of construction to the airport there are often expensive and
time costly to airlines, several coaches are needed for each aircraft and often leaves
passengers waiting.
LGW pier 6 use to be a remote area before the airport agreed to build a better gate room area and connect it
to