Essay on Airport Capacity Constraints & Delays: Impact on Airlines & Passengers

Introduction

Currently, as the civil aviation industry is experiencing rapid development, airports have become more crowded due to frequent delays and airport capacity constraints in major airports all over the world (Santos et al., 2017). The situation affects passengers, airlines, and airports seriously. In daily operations, most airlines experience several delays during their flights, and the operations that were already planned become inefficient, leading to farther delays to passengers, and the airlines suffer additional operational costs.

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According to Gelhausen et al. (2013), in the United States alone, owing to the economic expansion of the 1990s, the operations of airlines increased at a higher rate and sometimes the airline's scheduled many flights that several busy airports could not handle, even in the time when the weather conditions are optimal. From 1990 to the year 2006, commercial airlines in the U.S operated several flights, which increased from about 6.6 million as of 1989 to about 8.0 million in late 2006 (Gelhausen et al., 2013). The increase represents 21 percent of flights increased in 17 years. On the other hand, the percentage increase of the airport capacity increase in the same period was only 1 percent, which is very low compared to the 21 percent increase in a number of flights; thus, posing the problem of airport capacity constraint (Gelhausen et al., 2013). With a greater number of flights occurring in congested airports, the major hindrance that affected efficient operation in the aviation industry emerged to be ground congestion. The outcome of the unbalanced increase in airport capacity and the number of flights was severe system congestion that resulted in various airline delays together with flight cancellations, which affected the public traveling by airlines.

The paper focuses on the literature of international airline delays and airport capacity constraints by exploring the causes of airline delays and impacts of both airport capacity constraints and airline delays. The paper then provides some alternative solutions to solve the problem posed by airline delays and airport capacity constraints. The topic under consideration is significant given that the airline disruption management has attracted many types of research in the past and the literature on the airline disruption management has been focused on the integration of resources such as the crew, passengers, and the airlines in the same system to help with the problem of airline delays.

Airport Capacity Constraints

Airport capacity means many things, and the airport system development defines it as the ability of any airport to accommodate service demand. Also, it is mostly referred to as the number of airlines that an airport can handle in a certain time together with regulations and rules like environmental and noise restrictions. It includes the runway capacity, the air controller capacity, and ground handling capacity. It is measured by the number of parking spots, flights, and airlines on a runway. Capacity at most international airports is becoming scarce. In the case that the capacity of airports is insufficient to meet the growing demand, the effect will be on prices that customers pay; the prices increase to a greater extent to clear the market. The bill from the scarcity of the airport's capacity is passed to passengers by raising the average ticket prices.

Runways

Runways are the major airport capacity constraints. The capacity of a runway is the hourly rate at which an aircraft takeoff or land, which can be accommodated by an airport through the use of a single or more runway. The number of runways, the interaction between the runways, and the length of the runway all affect the runway system capacity. The runway capacity is also affected by noise restrictions, the performance of the ATM system, the direction of the wind, and structures or obstacles in close vicinity. The above factors, together with the layout of the runway, affect the departure routes and the approach of flights, which, as a result, limits the overall capacity of a runway. There are several types of runways. Dependent runways are the ones that are restricted because of operations that are taking place in other runways that are close. In contrast, independent runways are those that are parallel to each other and are mostly found in major airports. The space between the parallel runways and the types of operations taking place in each of them determines their limitations. In departure, independent runways are used by aircraft to depart simultaneously from parallel runways. Also, segregated operations in an airport occur when aircraft depart or approach each other simultaneously in opposite directions using parallel runways. The other capacity limitation caused by runways is posed by the use of intersecting runways as it involves the use of strict regulations and rules.

The capacity problem posed by the runway is not a new issue. It is having been illustrated that the problem capacity caused by runways is caused by the minimum runway separation spacing that exists between a landing aircraft. The most air traffic capacity limiting factor has been identified to be a runway system. The type of runways that acts as a major constraint to airport capacity is the non-instrumental runways which employ the use of approach procedures. The runways are sensitive to darkness and bad weather because of poor visibility.

A study by Peterson (2018) showed that runways are the major capacity constraints in several airports all over the world. The study illustrated runways to be the major constraint with respect to its number in the airport, its layout, the minimum spacing that exists between the landing aircraft, wind, and wake cortex. The most protruding constraints concerning runways are the layout, number, and direction of the runway.

Taxiways

The same as the runways, the taxiways are faced with strict procedures and requirements, which are slope, length, the distance to fixed objects, width, and the separation of one taxiway to the centerline of other adjacent taxiways. The most important is the intersection of a taxiway with the runway, and the taxiway radius of curvature depends on the aircraft size that operates on the specific taxiways, as it must enable the aircraft to turn and the outer wheel still inside the regulated distance.

In maximizing the runway systems capacity, the placement of turnoffs in taxiways is essential as they affect the capacity of runways. The layout of a taxiway is significant for optimal use as during the time of congestion in an airport, taxiways are utilized by both taxi and aircraft by holding and sequencing the aircraft. In an airport, the design of the taxiway determines the occupancy time of an aircraft on a runway. What is important is the angle and placement of the taxiways that are utilized to exit a runway (Peterson, 2018). The runway capacity is constraint by a poorly placed taxiways as it forces a landing aircraft to use a low speed in the runway when landing. Another critical factor in the taxiway is its weight-bearing capacity. It should be able to carry the weight of the aircraft, primarily commercial ones that have a lot of luggage. To conclude this constraint, taxiways are considered to be the major airport capacity constraints, and its limitations on capacity mostly appear at points where the taxiways intersect, crosses active runways, or the points where there are exits of high-speed taxiways.

In General, the major airport capacity constraints are the taxiways and runways because a large number of airports have two or even one runway utilized for both takeoff and landing. Both runways and taxiways are connected; hence, there is a need for routing and optimal scheduling of runways and taxiways to avoid congestion and delays. The other contributors to runway limitations are the minimum time for aircraft separation and wake turbulence, which all depends on safety regulations and fleet mix of the aircraft.

Wake Vortex

It is turbulence produced by aircraft in flight. Wake vortex is another constraint to airport capacity, and it occurs when an aircraft is passing through the air, meaning a separation between the aircraft is required. The wake vortex causes a separation between airplane that results in lower capacity in runways and the airspace, which then limits the capacity of an airport. It has a substantial effect on the capacity of an airport because of the spacing requirement caused by wake turbulence, which is required between aircraft.

The capacity of an airport concerning wake vortex is reduced to a larger extent by the poor runway and poor weather conditions. The capacity is reduced as the position if the wake vortex during poor weather is shifted by strong winds, which then affects other aircraft, especially in airports that have close or parallel runways. Aircraft with larger size produce stronger wake turbulence, which translates to a longer safety distance that should be created for the landing aircraft, which reduces the capacity of the airport.

Terminal Facilities

The capacity of an airport is limited by other factors like the capacity of the terminal, the amount of the baggage drops and check-in desks, and the capacity of the passenger's security check together with baggage sorting, which is mostly referred as behind the scene activity. The airport terminal is a zone where the passage of passengers from landside to the airside takes place with the departure lounges on this part being the waiting rooms where passengers stay for some time while waiting to board a flight. There is a need for sized departure lounges to allow movement of passengers, especially during peak season. The terminal should have a sufficient space enough to handle any demand that is present currently and in the future. The sorting pockets used to sort the departing luggage has to be enough together with expanded security check.

Aprons

The Apron is the parking area of an aircraft in an airport during disembarking and unloading/loading of cargo or boarding of passengers. In the Apron, some of the activities performed are refueling, maintenance, and servicing of the aircraft; simultaneously, other vehicles operate at the Apron, which includes the apron buses, baggage trucks, and fuel trucks. The capacity of Apron is affected by some factors that affect the runway system. The Apron can be a constraint to the airport capacity, and its limitation majorly occurs in some airports and at specific times of a day (Gelhausen et al., 2013). The Apron capacity, which acts as airport constraint, is limited by its operational planning, design, and layout of its demand characteristics and configuration. Some airports have aprons that contain a fixed number of stands where the parking positions are fixed, and it only fits aircraft of a specific size, whereas others are flexible, and it can fit aircraft of different sizes. Fixed aprons affect the number of stands as it causes physical limitations making it impossible to park planes of various sizes. Aprons with fixed formation are less flexible, which then limits the capacity further, especially when the fleet mix changes. It is not that easy to change the mix of an apron as it is costly when a plan to change the nix to accommodate different planes is being done.

Holding Bay

The bay area in an airport is another constraint to capacity. Holding bay is the area where an aircraft that is in motion either being towed or taxiing can be held to accommodate takeoff queue or to assist ground movement. Some airports, especially during the peak seasons, experience full occupancy in their gate positions, which forces them to...