AIRPORT PLANNING

General
• Complex process
• Guidelines are available
• Fits to development of entire region
 Main Aspects
• Adequate access
• Sufficient airspace to access air
• Sufficient land
• Sufficient fund (developing nation)
 Improvement of exiting airport
• Sequential steps for recommending new
airport:
– Capacity of existing airport
– Improving the existing capacity
– Traffic forecast
– Planning a new airport
 Step 1 Capacity of Existing Airport
• Adequacy of aprons/servicing facilities
• Adequacy of terminal building
• Capacity of runway/ taxiway during peak hour
Step 2 Improving Existing Capacity
• Construction of new runway/ high speed exit
taxiway
• Improving traffic control devices
• Revising plan of terminal building
 Step 3 Traffic Forecast
• Future volume of traffic (15-20 years)
• New type of aircraft/ technology
• If it is satisfying – no new airport
 Step 4 Planning a new airport
• If above three conditions are not satisfied/go
for new airport
Site Selection
1-Atmospheric and Meteorological
conditions

Fog in Delhi Airport

1-Atmospheric and Meteorological
conditions

Haze in Bangkok Airport

Haze means fine suspended particles/dust

1-Atmospheric and Meteorological
conditions

Smoke due to industries near airport

2-Avialability of Land for expansion

passenger jet flies over houses as it prepares to land at

Heathrow Airport
2-Avialability of Land for expansion

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh has repossessed

its 105 acres of land for expansion
 3-Availability of Utilities

Malta (Europe) International Airport saves €30,000 of the

airport's electricity cost by utilising solar energy.
4-Development of the Surrounding
Area
4-Development of the Surrounding
Area

Suitable zoning regulation should be imposed to control the use of land

adjacent to the airport so that conflicts in future may be avoided
 5-Economy of Construction

Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong on reclaimed land

 6-Ground Accessibility
Road and rail infrastructure
As the new airport is 40km (25 miles) outside the city, a new high-speed rail link
project has been proposed. A special purpose vehicle Bangalore Airport Rail Link
Limited (BARL) is building the project on a build, transfer, operate model. The project
is being funded by the Government of India and Government of Karnataka. It is
expected to be completed by 2014.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation runs eleven bus routes from locations
in the city to connect to the new airport. The airport can be reached through Hebbal
via Bellary Road, through NH-Yelahanka people can also reach BIAL through
Yelahanka via Vidyaranyapura where traffic is less congested.
BMTC has 46 Volvo buses plying to the airport, and the number of buses on each
route ensures a frequency of at least one every 30 minutes. The buses are equipped
with luggage racks, and can carry up to 30 passengers on each trip. Tickets may be
booked online.
7-presence of other airports
Wind Rose Diagram
Wind Rose
 Plotting Wind Rose Diagram
– The plotting of the wind rose diagrams can be
done in the following two ways:
– Type I: showing direction & duration of wind
– Type II: showing direction, duration and intensity of wind
 Type I: Wind Rose Diagram
– Fig. below shows the wind rose diagram of this
type.
 Type I: Wind Rose Diagram
– The radial lines indicate the wind direction and
each circle represents the duration of wind to a
certain scale.
– From the wind rose diagram, the total percentage
of wind blowing in SW is 15.5% and, accordingly,
this point is marked along SW direction.
– Similarly, all other values are plotted and then
joined by the straight lines.
– The best direction of runway is indicated along the
direction of the longest line on the wind rose
diagram.
 Type I: Wind Rose Diagram
– From wind rose diagram, SW – NE is the best
orientation for the runway.
– This type of wind rose does not consider the effect
of the cross wind component.
 Type II: Wind Rose Diagram
Typical Wind Data
Percentage of Time Total % in
Wind
each
direction 6-25 Kmph 25-50 Kmph 50-80 Kmph direction
N 4.60 1.40 0.10 6.10
NNE 3.40 0.75 0.00 4.15
NE 1.80 0.03 0.10 1.93
ENE 2.80 0.02 0.03 2.85
E 2.10 2.20 0.00 4.30
ESE 5.40 4.75 0.00 10.15
SE 6.40 1.40 0.00 7.80
SSE 7.50 0.02 0.00 7.52
S 4.60 1.40 0.10 6.10
SSW 2.40 0.75 0.00 3.15
SW 1.20 0.03 0.10 1.33
WSW 3.60 0.02 0.03 3.65
W 1.80 2.20 0.00 4.00
WNW 6.00 4.75 0.00 10.75
NW 5.90 1.40 0.00 7.30
NNW 6.90 0.02 0.00 6.92
Total 66.40 21.14 0.46 88.00
 Type II: Wind Rose Diagram
– From the wind data, it is observed that the
percentage of time during which the wind velocity
is less than 6 Kmph works out to (100 – 88) = 12.
– This period is called the calm period and it does
not influence the operations of landing and take off
because of low wind velocity.
– Thus, the wind velocities below 6 Kmph have no
effect on the fixing of orientation of a runway.
 Construction Procedure
 The concentric circles with radii corresponding to
6, 25, 50, and 80 kmph to some scale are drawn.
Thus, each circle represents the wind velocity to
some scle.

Concentric Circles
 Construction Procedure
 Starting with centre of the concentric circles, the
16 radial directions are shown on the outer circle.
The mid points of 16 arcs on the outermost
concentric circle are marked and they are given
the cardinal directions of compass like N, NNE,
NE, ENE, E, etc.
 Construction Procedure
 The recorded duration of winds and expressed as
percentage are shown for each cardinal direction.
It may be noted that the cardinal direction is
central to sector.
 A transparent rectangular template or paper strip
is taken. Its length should be slightly greater than
the diameter of the wind rose diagram and its
width should be greater than twice the allowable
cross wind component i.e. (2 × 25 =) 25 kmph.
 Construction Procedure
 The scale for cross wind component should be
the same as that of the concentric circles of the
wind rose diagram.
 Along the centre of the length of this template, a
line is marked corresponding to the direction of
runway.
 The two parallel lines, one on either side of the
centre-line, is drawn at a distance equal to the
allowable cross wind component i.e. 25 Kmph
from the centre line. In other words, the two
parallel lines are 50 Kmph away from each other.
 Construction Procedure
 The wind rose diagram is fixed in position on a
drawing board.
 A hole is drilled in the centre of the template and
it is placed on the wind rose diagram such that its
centre lies over the centre of the wind rose
diagram.
 In this position, the template is fixed by a pin
passing through its centre so that the template
can rotate about this pin as axis.
 Construction Procedure
 The template is rotated and is placed along a
particular direction.
 In this position of the template, the duration of 6-
25, 25-50 and 50-80 Kmph winds are read for the
cardinal directions (N, NNE, NE etc.) lying
between the two extreme parallel line marked on
the template.
 The sum of all these durations is expressed as
the percentage and it gives the total wind
coverage for that direction.
 Construction Procedure
 The template is then rotated and placed in the
next direction.
 The total wind coverage is calculated and the
process is repeated for all the directions.
 The direction which gives the maximum wind
coverage is the suitable direction for the
orientation of the runway.
 Basic Runway Length
 The length of runway based on the following
assumed conditions is known as basic runway
length:


Correction factor
No wind is blowing on the runway

Atmospheric/
 The aircraft is loaded to its full loading capacity
 The airport is situated at sea level
 The runway is leveled i.e. zero effective gradient
 Standard temperature maintained (15o C)

characteristics
 The manner in which an aircraft actually

Operational
performs the landing and take off will decide to
a large extent the length of a runway. Following
three cases will be considered:
 Basic Runway Length
Normal landing
Normal take off
Stopping in emergency
 Basic Runway Length
 Normal landing

Runway Stop
15 m

60% of Landing Distance

Landing Distance
 Basic Runway Length
 Normal landing
 As shown in figure, the aircraft should come to a stop
within 60 per cent of the landing distance assuming
that the pilot makes an approach at the proper speed
and crosses the threshold of the runway at a height of
15 m.
 The beginning of the runway portion to be used as
landing is known as the threshold (point of entry).
 The runway of full strength pavement is provided for
the entire landing distance.
 Basic Runway Length
 LONGITUDINAL SECTION: Normal Take off

Runway
10.5 m

LOD

115% of LOD
Distance to Reach height of 10.5 m

TOD
 Basic Runway Length
 PLAN: Normal Take off

Runway Clearway 150 m

(Min)
 Basic Runway Length
 Normal Take Off
 The take off distance (TOD) must be, for a specific
weight of aircraft, 115 per cent of the actual distance
the aircraft uses to reach a height of 10.5 m, as shown
in figure.
 The distance to reach the height of 10.5 m should
be equal to 115 per cent of the lift-off distance
(LOD)
 The normal take off requires a clearway which is
defined as an area beyond the runway not less than
150m wide, centrally located about the extended
centre line of the runway and under the control of
airport authorities.
 Basic Runway Length
 Normal Take Off
 It is expressed in terms of a clearway plane extending
from the end of the runway with an upward slope not
exceeding 1.25 per cent.
 It is to be seen that the clearway is free from any
obstructions.
 The clearway should not be more than one-half the
difference between 115 per cent of the LOD and
TOD.
 Basic Runway Length
 Stopping in emergency
 For the engine failure case, the TOD is the actual
distance required to reach a height of 10.5 m with no
percentage applied.
 It also incidentally recognizes the infrequency of
occurrence of the engine failure.
 In case of an engine failure, sufficient distance should
be available to stop the airplane rather than continue
the take off.
 The distance is known as the accelerate-stop
distance as shown in figure below:
 Basic Runway Length
 LONGITUDINAL SECTION: Stopping in Emergency
Engine Clear way should not be
Failure more than half this distance

Runway
10.5 m

Stopway
LOD Clearway

Accelerated Stop Distance

TOD
 Basic Runway Length
 PLAN: Stopping in emergency
Stopway

Clearway

Runway 150 m
(Min)
 Basic Runway Length
 Stopping in emergency
 It is required to provide a clearway or a stopway or
both in this case.
 The stopway is defined as a rectangular area at the
end of runway and in the direction of take off.
 It is a paved area in which an aircraft can be
stopped after an interrupted take off due to engine
failure.
 Its width is at least equal to the width of runway
and the thickness of pavement less than that of the
runway, but yet sufficient to take the load of
aircraft without failure.
 Basic Runway Length
 Stopping in emergency
 The clearway should not be more than one-half the
difference between TOD and LOD.
 All the above three cases are considered for the jet
engine air crafts, and for the piston engine
aircrafts, only the first and the third cases are
considered.
 The case giving the longest runway length
is finally recommended.
Stopway & Clearway
RUNWAY
Emergency Stop
 Correction to Basic Runway
Length
 To get actual length of the runway, the following
three corrections are to be applied to the
calculated basic runway length:
1. Correction for elevation
2. Correction for gradient
3. Correction for temperature
 Correction to Basic Runway
Length
 Correction for elevation
 As per the recommendation of ICAO, the basic runway
length should be increased at the rate of 7% per 300 m
rise in elevation of airport above the mean sea level.
 This correction is required because the air density
reduces as the elevation increases which in turn
reduces the lift on the wings of the aircraft.
 Thus, the aircraft will require more ground speed to
rise to the air and for achieving more speed, the longer
length of runway is required.
 Correction to Basic Runway
Length
 Correction for gradient
 As the gradient becomes steep, more consumption of
energy takes place and longer length of the runway will
be required to attain the desired ground speed.
 The ICAO does not give any specific recommendation
for the increase in length due to the effective gradient.
 The maximum difference in elevation between the
highest and lowest points of runway divided by the
total length of runway is known as the effective
gradient.
 Correction to Basic Runway
Length
 Correction for gradient
 According to FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) of
U.S.A., the runway length after being corrected for
elevation and temperature should further be increased
at the rate of 20% for every 1% of the effective
gradient.
 Correction to Basic Runway
Length
 Correction for temperature
 The rise in airport reference temperature has the same
effect as that of the increase in its elevation above
MSL.
 After the basic length is corrected for the elevation of
airport, it is further increased at the rate of 1% for
every 1 0C rise in airport reference temperature
above the standard atmospheric temperature at that
elevation.
 Correction to Basic Runway
Length
 Correction for temperature
 The airport reference temperature is worked out by:

T2  T1
Airport reference temperature = T1 
3

– T1 = Monthly mean of the average daily

temperature for the hottest month of the year
– T2 = monthly mean of the maximum daily
temperature for the same month
 Correction to Basic Runway
Length
 Correction for temperature
 The standard temperature at the airport site can be
determined by reducing the standard MSL temperature
of 15 0C at the rate of 6.5 0C per thousand meter rise
in elevation.
 Note: the ICAO recommends that if the total correction
for elevation plus temperature exceeds 35% of the
basic runway length, the specific studies at the site by
model test should be carried out before finally adopting
the runway length.
Imaginary Surfaces
 Imaginary Surfaces

• The imaginary surfaces are the

established surfaces in relation to the
airport and to each runway above which
no obstruction should project.
 Types of Imaginary Surfaces

• Approach Surface

• Conical Surface

• Horizontal surface

• Take off climb surface

• Transitional surface
Approach Surface
 Conical Surface

• Approach Surface

• Conical Surface

• Horizontal surface

• Take off climb surface

• Transitional surface
 Types of Imaginary Surfaces

• Approach Surface

• Conical Surface

• Horizontal surface

• Take off climb surface

• Transitional surface
 Types of Imaginary Surfaces

• Approach Surface

• Conical Surface

• Horizontal surface

• Take off climb surface

• Transitional surface
 Types of Imaginary Surfaces

• Approach Surface

• Conical Surface

• Horizontal surface

• Take off climb surface

• Transitional surface