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Part I Airports and airport systems
3 1 Airports and airport systems: An introduction Outline • Introduction • Airports in the United States—An overview • The national administrative structure of airports • Airport management on an international level • The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems • Commercial service airports • General aviation airports • Reliever airports • The rules that govern airport management • Organizations that influence airport regulatory policies Objectives The objectives of this section are to educate the reader with information to: • Discuss the ownership characteristics of airports in the United States and internationally. • Describe the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) and its application to categorizing public-use airports in the United States. • Describe the governmental administrative organizations in the United States that oversee airports. • Identify federal regulations and advisory circulars that influence airport operations.
4 Airports and airport systems: An introduction Introduction It is often said that managing an airport is like being mayor of a city. Similar to a city, an airport is comprised of a huge variety of facilities, systems, users, workers, rules, and regulations. Also, just as cities thrive on trade and commerce with other cities, airports are successful in part by their ability to successfully be the location where passengers and cargo travel to and from other airports. Furthermore, just as cities find their place as part of its county’s, state’s, and country’s economy, airports, too, must operate successfully as part of the nation’s system of airports. In this chapter, the airport system in the United States will be described in a number of ways. First, the national airport system, as a whole, will be described. Next, the various facilities that make up the airport system will be described. Finally, the various rules and regulations that govern the airport system will be described….