Introduction
Planning is a time-consuming and tedious process that is still important in the business world. Almost all of the successful businesses in the world have managed to stay on top of their game by engaging in structured and careful planning processes. Drafting a well though-out plan reduces the likelihood of making mistakes that are potentially costly. The aviation industry, just like any other business entity, thrives through informed decision making that is executed in the form of plans. Planning for the future provides a platform for the people involved to educate themselves on the strengths and weaknesses of each option that they plan to implement. Operating without a plan leads to rushed decisions that do not factor in the consequences of the given choices. Airport planning is important in helping to steer the business within the aviation industry towards the accomplishment of the set goals. The plans can also be used as a communication tool with the employees since it gives them the detailed insight of what the organization intends to do and how they plan to go about it. This enables the managers to rally the support of the employees towards the accomplishment of goals. Planning is also important in helping to mitigate against the potential risks. This report seeks to give insight on the importance of drafting future plans for the airports.
Findings of Planning Inquiry
Airport planning encompasses airspace planning, aviation forecasting, regional and master planning, and capacity planning. The activities involved in coming up with these plans include the collection of boarding and cargo data so as to determine the category of the airport, development of capacity studies, producing a biennial plan for integrated airport systems, and providing some form of guidance on how the whole planning process will be undertaken. The findings of the planning inquiry provide the needed framework for the future developments in the airport. Thus, planners have to consult with the numerous stakeholders including the related community interests, the public, governments and industry (Albanese 33). This process also involves the description of optimal development alternatives regarding projected traffic levels, the adequacy and capacity of the existing facilities, land use, projected number of aircrafts, the increase in passenger and cargo numbers and the relevant policies that may have to be implemented in the future. Air pollution is the greatest challenge that the Heathrow Airport in the UK has to deal with due to the increasing number of deaths related to this.
Planning for the Future
Passenger
A lot is happening in the aviation industry at the moment and this has greatly influenced the forecasting that done with regard to passengers, aircrafts and policies. It is important to note that these are the main issues that have affected the industry from a couple years back. Thus, they may provide indications on what is likely to happen in the future. In the two decades, passenger demand has gone up by 165 percent. Some of the factors that can be linked to this trend include the growth of business model such as the low-cost carriers, reduction in air travel prices, the liberalization of airspace, and an increase in population, trade and GDP. The experiences of the passengers are also considered in the formulation of these plans. Some of the most outstanding features that have influenced their willingness to fly include the service level provided by the carrier, the cost and ease of air travel, and their perceptions of safety (Albanese 39).
Aircraft
The aviation industry is still the most preferred mode of air travel over long distances. However, the passenger numbers can still drop if they are forced to resort to alternative means of travel over short distances. However, if these factors are put into consideration, then the projected number of passengers will continually increase over the years. At the moment, the most established economies are grappling with ways of meeting the increasing demand for personalized services. Premium services are also provided widely by low-cost airlines that have adopted this business model. The technological advances will also result in reduced cost by allowing airlines to differentiate their services based on the quality of experience and the value. Thus, airport should expect a high number of passengers in the future (Albanese 42).
The most important activity for airport forecasting with regard to the aircraft is the type and the level of aviation demand that is generated in the given airport. This is often determined by the aircraft operations either by the landing or the taking-off of aircrafts. The activity singles out the most important aircrafts and the adequacy with which the airport serves similar aircrafts. The passenger numbers is set to increase in the future. Thus, airports should expect the number of airplanes to increase. The demand helps to determine the requirements of the taxiway and the runways. The exact count of the historical and the current aircraft operations within the airport including military, air taxi, local and itinerant operations have to be established and used in planning for the future. When all these factors are put into consideration, it becomes easy for the planners to come up with forecasts and assumptions that are consistent with the structural changes and emerging trends within the aviation industry. This also enables them to predict the future demand accurately. The assumptions and the forecasts can be based on statistical models that incorporate and explain the emerging trends for the different types of aircrafts (Albanese 51).
Policy
It is important for policy issues to be considered when planning for the future of the aviation industry. An aviation market that is competitive and open meets the national interest of the given region by benefiting consumers, trade, and industries. It also provides the needed platform for the international airlines to expand and maintain a vibrant business within the region. The liberalization of the aviation industry has enabled airlines to meet the demands of the market by enabling them to be flexible and efficient. New airlines have also entered into the market and this has significantly reduced the prices by increasing the consumer options. The regulatory system that has often controlled access to international air services is still complex and greatly depends on the bilateral agreements between governments. Thus, forecasting for the future has to be based on these bilateral frameworks. The planners have to engage in these negotiations so as to come up with a policy that balances the needs of the parties involved since each country strives to get the maximum benefit. It takes a lot of time for a favorable outcome to be achieved. Thus, planning has to be done early enough to prevent a looming crisis (Albanese 54).
What Would Airport have to Consider?
Terminals
The terminal area forecast is often based on the demand for aviation services. This demand is centered on the local and national economic conditions within the aviation industry. This implies that terminal forecast have to be developed independent from the ability of the airport’s and air traffic control systems adequately meet the required demand. If the airport had previously functioned under limiting conditions, then the plans have to factor in those constraints since they are entrenched in the historical data. Thus, terminal area forecasting should be based on forecast and historical data for based aircraft, tracon operations, airport operations, and enplanements. The data on the historical and forecast aviation activity to be used should be taken from terminal radar approach control facilities, from towered points, towered airports and other airports. The data collected is then put into a model that allows for the creation of different forecast scenarios. This helps the aviation planners to meet the staffing, budgeting, and planning requirements. It also helps them to identify their points of weakness so that they can plan for improvements (Kerr, Lowson and Smith 14).
Runway
The main focus of airport terminal designs is to assure crews and passengers of their safety. Accident statistics show that the second highest causality rate can be linked directly to runway death from air pollution which is expected to go up to 250 deaths per year in 2030. The accident toll may possibly rise in the future due to the increasing operation pressure brought about by the need to increase capacity and environmental constraints. If the overall air pollution rate is not reduced with the increasing air traffic, then the risk of deaths will inevitably increase to the point where the public may lose confidence in air transport. This will pose a greater threat to the aviation industry. Airports have to consider the risks that the runways pose to travellers and the crew so that they may plan for ways of reducing and protecting against the consequences or doing away with them completely. One of the strategies that have been suggested to help in reducing these deaths by 70 percent, is relocating the airport to the Thames Estuary (Kerr, Lowson and Smith 13).
The capacity of most runways at the moment has significantly reduced due to the high number of planes and the ever increasing sizes of these planes. The runways require large chunks of flat land in a world where land is now very expensive. Very few people would even consider the thought of having a new runway close to their place of residence but everyone would still want to enjoy the handiness of air travel. Thus, airport planning has to consider ways that will enable the runways to adapt to the future of aviation. The cities are rapidly expanding and this makes it almost impossible to build viable runways around so many obstacles that are coming up in the process. The increasing size of planes must also be considered when planning for these runways. Larger planes bring in more money compared to the smaller planes. Thus, it is expected that most airlines will go for more of these big aircrafts (Kerr, Lowson and Smith 17). In situations where the airport has no space, alternative plans have to be formulated to accommodate these planes.
Conclusion
Generally, a lot has been going on in the aviation industry over the years and the airport plans have to keep up with these changes and the anticipated changes. Planning may seem like a tedious and time-consuming. However, people still have to acknowledge that the most successful airports in the world have managed to stay on top of the game courtesy of the great plans that they implement. The findings from the airport inquiry helped to highlight some of the areas that planners can focus on so as to make the plans effective. Numerous stakeholders have to be involved in the process so as to deliberate on the best policies, projected passenger numbers, increase in cargo and the size of the aircrafts. The passengers, aircrafts and policies have to be considered in the development of these plans since they play a great role in influencing the outcome from the plans. When making the future projections, the airports have to consider the capacity and the adequacy of the terminals and the runways in accommodating the modern trends in air travel and aircraft sizes. The pollution effect also has to be considered so as to increase the safety of air travel to the public. The third runway at Heathrow in the UK may eventually be relocated to the Thames Estuary in a bid to reduce the deaths from pollution.
Works Cited
Kerr, Tony, Martin Lowson, and Austin Smith. "Heathrow Personal Rapid Transit System". Engineering & Technology Reference (2015): 13-17. Web.
Albanese, Anthony. Flight Path to the Future. Canberra, A.C.T., Australia: Dept. of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, 2009. Print.
