Airport City Research Articles

The Extent and Reasons for U.S. Airport City Development

Airport cities – concentrations of employment – may have emerged near the major airports of large metropolitan areas. As the U.S. economy is nearly three times as air-intensive as it was in the 1950s, the “aerotropolis” thesis holds that airport cities are a direct consequence of increased air-intensity. The “urban land” thesis holds that airport cities are artifacts of land use changes brought about by metropolitan growth and employment suburbanization. Analysis using Census small area employment data for the 51 largest U.S. metropolitan regions found airport city employment to be one-third to one-half as large as that in CBDs, depending upon the spatial operationalization used. The size of airport city employment was unrelated to metropolitan aviation-intensity but was negatively related to distance from the CBD. The sectors represented indicate that airport cities are comprised of transportation-providing employment, some transportation-supporting employment, but not the concentration of transportation-using employment central to the aerotropolis thesis.

Land Use Conflict Across the Airport Fence: Competing Urban Policy, Planning and Priority in Australia

Land use planning within and surrounding privatised Australian capital city airports is a fragmented process as a result of: current legislative and policy frameworks; competing stakeholder priorities and interests; and inadequate coordination and disjointed decision-making. Three Australian case studies are examined to detail the context of airport and regional land use planning. Stakeholder Land Use Forums within each case study have served to inform the procedural dynamics and relationships between airport and regional land use decision-making. This article identifies significant themes and stakeholder perspectives regarding on-airport development and broader urban land use policy and planning. First, it outlines the concept of the “airport city” and examines the model of airport and regional “interfaces.” Then, it details the policy context that differentiates on-airport land use planning from planning within the surrounding region. The article then analyses the results of the Land Use Forums identifying key themes within the shared and reciprocal interfaces of governance, environment, economic development and infrastructure. The article concludes by detailing the implications of this research to broader urban planning and highlights the core issues contributing to the fragmentation of airport and regional land use planning policy.

A Short Primer on Aerotropolis and Airport City Planning

The primer suggests a re-orienting of aerotropolis planning from airport-centered to region and economy-wide-centered, from a focus on facilities to a focus on fundamentals, and from a concern with building to a concern for increasing welfare. Accordingly, the primer discusses 1) the role of aviation and the aerotropolis in facilitating trade, 2) the distribution of employment concentration in metropolitan regions, and 3) the design needs of the built environment. Because aviation makes a claim on scarce off-airport land area through noise and safety concerns and because the aviation-enabled employment which is advantaged by proximity to an airport requires only a small minority of the affected space, a search for synergies among uses is recommended.

Employment in Large U.S. Metropolitan Airport Areas

Airport area planning founders on the lack of a basis for realistic projections of future employment. Using a commercial establishment database including detailed data on location, activities (sector), establishment type, and employment for the 62 airports with scheduled passenger service in the 51 metropolitan areas with resident populations of one million or more in 2010, this paper makes inroads towards addressing those needs. The results confirm earlier findings that airport areas contain significant employment but also finds that favorable land price, rather than airport access, is the likely salient location factor for all but direct transportation-providing activities and accommodations. These results will help guide planners in developing airport areas and in forming informed expectations of the impact of airport cities on regional economies.

The Impact of Airports on U.S. Urban Employment Distribution

This paper assesses the influence of airports on the distribution of employment within 51 large U.S. metropolitan areas by placing that influence within the context of three important elements of urban spatial structure: centers, corridors, and clusters plus the “favored quarter.” Tract-level Census Transportation Planning Package data for 2000 are analyzed using spatial regression models for each metropolitan area. The resulting airport-anchored distance decay parameters for each metropolitan area are regressed on a series of factors which could explain variation among regions. Central cities have a varying, but generally strong, effect on the distribution of metropolitan employment, as do highways. Employment subcenters and favored quarters had less certain but generally theoretically consistent impacts. The impact of airports on the distribution of metropolitan employment was weaker and more variable among regions. The impact of airports on spatial structure was negatively correlated with that of central cities, suggesting a trade-off between central and airport cities.

Airport Cities in U.S. Metropolitan Context

Airports have long been a focus of urban planners. Airport cities, one of the three possible means of addressing the need for rapid airport access, are held to have emerged out of the aviation age. Systematic research into their prevalence and nature is lacking. Thus, airport city planning remains an ad hoc process without theoretical or empirical guidelines. Using Census 2000 CTPP data for the 51 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas, the size and composition of airport area employment are placed in the context of three elements of urban form which characterize metropolitan spatial patterns: cones, corridors, and clusters. The areas surrounding major airports support significant aggregations of employment which are, on average, half as large as the corresponding CBDs. Transportation-providing employment is by far the most heavily represented sector. Transportation-supporting employment, especially wholesaling, is also represented. Transportation-using employment, such as producer services, is in nearly as much evidence as it is in other non-CBD urban sub-centers. These results provide a set of grounded expectations for those planning airport area development or re-development.

Mining

Mining

Host city airports: Preparing for the Olympic Games

Host city airports: Preparing for the Olympic Games

Transborder demand leakage and the US–Canadian air passenger market

The US–Canadian air traffic market is one of the largest international markets in the world – estimated at 23million passengers in 2008. The market is currently regulated by an “Open Skies” agreement, which eliminated all restrictions on the frequency of flights, the aircraft flown, and the fares charged on transborder routes. Although there is evidence that consumers have benefited from the Open Skies agreement, there is also evidence that many passengers have chosen to avoid transborder services, and instead fly from airports in US border cities and cross the border by surface transportation. This paper uses a passenger demand model to determine the scope of this “leakage” from transborder routes. In addition, transborder airfares are compared to US domestic airfares to determine whether transborder fares are “excessive”, a potential cause of the leakage. Results show a substantial amount of leakage estimated at over 4.7million passengers for 2008. Furthermore, after controlling for the impact of route-specific variables, such as market concentration, average fares are 28.2% higher in the transborder market. Finally, policy implications and the future of the transborder air passenger market are discussed.

R&D of Equipment for Deicing by Thermal Water-Jet and Mechanical Deicing Method

Determining how to quickly and economically remove the ice on the airport runways, city roads and bridges is becoming a tough problem to keep the traffic flow and safe in the snow and icy weather. In this context, this paper presents a new method that combines thermal deicing method, water-jet cutting technology with mechanical deicing method, based on analyzing the deficiencies of the existing ice removal methods. Then, it introduces the construction of thermal water-jet and mechanical deicing equipment, mainly the design of thermal water-jet device, and presents the experimental results by repeated indoor experiments. The results indicate that the device can perform well in deicing work, and satisfy to the design requirements.

The Airport City Phenomenon: Evidence from Large US Airports

As air transport for leisure trips, business travel and goods shipment increased rapidly over the past several decades, the emergence of airport cities has been hypothesised. Busy commercial airports may be emerging as central transport nodes in large metropolitan areas, much as ports and rail terminals were in the past, anchoring employment servicing passengers, facilitating frequent travellers and providing a spatial focus for unrelated firms. An analysis of small-area employment data for the areas surrounding 25 major US airports and the related central cities reveals the concentration of employment within 2.5 miles of these airports to be substantial—approximately half that within 2.5 miles of the central point of the corresponding CBDs—and growing. The analysis refocuses a question about the nature of spatial differentiation within metropolitan regions supporting multiple employment nodes.

Land Use Planning for Privatized Airports

Problem, research strategy, and findings: The privatization of airports in Australia included airport property development rights, regulated only by federal, not local, land use control. Airports then developed commercial and retail centers outside local community plans, resulting in a history of poor coordination of planning and reflecting strong differences between public and private values in the role of the airport. Private owners embraced the concept of an Airport City, envisioning the airport as a portal of global infrastructure, whereas public planning agencies are struggling with infrastructure coordination and the development of real estate outside of the local planning regulations. Stakeholder workshops were conducted in each of the cases where key stakeholders from airports, regulating agencies, state and local governments participated in identifying key issues impacting the planning in and around airports. This research demonstrates that if modes of infrastructure provision change significantly (such as through privatization of public services), that transformation would best be accompanied by comprehensive changes in planning regimes to accommodate metropolitan and airport interdependencies. Privatization has exacerbated the poor coordination of planning in the past, and a focus on coordination between public and private infrastructure planning is needed to overcome differences in values and interests. Takeaway for practice: Governance styles differ considerably between public agencies and private corporations. Planners should understand the drivers and value differences to better coordinate infrastructure delivery and effective planning. Research support: The Airport Metropolis Research Project under the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects funding scheme (LP0775225).

Airport-city development trend and strategy formulation using integrated analysis — The case of Taiwan

Many airports have shifted from being simple transfer posts to global logistic transportation hubs and, more recently, to multifunctional airport cities. This study conducts an integrated analysis on airport-city development trends and strategy formulation. By using a grounded theory-based research procedure, it analyses and integrates the trends and successful key factors of airport-city development using the forum of focus groups and interviews with experts. Finally, the study conducts a competitive environment analysis to detect the advantages and disadvantages of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport by SWOT analysis, and develops TOWS matrix to propose strategic suggestions. It has not only proposed a rigorous and systematic procedure of qualitative research for airport-city development but, from the opinions of experienced experts and industrial representatives, the outcomes of the study consolidate competitive advantages, key factors and strategies for airport-city development.

Optimal Scheduling Using Metaheuristics for Energy Networks

This paper describes an optimal scheduling technology for determining the operating schedule of an energy network that minimizes CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emission or energy costs over a one-day or several-day period. This technology was implemented in Aichi, Japan, at Expo 2005 and at Central Japan Airport City. In the demonstrative research, the optimal scheduling of various energy sources was computed automatically, and then the results by applying a tabu search and genetic algorithm were assessed comparatively.

Developing tools to support complex infrastructure decision‐making

PurposeThe rapidly changing role of capital city airports has placed demands on surrounding infrastructure. The need for infrastructure management and coordination is increasing as airports and cities grow and share common infrastructure frameworks. The purpose of this paper is to document the changing context in Australia, where the privatisation of airports has stimulated considerable land development with resulting pressures on surrounding infrastructure provision. It aims to describe a tool that is being developed to support decision‐making between various stakeholders in the airport region. The use of planning support systems improves both communication and data transfer between stakeholders and provides a foundation for complex decisions on infrastructure.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses a case study approach and focuses on Brisbane International Airport and Brisbane City Council. The research is primarily descriptive and provides an empirical assessment of the challenges of developing and implementing planning support systems as a tool for governance and decision‐making.FindingsThe research assesses the challenges in implementing a common data platform for stakeholders. Agency data platforms and models, traditional roles in infrastructure planning, and integrating similar data platforms all provide barriers to sharing a common language. The use of a decision support system has to be shared by all stakeholders with a common platform that can be versatile enough to support scenarios and changing conditions. The use of iPads® for scenario modelling provides stakeholders the opportunity to interact, compare scenarios and views, and react with the modellers to explore other options.Originality/valueThe research confirms that planning support systems have to be accessible and interactive by their users. The Airport City concept is a new and evolving focus for airport development and will place continuing pressure on infrastructure servicing. A coordinated and efficient approach to infrastructure decision‐making is critical, and an interactive planning support system that can model infrastructure scenarios provides a sound tool for governance.

Network analysis of China’s aviation system, statistical and spatial structure

Aviation systems are less geographically constrained compared to ground transportation because their routes are not so affected by geographical conditions. For this reason, aviation systems are endowed to some extent with a distinctive network topology and spatial pattern. In this article, the statistical features of China’s aviation system (CAS) are investigated through a complex network approach by examining weekly flight patterns. The correlation study proves the existence of a spatial hierarchical structure within China’s aviation network, which implies a more complex spatial mechanism. Subsequently the spatial structure of CAS is explored based on the flight distances between airport cities. In light of three measurements of node strength, population and GDP, It has been decided that the spatial effect of China’s aviation system should be analyzed separately in term of different distance scales. Only for medium- and long-distance travel, the flight patterns conform to a gravitation law; therefore, the distance dependence function can be generalized as a scaling relationship. In summary, from a complex network angle, this paper provides preliminary but enlightening insights to understanding the unique spatial mechanism of aviation systems.

Airport City models: Copy and Paste? Conditions for success and failure of interregional learning

Airport City models: Copy and Paste? Conditions for success and failure of interregional learning

Seeding growth at airports and airport cities: Insights from the two-sided market literature

Airports are evolving from simple infrastructure providers to complex multiproduct,multiservice enterprises wherein consumption of one product cross-subsidizes the provision of others. Nowhere is this better seen than in the airport cities which are evolving around many mid and large sized airports. Rather than separate portfolio businesses which can smooth or augment airport revenue, these developments raise the prospect that airports are platforms for two-sided markets. Therefore after defining two-sided markets this paper will consider the concept's applicability to airports in a more extensive manner than has previously been the case, and use the theory to understand airport area growth processes. Our main focus will be on examining the business models of selected airport cities for the lessons that can be learned for contemporary airport and regional development strategy.

Managing airport land development under regulatory uncertainty

Airport development is an inherently risky proposition and regulation can add to uncertainty in the business environment. The privatisation of Australian federal airports between 1996 and 2003 mainstreamed airport development into metropolitan non-residential property markets with all the normal commercial risks including adverse community reaction to the new phenomenon of the airport city because of the attendant environmental, economic and traffic impacts involved. The Australian Government's National Aviation Review in 2008–2009 canvassed this dissent, resulting in a raft of statutory and administrative-based recommendations. Against this backdrop, and drawing on interviews with airport representatives and the deliberations of industry forums, this paper explores the attitudes of airport planning and property managers to the revised regulatory regime announced in the Government's White Paper in December 2009. It provides a case study of corporate response to several dimensions of uncertainty accompanying regulatory change in the post-privatisation era.

Reviews

Reviews