Airport Expansion Research Articles

Financial closure of Bengaluru International Airport Limited

Subject area Infrastructure finance. Study level/applicability II MBA/Executive MBA (Project Finance, Infrastructure Finance). Case overview It is generally believed that the economy of India is on the threshold of achieving significant growth in the coming years. The availability of adequate infrastructure facility will play a key role in realizing this growth potential. To accelerate the process of creating infrastructure capacity, the Government of India has opened up many infrastructure sectors for private sector investment. Creation of international standard airport facilities is an important component of such new infrastructure creation. This case study presents the initial development and financing closure of Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the first major private sector airport in India. In retrospect, it is generally felt that BIAL was an important milestone in the privatization of airports in India. The blueprint for the greenfield PPP airport in Hyderabad was closely modelled on the BIAL project. The experience gained in the development of BIAL also played a major role in subsequent brownfield PPP airport expansion projects in Mumbai and Delhi. Expected learning outcomes The goal of this case study is to illustrate the complexities that exist in the process of infrastructure development and financing. This following are the expected learning outcomes: The importance of using an appropriate project structure. The prevalence of early returns to project sponsors as compared to lenders. The process of achieving financial closure. Analyzing project risks and returns. Supplementary materials Teaching notes.

Calculation Method of Intumescent Coatings of Fire Protection for Concrete-Filled Hollow Structural Steel Columns

The use of hollow structural steel (HSS) columns filled with concrete has become widespread in the past few decades. The residual strength of a composite column may used to assess the potential damage caused by fire and help to establish an approch to calculate the strctural fire protection. Sum up BS standard, AISC standard and some research about cementiteous sprayed monolithic fire protection coatings of Prof. Han’s and calculate the residual strength of a composite column for New Terminal Building of Republic of Mauritius Sir Seewoosaugur Ramgoolam International Airport Expansion Project. The concolusion and method may be used by other approximate project.

Air quality and public health impacts of UK airports. Part I: Emissions

Abstract The potential adverse human health and climate impacts of emissions from UK airports have become a significant political issue, yet the emissions, air quality impacts and health impacts attributable to UK airports remain largely unstudied. We produce an inventory of UK airport emissions – including aircraft landing and takeoff (LTO) operations and airside support equipment – with uncertainties quantified. The airports studied account for more than 95% of UK air passengers in 2005. We estimate that in 2005, UK airports emitted 10.2 Gg [−23 to +29%] of NOx, 0.73 Gg [−29 to +32%] of SO2, 11.7 Gg [−42 to +77%] of CO, 1.8 Gg [−59 to +155%] of HC, 2.4 Tg [−13 to +12%] of CO2, and 0.31 Gg [−36 to +45%] of PM2.5. This translates to 2.5 Tg [−12 to +12%] CO2-eq using Global Warming Potentials for a 100-year time horizon. Uncertainty estimates were based on analysis of data from aircraft emissions measurement campaigns and analyses of aircraft operations. The First-Order Approximation (FOA3) – currently the standard approach used to estimate particulate matter emissions from aircraft – is compared to measurements and it is shown that there are discrepancies greater than an order of magnitude for 40% of cases for both organic carbon and black carbon emissions indices. Modified methods to approximate organic carbon emissions, arising from incomplete combustion and lubrication oil, and black carbon are proposed. These alterations lead to factor 8 and a 44% increase in the annual emissions estimates of black and organic carbon particulate matter, respectively, leading to a factor 3.4 increase in total PM2.5 emissions compared to the current FOA3 methodology. Our estimates of emissions are used in Part II to quantify the air quality and health impacts of UK airports, to assess mitigation options, and to estimate the impacts of a potential London airport expansion.

Balancing Airport Capacity Requirements with Environmental Concerns: Legal Challenges to Airport Expansion

Regulatory agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must balance the need to expand airport capacity with concerns about environmental impact. This balance is governed by the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), which establishes the environmental review procedures governing airport development activities that receive federal funding. This paper presents a comprehensive empirical study of legal challenges to airport expansion, focusing on the influence of environmental procedural statutes such as NEPA, as well as substantive environmental law including requirements in the federal airport funding statutes to minimize adverse environmental impacts. All known reported court opinions since the enactment of NEPA involving environmental challenges to airport construction and physical expansion were reviewed and characterized with respect to the factual background of the case, the form of the legal challenge, and the disposition of the reviewing court. A statistical regression analysis was performed to determine which factors significantly influence a court’s decision to approve the environmental review or to enjoin airport expansion pending further environmental review. The analysis demonstrates that environmental challenges to airport expansion have become significantly less likely to succeed over time, due in part to 2003 legislative changes requiring a coordinated environmental review process coordinated by the FAA, and granting exclusive jurisdiction to the U.S. Courts of Appeals for review of FAA final decisions. Environmental plaintiffs facing such a difficult judicial forum should focus their legal challenges on the most statistically effective arguments: that the FAA failed to adequately consider cumulative environmental impacts, and to a lesser degree, that the FAA or airport proprietor has failed to take every reasonable step to minimize the adverse environmental impact of airport expansion.

Spatial Planning Models of Airport-Driven Urban Development

Airports have been relatively neglected in scholarly planning literature despite their historic role in shaping metropolitan form. Their transformation into major mixed-use urban nodes anchoring subregional realms of aviation-oriented development has underscored their significance as agents of and products of globalization. Reviewing the trends and planning issues arising, several normative models of airport spaces are identified and discussed in relation to sustainable development objectives. The contestation of airport expansion that has made for epic political battles in diverse settings and its implications for models of airport-led urban development is noted. The review is guided by the notion of the sustainable airport region, which ultimately requires a rapprochement between airport master plans and broader urban planning strategies.

Balancing Airport Capacity Requirements with Environmental Concerns

Regulatory agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration must balance the need to expand airport capacity with concerns about environmental impact. This balance is governed by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which establishes the environmental review procedures governing airport development activities that receive federal funding. This paper presents a comprehensive study of legal challenges to airport expansion, focusing on the influence of environmental procedural statutes such as NEPA. All known reported court opinions since the enactment of NEPA involving environmental challenges to physical airport expansion were reviewed and characterized with respect to the factual background of each case, the form of the legal challenge, and the disposition of the reviewing court. A regression analysis was performed to determine which factors influence a court's decision to approve the environmental review or to enjoin airport expansion pending further environmental review.

Development of Activities for Reduction of Noise Influence on the Work of Air Service Operators

Airport is an important link in the economic life of a country. However, it also is a great source of environmental pollution and enomous. Noise influences the inhabitants of territories around the airport, as well as the airport emloyees. The article examines the risks air service operators are subject to, the criteria of objective evaluation of such risks, establishing the noise levels leading to irreversible hearing damage and other professional diseases. In connection with RIGA International Airport expansion and increase in the level of the flight intensity, it is especially topical to evaluate the influence of noise on the airport employees, in general, and on the air service operators, in particular, and to elaborate the activities for limiting such an influence.

New financing opportunities for airports: Exploring the possibility of a speciality REIT

Canada's airports have undergone a massive decentralisation initiative whereby the federal government has devolved responsibility for what was once considered a public utility to the private sector. While the role of airports in Canada still includes economic development and being responsive to local needs, it is important to note that there will not be any government funding for airport expansion or refurbishment. Paying for infrastructure development is expensive and airport financing traditionally has involved corporate debt instruments. This paper explores the possibility of using equity as a means of financing airports, specifically in the form of a real-estate investment trust (REIT). Using a REIT as a financing vehicle can provide increased funding and lower risk for the expansion and maintenance of airport facilities.

Climate Change Litigation: A Social Movement Perspective

Climate change litigation has been the subject of intense academic debate in recent years, but there has been little research carried out on it in the UK or from a social movement perspective. The aim of this article is to use developing UK litigation associated, in particular, with coal fired power stations and airport expansion as case studies for examining the way in which the climate change movement and the state authorities and media have engaged in a subtle ‘framing’ war. The article sets out the idea of soft versus hard frames and argues that the movement’s attempt to employ soft frames in relation to coal and airports has often faced hard counter-framing from its adversaries.

An alternative methodology for evaluating airport expansion with particular focus on Heathrow

Proposals to expand capacity at Heathrow Airport were in formal discussion since publication of the Air Transport White Paper in 2003, until recently when the new UK administration withdrew support for the project. The subject led to a highly motivated and polarised debate between those in favour and those against, with each side keen to demonstrate the strength of their case because they felt the stakes were so high. In 2009, the UK Government's Department for Transport published its impact assessment, the results of its cost-benefit analysis of different options for expanding Heathrow, including through the addition of a third runway. The impact assessment found there would be a net benefit from expansion; however, it did little to calm the debate because some important factors were omitted, particularly community impacts. In addition, the evidence presented was not seen to directly substantiate core arguments about the economic benefits. Research by the new economics foundation (nef) set out to apply an alternative methodological approach to evaluating a third runway at Heathrow using the principles of social return on investment. In contrast to the official government appraisal, which showed a net benefit to the UK from Runway 3 of £5.5bn in the central case, the results of nef's study found a headline net cost to UK society of £5bn. This included social and environmental costs that were at least £2bn higher than those estimated in the official government appraisal. This paper argues that by making transparent the direct and indirect economic, social and environmental impacts, social return on investment has the potential for improving public confidence in economic appraisals and the decisions which rely on them.

Language as a Resource in Project Management: A Case Study and a Conceptual Framework

This study sheds light on how project managers can use language as a resource for communicating with local communities and stakeholders alike, and protect the legitimacy of their decisions and actions. The verbal accounts produced by a senior project management team are examined in-depth. The accounts address the claims raised by residents affected by the expansion of the Heathrow airport. The context for the talk-in-interaction is one of conflicting interests: the promoter undertakes actions to mitigate the impacts of the construction works, but some residents feel frustrated that the business can grow at the expenses of their welfare. The findings reveal that managers tend to acknowledge all claims even when perceiving they lack legitimacy. The analysis of the words and phrasing in the conversational turns that form the accounts reveals three tones - caring, assertive, and apologetic - that managers use intentionally to frame linguistically the acknowledgements. The study discusses how the tones fit with the extent to which, first, managers consider that the claims are factually correct, fair, and precise as opposed to unfair, exaggerated, or opportunistic; and second, managers find technical or institutional references available for constructing the accounts. It also discusses the effects of congruence - or the lack of it - between what managers mean to say about what the project team will do, what managers actually say, how listeners interpret what was said, and what the project team actually gets done.

Dubai International Airport expansion A self‐adjusting prestressed tension rod façade system with parametric design

AbstractDubai International Airport experienced an increase in passenger numbers from 4.3 million in 1990 to some 40 million in 2008, and this figure is expected to rise further. To meet the needs of this influx of travellers and airlines, the government of Dubai launched a major expansion of the airport in 2002, involving the construction of the new terminal 3 plus its concourses 2 and 3 — a total investment of US$ 4.1 billion.The envelope of the double‐curvature concourses, 950 m and 600 m long respectively, is intersected by 142 triangular façades, the “teardrop‐windows”. The prestressed tension rod system has been designed to adjust automatically to the different geometries of the individual façades with up to 475 m2 of surface area. Besides the filigree appearance, easy and reliable installation and pretensioning are the major advantages of the system. The structure of the teardrop‐windows consists of two orthogonally arranged tension rods with opposing curvature. The tension rod system is connected to a perimeter edge beam and is therefore self‐retaining, similar to the well‐known “tennis racket” system. Thus, no reaction forces caused by pretensioning are transferred into the primary steel construction.

Disaggregating Deliberation’s Effects: An Experiment within a Deliberative Poll

Using data from a randomized field experiment within a Deliberative Poll, this paper examines deliberation’s effects on both policy attitudes and the extent to which ordinal rankings of policy options approach single-peakedness (a help in avoiding cyclical majorities). The setting was New Haven, Connecticut, and its surrounding towns; the issues were airport expansion and revenue sharing – the former highly salient, the latter not at all. Half the participants deliberated revenue sharing, then the airport; the other half the reverse. This split-half design helps distinguish the effects of the formal on-site deliberations from those of other aspects of the treatment. As expected, the highly salient airport issue saw only a slight effect, while much less salient revenue-sharing issue saw a much larger one.

Overview of aircraft en‐route noise prediction.

Community noise near airports is a major aviation noise concern, prompting the development of various modeling tools to predict the noise changes due to airport expansion and fleet changes. Once aircraft leave the terminal area and reach high altitudes, the aircraft noise received on the ground is assumed to be insignificant relative to urban ambient noise and is often neglected. However, this might not be the case, under either of the following conditions: (1) when aircraft fly over areas with very low ambient noise levels, such as in wildness areas, or (2) when an aircraft is powered by advanced propulsion systems that produces high noise levels. There is an increasing need to address both of these issues. Over the past 2 decades, some limited noise modeling capabilities and related research have begun to quantify the high‐altitude aircraft noise or “en‐route” noise. The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize related noise prediction research conducted through direct technical exchange with researchers, some simple data analysis as well as through a literature review. The authors will draw on experience in developing current aircraft community noise tools and formulate key future research questions and options.

Market Structure, Countervailing Power and Price Discrimination: The Case of Airports

We study bargained input prices where up and downstream firms can choose alternative vertical partners. We apply our model to bargained airport landing fees where a number of interesting policy questions have arisen. For example, what is the impact of joint ownership of airports? Does airline countervailing power stop airports raising fees? Should airports be prohibited, as an EU directive intends, from charging differential prices to airlines? Our major findings are (a) an increase in upstream concentration or in the substitutability between airports always increases the landing fee; (b) the effect of countervailing power, via an increase in downstream concentration, depends on the competition regime between airlines and whether airports can price discriminate: airline concentration reduces the landing fee when downstream competition is in quantities, but if downstream competition is in prices only where airports cannot discriminate. Furthermore, only in a specific case (Bertrand competition, uniform landing fees and undifferentiated goods) will lower fees pass through to consumers. (c) With Cournot competition, uniform landing fees are always higher than discriminatory fees, while the reverse is true with Bertrand competition. We also look at the incentives for airport expansion which raise quantities of passengers paying a given landing fee, but alters the nature of airline competition, which changes the landing fee.

Forest Dependency and Its Implication for Protected Areas Management: A case Study From Kasane Forest Reserve, Botswana

Conservation of biodiversity in protected areas will be more challenging if local communities are heavily dependent on them for various products and subsistence needs. This study estimated forest dependency and identified factors influencing dependency for households living around Kasane Forest Reserve (KFR). Data collected from 237 households were analyzed using logistic regression model. Logistic regression suggests that forest dependency is positively and significantly associated with family size. However asset rich households were less dependent on forest resources. Thus, policy makers need to consider the needs and economic options with the above components as an alternative strategy for forest protection so as to create a win-win relationship between conservation and local rural development options. Apart from the biological threats of the forest such as fire and elephant damage, large areas of the forest (about 3060 hectares) have already been de-gazette for residential purposes of the Kasane town and the expansion of the Kasane airport in 2002.A sustainable management plan should use the forest to pay its own management costs and allow surrounding communities to benefit; hence, they can see the forest reserve as worthy of the protection.

Planning, Sustainability and Airport-Led Urban Development

Airports are no longer places where planes just take off and land but have evolved into major business enterprises with spatial impacts and functional implications that extend deep into metropolitan areas. They are vital hubs in the global space of flows. Airport-led urban development, notwithstanding its employment and income generating capabilities and potentials, comes with costs and risks: economic, environmental, and cultural. A host of planning issues are raised. Traditional NIMBY reactions against airport expansion are evolving into more fundamental critiques of aviation around issues such as climate change. Mediating the conflict between the aviation industry's pro-growth stance and more sceptical perspectives is the concept of sustainable aviation. This may prove an oxymoron but it remains vital to link airport planning to the broader planning of sustainable communities and regions.

Project Safeguards: Operationalizing Option-Like Strategic Thinking in Infrastructure Development

When business strategists use option-like thinking to inform investments in physical infrastructure, developers need to operationalize leaving the options open at project implementation. This study defines safeguard as the design and physical development work for ensuring, or enhancing, the embedment of an option in the project outcome. Safeguards account for design changes stemming from option exercising if the environmental uncertainties resolve favorably in the future. They range from a design effort to secure space in a master plan (passive) to the construction of an integral component (active). A multiple-case study on the expansion of Heathrow airport shows how the confluence of two contingencies underscores decisions to safeguard under a limited budget. Safeguarding is more attractive when: 1) the assumed uncertainty that the option will get in the money is low because the outlay sunk on safeguards is more likely to pay off; and 2) the infrastructure architecture is modular because only the interfaces between components may require safeguarding. Irreversible investments on safeguards increase the option cost and reduce the exercising costs in the future. Safeguards therefore play out as a control point for strategic option-like thinking at project implementation. The empirical findings are summarized in a conceptual framework.

Baseline sound monitoring plan for Grant‐Kohrs Ranch national historic site.

Grant‐Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site (GRKO), located just north of Deer Lodge, Montana, is a working cattle ranch commemorating the heritage of cowboys and stock growers in the history of the American West during the 19th and 20th centuries. The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) maintains the site according to its charter as a working ranch, with all the sights, sounds, and sensations associated with ranching. The cultural soundscape of the working ranch is considered essential to visitor enjoyment and understanding. Several anticipated changes in the neighboring community of Deer Lodge may affect the visitor experience at GRKO, including anticipated expansion of the local airport, increasing interstate highway traffic, and proposals to establish a rifle shooting range nearby. Because GRKO currently has no data characterizing the natural and cultural sounds of the park, this project was commissioned to monitor and evaluate the natural, cultural, and community sounds that comprise the ambient acoustic environment of the historic site over the period of one calendar year. The baseline acoustical data are analyzed and documented in a format suitable for management purposes by the NPS (the sponsor of this study), and by the NPS Natural Sounds Program Office.

Problem-Solving Base Building under Uncertainty and Ambiguity: Multiple-Case Study on an Airport Expansion Program

This multiple-case study induces alternative strategies to coordinate the overlap of tasks to detail and physically execute base building with tasks to conceptualize the business-critical fit out. Base-building subsystems provide service space for occupancy, whereas fit-out subsystems make the space functional. Our empirical findings on problem-solving base-building design under uncertainty and ambiguity stem from a number of projects in an airport expansion program. They suggest that base-building subsystems show low sensitivity to incremental changes in fit out as their definitions are seldom optimized to eliminate slack. Yet, base-building subsystems show high sensitivity to radical changes in fit out when the architectures of the two subsystems are integral to one another. Three strategies for problem-solving base building stand out: (1) iterate design when preliminary information about fit out is ambiguous, or precise but unstable; (2) physically decouple the architectures of base building and fit out; and (3) design buffers in base building when preliminary information about fit out lacks precision but it is not ambiguous. These buffers can be designed out if uncertainties in fit out resolve favorably before starting the physical execution for base building.