Urban Airports Research Articles

Challenges and initiatives regarding the extension of operating hours at Osaka International Airport

Osaka International Airport is an urban airport located near the city center, and its operating hours are set at 14 hours, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The airport extends its hours under unavoidable circumstances and allows takeoffs and landings after 9:00 p.m. However, the airport has long conflicted with local communities over aircraft noise at night, and now, the airport receives harsh opinions especially regarding noise at night and takeoffs and landings after 9:00 p.m. And the number of flights taking-off and landing outside of the operating hours has been on the rise, reaching a record high in FY2022, despite all the countermeasures described later. This is caused not only by the congestion of air traffic flow seen for the last several years, but also by severe weather events around the airport, such as frequent typhoons and thunderclouds triggered by the recent intensifying climate changes. It is becoming even more critical to ensure on-time performance and to gain the understanding of local communities about the circumstances above. The presentation will introduce many initiatives to assess the situation accurately, ensure punctuality in cooperation with airlines, and engage in regular dialogues with residents in the surrounding area.

Functional and technological concepts of airports (past and present)

The article discusses the impact of security factors, economic and social conditions of public life, and the development of technology, which leads to many changes in the functional and technological schemes of air passenger services. This, in turn, affects the planning and volumetric-spatial solutions of airport terminals and changes in the organization of airport master plans. It is logical to assume that these changes are not the last, and there is a need to predict further possible solutions. But this is not possible without reviewing and systematizing the changes that have already taken place in the design and construction of airports. The article discusses several concepts of functional and planning passenger service, namely: The concept of runways in the form of a circle. The takeoff and landing of the first passenger airplanes depended heavily on wind speed and power. The airfield configuration in the form of a circle allowed solving this problem. Now this solution is outdated and not used. The concept of containerization of passenger transportation. An assumption was made about the construction of large-capacity passenger aircraft with up to 1000 passengers. Accordingly, it was proposed to first place passengers in specialized containers and then attach these containers to specialized aircraft to save time during handling. The concept remained futuristic due to the fact that passenger aircraft of this capacity are not produced, but it may happen in the future. The concept of urban airports. For the comfort of air passengers, it was proposed to build airports directly in the city. After a certain period of time, this concept was forced to be abandoned due to modern requirements and air traffic safety measures. The concept of centralized or decentralized air passenger service. The concept has been evolving throughout the history of airport construction. At the present stage, the concept of centralized service is more widespread, as it is the most comfortable and economically feasible. The concept of additional (non-transportation) passenger services. The commercial industry of air passenger services at the airport, in the form of shops, cafes, hotels, and much more, is now successfully developing. This allows airports to increase the level of comfort and affects the reduction of costs and lower prices for the transportation of each individual air passenger. The article notes that some concepts are outdated, some are too futuristic, some have ceased to exist due to inconsistencies with modern security measures, and some have stood the test of time and become dominant in modern airport design. Analysis, comprehension and summarization of the consequences of the introduction of certain functional and technological concepts of air passenger service leads to changes in the organization of airports. The process of scientific research of these phenomena is the key to the future life of airports and their efficient operation. This task is quite complex and requires a lot of studies, not only in the field of architecture and design, but also in sociology, economics, marketing, and management.

Issues facing Osaka International Airport and its dialogues with the surrounding communities

Osaka International Airport is an urban airport located close to the city center, and its operating hours are set at 14 hours, from 7:00 to 21:00. In the past, the airport had conflicts with local residents over aircraft noise. Even today, the airport needs to pay careful attention to the communities to ensure smooth operation of the noise-generating airport. The flight schedule is set to allow enough time for takeoffs and landings in order not to exceed 21:00 based on the agreements with the surrounding communities; however, recently there have been many delayed flights, takeoffs and landings outside of the operating hours, due to weather conditions or for other unavoidable reasons. We have gained a certain level of understanding of the surrounding communities for delayed flights by sharing appropriate information and holding regular dialogues with them. In addition, Osaka International Airport has set specific flight paths called noise preferential routes to minimize the impact of aircraft noise around the airport and is using a system to monitor deviations from NPRs. This presentation is to introduce the current status of these activities and methods for properly analyzing the information to provide to the community.

Mixed-Methods Approach to Land Use Renewal Strategies in and around Abandoned Airports: The Case of Beijing Nanyuan Airport

Urban airports are typically large infrastructures with significant cultural, economic, and ecological impacts; meanwhile, abandoned airports are common worldwide. However, there is limited knowledge regarding transformation strategies for the renewal of abandoned airports and their surrounding regions in historically and culturally rich areas. We use Beijing’s Nanyuan Airport as a case study, combining the historic urban landscape approach, land use and land cover change, and counterfactual simulations of land use patterns to construct a comprehensive analytical framework. Our framework was used to analyze the long-term land use patterns of the study area, determine its value, and improve perception from a macro- and multi-perspective. We discovered that the traditional knowledge and planning systems in the study area have largely disappeared, but Nanyuan Airport’s impact on the surrounding land use patterns is unique and significant. By considering the characteristics and mechanisms of land use in the study area, we aimed to find a balance point between the historical context and future potential. As such, we propose optimized recommendations with the theme of connection and development engines. Our findings supplement the planning knowledge of relevant areas and provide a springboard for interdisciplinary research in landscape planning.

Reframing Health in Urban Airport Regions

Reframing Health in Urban Airport Regions

Embedding Acoustic Analysis in Landscape Architecture Design Processes: A Case Study of Munich Airport

Noise is the number two environmental health risk in Europe. With the majority of the world’s inhabitants residing in ever-growing cities, urban noise impacts an increasing number of people. Urban airports significantly contribute to urban noise, and their spatial effects far exceed their boundaries. While indoor acoustic mitigation in architecture is growingly addressed using parametric tools, there is limited research on mitigating noise with digital means through landscape and urban design. Moreover, there is a lack of methods for ameliorating urban noise through ground-forming. To address this, this paper contributes a novel method for integrating acoustic analysis in parametric landscape-forming. The method includes collecting on-line and on-site noise data, developing alternative landscape formations for mitigating noise, and evaluating design alternatives within a single digital design environment. This method was applied using research by design and examined on a case-study site adjacent to the Munich Airport. Three landform landscape designs for a park are developed, and their acoustic performance is compared. The results indicate the possibility of integrating acoustic considerations in landscape architecture, and the method provides a step-by-step guide for doing so. This capacity also promotes the long-term goal of increasing the environmental performance of urban grounds.

Urban air mobility infrastructure design: Using virtual reality to capture user experience within the world's first urban airport

Human factors research can play an important role in the successful design of infrastructure to support future mobility. Through engaging users and stakeholders early in the design process we can gain insights before the physical environments are built. This paper presents data from a truly novel application of Virtual Reality (VR), where user experience and wayfinding were evaluated within an emerging future transport infrastructure to support urban air mobility (UAM) – the urban airport (aka vertiports). Urban airports are located in city centres where drones or ‘flying cars’ would land and take off from. Previous quantitative studies have investigated passenger experience in traditional airports using field observation and surveys, but this paper is the first to present qualitative research on user experience in this emerging mobility infrastructure using an immersive VR environment. Twenty participants completed a series of six scenarios aimed at understanding customer ‘exciters’ and ‘pain points’ within an urban airport. Results and recommendations from this empirical research will help inform the design of all future mobility infrastructure solutions, through improving user experience before the infrastructure is physically deployed. Finally, this paper highlights the benefits of engaging users at an early stage of the design process to ensure that future transport infrastructure will be accessible, easy to navigate and a pleasure to use.

Position Report Enhancement Using Bayesian Estimator

In this article, a Bayesian estimator for a target position report is proposed. It is based on a maximum a priori algorithm, where the user's device knowledge about its location is used to deduce the prior probability density function. The algorithm does not require knowledge about the signal and noise levels, meaning, noninformative priors are used. It is well known that with a higher number of antenna elements in an array, narrower beams can be formed. In beamforming, task narrow beams are useful for serving many users simultaneously, whereas in direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation, we are not interested in narrow beams as such; instead, estimation accuracy is important. So, reducing the number of antenna elements used for DOA estimation is beneficial from a system complexity point of view. In this article, signal source location report is used to enhance the estimated DOA, for the task, MAP estimator is developed. We will show that in the case of small array size and large array covariance matrix error values, the proposed estimator is the only one capable of improving the prior knowledge about the transmitter when comparing it with other popular algorithms, such as the maximum likelihood estimator and Root MUSIC. The algorithm could be used in a variety of different scenarios, but its advantages emerge in the case of complex signal propagation environments, such as urban canyons and large airports.

O terminal de passageiros em aeroportos urbanos como “terceiro espaço”: o caráter local e público a partir de uma leitura ilustrada dos processos de transformação dos aeroportos de Congonhas e Santos Dumont

  From a historical-urban reading of the system formed by Congonhas and Santos Dumont airports, this paper aimed to study the interface between ‘airsid’ and ‘landside’ in urban (or central) airports passanger terminals and their potential for convergencies bwtween public and private, or fast and slow uses, as local scale urbanity inducting ‘third-spaces’, in a critical position to the notion of aerotropolis frequently tied to the new peripheral large airports. It started from the problem that, although contemporany with each other and sharing complementary vocations, their role in the air connections network took distinct directions, which originated different – or even contrasting – urban relations. The theoretical-empirical methodology, which covers bibliographic review, project analysis and iconographic research (and reading) of the spaces, digitally, seeked to compare both cases, so understanding whether or how the city appropriated themselves or seeks to claim a friendly relationship from these equipments.

Innovation design analysis of the optimal aerodynamic adaptive smart structures for disk-body solar Hybrid Electric aircraft and airship concepts

The innovation integrated design analysis of the concept of finding any optimal aerodynamic structure with adaptive intelligent systems as a means of changing facility of the geometric shape of the surface by integrating the disc wing-body of a solar Hybrid Electrical aircraft (HEA) and an airship to reduce weight, power and fuel sources is very relevant today and focused on the international research EC programs of future green ecology air transportation. The universal digital method for optimizing the CAD aircraft design is presented which is focused on achieving the goal of minimum weight-drag-frontal stability of the layout from the virtual center of mass allows us to get the layout of the aircraft from the conditions of reducing the time of full flight operation of E-Mobility and low cost for priority with realize a short take-off and landing (STOL) with high angle of the flight path and compact infrastructural restrictions in the terminal slot configurations of modern urban airport infrastructure and achieving zero toxic & noise regulation by IATA/ICAO. The joint results of EC international R&D collaboration to accelerate the synergy effect of new aircraft concepts.

An eco-friendly aircraft taxiing approach with collision and conflict avoidance

Among several crucial objectives of the air transportation system, minimization of fuel consumption has a profound impact on the economic viability of airline companies and their effect on the environment. Given that many large airports around the world are located in the heart of residential areas such as Chicago’s O’Hare, New York’s JFK, and Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GGE) released by aircraft flying through such urban airports directly impacts the health of nearby residents. In this paper, we propose a hybrid taxiing solution to reduce the airports’ impact on GGE where part of the taxiing operations is handled by tow-trucks powered by renewable energy while some other aircraft continue using their engines to complete taxiing. The main contribution of the work presented in this paper is the inclusion of collision of conflict avoidance in the formulation of taxiing operations planning with an objective to minimize fuel consumption and to maximize the desired service quality. The conflict-free taxing operations planning model is tested on Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. Furthermore, the detailed economic analysis on the adoption of electric-powered tow-trucks is provided.

Potentiality Analysis of Physical Development of International Airports Surrounding Zones

The areas surrounding Iraqi international airports generally suffer from a lack of interest in their planning in a manner compatible with the airport with the absence of integrated planning between the airport and the city. From here, the search problem appears. It is represented by a lack of interest in the integration of urban planning and airport planning and the lack of a clear policy to deal with the areas surrounding international airports. A desire to achieve the research aims to introduce compatible uses in the vicinity of airports and review the planning and global directions for dealing with the areas surrounding the airports within urban areas. In contrast, the second aspect of the research aims to assess the uses of the land surrounding the airports and determine their compatibility with the planning directions of these areas. The research studied the areas surrounding Baghdad International Airport and conducted a comprehensive survey of land uses within a distance of (4) km from the airport runway center. Then it conducted an analysis using geographical information systems(GIS) and studied the survey results, and assumed that the current uses of the areas surrounding international airports do not reflect the optimal use of these areas and, therefore, not exploiting the current capabilities and development opportunities provided by the airport for the surrounding areas. The research hypothesis is tested through the use of (GIS )and displaying the results of the field survey of land uses within the study area.
 Furthermore, the methodology of comparative spatial analysis was done by monitoring the current situation through (GIS) and analyzing the result and comparing it with international standards to achieve results that contribute to attaining physical development. The first part of the research presents an introduction to international airports that are one of the most significant urban nodes in the city. The surrounding areas have many features that require regulation and coordination. The presence of incompatible uses in the vicinity of the airport leads to the loss of the advantages provided by the airport and the occurrence of adverse effects on the surrounding areas. Part two introduced compatible uses in the vicinity of airports. Part Three analyzed the case study of the areas surrounding Baghdad Airport. Then the results of the field survey showed that there are incompatible uses and the absence of compatible uses, and this case requires the identification of many planning procedures and benefiting from global trends in planning these areas.

Real-time identification of aircraft sound events

Metropolitan airports constitute an environmental nuisance, mainly due to noise pollution originating from aircraft landings and takeoffs, affecting the wellbeing of the airports’ neighboring populations. Noise measurement is considered the fundamental means to evaluate, enforce, validate, and control noise abatement. Noise measurements performed by sound monitors located close to urban airports are often disrupted by urban background noise that interferes with aircraft sounds. Detecting aircraft noise, classifying, identifying, and separating it from the residual background noise is a challenge for unattended aircraft noise monitors. This paper suggests a simple and inexpensive methodology, based on ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast), which can facilitate isolating aircraft noise from background noise. Experiments showed that using ADS-B driven noise monitors is at least as accurate as the commonly used radar–driven noise monitors, in terms of true positive, false positive, or false negative detection during the examined periods.

Aircraft noise and self-assessed mental health around a regional urban airport: a population based record linkage study

BackgroundLimited evidence suggests that residential exposure to aircraft noise negatively influences population mental health around large airports, but it is not known whether the same is true for smaller airports. We investigated whether residential exposure to aircraft noise near a regional urban airport was associated with risk of chronic self-assessed mental ill health.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study of 198,532 people aged 18 years and over living in Belfast, United Kingdom, enumerated at the 2011 Census. Residential exposure to aircraft noise (LAeq,16h) was assessed by linking Census records with modelled noise contours surrounding George Best Belfast City Airport (c.42,000 annual aircraft movements). Associations between noise and mental ill health were estimated using multiple logistic regression adjusting for demographic characteristics, socio-economic status and comorbidity.ResultsPrevalence of self-assessed mental ill health was greater in high noise (≥57 dB) compared to low noise (< 54 dB) areas (12.4% vs. 9.7%). We found no association between aircraft noise and risk of mental ill health after adjustment for socio-economic status (high vs. low noise odds ratio: 1.03 CI: 0.93, 1.14).DiscussionAssociations between aircraft noise and mental health have been reported near large airports at similar average noise levels to those observed here. Our findings indicate that the noise environment around this smaller airport (with fewer flights and no night flights) has little influence on population mental health.

The Mobile Observations of Ultrafine Particles (MOV-UP) Study: Winter 2018 Sampling

The Mobile ObserVations of Ultrafine Particles (MOV-UP) Study is a two-year project intended to quantify air quality impacts of air traffic for communities located near, and below the flight paths of the SeaTac airport. The study aims to assess ultrafine particle concentrations within 10 miles of the airport in the directions of aircraft take-offs and landings over the course of 4 seasons. To date, sampling has been completed for Winter 2018. Over this time period, 16 days of mobile sampling were conducted using a suite of mobile instruments capable of detecting particles between 10-20, 20-36 and &amp;gt;36 nm in diameter on a 10 second time-scale. Black carbon (BC) particle concentration was collected on the 10 second scale as well as the full range of particle size distribution from 10 nm to 1 µm on the 1 minute time scale. The mean wind direction during the drives was from the SW. There were two days with wind from the NW, which resulted in reversal of the landing and take-off direction at the airport. A varimax rotated principal component analysis was performed on the 1 minute particle size distribution data and BC concentration, normalized to total particle count. Three components accounted for 74% of the variance observed. The first component, explaining 33% of the variance, shows high loadings of particles with median diameter of less than 20.5 nm. The second component, explaining 23% of the variance, shows high loadings of particles with median diameter of greater than 20.5 nm. The third component, explaining 18% of the variance, shows high proportion of black carbon. The geographic distribution of the component scores suggests that the first component is associated with the aircraft flight path. This study demonstrates the ability of mobile monitoring to detect variations in on-road particle size distribution that may be associated not only with vehicular traffic, but also with distance to flight path within 10 miles of an urban airport.

Application of noise abatement procedures at regional airports

The increasing traffic rate experienced by regional airports in Europe in recent years has had various impacts on the communities living near to the airport areas. To mitigate the negative effects of aviation noise, airports, particularly those close to dwellings and communities, have developed a number of noise abatement measures, of which the noise abatement procedures are one of the most widely adopted. Guglielmo Marconi International Airport, in Italy, is a prototypal case of an urban regional airport, which will probably be seriously constrained by environmental factors in the short–medium term, because of its proximity to the suburbs of the city of Bologna and the growth in air traffic in the last decade. This has encouraged the airport management to take appropriate countermeasures to promote awareness among carriers, encouraging them to limit, as far as possible, their departure operations over inhabited areas during certain time windows. This has led to the formulation of a new initial climb procedure for take-offs from runway 12. In this paper, the effectiveness of this procedure is evaluated by carrying out a before–after analysis of noise curves and percentage of population and sensitive buildings within the noise contours.

Background noise analysis in urban airport surroundings of Brazilian cities, Congonhas Airport, São Paulo.

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE To perform a quantitative analysis of the background noise at Congonhas Airport surroundings based on large sampling and measurements with no interruption.METHODS Measuring sites were chosen from 62 and 72 DNL (day-night-level) noise contours, in urban sites compatible with residential use. Fifteen sites were monitored for at least 168 hours without interruption or seven consecutive days. Data compilation was based on cross-reference between noise measurements and air traffic control records, and results were validated by airport meteorological reports. Preliminary diagnoses were established using the standard NBR-13368. Background noise values were calculated based on the Sound Exposure Level (SEL). Statistic parameters were calculated in one-hour intervals.RESULTS Only four of the fifteen sites assessed presented aircraft operations as a clear cause for the noise annoyance. Even so, it is possible to detect background noise levels above regulation limits during periods of low airport activity or when it closes at night.CONCLUSIONS All the sites monitored showed background noise levels above regulation limits between 7:00 and 21:00. In the intervals between 6:00-6:59 and 21:00-22:59 the noise data, when analyzed with the current airport operational characteristics, still allow the development of additional mitigating measures.

Task Segregation as a Mechanism for Within-job Inequality

In this article, we examine a case of task segregation—when a group of workers is disproportionately allocated, relative to other groups, to spend more time on specific tasks in a given job—and argue that such segregation is a potential mechanism for generating within-job inequality in the quality of a job. When performing those tasks is undesirable, this allocation has unfavorable implications for that group’s experienced job quality. We articulate the processes by which task segregation can lead to workplace inequality in job quality through an inductive, interview-based case study of airport security-screening workers in a unit of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at a large urban airport. Female workers were disproportionately allocated to the pat-down task, the manual screening of travelers for prohibited items. Our findings suggest that this segregation led to overall poorer job quality outcomes for women. Task segregation overexposed female workers to processes of physical exertion, emotional labor, and relational strain, giving rise to work intensity, emotional exhaustion, and lack of coping resources. Task segregation also seemed to disproportionately expose female workers to managerial sanctions for taking recuperative time off and a narrowing of their skill set that may have contributed to worse promotion chances, pay, satisfaction, and turnover rates for women. We conclude with a theoretical model of how task segregation can act as a mechanism for generating within-job inequality in job quality.

Analysis of Aircraft Noise Sensitivity at an Urban Airport Using the Concept of a Reference Noise Level

This study investigates individual noise sensitivity to change in aircraft noise levels for residents living near Fukuoka airport, which has proposed a capacity expansion plan. To understand better peoples' perception of aircraft noise, the authors introduced a reference point (RP) concept into analysis of noise sensitivity. A field survey consisting of social questionnaires and an innovative headphone interview system were carried out to assess general noise perceptions, annoyance and loudness sensitivities, and indoor noise levels. Different statistical analyses including structural equation modeling (SEM) and Tobit regression were performed. It was found in SEM that there was a reduction in annoyance sensitivity due to an increase in perceived aircraft noise level. Further, results from Tobit regression-based RP indicated that people are more sensitive to decrease in noise level than they are to an increase. Being less sensitive to a larger aircraft noise implies an escalation in noise-accustomed levels.

Partitioning of Black Carbon between ultrafine and fine particle modes in an urban airport vs. urban background environment

In this work, we characterize the Black Carbon (BC) aerosol in an urban airport vs. urban background environment with the objective to evaluate when and how the ultrafine BC dominates the bulk aerosol. Aerosol optical and microphysical properties were measured in a Mediterranean urban area (Rome) at sites impacted by BC sources including fossil fuels (FF), and biomass burning (BB). Experimental BC data were interpreted through measurement-constrained simulations of BC microphysics and optical properties. A “scheme” to separate the ultrafine BC was experimented on the basis of the relation found between changes in the BC partitioning between Aitken and accumulation mode particles, and relevant changes in particle size distribution and optical properties of the bulk aerosol. This separation scheme, applied to experimental data, proved useful to reveal the impact of airport and road traffic emissions. Findings may have important atmospheric implications. The experimented scheme can help separating different BC sources (FF, BB, “aged” BC) when BC size distributions may be very difficult to obtain (satellite, columnar observations, routine monitoring). Indeed, separating the ultrafine BC from the fine BC may provide significant benefits in addressing BC impact on air quality and climate.