Airport Compatibility with the SST - Problems of Ground Support Equipment

The compatibility of a supersonic transport with 15 international United States civil airports is examined in the principal areas of: terminals, passenger handling, and ground support equipment; runway length and pavement strength; and airport and community noise. Some new support equipment and facilities will be required although they are considered to be evolutionary in nature rather than requiring radical departures from current design. Runways and pavement strengths are generally acceptable as they exist today. Noise, both in the terminal areas and in the surrounding community, is expected to be equivalent to, or less than that of contemporary subsonic jet transport aircraft.