The National Airport System Plan-Its History and Its Potential

The Federal Aviation Administration has, as one of its principal tasks in the field of airport planning, the preparation of a National Airport System Plan to define the scope and timing of needed airport development throughout the country. This process, while refined as to extent and substance by the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970, is essentially the result of a long history of evolution from the earliest days of the federal interest in airports. That evolution is traced in this paper to provide an understanding of the current and potential influence of airport system planning in identifying the extent of landing facilities needed to meet the increasingly critical needs of air transportation in this nation.