Airport Planning and Economics: Some Changing Perspectives

The airport planning business has undergone a substantial perspective evolution in the past ten years. A basic economic need for high-speed, long-haul transportation resulted in the introduction of commercial turbojet aircraft in the late fifties. A nationwide airport capacity crisis seemed imminent as forecasts in the mid to late sixties projected strong growth rates. Many airport planners felt that the inability to meet the need for airport capacity would be disastrous.

This anticipated crisis, however, never fully materialized. Factors, mostly economic, have permitted the imposition of limited non-construction alternatives such as quotas to alleviate the congestion problem. In addition other economic and technical matters such as the application of demand forecasts and the assessment of capacity, reliance on potential technology and automation, and the selection of airport concepts have significantly altered the planning process.