National Airspace System
Regional Airport Planning Could Help Address Congestion If Plans Were Integrated with FAA and Airport Decision Making Gao ID: GAO-10-120 December 23, 2009The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts that the national airspace system will become increasingly congested over time, imposing costs of delay on passengers and regions. While transforming the current air-traffic control system to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) may provide additional en route capacity, many airports will still face constraints at their runways and terminals. In light of these forecasts, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to evaluate regional airport planning in metropolitan regions with congested airports. GAO (1) identified which airports are currently or will be significantly congested and the potential benefits of regional airport planning, (2) assessed how regions with congested airports use regional airport planning in decision making, and (3) identified factors that hinder or aid in the development and implementation of regional airport plans. GAO reviewed studies; interviewed FAA, airport, and other aviation and transportation officials; and conducted case studies in selected regions.
A number of airports are or will be significantly capacity constrained and thus congested within the next 16 years. However, many of them face environmental and other obstacles to developing additional airport capacity. In 2007, FAA identified 14 airports (in 10 metropolitan regions) that will be significantly capacity constrained by 2025, even assuming all currently planned improvements occur (see figure). Planned improvements include airport construction projects and implementation of NextGen technologies. Without these improvements, FAA predicts that 27 airports will be congested. According to the FAA assessment and other studies, regional airport planning may identify additional solutions, such as the increased use of alternate airports or other modes of travel, to help relieve airport congestion. From 1999 through 2008, 9 of the 10 metropolitan regions with airports forecast to be significantly capacity constrained by 2025 have received a total of $20 million in FAA funding for regional airport planning. Of those regions, 6 have developed or will develop regional airport system plans (RASP), which we found largely followed FAA's guidance for airport system planning. The remaining 4 regions have engaged in less comprehensive planning. FAA does not formally review RASPs, and they have been used selectively by FAA and airports in decision making for the planning and funding of individual airport projects. A few airport sponsors have pursued select strategies outlined in plans, while one airport sponsor rejected the RASP for its decision making. Because regional airport planning is advisory, competing interests can derail development and implementation. Metropolitan planning organizations generally develop RASPs but have no authority over airport development. That authority rests with airports, which are not required to incorporate planning recommendations into their capital plans, and with FAA, which makes funding decisions on the basis of national priorities. In addition, airport, community, and airline interests may conflict in a region. For example, Philadelphia International does not support planning efforts that may divert traffic from its airport to alternate regional airports. By contrast, aligned interests and FAA involvement may aid regional planning and implementation, as has occurred in the Boston region.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director: Team: Phone:GAO-10-120, National Airspace System: Regional Airport Planning Could Help Address Congestion If Plans Were Integrated with FAA and Airport Decision Making
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Report to Congressional Requesters:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
December 2009:
National Airspace System:
Regional Airport Planning Could Help Address Congestion If Plans Were
Integrated with FAA and Airport Decision Making:
GAO-10-120:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-10-120, a report to congressional requesters.
Why GAO Did This Study:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts that the national
airspace system will become increasingly congested over time, imposing
costs of delay on passengers and regions. While transforming the
current air-traffic control system to the Next Generation Air
Transportation System (NextGen) may provide additional en route
capacity, many airports will still face constraints at their runways
and terminals. In light of these forecasts, GAO was asked to evaluate
regional airport planning in metropolitan regions with congested
airports.
GAO (1) identified which airports are currently or will be
significantly congested and the potential benefits of regional airport
planning, (2) assessed how regions with congested airports use regional
airport planning in decision making, and (3) identified factors that
hinder or aid in the development and implementation of regional airport
plans. GAO reviewed studies; interviewed FAA, airport, and other
aviation and transportation officials; and conducted case studies in
selected regions.
What GAO Found:
A number of airports are or will be significantly capacity constrained
and thus congested within the next 16 years. However, many of them face
environmental and other obstacles to developing additional airport
capacity. In 2007, FAA identified 14 airports (in 10 metropolitan
regions) that will be significantly capacity constrained by 2025, even
assuming all currently planned improvements occur (see figure). Planned
improvements include airport construction projects and implementation
of NextGen technologies. Without these improvements, FAA predicts that
27 airports will be congested. According to the FAA assessment and
other studies, regional airport planning may identify additional
solutions, such as the increased use of alternate airports or other
modes of travel, to help relieve airport congestion.
Figure: Airports Forecast to Need Capacity in 2025 after Planned
Improvements:
[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated map of the continental U.S.]
Airports:
ATL: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International;
EWR: Newark Liberty International;
FLL: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International;
JFK: John F. Kennedy International;
LAS: McCarran International;
LGA: LaGuardia;
LGB: Long Beach;
MDW: Midway International;
OAK: Oakland International;
PHL: Philadelphia International;
PHX: Phoenix Sky Harbor International;
SAN: San Diego International;
SFO: San Francisco International;
SNA: John Wayne.
Sources: GAO analysis of FAA data; Map Resources (base map).
[End of figure]
From 1999 through 2008, 9 of the 10 metropolitan regions with airports
forecast to be significantly capacity constrained by 2025 have received
a total of $20 million in FAA funding for regional airport planning. Of
those regions, 6 have developed or will develop regional airport system
plans (RASP), which we found largely followed FAA‘s guidance for
airport system planning. The remaining 4 regions have engaged in less
comprehensive planning. FAA does not formally review RASPs, and they
have been used selectively by FAA and airports in decision making for
the planning and funding of individual airport projects. A few airport
sponsors have pursued select strategies outlined in plans, while one
airport sponsor rejected the RASP for its decision making.
Because regional airport planning is advisory, competing interests can
derail development and implementation. Metropolitan planning
organizations generally develop RASPs but have no authority over
airport development. That authority rests with airports, which are not
required to incorporate planning recommendations into their capital
plans, and with FAA, which makes funding decisions on the basis of
national priorities. In addition, airport, community, and airline
interests may conflict in a region. For example, Philadelphia
International does not support planning efforts that may divert traffic
from its airport to alternate regional airports. By contrast, aligned
interests and FAA involvement may aid regional planning and
implementation, as has occurred in the Boston region.
What GAO Recommends:
GAO is recommending that the Secretary of Transportation direct FAA to
create a review process for RASPs and use its existing authority to
give priority to funding airport projects that are consistent with
RASPs. The Department of Transportation generally agreed to consider
the revised recommendations.
View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-120] or key
components. For more information, contact Gerald Dillingham, Ph.D., at
(202) 512-2834 or dillinghamg@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Contents:
Letter:
Background:
Many Airports Are or Will Become Significantly Congested in Coming
Years and Regional Airport Planning Has the Potential to Identify
Solutions:
Most Regions with Significantly Congested Airports Have Engaged in
Regional Airport Planning, but Regional Airport Plans Have Been Used
Selectively for FAA or Airport Decision Making:
Since Regional Airport Planning Is Advisory, Competing Interests Can
Derail Development and Implementation, While Aligned Interests Can Aid
Implementation:
Conclusions:
Recommendations for Executive Action:
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
Appendix II: FACT 2 Study's Methodology for Analyzing Future Airport
and Metropolitan Capacity Needs:
Appendix III: Regional Airport Planning Nationwide and in our Selected
Regions:
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
Tables:
Table 1: Elements of the Airport System Planning Process in FAA
Guidance:
Table 2: Airports Forecast by FACT 2 as Being Significantly Capacity
Constrained by 2025, Even If Planned Improvements Occur, and Their
Corresponding Metropolitan Regions:
Table 3: FAA Funding for Regional Airport Planning for Regions Forecast
to Have Significantly Congested Airports by 2025, Even If Planned
Improvements Occur, 1999-2008:
Table 4: RASP Development in Regions with Potentially Congested
Airports:
Table 5: Regional Airport Planning in Those Regions with Potentially
Congested Airports That Have Not Prepared RASPs:
Table 6: FAA Funding for Conducting or Updating Metropolitan System
Plan Studies, 1999-2008:
Table 7: Aviation System Planning at Metropolitan Planning
Organizations:
Figures:
Figure 1: Funding Process for Airport Improvement Projects:
Figure 2: Airports Needing Capacity in 2015 and 2025, Even If Planned
Improvements Occur:
Figure 3: Airports Needing Capacity in 2015 and 2025, If Planned
Improvements Do Not Occur:
Figure 4: Potential Extent of Bay Fill for Runway Construction at San
Francisco International Airport (2000 Proposal):
Figure 5: Service Areas for the Primary Airports in the New York-New
Jersey Region, 2005:
Abbreviations:
AAIA: Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982:
ACIP: Airports Capital Improvement Plan:
ACRP: Airport Cooperative Research Program:
AIP: Airport Improvement Program:
ALP: airport layout plan:
ASV: annual service volume:
DFW: Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport:
DOT: Department of Transportation:
FAA: Federal Aviation Administration:
FATE: Future Air Traffic Estimator:
FDOT: Florida Department of Transportation:
FHWA: Federal Highway Administration:
FTA: Federal Transportation Administration:
JFK: John F. Kennedy International Airport:
LAX: Los Angeles International Airport:
maglev: magnetic levitation train:
MPO: metropolitan planning organization:
NAS: national airspace system:
NextGen: Next Generation Air Transportation System:
NPIAS: National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems:
OEP: Operational Evolution Partnership:
RASP: regional airport system plan:
SFO: San Francisco International Airport:
TAF: Terminal Area Forecast:
TIP: Transportation Improvement Program:
[End of section]
United States Government Accountability Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
December 23, 2009:
The Honorable John L. Mica:
Ranking Member:
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure:
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Thomas E. Petri:
Ranking Member:
Subcommittee on Aviation:
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure:
House of Representatives:
Constrained capacity at some U.S. airports reduces the efficiency of
the national airspace system and results in congestion and flight
delays throughout the country. A recent study found that congestion is
concentrated in major metropolitan areas, such as Atlanta, Chicago,
Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, and that the
situation is worsening over time.[Footnote 1] In 2008, nearly one-in-
four arriving flights was delayed more than 15 minutes at major U.S.
airports, and, in the especially congested New York region, one-in-
three flights was delayed.[Footnote 2] Flight delays inconvenience
passengers as well as impose economic costs on passengers, airlines,
airports, and the economy. Delays at one airport can also impact other
airports, causing a ripple effect across the national airspace system.
Congestion also has negative impacts on the environment, such as
increased emissions from aircraft. GAO has previously reported that
long-term solutions to alleviating congestion and delay should address
underlying capacity constraints at airports.[Footnote 3] The federal
government, through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), provided
almost $3.5 billion in 2008 for airport planning and development
through Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants. Also, airports
collect almost another $3 billion in passenger facility charges
annually that can be used for projects, including those aimed at
increasing capacity in the national airspace system.[Footnote 4] FAA's
Operational Evolution Partnership (OEP) program aims at increasing
capacity and improving efficiency at the nation's busiest airports
through the construction of new airfield infrastructure, such as new or
extended runways and new taxiways.[Footnote 5] FAA is also planning to
increase system capacity through technological improvements, such as
those currently being planned and implemented in the Next Generation
Air Transportation System (NextGen) program.[Footnote 6] In addition,
some regions are looking at ways to optimize existing and new regional
airport capacity, including the use of alternate regional airports, and
the potential use of alternative modes to move passengers, such as high-
speed rail.
Because of your interest in better meeting the nation's transportation
needs, you asked us to describe the role that regional airport planning
could play in better managing airport capacity in heavily congested
regions of the country. To address this issue, we (1) identified which
airports are already significantly congested or are projected to be
significantly congested and potential benefits that regional airport
planning might offer, (2) assessed the extent to which regions with
significantly congested airports engage in regional airport planning to
help relieve congestion and how this planning has been used in decision
making, and (3) identified factors that hinder or aid in the
development and implementation of regional airport plans.
To address these objectives, we relied primarily on FAA guidance on
airport system planning, FAA's assessment of airport capacity needs,
our in-depth analysis of selected regions with congested airports, and
our past studies. FAA has provided guidance to states and metropolitan
areas on the development of airport system plans, noting that such
plans should guide airport development needed in a specific area to
establish a viable, balanced, and integrated system of public use
airports.[Footnote 7] We considered airports that are currently
congested or are forecast to be significantly congested using FAA's
2007 report--Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System, 2007-2025
(FACT 2)--which identified airports that will need additional capacity
whether or not currently planned improvements are carried out.[Footnote
8] The FACT 2 report made forecasts for airports in 2015 and 2025, and,
while this type of long-term modeling naturally faces uncertainties, we
used FACT 2 to identify regions for our in-depth analysis because it
forecast long-term capacity needs and included analyses of both demand
and capacity. Because the FACT 2 report forecast future demand before
2007, the report may overstate the likely growth of demand, given the
subsequent economic downturn. On the other hand, the analyses used
fairly conservative measures to determine which airports would be the
most capacity constrained and, as a result, may understate the number
of airports that will be congested. For a complete discussion of the
methodology used by FACT 2 and its implications, see appendix II. We
identified regions for more detailed analysis after considering (1)
existing and predicted aviation congestion based on FAA's FACT 2
report; (2) whether regions had sought funding from FAA for regional
airport planning, and the amount of the funding provided by FAA; (3)
whether regional airport planning has occurred or is occurring in a
region; and (4) whether regions were served by a single major
commercial service airport or multiple airports and the extent to which
multiple airports in a region were governed by the same sponsor.
[Footnote 9]
Our analysis of selected regions forecast to have significantly
congested airports included Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San
Diego, and San Francisco. We also assessed regional airport planning in
Boston, although this region was not among those with airports that are
forecast to be significantly capacity constrained by FACT 2, if planned
improvements occur. FAA officials and experts have pointed to this
region as having undertaken successful regional airport planning. Each
of the regions we selected has received funding from FAA for regional
airport planning, and regional airport planning has been undertaken in
each region. Three of the regions are served by multiple airports--
sometimes under the same sponsor--while Philadelphia and San Diego are
in regions with one major airport. In the five regions we selected, we
interviewed regional planning, airport, FAA,[Footnote 10] and state
officials about the nature of the regional airport system; participants
in such planning; the extent that regions have undertaken regional
airport planning and how these plans may have been used; and factors
that aided or hindered planning or implementation. We also examined FAA
guidance on airport system planning; interviewed FAA planning and
forecasting officials; and interviewed industry experts, academics,
planners, and trade association representatives. We also utilized our
prior work on the NextGen program, on the airspace redesign project in
New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia, and on metropolitan planning
organizations (MPO). We also reviewed relevant studies, including
ongoing research being developed for the Airport Cooperative Research
Program of the Transportation Research Board and studies by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology regarding the role of regional
airport planning in addressing airport congestion. Appendix I contains
a more detailed description of our objectives, scope, and methodology.
We conducted this performance audit from September 2008 to December
2009, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Background:
FAA's mission is to provide a safe and efficient airspace system. As
part of this mission, the agency uses airport system planning to better
understand the interrelationship of airports at the national, state,
and regional levels. FAA guidance states that the overall goals of
airport system planning are to ensure that the air transportation needs
of a state or metropolitan area are adequately served by its airports,
and that planning results in products that can be used by the planning
organization, airports, and FAA to determine future airport development
needs.[Footnote 11]
There are several types and levels of planning involving individual
airports or airport systems, including the National Plan of Integrated
Airport Systems (NPIAS), state and regional system plans, and airport-
level plans. The NPIAS identifies over 3,400 airports as being
nationally significant to the national airspace system, including all
of the nation's commercial service and reliever airports and some
general aviation airports.[Footnote 12] Most states periodically
develop state airport system plans to inventory airports using a set of
criteria developed by FAA. While not required, some regions choose to
carry out regional airport planning--which may include the development
of regional airport system plans (RASP) or other regional airport
plans--to identify critical regional airport issues and to integrate
aviation with other modes in a region's transportation system.[Footnote
13] At the airport level, two types of plans support airport
improvements at individual airports, the airport layout plan (ALP),
which is required for federal funding, and the airport master plan.
[Footnote 14] Figure 1 provides additional information about these
plans and illustrates the role of each in the FAA funding process for
airport improvement projects in the AIP.
Figure 1: Funding Process for Airport Improvement Projects:
[Refer to PDF for image: illustration]
Establishing eligibility:
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS):
The NPIAS is an inventory of airports that meet national criteria.
Inclusion in the NPIAS makes an airport eligible to receive Airport
Improvement Program (AIP) grants.
State Airport System Plans:
State airport system plans recommend airports for inclusion in the
NPIAS. They may also identify state aviation funding priorities.
Planning for eligible airports:
Airport Layout Plans (ALP) and airport master plans:
ALPs are a graphical depiction of current and future airport
facilities. All NPIAS airports must have an FAA-approved ALP to receive
federal funding. Airport master plans are optional and supplement ALPs
with detailed information, such as forecasts of passenger demand and
long-range development plans.
Decision making for federal funding:
Airports Capital Improvement Plans (ACIP):
FAA regional offices review airport-level capital improvement plans,
which are based on ALPs and airport master plans, and may consider
other plans”-such as state plans or RASPs”-to develop a plan of
recommended projects. FAA headquarters scores these recommended
projects using national criteria for inclusion on a candidate list for
AIP discretionary funding. FAA regional offices have some discretion in
finalizing the list of projects included in the ACIP.
Regional airport planning may complement other airport planning:
Regional Airport System Plans (RASP):
RASPs are voluntary. These plans contain elements laid out for airport
system planning by FAA, such as an inventory of the regional airport
system and forecasts of regional demand. They may also prioritize
airport improvements from a regional perspective.
Other regional airport plans:
Other regional plans do not necessarily contain elements laid out for
system planning by FAA. These plans may include special studies to
analyze or address issues such as compatible land use, zoning
implementation, or airport ground access.
Source: GAO analysis of FAA documents.
[End of figure]
Airports in the NPIAS become eligible to apply for FAA's AIP grants,
which provided almost $3.5 billion for capital projects in fiscal year
2008.[Footnote 15] AIP funding is available for eligible projects,
which include projects such as airfield construction or equipment
purchases, terminal or terminal access improvements, land acquisition,
noise compatibility projects, and regional airport planning. AIP grants
generally consist of two types--entitlement funds that are apportioned
to airports or states by formula each year based upon statutory
criteria, and discretionary funds that FAA approves based on a
project's priority. To ensure that the highest priority projects
nationally are funded, discretionary funds are awarded using a national
priority rating system that awards points on a variety of factors,
including airport size; the purpose of the project (e.g., capacity
related, planning, environmental, and safety); and the type of project
(e.g., terminal improvement and equipment purchase). Airports apply
directly to FAA through FAA regional offices for AIP discretionary
funding, and proposed projects are scored using the national priority
rating system.[Footnote 16] Furthermore, the Airport and Airway
Improvement Act of 1982 (AAIA)--which established the current AIP--
provided FAA with the authority to give priority to airport improvement
projects that are consistent with integrated airport system plans,
[Footnote 17] such as RASPs. In the guidance provided by FAA for
airport system planning, airport sponsors are also encouraged to use
findings and recommendations from regional airport planning to develop
plans to serve as a guideline for the allocation of funding.
While no specific amount is currently set aside for system planning in
the AIP program, approximately 2 percent of funds made available
annually for AIP grants since 1970 have been used for these purposes.
[Footnote 18] Most of this funding is used for planning at the state or
airport level, but some regions have also applied for and received AIP
funding for regional airport planning. This funding has been used for a
variety of planning efforts by states, airport sponsors, and regional
planning bodies--primarily MPOs--and includes the development of RASPs.
[Footnote 19] Other regional airport planning funded with AIP grants
includes special studies to analyze or address new or unique issues,
such as compatible land uses around airports, zoning implementation, or
airport ground access.
There are a number of stakeholders with interests in the airport
planning process. They include FAA, states, and airports and may also
include MPOs, airlines, and local communities. The FAA's Office of
Airport Planning and Programming provides guidance about airport system
planning, while FAA regional offices administer grants and provide
technical support to airports and others developing airport plans at
the airport, regional, and state levels. The range of involvement by a
particular stakeholder group varies by the type of plan under
development, among other things. Thus, FAA, airports, and sometimes
airlines are typically most involved in the development of ALPs and
airport master plans and the resulting capital plans. States work with
airports--notably, general aviation or reliever airports, not typically
major commercial airports--to identify airports and improvements for
inclusion in state airport system plans. MPOs may work with airport
sponsors, local jurisdictions, state authorities, and FAA when
developing RASPs or carrying out other regional airport planning. FAA
accepts plans developed by states or MPOs and reviews and approves
ALPs. In addition to federal and state aviation officials, other
stakeholders in the process include the following:
* Airport sponsors: Airport sponsors can be any one of a number of
different types of public entities, such as cities, counties, airport
authorities, ports, intermodal agencies, or private owners.
* MPOs: MPOs may lead or participate in regional airport planning, but
their primary role is carrying out regional surface transportation
planning in urbanized areas, including the development of long-range
and short-range transportation plans. To receive federal surface
transportation funding, any project in an urbanized area must emerge
from the relevant MPO and state department of transportation planning
process.[Footnote 20]
* Airlines: Airlines play a key role in the functioning of airport
systems, since they make decisions about which airports to serve and
how frequently to provide service. Airlines may consider a number of
factors in making these decisions, such as the location of regional
business, economic indicators, the travel patterns of area residents,
the cost of establishing service at particular airports, the effects on
their service network, and the service provided by competing carriers.
FAA guidance on airport system planning identifies eight key elements
of the planning process, including inventorying the airport system,
identifying air transportation needs, considering alternative airport
systems, and preparing an implementation plan (see table 1). The
guidance states that the end result should be "the establishment of a
viable, balanced, and integrated system of airports to meet current and
future demand." FAA does not approve airport master plans, state
airport system plans, or RASPs. For those plans developed with FAA
funding, however, FAA is involved in developing the scope of work
covered under the grant, reviewing draft documents, approving aviation
forecasts, and then accepting the final plan.
Table 1: Elements of the Airport System Planning Process in FAA
Guidance:
Element: Exploration of issues that impact aviation in the study area;
Description: A list of major aviation issues, problems, questions, and
opportunities should be developed, ranked in order of importance, and
presented with strategies to address each. The report may include
issues of a national nature as well as concerns specific to an
individual state, metropolitan region, local community, or even
multistate area.
Element: Inventory of the current system;
Description: The inventory should include information about the
condition and activity of individual airports; environmental features
and conditions as well as land-use considerations and applicable laws;
navigational aids and other aspects of aircraft approaches;
statewide or regional socioeconomic data and airport financial
information; historical weather data; surface transportation;
and terminal, airfield, and airspace capacity.
Element: Identification of air transportation needs;
Description: Broad system goals and performance measures ensure the
implementation of a successful aviation system, while specific goals
vary depending on the planning area. Examples include having a system
of airports readily accessible to the population, providing emergency
medical access to the population, providing a safe and efficient system
of airports, and preserving the existing airport system with a high
degree of stable ownership. Performance measures should tie the level
of service of the system and the performance of individual airports to
the goals.
Element: Forecast of system demand;
Description: Forecasts define an airport's role within the system and
prioritize airport development. FAA-prepared forecasts should be used
when they meet the requirements of the system planning effort. Factors
that can be considered include socioeconomic data, demographics,
disposable income, geographic attributes, and external factors such as
fuel costs and local attitudes toward aviation. Forecasts are submitted
to FAA for approval.
Element: Consideration of alternative airport systems;
Description: If the assessment of airport system capacity shows that
expansion of facilities is necessary to accommodate projected demand,
an investigation of alternatives should be conducted. Criteria to
compare alternatives can include capital costs, aviation safety,
airspace utilization, ability to address need, environmental impacts,
delay and other operational costs, consistency with local area
comprehensive and transportation plans, and land-use availability and
compatibility. The evaluation of system alternatives is usually a more
complex activity for large metropolitan or regional areas, given
scarcities in airspace and land, challenges to airport accessibility,
and potential environmental effects. Therefore, the analysis of
feasible alternatives should attempt to balance the need for airfield
capacity and use of airspace with the need to minimize environmental
impacts.
Element: Definition of airport roles and policy strategies;
Description: The existing role of each airport should be identified
using definitions provided by FAA for NPIAS airports. If alternate
definitions are used, these should be linked to the airport categories
used in the NPIAS. Using standard definitions will help maximize the
system benefits of airport investments as well as ensure the
rationalization of federal priorities across airport categories.
Element: Recommendation of system changes, funding strategies, and
airport development;
Description: State plans can identify priorities among existing
airports, and MPOs can provide recommendations. Some states and
regional planning organizations define priority indices with relative
weightings, establishing their own priority rankings for proposed
airport development projects. In general, these rankings should be
consistent with FAA's AIP priorities, if federal funds are sought. A
cost-effective plan of action should be prepared for 5-, 10- , and 20-
year planning horizons.
Element: Preparation of an implementation plan;
Description: Development that is eligible for AIP funding should be
identified so it can be easily incorporated into the NPIAS and FAA's
Airport Capital Improvement Plan as well as into the airport's master
plan and ALP.
Source: GAO presentation of FAA Airport System Planning guidance.
[End of table]
When considering alternative airport systems (the fifth of the eight
elements), regional planners may identify alternate, underutilized
airports in a region as having the potential to relieve pressure on
congested airports. FAA's airport system planning guidance states that
the development of such alternate airports should only be undertaken
when a full assessment has been done of various market factors. The
guidance states that it is important to understand the nature of demand
within a region, including factors that would divert demand to other
airports, and any potential political, economic, or institutional
barriers to developing an airport system. It also recommends that
planners assess the ability of the airport to offer adequate service--
in terms of convenience, schedules, and fares--and the effect on
airlines, noting that the development of alternate airports should
enhance airline profitability and be compatible with their route
systems.
In addition to the development of RASPs, other types of regional
airport planning, including special studies whose scope of work does
not fully correspond with the elements described in the airport system
planning guidance, may be undertaken with AIP grants, according to
FAA's airport system planning guidance. Special studies can include but
are not limited to work in such areas as air service, air cargo
operations, environmental or drainage inventories, surface access,
economic impact, obstruction analysis or photogrammetry, general
aviation security, and pavement management.[Footnote 21]
FAA's airport system planning guidance states that MPOs can receive FAA
support to conduct regional airport planning in areas that include
large-or medium-hub airports (1) when such agencies have the interest
in and capabilities to conduct such planning and (2) when regional FAA,
state aviation, and local airport officials determine that MPOs should
have a role. The guidance continues that the regional airport planning
carried out by MPOs should complement--rather than guide--the planning
done by FAA, states, and individual airports. According to the
guidance, MPO-led regional airport planning may enhance the integration
of the entire regional transportation system by promoting aviation
enhancement and preservation, identifying critical regional aviation
issues, and acting as the contact point for regional surface access,
air quality, and land-use planning studies. MPOs can also act as a
catalyst in implementing system planning recommendations--which may
involve several stakeholders--by resolving local conflicts, promoting
airport development funding priorities, and proposing the distribution
of grants among eligible projects. The guidance states that an MPO's
ability to implement regional airport planning recommendations is
limited to the extent that it can influence airport development through
persuasion; leadership; or nonaviation incentives, such as surface
transportation improvements that may improve airport access. This
stands in contrast to state aviation agencies, which can implement
system planning recommendations using legislative and funding
mechanisms, including AIP funds, whereas MPOs do not receive AIP funds,
other than for planning purposes.
Many Airports Are or Will Become Significantly Congested in Coming
Years and Regional Airport Planning Has the Potential to Identify
Solutions:
FAA Has Identified 14 Airports That May Become Significantly Congested
by 2025, Even If Planned Improvements Occur, and 27 Airports If They Do
Not Occur:
FAA's FACT 2 report forecast that 14 airports will be significantly
capacity constrained--and thus potentially congested--by 2025, even if
currently planned improvements are carried out.[Footnote 22] According
to FAA, some airports are already significantly capacity constrained,
and increased demand is expected to increase delays going forward. Six
of these 14 airports will be significantly capacity constrained as
early as 2015, according to the report. (See figure 2.)
The FACT 2 study was designed to produce a conservative list of
congested airports, according to FAA officials, and identified those
airports that will have the greatest need for future additional
capacity. FAA officials noted that airports not designated as capacity
constrained by the study may also have capacity issues in the future
and may need capacity-enhancing projects. (See appendix II for a
discussion of the FACT 2 report and implications of its design.) The
demand forecasts included in FACT 2, however, were conducted before
2007 and do not take into account the reduction in demand resulting
from the recent economic downturn. As a result, potential capacity
constraints may occur on a different timeline than previously forecast.
Figure 2: Airports Needing Capacity in 2015 and 2025, Even If Planned
Improvements Occur:
[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated map of the continental U.S.]
Airports projected to need capacity in 2015 and 2025, even if planned
improvements occur:
EWR: Newark Liberty International;
LGA: LaGuardia;
LGB: Long Beach;
OAK: Oakland International;
PHL: Philadelphia International;
SNA: John Wayne.
Airports projected to need capacity in 2025, even if planned
improvements occur:
ATL: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International;
FLL: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International;
JFK: John F. Kennedy International;
LAS: McCarran International;
MDW: Midway International;
PHX: Phoenix Sky Harbor International;
SAN: San Diego International;
SFO: San Francisco International.
Sources: GAO analysis of FAA data; Map Resources (base map).
[End of figure]
The improvements considered in the 2025 and 2015 forecasts include
those in FAA's OEP, such as new or extended runways, changes or
improvements in air-traffic control procedures and technology, and
airspace redesign.[Footnote 23] Some NextGen improvements, such as
reduced separation requirements for arrivals and departures, were
included in the 2025 analysis for the 35 airports included in the OEP
program and Oakland International Airport.[Footnote 24]
If planned improvements do not occur, the FACT 2 report predicted that
the number of airports that will be significantly capacity constrained
will increase to 27 by 2025. Likewise, 18 airports were predicted to
need additional capacity by 2015, if planned improvements do not occur.
Figure 3 shows the airports predicted by FACT 2 to face significant
capacity challenges in 2015 and 2025, if planned improvements do not
occur.
Figure 3: Airports Needing Capacity in 2015 and 2025, If Planned
Improvements Do Not Occur:
[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated map of the continental U.S.]
Airports projected to need capacity in 2015 and 2025, if planned
improvements do not occur:
CLT: Charlotte Douglas International;
EWR: Newark Liberty International;
FLL: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International;
HOU: William P. Hobby;
IAH: George Bush Intercontinental;
JFK: John F. Kennedy International;
LAS: McCarran International;
LGA: LaGuardia;
LGB: Long Beach;
MDW: Midway International;
OAK: Oakland International;
ORD: O‘Hare International;
PBI: Palm Beach International;
PHL: Philadelphia International;
PVD: T.F. Green;
SAT: San Antonio International;
SNA: John Wayne;
TUS: Tucson International.
Airports projected to need capacity in 2025, if planned improvements do
not occur:
ATL: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International;
BOS: Boston Logan International;
IAD: Washington Dulles International;
LAX: Los Angeles International;
MSP: Minneapolis-Saint Paul International;
PHX: Phoenix Sky Harbor International;
SAN: San Diego International;
SEA: Seattle-Tacoma International;
SFO: San Francisco International.
Sources: GAO analysis of FAA data; Map Resources (base map).
[End of figure]
The NextGen program is intended to transform the nation's navigation
system into a satellite-based system, but faces challenges to
implementation for both airlines and FAA. Benefits from the program are
expected to include increased safety with a reduction in the number of
runway incursions; greater design flexibility with the reduction of
separation requirements between runways, which may allow for new
runways or improved airport layouts; better use of existing capacity
with reduced separation standards for aircraft and improved access to
airports with mountainous terrain or other obstacles; and reduced
environmental impacts since aircraft will be able to descend using the
shortest routes at minimum power settings. As we have previously
reported, FAA has made some progress in implementing the NextGen
program, but still faces some challenges. For example, aircraft
operators must purchase equipment to implement NextGen capabilities,
but some airlines have been reluctant to do so until FAA specifies
requirements, addresses funding concerns, and demonstrates benefits.
[Footnote 25] FAA must also determine that new technologies will
operate in a real-life environment with a desired level of confidence
and approve their use as well as issue rules for the use of procedures
before midterm implementation can occur. Finally, the transformation to
NextGen will also depend on the ability of airports to handle greater
capacity. Since runways and airspace issues are not the only causes of
congestion, improved efficiency in these areas--which may result from
implementation of NextGen improvements--may exacerbate capacity
constraints involving taxiways, terminal gates, or parking areas.
There are 4 airports that were already considered capacity constrained
under the FACT 2 methodology, including 2 in the New York/New Jersey
region--Newark Liberty International (Newark) and LaGuardia
(LaGuardia)--as well as Chicago's O'Hare International (O'Hare) and
Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International in Southern Florida. In the New
York region, FAA has set limitations on the number of takeoffs and
landings during peak operating hours at Newark, John F. Kennedy
International Airport (JFK), and LaGuardia, to minimize congestion and
reduce flight delays. However, these airports are still routinely found
to be among the most congested in the country and are on FAA's list of
airports needing additional capacity by both 2015 and 2025. [Footnote
26] Improvements at O'Hare and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International
will take them off the list of significantly congested airports by
2015, according to the FACT 2 report.
All 14 of the airports forecast by FAA as needing additional capacity
by 2025 or 2015 are located in major metropolitan areas with at least 1
large-hub airport. Nine of the airports forecast to be congested are in
regions with more than 1 large-or medium-hub airport.[Footnote 27] Each
of the airports identified as potentially capacity constrained in 2015
is also included on the list for 2025. For the purposes of our review,
we focused on the 10 metropolitan regions that include the 14 airports
forecast by the FACT 2 report to be significantly capacity constrained
by 2025, assuming planned improvements occur.[Footnote 28] (See table
2.)
Table 2: Airports Forecast by FACT 2 as Being Significantly Capacity
Constrained by 2025, Even If Planned Improvements Occur, and Their
Corresponding Metropolitan Regions:
Airport: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International;
Metropolitan region: Atlanta.
Airport: Midway International;
Metropolitan region: Chicago.
Airport: Las Vegas McCarran International;
Metropolitan region: Las Vegas.
Airport: Long Beach-Daugherty Field;
Metropolitan region: Los Angeles.
Airport: John Wayne-Orange County;
Metropolitan region: Los Angeles.
Airport: Newark Liberty International;
Metropolitan region: New York.
Airport: John F. Kennedy International;
Metropolitan region: New York.
Airport: LaGuardia;
Metropolitan region: New York.
Airport: Philadelphia International;
Metropolitan region: Philadelphia.
Airport: Phoenix Sky Harbor International;
Metropolitan region: Phoenix.
Airport: San Diego International;
Metropolitan region: San Diego.
Airport: Oakland International;
Metropolitan region: San Francisco.
Airport: San Francisco International;
Metropolitan region: San Francisco.
Airport: Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International;
Metropolitan region: South Florida.
Sources: Department of Transportation and GAO.
[End of table]
Many Regions Face Obstacles to Developing New Airport Capacity:
Developing new airport capacity can be costly, complex, and time-
consuming. Historically, airports, metropolitan regions, and FAA have
looked to airport expansion and facility improvements--such as the
construction of new runways--to provide new capacity, but increasingly
airport expansion faces obstacles, especially in congested regions.
Through the cooperative efforts of the aviation industry, airports, and
FAA, 20 airfield projects have opened since 2000 at 18 OEP airports,
including new runways at O'Hare, Seattle-Tacoma International, and
Washington Dulles International in 2008.[Footnote 29] However, projects
involving new runways often take a decade or more to complete because
of legal and other obstacles. In addition, the last major new
commercial service airport in the United States was opened in Denver in
1995 and is 1 of only 2 new major airports built in over 40 years.
[Footnote 30] That said, proposals for a new airport in Peotone,
Illinois, in the Chicago region and for a new airport to supplement Las
Vegas McCarran International Airport are currently in the early stages
of FAA environmental review.[Footnote 31]
Going forward, the development of new infrastructure--including the
construction or extension of runways as well as new airports--faces
many challenges. FACT 2 points out that expanding airport capacity is
unlikely in some locations. According to ongoing research being
developed for the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP), adverse
community reaction to aircraft noise and pollutant emissions at and
near major airports continues to impede the development of new airport
infrastructure, and this resistance is unlikely to decrease.[Footnote
32] Another study noted that lawsuits are filed in opposition to
virtually every expansion of a major airport, generally challenging the
right of airport officials to override local zoning rules or increase
noise or air pollution.[Footnote 33] According to this study, while
such legal challenges are usually unsuccessful, projects often take
longer than originally anticipated. We have also previously reported
that new runway construction from initial planning to completion takes
a median of 10 years, but delays can add an additional 4 years to the
median time.[Footnote 34] While we found that the level of challenges
that airports faced varied, in part depending on the proximity of the
airport to a major city and the amount of community opposition to the
runway, some common themes emerged in our 2002 survey of airports that
had built or planned to build runways between 1991 and 2010. Challenges
identified by those airports included reaching stakeholder agreement on
the purpose and need for the new runway, completing required
environmental reviews, reaching agreement on how to mitigate the impact
of noise and other issues, and designing and constructing the runways
in light of weather and site preparation issues. The conversion of
former or joint-use military airfields for civilian use is an alternate
approach to providing new or additional capacity, but this approach has
also faced obstacles similar to those posed with the construction of
new facilities. Voters recently rejected the proposed conversion of
military airfields at Miramar and El Toro, current and former Marine
Corps air stations, respectively.[Footnote 35]
In our discussions with regional and airport officials, we found that
environmental constraints, including land-use issues or community
concerns about airport noise or the redesign of airspace around
congested airports; physical constraints; and local legal constraints
are also obstacles to the development of new capacity through airport
or runway expansion. Environmental issues have been a constraint on
development in the San Francisco region at San Francisco International
Airport (SFO) and at Oakland International Airport, for example, where
the construction of new runways would involve extensive filling in the
San Francisco Bay. A proposal to build a new runway at SFO was dropped
due to environmental issues and cost constraints. As conceived, the
project would have been the largest construction project in the bay for
over 50 years and would have involved dredging and filling up to 2
square miles of the bay. (Figure 4 shows the 2000 proposal for
construction at SFO.) More recent planning has not included runway
construction, focusing instead on a terminal development program and
other alternatives. Noise concerns have also been a limiting factor for
many airports. Proposals for runway expansion in Philadelphia led to a
lawsuit filed by surrounding communities seeking to block the
development, for example. Likewise, officials at SFO pointed to
encroaching neighborhoods as state land-use policies encourage the
development of previously industrial areas. Efforts to redesign the
airspace around the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia region also led to
community opposition, with several surrounding communities filing
lawsuits that, thus far, have been resolved in favor of FAA.[Footnote
36] Physical constraints on expansion or new construction can also be
obstacles. For example, San Diego International has one runway, sits on
only 661 acres, and the surrounding terrain limits the slope for
departing aircraft, particularly heavier aircraft. The San Diego County
Regional Airport Authority is developing a proposal to reconfigure the
airport's terminals, given the lack of room for a new runway. Finally,
legal agreements or requirements hamper the use of existing capacity at
some airports, including those in the Los Angeles region--in Orange
County and Long Beach. Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New
York, also has legal limits on airport operations, according to an air
service demand study. Other airports have community agreements limiting
capacity or growth. For example, Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX) has imposed a cap of 78.9 million annual passengers on its
operations as part of a settlement agreement with surrounding
communities, according to regional officials. Likewise, according to an
airport official, Bob Hope Airport is prevented from expanding the
footprint of its existing terminal until 2012 by an agreement with the
City of Burbank. The airport also recently sought FAA approval to make
a voluntary nighttime curfew permanent. This application was denied by
FAA, however, based in part on concerns that the curfew would result in
congestion and delay in the region and potentially have ripple effects
throughout the national airspace system.
Figure 4: Potential Extent of Bay Fill for Runway Construction at San
Francisco International Airport (2000 Proposal):
[Refer to PDF for image: illustration]
This illustration depicts the location of the San Francisco
International Airport in the Bay Area, and the location of the
potential extent of bay fill for runway construction.
Sources: San Francisco International Airport and GAO.
[End of figure]
Regional Airport Planning Has the Potential to Identify Solutions for
Congestion:
Regional airport planning can identify solutions for airports and
regions seeking to determine how best to manage available capacity and
address the challenges posed by congestion. A 2003 study for the Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy at the Department
of Transportation looked at the potential for alternative airports to
meet regional capacity needs and found that the use of these airports
can make more efficient use of existing resources and better use of
limited funds for airport development.[Footnote 37] According to the
report, to make better use of alternate airports, regional airport
planning should focus on both airport development and access issues.
The study concluded that as metropolitan areas grow and become more
congested and complex, FAA needs to promote regional airport planning.
Likewise, according to ongoing research being developed for the ACRP,
there are important opportunities to improve aviation system capacity
and airport operations by embracing more collaborative and cooperative
regional airport planning.[Footnote 38] The research has found that
proactively seeking ways to use commercial airport capacity more
efficiently will be important to maintaining the viability of air
travel while accommodating forecast growth in demand for air travel.
According to the research, airport managers and governing bodies will
need to embrace the concept of capacity sharing with other airports in
their market areas to maintain this viability and accommodate demand
and will also need to look at other potential approaches. Such
approaches may include the expansion of high-speed rail in some
corridors or the use of demand-management strategies, such as peak
pricing or restrictions on the use of congested airports by smaller
aircraft.[Footnote 39]
FAA's FACT 2 report and its 2009-2013 FAA Flight Plan also noted the
potential for regional airport planning to identify options to relieve
congestion.[Footnote 40] The FACT 2 report identified regional options
that could help meet the future capacity needs of the nation's
airports, among them, continuing to study regional traffic and
development alternatives and planning for high-density corridors and
multiple modes, including high-speed rail. Likewise, one of the
initiatives in the Flight Plan is the use of AIP funding to reduce
capacity constraints and provide greater access to alternate airports
in the metropolitan areas and corridors where congestion at primary
airports creates delays throughout the national airspace system.
[Footnote 41] Finally, FAA's NextGen program identifies regional
airports as having potential to provide additional capacity in 15
metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Las
Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San
Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, South Florida, and Washington/Baltimore.
Most Regions with Significantly Congested Airports Have Engaged in
Regional Airport Planning, but Regional Airport Plans Have Been Used
Selectively for FAA or Airport Decision Making:
Nearly All Regions Forecast to Have Significantly Congested Airports
Have Received FAA Funding for Regional Airport Planning:
Nine of the 10 regions forecast by FAA to have one or more
significantly congested airports in 2025 received FAA funding from 1999
through 2008 in support of regional airport planning (see table 3). In
all, FAA provided $34 million in AIP grants for metropolitan system
planning during this period, and the 9 aforementioned regions received
$20 million of the total. According to FAA's AIP Handbook, metropolitan
areas are eligible for funding under FAA's AIP program if airport
problems in the region require a higher level of effort to address them
than would be provided as part of a statewide analysis.[Footnote 42]
Such regional problems typically arise in association with large-or
medium-hub airports, according to the handbook. Each of the 10 regions
forecast to be significantly capacity constrained by 2025 had at least
one airport categorized as a large hub in 2008.[Footnote 43]
Table 3: FAA Funding for Regional Airport Planning for Regions Forecast
to Have Significantly Congested Airports by 2025, Even If Planned
Improvements Occur, 1999-2008:
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: Atlanta;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $200,000.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: Chicago;
FAA regional airport planning funding: 0.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: Las Vegas;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $200,000.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: Los Angeles;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $8,250,600.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: New York[A];
FAA regional airport planning funding: $3,652,730.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: Philadelphia;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $2,847,254.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: Phoenix;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $450,000.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: San Diego;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $1,500,000.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: San Francisco;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $765,000.
Regions with airports forecast to be congested: South Florida;
FAA regional airport planning funding: $2,516,250.
Source: GAO analysis of Department of Transportation data.
[A] The MPO in Philadelphia administered $675,000 of the funds in the
New York region as part of the FAA Regional Air Service Demand Study
for the region.
[End of table]
Six Regions with Airports Forecast to Be Congested Have Prepared RASPs:
Since 1999, 6 of the 10 regions with airports that are forecast to be
congested by 2025 have developed or are developing RASPs, including Los
Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and South
Florida. Each of these regions has received one or more FAA grants for
regional planning since 1999. The majority of these plans were
developed or are being developed under the leadership of the local MPO,
although in San Diego and Florida the airport sponsor and the state
department of transportation, respectively, assumed leadership roles.
Five regions have completed RASPs since 2000, and 2 are in development.
[Footnote 44] Table 4 provides information about the RASPs developed or
being developed in the 6 regions. Based on our review, the completed
RASPs largely reflect the elements laid out for system planning by FAA
and generally contain information about the airport system, forecast
information, and a discussion of transportation needs, among other
elements. In addition, most of the completed RASPs contained
recommendations or strategies regarding the role of regional airports
and potential airport improvements.
Table 4: RASP Development in Regions with Potentially Congested
Airports:
Regions with potentially congested airports: Los Angeles;
Organization leading planning effort: The Southern California Council
of Governments, the region's MPO;
Overview of regional airport planning: The MPO looked at each of the
region's airports to identify capacity constraints, such as those posed
by terminal facilities or the inability to construct new runways. The
plan highlighted a decentralization strategy that aimed at moving
traffic to alternate airports, including those in Palmdale and Ontario.
The RASP pointed to a need for better access to alternate regional
airports. Forecasting done by the MPO predicted how changes at
individual airports may impact the region as a whole and allowed
planners to see the potential impact of new airport construction or
capacity improvements on other regional airports;
Most recent RASP and FAA funding for all regional airport planning,
1999-2008[A]: Completed in 2008. Updates are regularly done for the
Regional Transportation Plan.
1999: $3,227,400;
2001: $790,200;
2002: $1,500,000;
2003: $1,400,000;
2004: $833,000;
2005: $500,000.
Regions with potentially congested airports: Philadelphia;
Organization leading planning effort: The Delaware Valley Regional
Planning Commission, the region's MPO;
Overview of regional airport planning: The 2006 RASP update recognized
that Philadelphia International Airport will remain the primary airport
in the region and recommended improvements, including a possible new
parallel runway. The RASP also recommended increasing service at
Trenton Mercer and New Castle airports to relieve pressure on
Philadelphia International, suggesting terminal improvements to
facilitate their increased use;
Most recent RASP and FAA funding for all regional airport planning,
1999-2008[A]: Updated in 2006. A draft has been prepared for 2009.
Updates are regularly done as part of the region's long-range plan.
1999: $239,600;
2000: $200,000;
2001: $383,670;
2002: $410,310;
2003: $200,000;
2004: $300,000;
2005: $281,000;
2006: $400,000;
2007: $243,504;
2008: $189,170.
Regions with potentially congested airports: Phoenix;
Organization leading planning effort: The Maricopa Association of
Governments, the region's MPO;
Overview of regional airport planning: The MPO received a FAA grant in
2002 to update its RASP. When a draft plan called for extensive
airspace modeling--which FAA did not support--FAA closed out the grant.
The MPO subsequently completed the plan without FAA involvement,
although the plan was not formally adopted by the MPO;
Most recent RASP and FAA funding for all regional airport planning,
1999-2008[A]: Completed in 2006.
1999: $300,000;
2002: $150,000.
Regions with potentially congested airports: San Diego;
Organization leading planning effort: The San Diego County Regional
Airport Authority, sponsor of San Diego International Airport;
Overview of regional airport planning: The airport sponsor is working
with regional airports and others to assess regional options to relieve
congestion at San Diego International Airport. The plan is a follow-on
to redevelopment plans for San Diego International Airport, which aim
to redesign terminal facilities to improve capacity;
Most recent RASP and FAA funding for all regional airport planning,
1999-2008[A]: Ongoing as the result of a state mandate. The RASP is to
be completed by June 2011.
2001: $1,500,000.
Regions with potentially congested airports: San Francisco;
Organization leading planning effort: The Regional Airport Planning
Committee is an advisory committee made up of the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission--the region's MPO--the Association of Bay
Area Governments, and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission;
Overview of regional airport planning: The 2000 RASP focused on new
capacity, including the construction of new runways for San Francisco
International (SFO) and Oakland International Airport. In contrast, the
renewed planning efforts will consider noninfrastructure measures, such
as pricing mechanisms, restrictions on takeoffs and landings (slot-
controls), and air-traffic control changes as well as the use of
alternative airports and high-speed rail. The construction of
additional infrastructure, such as new runways at SFO or Oakland
International, will be considered last, according to Regional Airport
Planning Committee officials;
Most recent RASP and FAA funding for all regional airport planning,
1999-2008[A]: Completed in 2000. Ongoing efforts to develop a new RASP.
2000: $180,000;
2007: $585,000.
Regions with potentially congested airports: South Florida;
Organization leading planning effort: The Florida Department of
Transportation (FDOT) and the Southeast Florida Metropolitan Area
Steering Committee;
Overview of regional airport planning: FDOT facilitates and supports
the development of the Florida Aviation System Plan--which contains
region-specific plans that serve as RASPs. The state plan builds upon
airport master plans, while also developing priorities for state
funding. State plans determine airport access to state airport
improvement funds--which totaled $157 million in the 2009-2010 fiscal
year. As a result, airport capital plans typically reflect state goals.
The Southeast Florida Metropolitan Area Steering Committee, which
develops the regional plan for the state airport system plan, is led by
airport representatives. MPOs in the region--including those in Miami-
Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties--also participate in FDOT-led
planning and include airport improvement projects in their
transportation improvement plans;
Most recent RASP and FAA funding for all regional airport planning,
1999-2008[A]: Most recent state plan completed in 2005. State plans
contain RASPs.
2004: $2,516,250;
Awarded to the Palm Beach Board of County Commissioners.
Sources: GAO analysis of regional airport planning documents,
interviews with officials in selected regions, and FAA.
[A] AIP funding for regional airport planning includes both the
development or updating of RASPs and special studies.
[End of table]
Each of the regions that have completed or are completing RASPs also
considered alternative modes of transportation as a means to
alleviating airport congestion. FAA guidance for airport system
planning discusses alternative modes of transportation, but does so
only in the context of improving airport access. The MPO in the Los
Angeles region has modeled the potential impacts of high-speed rail.
According to ongoing research being developed for the ACRP, this
modeling work demonstrated that development of a high-speed rail system
would likely result both in the increased use of alternate regional
airports--which would be linked to metropolitan centers by the new rail
lines--for passenger service and cargo and in air-rail substitution by
some passengers as they chose to take the train in lieu of flying.
[Footnote 45] Likewise, San Diego has used its regional airport
planning process to identify intermodal solutions. The airport sponsor
worked with the region's MPO to develop a new plan for San Diego
International Airport, which includes considerations of an intermodal
facility at the airport. The new RASP is also being developed in
concert with an air-rail study being undertaken by the MPO, which aims
to explore improved access to alternative regional airports and the
potential diversion of passengers to high-speed rail.
The Extent of Regional Airport Planning in Other Regions Has Varied:
We found that the extent of regional airport planning undertaken in the
four regions forecast to have significantly congested airports that
have not developed RASPs--Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York--
varied and was focused on individual airports. The regional airport
planning that was undertaken in these regions was typically not led by
regional planners in MPOs. Airport sponsors (in the Atlanta, Las Vegas,
and New York regions) or state authorities (in Chicago) led efforts,
with planning limited to the airports under their direct authority. All
of these regions except Chicago have received funding from FAA for
regional airport planning, with amounts ranging from nearly $3 million
for JFK in the New York region--where the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey (Port Authority) carries out planning for its 5
airports--to $200,000 each in Atlanta and Las Vegas. Table 5 provides
information about the range of regional airport planning in regions
with airports forecast to be significantly congested that have not
prepared RASPs, the leadership of these activities, and funding
received from FAA.
Table 5: Regional Airport Planning in Those Regions with Potentially
Congested Airports That Have Not Prepared RASPs:
Regions with potentially congested airports: Atlanta;
Overview of regional airport planning and leadership: There is
currently no regional airport planning under way, according to FAA,
although past efforts included the identification of potential sites
for a new airport. The City of Atlanta--the sponsor of Hartsfield-
Jackson Atlanta International Airport--is studying ways to maximize
capacity at the airport with the support of FAA. Once remaining
unsatisfied demand is identified as part of this effort, other off-
airport options will be studied, according to FAA, which may include a
second airport, high-speed rail to other underutilized airports, or the
expansion of an existing general-aviation airport, among other options;
FAA funding for regional airport planning, 1999-2008:
1999: $100,000;
2000: $100,000.
Regions with potentially congested airports: Chicago;
Overview of regional airport planning and leadership: The Chicago area
is not part of a broad, comprehensive regional airport planning effort,
according to FAA. Instead, planning is done for individual airports by
their sponsors. The City of Chicago's Department of Aviation is
responsible for all planning at O'Hare and Midway and is involved in
the O'Hare Modernization Project, which aims to reduce existing delays
and increase capacity to meet future aviation needs. Other local
agencies are responsible for other airports in the region. Finally, the
State of Illinois continues to work on plans for the potential
establishment of South Suburban Airport to be located near Peotone,
Illinois. FAA is in the early stages of an environmental analysis of
this proposed airport;
FAA funding for regional airport planning, 1999-2008: [Empty].
Regions with potentially congested airports: Las Vegas;
Overview of regional airport planning and leadership: The Clark County
Department of Aviation owns and operates the three main airports in the
region and operates them as a system. The Clark County Department of
Aviation has a strategic plan, has considered a regionwide solution to
future capacity shortfalls at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport,
and is planning construction of a new supplemental commercial airport;
FAA funding for regional airport planning, 1999-2008:
1999: $200,000.
Regions with potentially congested airports: New York;
Overview of regional airport planning and leadership: The Port
Authority carries out its own planning for its airports, which include
the three large-hub airports in the region: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark
as well as Stewart International, a general aviation airport. Plans are
not publicly released nor have airport master plans been prepared for
the Port Authority's airports. Other regional airports, including those
in Atlantic City or on Long Island, carry out their own planning;
A regional demand study completed in 2007 provided information about
potential service areas for each of the region's airports and discussed
the strengths and limitations of facilities--including airfield and
terminal infrastructure as well as ground-access issues. The study
found that while the airspace/airfield needs at JFK, LaGuardia, and
Newark pose the most complex challenges to providing sufficient
capacity, secondary airports in the region would need improved ground-
access and terminal infrastructure to serve as viable alternates;
The Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit, civic group, has received
funding from the Port Authority to develop an airport system plan. The
study began in earnest this year, according to officials, and aims to
identify options to relieve congestion, which may include improvements
to the region's primary airports, increased use of alternate regional
airports, NextGen enhancements, improved access, and use of other modes
such as rail. A final conference is planned for next summer, followed
by a report. Non-Port Authority airports will be invited to be
stakeholders if recommendations include them;
FAA funding for regional airport planning, 1999-2008:
2002: $1,700,000;
2008: $1,277,730;
Two grants were awarded to the MPO in Philadelphia for the FAA Regional
Air Service Demand Study in the New York region:
2003: $350,000;
2005: $325,000.
Sources: GAO analysis of regional airport planning documents,
interviews with officials in selected regions, and FAA.
[End of table]
FAA and Airports Have Used These Plans Selectively in Decision Making:
While regional airport planning has been undertaken in each of the
regions forecast to have significantly congested airports, FAA has used
the results of this planning selectively when working with airports or
making funding decisions. In each of the five potentially congested
regions we visited, FAA regional officials stated that they may look at
RASPs or other regional airport plans when reviewing projects at
individual airports. FAA regions, however, do not carry out a
systematic review of RASPs to ensure that they meet the guidance for
airport system planning, and none of the FAA regions we spoke with
regularly used them in decision making when funding airport
improvements, despite the potential identified by FAA and others for
RASPs to identify potential options to alleviate congestion. For
example, FAA officials in the Western-Pacific Region stated that
capital investment decisions are made on the basis of airport master
plans or airport layout plans. The officials noted that RASPs can serve
as a tiebreaker among projects, but that funding decisions are made
using national-level priorities. FAA officials in the Eastern Region
also stated that they did not refer to RASPs when selecting projects
for AIP funding, although they would assume that regional forecasts and
airport roles would be reflected in airport master plans. As in the
Western-Pacific Region, we were told that RASPs might be used to
resolve tiebreakers for competing projects.
Airport officials in the regions we selected told us that no RASP to
date had been adopted into the airport-level capital improvement plans--
airport layout or airport master plans--that guide decision making. For
example, airport officials in Philadelphia stated that regional airport
planning, including the RASP, has little influence on decisions made by
the City of Philadelphia or by Philadelphia International Airport.
Officials at other airports, however, said that these plans may be
considered during airport-level planning. In the Los Angeles region,
airport officials at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, for example,
stated that while they may consider the RASP when making decisions
about airport improvements, it is not the primary driver for these
decisions because, in their view, regional and airport priorities
necessarily differ. By contrast, the airport sponsor of LAX has pursued
suggestions or strategies from RASPs when making decisions regarding
airport improvements or capacity. Los Angeles World Airports, which
operates LAX, as well as airports in Ontario and Van Nuys, based
internal strategic planning for LA/Palmdale Regional Airport on the
distribution of passenger traffic among regional airports developed by
the region's MPO. Los Angeles World Airports also for a time pursued a
decentralization strategy similar to that suggested in the RASP--
attempting to develop LA/Palmdale Regional Airport--although the
airport sponsor focused on serving local passengers, rather than
passengers that might travel to the airport from elsewhere in the
region. Finally, Los Angeles World Airports is supporting the
development of a high-speed rail line that would divert passenger
traffic by either improving access to alternate regional airports or
carrying passengers on busy regional corridors, which was also included
in the RASP.[Footnote 46]
Airport officials at San Diego International Airport and SFO--both in
regions with significantly congested regions currently developing
RASPs--anticipate using the RASPs for their airport-level planning. The
San Diego RASP is being developed by the airport sponsor itself, and
future airport plans at San Diego International are expected to reflect
findings from the RASP, according to airport officials, although there
is no assurance that the RASP would be considered by other airports in
the region. Likewise, in San Francisco, SFO airport officials are
supporting ongoing regional airport planning and stated that they
expected to consider findings included in the RASP when developing
airport plans.
While not included in our in-depth analysis of selected regions, state
department of transportation officials in Florida explained that RASPs
in the state are closely tied to airport decision making, given the
link between these plans--which are developed as part of the state's
airport planning process--and the state's airport improvement program.
Airport capital plans reflect state priorities to be eligible for these
state funds. RASPs are developed by committees made up of airport
sponsors and MPOs. The state department of transportation facilitates
and supports these committees, and the resulting regional plans are
incorporated into the state's aviation system plan, thus becoming state
priorities. The priorities reflected in the RASPs, however, are not
linked to the decision making done by FAA for AIP funding, according to
a state official.
In those areas that have not developed RASPs, regional airport planning
has contributed to some decision making. In the New York region, for
example, FAA led efforts to carry out a regional demand study looking
at current traffic at regional airports--both the primary and smaller
regional airports--as well as surveying passengers to determine where
they came from in the region and if alternate airports might be closer
than the three congested primary airports. The study also identified
the development needs for regional airports. Based in part on the
study's forecasts, the Port Authority acquired Stewart International
Airport north of the city in 2007. The newly acquired Stewart
International Airport is seen by the Port Authority to have the
potential to ease some congestion pressure on other Port Authority
airports--without removing passengers from the Port Authority system--
if airlines can be attracted to provide service to serve the local
population.[Footnote 47] By contrast, the Port Authority has not
included the other potential alternate airports identified in the
demand study--Westchester County and Long Island MacArthur Airport--in
regional airport planning currently being undertaken by the Regional
Plan Association, which is a nonprofit, civic group that has received
funding from the Port Authority to develop an airport system plan.
These alternate airports are outside the Port Authority system, and
Regional Plan Association officials stated that non-Port Authority
airports would be invited to participate in finalizing the regional
plan if draft recommendations included them. Figure 5 illustrates, as
of 2005, the service areas for the main airports in the New York-New
Jersey region and shows the location of six other airports in the
region, including Stewart International.
Figure 5: Service Areas for the Primary Airports in the New York-New
Jersey Region, 2005:
[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated map of the New York-New Jersey
Region]
Indicated on the map are the service areas for the following primary
airports:
John F. Kennedy International (JFK);
LaGuardia (LGA);
Newark Liberty International (EWR).
In addition, the locations of the following airports are indicated on
the map:
Atlantic City International (ACY);
Bradley International (BDL);
Lehigh Valley International (ABE);
Long Island MacArthur (ISP);
Philadelphia International (PHL);
Stewart International (SWF);
Trenton-Mercer (TTN);
Westchester County (HPN).
Sources: FAA Regional Air Service Demand Study and GAO.
[End of figure]
In the Boston Region, Which Is Not Forecast to Be Significantly
Congested, Regional Airport Planning Was Tied to Airport Decision
Making:
FAA officials and others pointed to the regional airport planning in
the Boston region as being a role model effort.[Footnote 48] Officials
with Massport, the sponsor of Logan International Airport (Logan) in
Boston, and planning officials began to seek regional solutions in the
1990s after it was determined that Logan, the region's primary
commercial facility, would be unable to fully accommodate growing
regional demand and that there were no options to construct a new
primary airport. Regional airport planning has included a series of
demand studies and a RASP that concentrated on finding and implementing
a mix of solutions. The resulting plans recommend improvements at
Logan; the increased use of underutilized airports in the region and
improvements at these airports; as well as the expanded use of other
modes of travel, notably high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor.
FAA played an important role in the Boston region by supporting
regional airport planning and incorporating the regional approach into
its decision making for airport capital improvement projects. The
regional airport planning in the Boston region was led by local
airports and facilitated by the FAA regional office, which provided
funding for studies as well as taking a leading role in the most recent
demand study and the development of the 2006 RASP. FAA's involvement in
the regional airport planning was credited to the interest of the
agency's regional staff. Massport officials explained that regional
airports would have been reluctant to participate in a project headed
by Massport, and the involvement of the Massachusetts Aeronautics
Division and FAA helped convene stakeholders and get people to
participate in the process. FAA also worked with regional airports to
develop capital plans to identify needed airport improvements that were
consistent with the RASP, according to regional FAA and Massport
officials.[Footnote 49]
The Boston region does not have an airport among those forecast to be
significantly congested in FAA's FACT 2 report, assuming planned
improvements occur, and FAA and Massport officials give some credit to
the implementation of regional airport planning in reducing congestion.
Officials at Massport point to improvements at Logan--which included a
new runway, new taxiways, reductions in minimum spacing between
aircraft, and issuance of peak period pricing mechanisms--as well as to
the regional airport planning as being important to addressing the
capacity challenges that faced the airport. Furthermore, the region was
significantly less congested following the September 11, 2001 (9/11),
terrorist attacks, with passenger levels at Logan dropping 18 percent
from 2000 to 2002, although this traffic has largely returned.
Following the 9/11 attacks, there was an increase in passengers using
Amtrak to travel to New York City, demonstrating the potential for high-
speed rail to complement air service and potentially reduce airport
congestion.
The realization of the goals of regional airport planning in the Boston
region was greatly aided by the decision of Southwest Airlines to
initiate service at T.F. Green Airport near Providence, Rhode Island,
in 1996, and at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New
Hampshire, in 1998, and airline officials pointed to regional airport
planning as a factor facilitating these decisions. Southwest officials
stated that the regional demand study pointed to potential demand near
these airports and helped to pique their interest, in addition to their
own analysis, in exploring expanded service in the New England region.
Furthermore, airport improvements at T.F. Green Airport and Manchester-
Boston Regional Airport allowed for the expansion. The airline debuted
service at one gate at T.F. Green. Due to the strong demand, the
airline requested that the airport construct a terminal expansion,
which allowed Southwest to expand to four gates over the next couple of
years. According to airline officials, both of these alternate regional
airports met the airline's expectations.
Since Regional Airport Planning Is Advisory, Competing Interests Can
Derail Development and Implementation, While Aligned Interests Can Aid
Implementation:
The Advisory Nature of RASPs and Other Regional Airport Plans and
Competing Interests Are Factors That Hinder Planning and
Implementation:
The MPOs that conduct regional airport planning have no authority over
which airport improvement projects are priorities in their regions and,
as a result, the RASPs they produce have little direct influence over
airport capital investment and other decisions. Because MPOs do have
authority over surface transportation projects--only projects
prioritized by MPOs are eligible to receive federal funding from the
Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA)--MPOs can directly influence surface projects
that affect airport access, but cannot directly affect the capacity of
these airports. None of the airports we met with during the course of
our review are required to consider or incorporate the recommendations
of RASPs into their ALPs or airport master plans. In most of the 6
regions that have developed or are developing RASPs, airport officials--
such as those at LAX and SFO--stated that they would consider the
region's perspective in an informal fashion, even though
recommendations included in RASPs are not binding. Other airports we
interviewed were more guarded about their consideration of regional
airport planning conducted by MPOs. Airport officials at John Wayne
Airport in the Los Angeles region stated that the region's RASP is not
a primary driver of airport decision making, in part because regional
planning priorities are likely to differ from those of the airport,
particularly regarding mitigation strategies for surrounding
communities. Airport officials at Philadelphia International stated
that the airport does its own planning without input from regional
planners, although the airport is active in the development of regional
airport plans.[Footnote 50] As a result, regional priorities may not be
reflected in the decision-making documents that guide capital
improvements at airports. Ongoing research being developed for the ACRP
similarly notes that while regional airport planning could fill the gap
between airport-and national-level planning, most regional airport
planning conducted to date has not been influential due in part to the
fact that airport sponsors retain authority over planning and
development decisions.
According to FAA, it is also not required to consider MPO-developed
RASPs, even when these plans are funded with FAA grants.[Footnote 51]
FAA officials stated that the inclusion or absence of a project in a
RASP had little influence whether the agency approved AIP grants for an
individual airport project, serving in some cases as a tiebreaker but
not guiding project prioritization. FAA considers AIP grants for
capital improvements on an airport-by-airport basis, based on national
criteria. Airports justify improvement projects individually using
forecasts from their own service areas, and the national criteria that
FAA uses does not consider how improvements exist in a regional
context, except during the environmental review process.[Footnote 52]
As we have previously discussed, FAA regional offices have some
latitude in determining which projects to fund, and FAA's funding and
support of regional airport planning itself may vary within the agency
and by project. Thus, while FAA guidance and headquarters staff
encourage regional airport planning, two MPOs in regions with
significantly congested airports have had difficultly in obtaining
funding for regional airport planning in recent years. For example, in
the Philadelphia region, an MPO official told us they sought funds to
assess capacity and demand across the airports in its region with a
demand study similar to the ones completed with FAA funding in Boston
and New York.[Footnote 53] FAA officials told us that they rejected the
study for Philadelphia because it would have included a significant
marketing component--which is ineligible for AIP funding--and it might
not be good timing for the MPO to conduct capacity analysis at the same
time as the environmental impact statement for proposed improvements at
Philadelphia International is under way. An MPO official told us that
regional planners hoped to use the results of the study to develop
recommendations and prioritize improvement projects in their region--as
had been done with the FAA-supported demand study and related RASP in
the Boston region. Additionally, FAA officials told us that AIP funding
to the MPO had declined in recent years, but that FAA did not view
other recent MPO proposals as useful. FAA has not provided funds for
regional airport planning in Los Angeles since 2005, although the MPO
has developed a RASP in the meantime without FAA funding. According to
FAA regional officials, the regional airport planning carried out by
the MPO offered impractical solutions--notably, a proposal to construct
magnetic levitation (maglev) train lines to regional airports--that
were not financially feasible. MPO officials in Los Angeles pointed to
other aspects of RASPs developed by the MPO every 4 years, such as the
forecasting and consideration of alternate regional airports, as
evidence of its value, and expressed frustration that technical support
from FAA was difficult to obtain.[Footnote 54]
For MPOs that want to carry out continuous planning, the lack of
consistent funding may limit their ability to maintain staff and
conduct planning on an ongoing basis. FAA's guidance on airport system
planning points to the importance of continuous planning, but FAA's AIP
funding process is not structured to prioritize it. This is in contrast
to the MPO-led surface transportation planning process, which according
to FTA and FHWA guidance was developed to ensure continuous planning,
among other things. Rather, projects are evaluated on a case-by-case
basis for AIP funding, which favors projects with discrete products,
although the AIP handbook notes that funding is available for
continuous planning, which may include continuing surveillance and
coordination of the airport system, periodic plan reevaluation, special
studies, and the updating of RASPs. The MPOs in two of the regions with
potentially significantly congested airports maintain aviation planning
staff to carry out regional airport planning on an ongoing basis. In
each of these regions, the MPOs received AIP grant funding from FAA for
regional airport planning for a number of years, but this funding has
been curtailed in recent years. In Los Angeles, the MPO has received no
AIP funding since 2005 and has continued to carry out regional airport
planning using its own resources. While it received AIP funding in
recent years, the MPO in Philadelphia limited the scope of its regional
airport planning to special studies--rather than continuous system
planning--according to regional planning officials, as the result of
reduced FAA support for continuous system planning.[Footnote 55]
According to ongoing research being developed for the ACRP, these two
regions are among a handful of MPOs nationwide that employ aviation
specialists--staff that could be involved in the type of monitoring
involved in continuous planning.[Footnote 56]
The advisory nature of regional airport planning and its lack of a
connection to capital investment decisions are not the only hindrances
to regional airport planning and implementation. We also found that a
number of competing interests can derail a plan and prevent
implementation. When the individual interests of airports, communities,
and airlines are not aligned, for example, they can hinder regional
airport planning and implementation. Furthermore, the lack of funding
for planning can also be a hindrance. Additional hindrances include the
following:
Airport interests. A major hindrance to regional airport planning and
implementation are the differing interests of airports in a region that
may conflict with an integrated regional approach. Airport interests
may include maximizing revenue generation and protecting markets--
including high-value business or long-haul markets. As a consequence,
regional airport planning may be more difficult to undertake and
implement in locations where airports see themselves to be in direct
competition with other airports in their region, particularly if they
perceive that such planning may divert traffic or resources to
competing airports. Airport officials in Philadelphia told us that they
do not want to support federal efforts, including regional airport
planning, that could lead to losing or diverting flights from their
airport to other airports in the region, for example, because the City
of Philadelphia--which owns Philadelphia International--does not want
to lose revenue generated at its airport to other airports. In other
regions, we found that distrust between some airports has limited the
range of solutions considered in RASPs. For example, the MPO and Los
Angeles World Airports airport officials told us that other airport
sponsors in the region--including those for airports in Long Beach,
Burbank, and Orange County--have viewed regional airport planning
suspiciously, notably the planning undertaken by the now-defunct
Southern California Regional Airport Authority. This authority
theoretically had the ability to force airports to accept more traffic.
Regional airport planning carried out by the MPO, however, does not
include such authority, and since 2001 RASPs have been developed that
respect the physical constraints and legal restrictions at individual
airports in the region.
Community interests. Some local community interests, such as those
focused on noise or environmental concerns, may impede or limit
regional airport planning and implementation. As the result of
community pressure, two airports in the Los Angeles region--John Wayne
Airport in Orange County and Long Beach Airport--have legal agreements
and requirements, respectively, that allow them to limit the capacity
of their facilities, for example. MPO officials in the region told us
that airport sponsors at these airports primarily participated in
regional airport planning to ensure that existing limits on capacity or
expansion were respected. These airports are forecast to need
additional capacity by 2025, given that they are not expected to meet
passenger demand. Other airports in the region are also working to
respond to community pressure to limit growth or operations, and such
agreements may further restrict the available airport capacity under
certain conditions in the region. For example, the airport sponsor of
LAX has agreed to limit the number of operations at the airport in
response to community concerns about noise, air quality, and the
quality of life in surrounding communities. In addition, the airport
sponsor at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank applied to FAA to make a
voluntary nighttime curfew permanent, which had the potential to put
pressure on nearby airports, such as LAX, or airports in Ontario and
Van Nuys. While FAA denied the application, even voluntary agreements
of this type reduce the regional options for meeting passenger demand
for air travel.
Airline interests. Airlines act independently of both airports and
communities, and their independence may complicate efforts to plan
regionally. Airlines make decisions about which airports to serve and
the level of services they will offer according to their business and
network plans, and such decisions may not align with airport and MPO
plans. Most notably, in a congested region, planning officials might
suggest that traffic migrate to lesser-used alternate airports, as they
have in Los Angeles. However, this suggestion may conflict with the
business plans of airlines that already serve primary airports in a
region. Such airlines generally want to focus their traffic in a city
at one major airport, both for cost and revenue reasons.[Footnote 57]
In addition, while MPOs may want to develop capacity in the system,
this development may not align with the objectives of airlines.
Individual airlines may prefer to sell limited capacity at a premium
price or limit the ability of other airlines to provide competing
service. FAA guidance on airport system planning points to the
importance of understanding airline business models when suggesting the
use of alternate regional airports. Regional planning and airport
officials in several of the regions we visited noted that they
concentrated on attracting new entrants to the market or airlines whose
business plans included serving alternate airports--primarily low-cost
carriers--for service at these airports. The use of demand management
strategies that provide incentives for airlines to serve alternate
regional airports--or a disincentive to serving congested, primary
airports--could serve to align the interests of airlines and airports
or regional planners as well, according to some airport officials.
Airport sponsors and MPOs in our selected regions indicated that they
had little influence over airline service levels and locations, which
made it difficult to align divergent and sometimes competing interests.
Regional planners with whom we met also indicated that they found it
difficult to engage airlines in their regional airport planning. For
example, MPO officials in Philadelphia reported that airline
representatives had attended only one planning meeting. Likewise, in
San Diego, an airline representative was included on the advisory
committee, but airlines were not participating in regional planning.
According to airline representatives, airlines are typically not
involved in regional planning, although they may participate in airport-
level planning, given their interest in controlling costs. An
additional complicating factor is a difference in airport or regional
planning and airline planning. Whereas airports use 5-to 10-year
forecasts to develop master plans for capacity investments and RASPs
may be updated every 2 to 5 years, airlines' assets are largely mobile
and can move from one market to another with relative ease.
Legal restrictions. Current airport revenue rules generally do not
allow airports to price their services regionally; therefore, using
pricing to even supply and demand among various airports is not
possible. Airfield revenues may not exceed the aggregate costs to the
airport sponsor of providing airfield services and airfield assets
currently in use, with certain exceptions.[Footnote 58] The fees that
airports typically charge airlines to operate at individual airports--
including rental charges and landing fees--are based on the historical
costs of operating the facility according to FAA. Improving alternate
airports can make them more expensive, since the costs for such
improvements become part of the rate base charged to airlines. For
example, in the Los Angeles region, fees for airlines at the more-
congested LAX are less than at less-congested airports in the region,
such as Ontario International, in part due to previous improvements at
the smaller airport. Furthermore, airport-airline lease agreements,
which, according to officials, can prohibit some airport sponsors from
transferring funds from one airport to another, even if they have the
same sponsor, also can limit the options available for regional airport
planning. As a result, it may be challenging to adjust these fees in a
regional context to provide financial incentives to airlines to serve
less-congested airports, if these airports have higher operating costs.
Regional Airport Planning Is Aided by Several Factors, and
Implementation Only Occurs When Interests Are Aligned:
From our in-depth analysis, we identified a number of factors that
aided regions in the development and implementation of regional airport
planning. In general, we found that when stakeholders were supportive
of regional airport planning, the plans resulting from these efforts
were more likely to be used. More specifically, the factors that helped
align these various stakeholders include the following:
Legal considerations. Legal considerations served to facilitate
planning in two of our selected regions. After residents of San Diego
County rejected a proposal to develop a second airport, a law was
passed that required the county's airport authority to develop a RASP
by June 30, 2011.[Footnote 59] The law requires the airport authority--
which operates San Diego International--to prepare and adopt a plan
that identifies workable strategies to improve the performance of the
regional airport system.[Footnote 60] In the San Francisco region, a
state agency, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, controls
the permitting process for development within 100 feet of the shoreline
of San Francisco Bay. Both SFO and Oakland International airports sit
on land adjacent to the bay and therefore are subject to the
commission's review and permitting process, depending upon the type of
development projects these airports propose. The commission has stated
that it would deny projects--including the construction of new runways--
that would affect the bay, unless the airports exhaust all reasonable
alternatives to providing capacity. In practice, the region's RASP
development process has become the venue to explore such alternatives.
Constraints on infrastructure. A number of constraints to airport
construction--geographic, environmental, and political--spur regional
airport planning. In Boston, for example, Logan is largely locked into
its existing footprint, given its waterfront location and surrounding
community. Officials in several of our selected regions mentioned
similar constraints as reasons for participating in regional airport
planning. In San Francisco, filling the bay to build capacity would be
extremely costly and may be unlikely, given environmental concerns.
Likewise, terrain surrounding San Diego International and the airport's
small footprint limit expansion opportunities. Each of these regions is
using regional airport planning to help identify additional options for
providing transportation capacity.
MPO and FAA interest and involvement. Regional airport planning was
more likely to occur when a MPO or FAA took an active interest in
advancing regional airport planning. In several of the regions we
visited, for example, MPOs had aviation planners that carried out
system planning. Such planners in Philadelphia have engaged in a
variety of regional airport planning, including the development of a
RASP and prioritizing airport projects for state funding. MPO officials
are also active in Los Angeles at the Southern California Association
of Governments. Over the course of many years, this MPO has developed
several RASPs, and FAA has provided funding for some of this planning.
The MPO also has created and maintained a sophisticated modeling tool,
allowing it to do airport choice modeling for the entire region.
[Footnote 61]Ongoing efforts to create and update RASPs under way in
San Diego and San Francisco are being undertaken jointly by MPO and
airport officials.
While some FAA and airport officials questioned the regional airport
planning expertise of MPOs, MPOs regularly prepare surface
transportation plans and this experience may aid them in developing
RASPs. MPOs are required to develop long-range (20 year) transportation
plans and short-range (4 year) Transportation Improvement Programs
(TIP) that identify strategies for operating, managing, enhancing,
maintaining, and financing a metropolitan area's transportation system,
among other things, and the elements suggested for RASPs are similar to
those included in these plans.[Footnote 62] For example, the surface
transportation plans prepared by MPOs monitor existing conditions,
carry out forecasting, and identify current and future transportation
needs and potential improvement strategies. FAA guidance for airport
system planning also includes an inventory of the current aviation
system, forecasting, an identification of air transportation needs, and
the consideration of alternative airport systems.[Footnote 63] In a
survey conducted of MPOs nationwide for a prior GAO report, nearly 19
percent of MPOs reported that they engaged in regional airport
planning--sometimes as a result of state requirements.[Footnote 64] We
found that 17 (41 percent) of the 41 largest MPOs that responded to the
survey--those with populations with over 1 million people--indicated
that they engaged in regional airport planning.[Footnote 65] Of these
41 MPOs, 39 have a large-or medium-hub airport within their
jurisdictions.[Footnote 66]
Airports noted that outside groups, such as MPOs; nonprofit groups; or
FAA can be useful in establishing regional airport planning since they
can mitigate some of the suspicion that might be present if airports,
particularly dominant ones, lead the planning. According to ongoing
research being developed for the ACRP, MPOs can offer airport managers
truly regional perspectives on planning, data, and analyses on travel
behavior and demand in a geographically broad area and a neutral
"table" at which airport managers and other key stakeholders can sit to
work through coordination options and opportunities. Establishing a
neutral table was especially helpful in the Boston region where FAA
took an active role in helping to formulate a RASP and then to
implement the recommendations. FAA regional officials helped develop
the region's 2006 RASP by facilitating meetings among potentially
reluctant stakeholders and leading an assessment of regional demand,
among other tasks. FAA regional office then worked actively with
airports in the region to integrate RASP recommendations into their
capital plans and reviewed these plans against the RASP when making
grant decisions.
Political benefit. In several of the regions we visited, airports
supported regional airport planning to obtain political acceptance for
airport improvement projects. Given sensitive environmental
considerations, SFO and Regional Airport Planning Committee officials
told us that they worked together on the RASP because any significant
capital improvements would need the support of the regional body. Even
when regional airport planning is undertaken without the leadership of
a MPO, there can be political benefits. In the New York region, the
Port Authority is funding a project by the Regional Plan Association to
look at ways to build capacity within the Port Authority system. As
part of this effort, Regional Plan Association officials told us they
planned to poll the region's residents before and after their planning
process regarding delay and the public's support for potential
solutions. They anticipate that polling demonstrating greater public
awareness of the problems posed by delays will build support for
potential solutions, including less-popular options such as runway
construction or other improvements at the three major airports in the
region.
Airport benefit. When airport objectives complement each other--whether
to increase, decrease, or maintain current flight levels--regional
airport planning recommendations may be reflected in airport
improvement decisions. In regions where a capacity-constrained primary
airport wants to specialize in particular types of flights or service,
for example, other airports in the region may benefit if they are
interested in expanding other types of flights or services.
Furthermore, we found that if a region's primary airport or airports
are engaged in regional airport planning, their involvement may
engender momentum for planning and result in additional financial
resources or other support. In Boston, which is a region generally seen
as successful at regional airport planning, FAA officials told us that
their efforts to shift traffic away from Logan was aided by Massport's
interest in reducing the number of smaller feeder flights that were
consuming an increasing amount of the airport's runway capacity. Its
interest in making capacity available for international and long-haul
flights rather than short-haul flights coincided with the interests of
regional airports in New Hampshire and Rhode Island that wanted to
expand service. Officials at SFO also expressed enthusiasm for renewed
regional airport planning in their region. An airport official told us
that such an effort might allow SFO to focus on a more-targeted segment
of the aviation market, notably long-haul and international flights,
while allowing alternate airports to expand shorter-haul domestic
flights. SFO, together with the region's other primary airports, has
provided financial support to the regional planning process. In each of
these cases, the region's primary airport or airports took an active
role in regional airport planning, by acting as participants as well as
by contributing financial resources to sustain the efforts.
Conclusions:
The national airspace system is plagued by congestion and delay, with
nearly one-in-four arriving flights delayed at major airports, even
though a majority of the nation's airports still have adequate
capacity. FAA and others forecast that more airports and regions will
be congested in the future, even if planned infrastructure and
technological improvements occur. However, many regions that contain
congested airports also have alternate airports that may be able to
provide some congestion relief as well as other options, including
using other modes of transportation such as high-speed rail. Regional
airport planning can identify solutions to help relieve aviation
congestion--that airport-level planning cannot.
RASPs should include the range of elements identified by FAA for
airport system planning to help establish a viable system of airports.
While FAA reviews RASPs and other regional system plans to determine if
they are eligible for FAA funding, in those cases where RASPs have been
completed, FAA does not necessarily review the plans for conformance
with FAA guidance or standards. Without a review process, FAA may not
have confidence that RASPs are of a sufficient quality to guide
decision making or to ensure that they are integrated with local
airport-level plans, state airport system plans, and the NPIAS. Nor is
there an incentive for FAA to work with regions to help ensure that
RASPs meet certain standards, both in terms of content and quality.
Except in the Boston region, the recommendations made in RASPs that we
reviewed have not been systematically integrated into airport capital
plans that currently guide airport decision making and FAA funding.
Rather, both airport sponsors and FAA can choose to ignore RASPs, or to
use them selectively, even though the federal government has
contributed millions of dollars for their development. Congress,
however, in creating the current AIP in 1982 indicated that FAA may
give priority to projects that are consistent with integrated airport
system plans, such as RASPs.[Footnote 67] If RASPs are ignored, the
time, effort, and resources that MPOs, airports, and other regional
bodies expend on these efforts--as well as FAA's grant support--are not
filling the gap between airport-and national-level planning efforts or
ensuring that funding is used most efficiently to manage capacity
within regions with large-or medium-hub airports.
Recommendations for Executive Action:
To ensure that federal AIP funds are employed to their maximum benefit
and to improve the level of regional-and airport-level coordination, we
recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the Administrator
of FAA to take the following two actions:
1. Develop an FAA review process for regional airport system plans to
ensure that they meet FAA standards and airport system planning
guidance as well as provide technical support for regional planners
undertaking such planning.
2. Use its existing statutory authority to give priority to funding
airport projects that are consistent with RASPs.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
We provided a draft of this report to DOT for its review and comment.
DOT provided technical comments in an e-mail message on December 11,
2009, which we incorporated into this report as appropriate. In
reviewing the draft's second recommendation to require that the RASPs
are integrated with airport-level plans so that they are consistent and
tied to FAA funding decisions, DOT officials indicated that they did
not believe they had the authority to require airports to incorporate
RASP recommendations unless airports concurred. As a result, to create
incentives for airports to work with MPOs and other regional
organizations, we modified the second recommendation for FAA to use its
existing statutory authority to give airport projects that are
consistent with RASPs greater priority for AIP funding. DOT generally
agreed to consider our recommendations.
As arranged with your offices, unless you publicly announce the
contents of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until
30 days after the report date. At that time, we will send copies of
this report to interested congressional committees, the Secretary of
Transportation and the Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration. The report is also available at no charge on the GAO
Web site at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov].
If you or your staffs have any questions concerning this report, please
contact me at (202) 512-2834 or dillinghamg@gao.gov. Contact points for
our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found
on the last page of this report. Staff members making key contributions
to this report are listed in appendix IV.
Signed by:
Gerald Dillingham, Ph.D.
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
To identify regions with potentially congested airports, we used the
Federal Aviation Administration‘s (FAA) 2007 report entitled Capacity
Needs in the National Airspace System, 2007–2025 (FACT 2).[Footnote 68]
Using both demand and capacity forecasts, this report identifies
airports that it predicts will face significant capacity constraints by
2015 and 2025. To obtain clarification on the methodology employed, we
met with officials at both FAA and The MITRE Corporation to discuss the
study‘s design and findings and reviewed both published reports and
unpublished work”including the scores received by airports in the four
assessments used to measure demand and capacity”supporting the FACT 2
study. Appendix II provides more information about the methodology used
in the FACT 2 report and its implications.
To evaluate the challenges facing regions with potentially congested
airports, the extent of regional airport planning being undertaken, and
the factors that have aided or hindered planning and the implementation
of regional airport plans, we carried out an in-depth analysis of
selected regions. We identified regions for this analysis using the
following four criteria: (1) existing and predicted aviation congestion
based on FAA‘s FACT 2 study, (2) whether regions had sought funding
from FAA to carry out regional airport planning and the extent of the
funding provided by FAA, (3) whether regional airport planning had
occurred, and (4) whether regions were served by a single airport or
multiple airports and the extent to which multiple airports in a region
were governed by the same sponsor. Our assessment of regions with
congested airports included Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San
Diego, and San Francisco. We also assessed regional airport planning
activities in Boston, although this region is not among those with
airports that FACT 2 forecast to be significantly capacity constrained.
FAA officials and experts pointed to the Boston region as having
undertaken successful regional airport planning. Each of the regions we
selected received funding from FAA for regional airport planning from
1999 to 2008, and regional airport planning has been undertaken in each
region. Three of the regions are served by multiple airports”sometimes
under the same sponsor”while Philadelphia and San Diego are in regions
with one major airport. For each of the regions we selected, we
reviewed regional airport planning documents and interviewed officials
at FAA airport district offices, airports officials or sponsors, state
aviation departments, and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO).
[Footnote 69] These interviews addressed the following topics:
* The nature of the regional airport system, including challenges
involving capacity constraints or congestion and local constraints.
* Participants or stakeholders in the regional airport planning
process.
* The extent that regional airport plans are used by airports, MPOs,
states, and others to guide airport decision making and FAA airport
funding decisions.
* The inclusion of intermodal access and other ground transportation in
regional airport plans.
* Factors that aid or hinder regional airport planning or the
implementation of regional airport plans.
We interviewed FAA officials in the Office of Airport Planning and
Programming to collect information about the types of plans involved in
aviation planning; the nature and extent of regional airport planning in
congested regions; the history of such regional planning; the roles of
various stakeholders, including FAA; and the outcomes associated with
regional airport planning to date. We also reviewed FAA‘s advisory
circular on the airport system planning process and related documents
from FAA to summarize the guidance that FAA provides to airport system
planners, including those in metropolitan areas.[Footnote 70]
To analyze FAA funding for regional airport planning, we obtained grant
data from FAA for metropolitan system planning in the agency‘s airport
improvement program (AIP) from fiscal years 1999 to 2008. These grants
were awarded primarily to MPOs, but one state and several airport
sponsors also received grants. To assess the reliability of these data,
we reviewed the quality control procedures applied to the data by the
Department of Transportation and subsequently determined that the data
were sufficiently reliable for our purposes.
To gain an understanding of the congested aviation regions and the
potential impact of regional airport planning, we spoke with industry
experts, including those in academia; airline industry representatives;
and regional planners. We interviewed academics at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and the University of California at Berkeley
regarding work that they had undertaken on regional airport systems. We
discussed airport system planning and congestion with the Air Transport
Association, the National Association of State Aviation Officials, the
ENO Transportation Foundation, and Airport Councils International. To
discuss the results of regional airport planning in the Boston region,
we interviewed officials with Southwest Airlines. We met with government
officials and industry experts at a Transportation Research Board
conference on aviation system planning. We also reviewed various reports
and studies, including research on airport systems, congested regions,
intermodal issues, and planning and on the use of alternative airports
published by authors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the
University of California at Berkeley, GRA Incorporated, and the Airport
Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) of the Transportation Research
Board, among others. Finally, we reviewed previous GAO reports,
including our prior work on aviation infrastructure, the Next Generation
Air Transportation System (NextGen) program, MPOs, and high-speed rail.
We conducted this performance audit from September 2008 to December
2009, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to
obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis
for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We
believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
[End of section]
Appendix II: FACT 2 Study‘s Methodology for Analyzing Future Airport
and Metropolitan Capacity Needs:
The purpose of the FAA FACT 2 study is to analyze the extent to which
airports and metropolitan areas in the United States will face aviation
capacity constraints in the future. The study developed forecasts of
expected operations (takeoffs and landings), demand, and the capacity to
handle traffic at 56 airports and certain associated metropolitan
areas.[Footnote 71] By comparing, for each of three time frames (2007,
2015, and 2025) an airport‘s expected demand with its projected
capacity, the study then measured, in four different ways, the extent
to which each airport may experience congestion and delay. The study
used specific thresholds to designate whether an airport would be
capacity constrained according to each of the four capacity
assessments. To be so designated, an airport must be found to be
capacity constrained across all four assessments for a given time
frame. According to FAA and MITRE officials with whom we spoke, the
study was designed to identify which airports would be the most
capacity constrained. Because of the focus of the study, some
airports that are also likely to face some degree of capacity problems
are not among those identified as capacity challenged in the study.
FACT 2 Study Identified Future Capacity-Constrained Airports That
Exceeded Specified Thresholds for All Four of the Study‘s Capacity
Assessments:
Using demand and capacity forecasts”each of which is evaluated in two
different ways”the FACT 2 study produced four assessments of the
extent of capacity challenges at each airport in 2015 and 2025.
Demand Forecasts:
The FACT 2 study used two different forecasts of future demand, both of
which use economic, demographic, and airline industry information (such
as expected fares and the degree of competition) to assess the expected
level of future aviations operations at each airport. Both forecasts
are also generally ’unconstrained,“ meaning they predict the extent to
which demand will grow at an airport regardless of whether that airport
would actually be able to handle all of the traffic. Key aspects of the
forecasts are summarized as follows:
* Terminal Area Forecasts (TAF): Produced by FAA each year, TAF
forecasts project expected operations demand on an airport-by-airport
basis, with separate forecasts for air carrier, commuter and air taxi,
military, and general aviation operations.
* Future Air Traffic Estimator (FATE) forecasts: Produced by MITRE,
[Footnote 72] FATE forecasts project origin to destination traffic
between metropolitan areas within the United States. This model then
analyses how flights are likely to be scheduled by airlines to meet
that demand, based on projections about which airports within a city,
flight routes, and types of aircraft will be used for each flight
segment.[Footnote 73] The results are then restated on an airport-by-
airport operations basis, and supplemented by the number of projected
international and general aviation operations at each airport.
Airport Capacity:
FACT 2 used two methods to evaluate airport capacity which then fed into
the following two models of capacity constraint: the annual service
volume (ASV) and national airspace system (NAS) modeling. Both models
assessed existing capacity and for the 2015 and 2025 forecasts took into
account planned additions or improvements to runways, technologies, and
air traffic procedures. For the 35 Operational Evolution Partnership
(OEP) airports and for Oakland International Airport, the 2025 analysis
also took into account some elements of the expected improvements
offered by NextGen implementation.
* ASV: The ASV is the level of capacity”expressed in the number of
operations during a year”at each airport that, if fully utilized, would
be expected to be associated with a given level of average delay. A FAA
model established the ASV level by examining existing data on the
relationship between the level of operations and extent of delay across
a set of runway configurations in varied weather conditions at each
airport. The model took into account the expected capacity-enhancing
improvements and simulated, based on past experience, an ASV level
that would be associated with a 7-minute average queuing delay at each
airport.[Footnote 74]
* NAS–Wide Modeling: While the ASV method establishes the level of
demand that would be associated with an average level of delay, NAS
modeling estimates the extent of delay that will result from a specific
level of traffic, given an amount of capacity. The NAS modeling begins
with ’benchmark“ airport capacity measures, which were established
for most of the FACT 2 airports in an earlier study[Footnote 75] based
on the most commonly used airfield configuration in three weather
conditions, information on weight classes of fleet at the airport, and
other operational factors. Future capacities were then estimated based
on any planned airport improvements at the airport and in ATC
procedures and on NextGen improvements.
Designation of Capacity-Constrained Airports:
The key findings of the FACT 2 study are that assuming all capacity
improvements”including those associated with NextGen for 2025”are
taken into account, 6 airports will be capacity constrained in 2015 and
14 (an additional 8) will be capacity constrained in 2025. For an
airport to be designated as capacity constrained in 1 of the study‘s
forecast years, the airport had to be designated as capacity
constrained in each of the following four assessments:
* ASV with TAF forecasts: The ASV was compared with the TAF demand
forecasts to obtain a ratio of forecasted demand to ASV. A threshold at
80 percent was used in designating airports as capacity constrained,
meaning that forecasted demand was 80 percent or higher than the
ASV.
* ASV with FATE forecasts: The ASV was also compared with the FATE
demand forecasts to obtain a ratio of forecasted demand to ASV. A
threshold at 80 percent was again used in designating airports as
capacity constrained, meaning that forecasted demand was 80 percent
or higher than the ASV. For example, for the Dallas–Forth Worth
International (DFW) airport, the 2007 ASV ratio was 0.78 with the TAF
demand forecast and 0.81 with the FATE forecast, indicating that the
airport was just edging toward having a capacity problem at that time,
according to the ASV assessments. For the 2025 forecasts at DFW, the
ratios are 1.09 and 1.15 under TAF and FATE, respectively, indicating
that according to the ASV assessments, DFW will become substantially
more delayed by 2025.
* NAS with TAF forecasts: This NAS assessment uses a ’network
queuing“ model that simulates how traffic flows across the NAS, given
the level of demand on routes and the extent of capacity at airports.
This analysis measures the following for each airport: (1) average
scheduled arrival delay,[Footnote 76] (2) arrival queue delay,
[Footnote 77] (3) percentage of scheduled arrival delay caused by local
conditions, and (4) departure queue delay.[Footnote 78] An advantage of
the NAS method is that by analyzing the relationship between operations
and capacity across the network, rather than on an airport-by-airport
basis, the model can take into account how circumstances at one airport
influence delay experienced at other airports. Moreover, this analysis
enables the contributory causes of measured delay at any given airport
to be identified; that is, it distinguishes among delay caused by
conditions at the given airport, at other airports, and in the
airspace.
Using this model, two different triggers can cause an airport to be
designated as capacity constrained. First, the capacity-constrained
designation is triggered if the airport‘s scheduled arrival delay is at
least 12 minutes[Footnote 79] and, if in either weather condition
examined, either (1) the arrival queue delay exceeds 12 minutes or (2)
local conditions causes more than 50 percent of scheduled arrival
delay. Using the secondary factors to supplement the scheduled arrival
delay criteria allows capacity-constrained airports to be limited to
those that experience delay caused by local factors. Second, an airport
can also be designated as capacity constrained if the airport‘s
departure queue delay”which is considered to be fully caused by local
factors”is at least 12 minutes.
* NAS with FATE forecasts: The second NAS assessment uses the NAS-wide
modeling approach with the FATE demand forecasts. Instead of rerunning
the NAS model with FATE forecasts, outputs from the NAS/TAF runs are
used and the differences between the FATE demand forecasts and the TAF
forecast are examined to calibrate how model outputs would likely have
been different under FATE demand forecasts. This assessment measures
only average scheduled arrival delay. Under this model, an airport is
designated as capacity constrained if the airport‘s average scheduled
arrival delay is at least 12 minutes.
FACT 2 Study Also Identified Metropolitan Areas That Will Face Capacity
Constraints:
In addition to identifying airports that would be capacity constrained
in the future, the FACT 2 study also identified metropolitan areas that
are likely to have significant aviation capacity shortfalls. The study
looked at Metropolitan Statistical Areas”geographic areas defined by
the Office of Management and Budget”or combinations of such areas in
the case of some larger metropolitan areas, and analyzed the expected
aviation demand and capacity at the relevant airport or airports within
those areas. For determining which metropolitan areas should be
designated as capacity constrained, FACT 2 only examined those
metropolitan areas that either contained a large- or medium-hub airport
or at least two small-hub airports that the FACT 2 airport analysis had
identified as capacity constrained. A metropolitan area could be
designated in FACT 2 as capacity constrained for any of the following
three reasons:[Footnote 80]
* The metropolitan area contained a large-hub airport that the study
deemed capacity constrained and there were no other secondary
airports serving the metropolitan area.
* The metropolitan area contained at least two large hubs, both of which
were identified to be capacity constrained.
* The study conducted an analysis of demand and capacity across the
airports in each area. It used projected airport benchmark capacities
and, using historical weather conditions, converted these hourly
capacities into an annualized average expected capacity level for each
airport in each forecast year. For each of the demand forecasts (TAF
and FATE), capacity and demand across the relevant airports were
summed for each forecast year. If the resulting ratio of metropolitan
area demand (for either TAF or FATE) to metropolitan area capacity
exceeded 0.8, then the metropolitan area was considered to be capacity
constrained in that year.
FAA‘s Methodology Was Designed to Identify the Most Seriously Congested
Airports and May Understate Future Congestion Problems:
Long-term forecasts of airport demand and capacity, such as those
undertaken in FACT 2, naturally face uncertainties. FACT 2 looked almost
20 years into the future. A number of conditions could change over the
course of those years and affect the accuracy of the forecasts,
including unexpected changes in regional economic growth patterns,
demographic movements, new airline industry business models, and the
macroeconomy. New industries may also unexpectedly influence business
and societal patterns. Since the time that FACT 2 was conducted,
macroeconomic conditions have already changed considerably. In
particular, because TAF and FATE demand forecasts were conducted prior
to the current economic downturn, they are likely considerably higher
than demand forecasts would be if they were to be conducted today.
The results of the FACT 2 study are not only impacted by forecasting
uncertainties, but also the study‘s purpose and design. According to
officials from FAA and MITRE with whom we spoke, the FACT 2 study was
intended to identify airports that will be highly capacity constrained”
not just airports that may have some congestion and delay problems. In
fact, the published study findings present only a list of airports that
were found to be highly capacity constrained and do not report the
underlying scores on the four assessments. For our work, we not only
examined the published FACT 2 study, but also airports‘ scores on the
four assessments, and we also met several times with FAA and MITRE
officials to gain a further understanding of the model design. We found
that the objective of identifying ’the worst of the worst“ capacity-
constrained airports was critical in structuring several elements of the
FACT 2 study. These model elements are discussed more fully in the
following text:
* Meeting all four congestion thresholds: The FACT 2 study identified
airports as either being congested or not, rather than presenting
airports‘ degree of capacity constraints along a continuum.
Furthermore, it required that an airport be designated as congested on
all four assessments to be designated as capacity constrained. These
model design elements have two implications. First, there is not a full
presentation of the range of capacity constraint”the published report
only states whether an airport was determined to be capacity
constrained or not. But the underlying scores are of a continuous
nature, and some airports were close to the trigger level on some
criteria. Moreover, if an airport did not meet the threshold for a
designation of a capacity problem on both of the NAS assessments, the
ASV assessment may not have been completed, since ASV levels were only
reestablished for later years if they were needed for the analysis. In
short, the study‘s capacity-constrained designation criteria obscure
the more continuous nature of the data when designating which airports
are on or off the list, and a complete assessment across all four
criteria was not completed in all cases. Second, because underlying
scores for the assessments are not provided in the final study, the
results also do not show how much greater capacity problems are likely
to be at some of the airports than at others that do receive a capacity-
constrained designation. For example, the findings for the Newark and
Philadelphia Airports indicate that congestion and delay will be
substantially more problematic in those locations, even when compared
with many other of the designated capacity-constrained airports.
* Seven-minute average delay threshold: The ASV assessments used a 7-
minute average delay threshold for determining available airport
capacity, rather than the 4-minute delay that, according to FAA and
MITRE officials, is more commonly used to measure delay-prone airports
within ASV studies. A lower average delay threshold would have resulted
in more airports meeting the capacity-constrained threshold, according
to the two ASV criteria.
* Planned improvements: The FACT 2 findings, which are predicated on
the assumption that planned improvements will be completed in a timely
manner, may understate future capacity problems if improvements fall
behind schedule. The two sets of 2025 findings (i.e., with and without
improvements) show that the planned improvements are critical for
addressing capacity problems at airports. In particular, many more
airports would be predicted to have significant capacity challenges
under the FACT 2 analysis were it not for the greater capacity offered
by the planned improvements. We have previously reported that some
airport improvement projects have faced or may face delay in either
funding or implementation.[Footnote 81] If the planned improvements
underlying the FACT 2 study face similar delay, then the study may
understate future capacity problems.[Footnote 82] Similarly, we have
reported that NextGen improvements face challenges that may affect
timely implementation, including some airlines‘ reluctance to invest in
the necessary equipment, and the need for FAA to validate and certify
new technologies and issue certain rules before midterm implementation
can occur.[Footnote 83] In addition, airport officials with whom we
spoke expressed concerns that benefits from NextGen technological gains
might not be fully realized if FAA does not change air traffic
management standards (such as lowering ceiling requirements for certain
types of approaches) to match the new technology. FACT 2 acknowledged
that more research on these types of air traffic management
improvements is required.
* Unaccounted for constraints: Certain constraints or local
considerations that may limit either the growth at individual airports
or traffic distribution among airports within a region were not
accounted for in the FACT 2 analyses. For example, the study‘s
unconstrained demand estimates did not take into account legal
restrictions at two airports in the Los Angeles area on the number of
flights that can operate or the number of passengers that can be
accommodated. Thus, FACT 2 may overestimate the operations at these
airports and underestimate traffic growth at other airports in the
region. FAA officials told us that they did not take these constraints
into consideration since FACT 2 was measuring unconstrained demand.
Furthermore, they expressed the opinion that the constraints could be
changed if there was an interest in doing so locally. Regional officials
noted that the current settlement at John Wayne Airport in Orange
County expires in 2015. At that point, the county and community may
negotiate changes to the current agreement, according to airport
officials. This could mean that the FACT 2 demand forecasts for other
airports in the region”most notably Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX), which came close to being designated as a capacity-constrained
airport in 2025”may underestimate future growth.
* Unaccounted for capacity constraints: The FACT 2 study also did not
consider some potential capacity limitations. As noted in the study,
when given an opportunity to comment on the FACT 2 methodology, some
airport sponsors noted that an airport‘s taxiways and terminal gates as
well as airspace”rather than runways”can sometimes limit the number of
operations that can be handled at an airport. The FACT 2 study,
however, focused only on runways as the limiting capacity factor. MITRE
officials told us that further analysis of these elements of capacity
limitations are being examined currently.
* Assumed aircraft upgauging: Both demand forecasts, but particularly
the FATE forecast, used in FACT 2 assumed some level of upgauging in
aircraft size, meaning the average number of seats per aircraft is
assumed to rise over the projection time frame. Some aviation experts
with whom we spoke, however, do not believe much upgauging will occur
in the coming years. If the upgauge assumptions overstate the extent to
which seats per aircraft actually rise, the level of congestion in FACT
2 could be understated because more operations than indicated in the
demand forecasts would be needed to accommodate the projected passenger
base.[Footnote 84] Nevertheless, FAA officials discussed the analysis
that underlies the upgauge modeling for FATE and noted that the FATE
forecasted upgauge is driven by past experience in how airlines have
chosen to serve routes as demand has risen. Moreover, they pointed out
that certain fleet types that are likely to be phased out in the next
decade are likely to be replaced with somewhat larger aircraft.
FACT 2 Study‘s Planned Improvements:
According to the FACT 2 report, the analysis includes planned
improvements affecting runway capacity for two future planning periods,
2015 and 2025.[Footnote 85] The planned improvements include the
following:
* New or extended runways: New or extended runways were included as
planned improvements. The OEP v8.0 and airport-specific planning
documents were used to incorporate the runway improvements in either
the 2015 or 2025 planning period.
* New or revised air-traffic control procedures: If a new or revised
air-traffic control procedure was listed in the OEP v8.0 or defined by
the FACT 2 analysis as consistent with a NextGen concept, it was modeled
as an improvement in this study. NextGen concepts were applied only to
the 35 OEP airports and Oakland International and then only in the 2025
planning scenario, given that NextGen is still in the early planning
stages. NextGen concepts for en route or oceanic operations or changes
to operations on the airport surface were not included.
* Airspace redesign: Improvements derived from the redesign of the
airspace surrounding an airport were included in the 2015 or 2025
scenario on the basis of the best information available. The redesign
itself was not performed as part of this analysis.
* Other assumptions: The FACT 2 analysis assumed existing environmental
restrictions that impact runway capacity, such as noise abatement
procedures, would continue through the FACT planning periods. Planned
taxiway, terminal, or ground access improvements were not included in
this analysis because they were outside the scope of the models used.
[End of section]
Appendix III: Regional Airport Planning Nationwide and in our Selected
Regions:
Regional Airport Planning Nationwide:
FAA has provided over $34 million in funding to metropolitan regions or
others carrying out metropolitan system planning in fiscal years 1999 to
2008. (See table 6.) These grant funds went to a range of efforts,
including developing or updating regional airport system plans (RASP).
The majority of these projects were sponsored by local MPOs or other
regional planning bodies, although the state of Virginia also received
a grant. Funding was also provided to several airports sponsors,
including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Clark County
in Las Vegas; the Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners in South
Florida; the Louisiana Airport Authority in the New Orleans region; and
the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, which operates San
Diego International Airport.
Table 6: FAA Funding for Conducting or Updating Metropolitan System Plan
Studies, 1999–2008:
Metropolitan region[A]: Alaska Burroughs;
FAA system planning funding: $922,858.
Metropolitan region[A]: Atlanta;
FAA system planning funding: $200,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Boston;
FAA system planning funding: $2,544,149.
Metropolitan region[A]: Buffalo/Niagara;
FAA system planning funding: $20,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Commonwealth of Virginia;
FAA system planning funding: $326,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Dallas–Fort Worth;
FAA system planning funding: $2,757,106.
Metropolitan region[A]: Genesee/Finger Lake;
FAA system planning funding: $73,800.
Metropolitan region[A]: Houston;
FAA system planning funding: $950,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Kansas City;
FAA system planning funding: $90,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Kodiak;
FAA system planning funding: $363,196.
Metropolitan region[A]: Las Vegas;
FAA system planning funding: $200,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Los Angeles;
FAA system planning funding: $8,250,600.
Metropolitan region[A]: Minneapolis-St. Paul;
FAA system planning funding: $488,500.
Metropolitan region[A]: Monterey Bay;
FAA system planning funding: $370,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: New Orleans;
FAA system planning funding: $755,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: New York[B];
FAA system planning funding: $3,652,730.
Metropolitan region[A]: Philadelphia;
FAA system planning funding: $2,847,254.
Metropolitan region[A]: Phoenix;
FAA system planning funding: $450,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Pittsburgh;
FAA system planning funding: $112,905.
Metropolitan region[A]: Salt Lake City;
FAA system planning funding: $165,821.
Metropolitan region[A]: San Diego;
FAA system planning funding: $1,500,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: San Francisco;
FAA system planning funding: $765,000.
Metropolitan region[A]: Seattle;
FAA system planning funding: $628,950.
Metropolitan region[A]: South Florida (Palm Beach);
FAA system planning funding: $2,516,250.
Metropolitan region[A]: St. Louis
FAA system planning funding: $613,000
Metropolitan region[A]: Tucson
FAA system planning funding: $150,000
Metropolitan region[A]: Washington, D.C.
FAA system planning funding: $2,689,492
Metropolitan region[A]: Total
FAA system planning funding: $34,402,611
Source: GAO analysis of FAA data.
[A] The Commonwealth of Virginia received funding to conduct or update
metropolitan system plan studies.
[B] The MPO in Philadelphia administered $675,000 of the funds in the
New York region as part of the FAA Regional Air Service Demand Study
for the region.
[End of table]
In a survey conducted of 381 MPOs across the country for a prior report,
we found that fewer than 20 percent of the 324 MPOs responding indicated
they had responsibility for conducting all or a portion of a region‘s
aviation planning.[Footnote 86] Among the larger MPOs responding to a
question about their involvement in aviation planning”41 of the 42
planning organizations serving areas with populations greater than 1
million”17 engaged in aviation planning activities, accounting for 41
percent of these MPOs.[Footnote 87] Ten MPOs indicated that they were
required by state law to engage in regional aviation planning, 2 of
which had populations over 1 million. (See table 7.)
Table 7: Aviation System Planning at Metropolitan Planning
Organizations:
Do you have responsibility for conducting all or a portion of the
region‘s aviation planning?
Population of the metropolitan planning area: Less than 200,000;
Yes, it is a requirement from state law: 4;
Yes, but it is not a state requirement: 19;
No: 140.
Population of the metropolitan planning area: 200,000–999,999;
Yes, it is a requirement from state law: 4;
Yes, but it is not a state requirement: 17;
No: 97.
Population of the metropolitan planning area: 1,000,000 and greater;
Yes, it is a requirement from state law: 2;
Yes, but it is not a state requirement: 15;
No: 25.
Total:
Yes, it is a requirement from state law: 10;
Yes, but it is not a state requirement: 51;
No: 262.
Source: GAO survey of MPOs.
[End of table]
Regional Summaries:
Boston Region:
There are three commercial service airports operated by separate
sponsors in the Boston region. Boston Logan International is a large-hub
airport, and in 2008, 73 percent of flights to this facility arrived on
time. A medium-hub airport, T.F. Green, near Providence, Rhode Island,
and a small-hub airport, Manchester-Boston Regional in Manchester, New
Hampshire, also provide commercial service to the region‘s residents.
FAA‘s FACT 2 report did not forecast that any of the airports in the
Boston region would become significantly capacity constrained by 2025,
assuming planned improvements occur at Boston Logan and T.F. Green.
FAA officials in New England have taken an active role in trying to
assist the region‘s airports in planning for future capacity needs.
Officials at Massport, which operates Boston Logan, told us that they
realized that the airport would not be able to meet the region‘s
capacity needs. After an attempt to develop a second major airport in
Massachusetts failed, they worked with FAA and other airports in the
region to decentralize the region‘s air traffic. This allowed Boston
Logan an opportunity to specialize in international and long-haul
routes over short-haul trips. Prior to the arrival of Southwest
Airlines, regional demand studies demonstrated that there were markets
that could be served from Boston‘s alternate airports. Southwest
Airlines officials told us that the demand forecasts piqued their
interest in the alternate airports in the region, and that the airline
has been pleased with how customers responded to its entry into
Boston‘s alternate airports. Prior to the emergence of T.F. Green and
Manchester-Boston Regional, many residents drove from areas near these
airports to travel from Boston Logan. Expanded service options have
allowed some residents of the region to be served closer to where their
trips originate.
Los Angeles Region:
Los Angeles World Airports operates two commercial-service airports in
the Los Angeles region: LAX is a large-hub airport, and Ontario
International is a medium-hub airport. In 2008, 77 percent of flights
to LAX arrived on time. There are two other medium-hub airports in the
region operated by separate sponsors”John Wayne Airport in Orange County
and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. There is also a small-hub airport in
Long Beach and a nonhub airport in Van Nuys, which is owned and
operated by Los Angeles World Airports. FACT 2 predicted that both John
Wayne and Long Beach airports will become significantly capacity
constrained by 2015.
The capacity challenges faced by the Los Angeles region are compounded
by flight and operations restrictions at several airports in the
region. The airports in Orange County and Long Beach have legal
agreements or requirements that limit their ability to increase traffic
levels and thereby relieve regional congestion. Likewise, the sponsor
of Bob Hope Airport has entered into a voluntary agreement that
prevents the development of new gates or the expansion of the footprint
of the terminal until 2012, according to airport officials. LAX, for
its part, has also agreed to a limit on the number of annual passengers
at its facility under a settlement agreement with the surrounding
community, according to regional planners. Los Angeles World Airports
officials told us that while they previously attempted to promote the
development of alternate facilities, such as LA/Palmdale Regional, the
focus of their agency has shifted back to LAX, given the recent
downturn and the backlog of maintenance at this facility. Several of
the airports in the region are proposed to also serve as high-speed
rail stops, including Ontario International and LA/Palmdale Regional.
Such ground access improvements may help these airports play a greater
role in delivering capacity for the region in the future.
New York Region:
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) operates
Newark Liberty International (Newark), John F. Kennedy International
(JFK), and LaGuardia. These large-hub airports are consistently amongst
the most delayed in the nation. In 2008, 62 to 68 percent of the
flights to these facilities arrived on time (i.e., within 15 minutes of
their scheduled arrival time). Stewart International, an airport 1 1/2
hours of the city by car, was recently acquired by the Port Authority
and is a small-hub airport. Long Island Macarthur Airport in Ronkonkoma
is a small-hub airport that operates outside of the Port Authority
system. FAA‘s FACT 2 report reported that LaGuardia and Newark were
already significantly capacity constrained in 2007, and that JFK would
become so in 2025.
The Port Authority is an intermodal organization that is exempt from
some of the revenue-sharing prohibitions affecting other regions.
Airports in the Port Authority system are part of a larger portfolio of
transportation assets operated by the Port Authority, such as major
bridges and tunnels. According to the Port Authority, because it was
grandfathered under federal law prohibiting the use of airport revenues
off airport property, the Port Authority is able to cross-subsidize
transportation modes. The airports in the Port Authority‘s system
provide some of the revenue for other modes that operate at a loss,
according to Port Authority officials. The region recently completed a
regional air service demand study, and Port Authority officials told us
that the forecasts developed for the study were essential for
demonstrating the benefits of acquiring the lease for Stewart
International. Port Authority officials told us that while they
expected the facility to generate revenue eventually, it is now
operating at a loss. At the request of FAA, the Port Authority is
presently preparing updates to the airport layout plans for airports in
its system. FAA officials told us that the last airport master plans
the Port Authority prepared date back to 1970. According to Port
Authority officials, planning for the airports happens in an ad hoc
fashion, given intermodal competition within the agency. The local MPO,
the New York Metropolitan Transportation Commission, does not play a
role in regional airport planning beyond surface access. A nonprofit,
the Regional Plan Association, has recently begun regional airport
planning with Port Authority financing, which will focus on the
airports under Port Authority sponsorship. Ground access is a
significant consideration for the future development of Stewart
International, and the Port Authority is cosponsoring a rail study with
the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to evaluate access
improvements to the airport.
Philadelphia Region:
There is one large-hub airport in the Philadelphia region”Philadelphia
International”and one small-hub airport”Atlantic City International”to
the southeast in New Jersey. In 2008, 73 percent of flights to
Philadelphia International arrived on time. Philadelphia International
is owned by the City of Philadelphia, while Atlanta City International
is jointly owned by the South Jersey Transportation Authority and FAA.
FACT 2 forecast that Philadelphia International would become
significantly capacity constrained by 2015.
Philadelphia International is presently pursuing a capital enhancement
project to add an additional runway and expand another. The project is
contentious, particularly with residents of Tinicum Township and
Delaware County where environmental impacts, including emissions and
noise, might increase. Atlantic City International provides some
residents of the region with an alternate to the more congested
Philadelphia International. The local MPO, the Delaware Valley Regional
Planning Commission, is active in regional airport planning, focusing
in recent years on planning for general aviation airports. MPO
officials expressed an interest in continuing regional airport planning
as well as undertaking a regional demand study similar to the ones
completed in the Boston and New York regions.
San Diego Region:
The San Diego region has one large-hub airport, San Diego International.
In 2008, 78 percent of flights to this airport arrived on time. FACT 2
forecast that San Diego International would be significantly capacity
constrained by 2025.
The primary airport in San Diego is run by the San Diego County
Regional Airport Authority, which was previously involved in a major
site-selection effort to build a new airport for the region. This
effort was rejected by voters in 2006, however, and airport officials
are now planning under the assumption that San Diego International will
be the only major airport in the region. With this in mind, the airport
sponsor is considering how it could maximize San Diego International‘s
capacity within its existing footprint. In addition, a state law passed
in 2007 mandates that the airport authority prepare a RASP for the
region by June 30, 2011. While the airport authority is working on the
airside components of the study, the MPO is working on a multimodal
transportation plan.
San Francisco Bay Area:
The San Francisco Bay Area has three major airports with different
sponsors. San Francisco International (SFO) is a large-hub airport, and
in 2008, 69 percent of flights arrived on time. Both Oakland
International and Norman Y. Mineta in San Jose are medium-hub airports.
FACT 2 forecast that both SFO and Oakland International will be
significantly capacity constrained by 2025.
SFO and Oakland International are located on land adjacent to San
Francisco Bay and face significant obstacles to the construction of new
runways as a result. The Regional Airport Planning Committee, which
includes the Metropolitan Transportation Commission”the region‘s
MPO”will play a significant role in identifying potential alternate
solutions for the region, and is currently leading efforts to develop a
new RASP. This effort is being funded by FAA, the MPO, and airports in
the region. SFO officials told us that they have committed themselves to
studying nonconstruction ways to relieve congestion, and that they are
not averse to having domestic, short-haul traffic shift to Oakland
International or Norman Y. Mineta in San Jose or in instituting demand
management strategies such as peak pricing to relieve congestion. SFO
officials also stated that they are also considering improvements that
may come from NextGen and other technological improvements.
[End of section]
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
GAO Contact:
Gerald Dillingham, Ph.D., (202) 512-2834 or dillinghamg@gao.gov.
Staff Acknowledgments:
In addition to the contact named above, Paul Aussendorf (Assistant
Director), Amy Abramowitz, Lauren Calhoun, Delwen Jones, Paul
Kazemersky, Molly Laster, Monica McCallum, Sara Ann Moessbauer, and
Josh Ormond made key contributions to this report.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] Adie Tomer and Robert Puentes, Expect Delays: An Analysis of Air
Travel Trends in the United States, Metropolitan Policy Program at
Brookings (October 2009).
[2] The Bureau of Transportation Statistics within the U.S. Department
of Transportation (DOT) measures congestion”or airport on-time arrival
performance”by looking at the percentage of flights arriving within 15
minutes of their scheduled arrival time.
[3] GAO: Next Generation Air Transportation System: Status of Key
Issues Associated with the Transition to NextGen, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-1154T] (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 11,
2008).
[4] The Passenger Facility Charge Program, authorized by 49 U.S.C. §
40117, allows for the collection of passenger facility fees up to $4.50
for every enplaned passenger at commercial service airports controlled
by public agencies, with certain exceptions. Airports use these fees to
fund FAA-approved, airport-related projects that enhance safety,
security, or capacity; reduce noise or mitigate noise impacts; or
enhance air carrier competition. See 14 C.F.R. §§ 158.15, 158.17.
[5] According to FAA, OEP airports are commercial airports with
significant activity. These airports serve major metropolitan areas and
also serve as hubs for airline operations. More than 70 percent of
passengers travel through these airports. Delays at the 35 OEP airports
have a ripple effect at other airports. The 35 OEP airports were
compiled in 2000 on the basis of lists from FAA and Congress as well as
a study that identified the most congested airports in the United
States.
[6] The NextGen program aims at combining airport expansion with other
approaches, including regional solutions and technological and
operational improvements, to meet future demands for aviation. As part
of this effort, the NextGen program will transform the current radar-
based, air-traffic control system into a more automated aircraft-
centered, satellite-based system.
[7] FAA, The Airport System Planning Process, Advisory Circular
150/5070-7 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 10, 2004).
[8] See FAA, Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System, 2007–2025:
An Analysis of Airports and Metropolitan Area Demand and Operational
Capacity in the Future (Washington, D.C.: May 2007), a study prepared
by The MITRE Corporation, Center for Advanced Aviation System
Development. This report was intended to identify those airports that
are forecast to be significantly congested, although other airports may
also face capacity constraints. It may be found on the following FAA
Web site: [hyperlink,
http://www.faa.gov/airports/resources/publications/reports/media/fact_2.
pdf].
[9] For the purposes of this report, we refer to ’airport sponsors“
when discussing airport sponsors, authorities, operators, or owners.
[10] We spoke with FAA regional and airport district office officials
in the Western-Pacific Region”covering Los Angeles, San Diego, and San
Francisco”and in the Eastern Region”covering New Jersey, New York, and
Pennsylvania.
[11] The Airport System Planning Process.
[12] A ’commercial service airport“ is a publicly owned airport in a
state that the Secretary of Transportation determines has at least
2,500 passenger boardings each year and receives scheduled passenger
aircraft service. See 49 U.S.C. § 47102(7). ’Reliever airports“ are
airports designated by the Secretary to relieve congestion at
commercial service airports and to provide more general aviation access
to the overall community. See 49 U.S.C. § 47102(22). Finally, the
remaining airports are commonly described as ’general aviation
airports.“ The NPIAS is designated by the Secretary and according to
FAA, to be included in the NPIAS, general aviation airports must have
at least 10 locally based aircraft and be located at least 20 miles
from the nearest NPIAS airport. The general aviation category also
includes privately owned, public use airports that enplane 2,500 or
more passengers annually and receive scheduled airline service.
[13] For the purposes of this report, we refer to the airport system
plans that are developed on a metropolitan or regional level as
’regional airport system plans.“ These plans may be referred to
differently in individual regions. For example, in the San Diego
region, regional planners are developing a Regional Aviation Strategic
Plan, while the plan developed in the Los Angeles region is part of the
MPO Regional Transportation Plan.
[14] The ALP must be approved by the Secretary of Transportation, as
must any revision or modification of the plan, before the Secretary
will approve a project grant application. See 49 U.S.C. § 47107(a)(16).
An airport owner or operator is not permitted to make any modification
to the airport or its facilities that does not comply with the ALP.
Airport master plans are not required, but provide additional
information for airport capital improvement planning.
[15] The current AIP was established by the Airport and Airway
Improvement Act of 1982, Pub. L. No. 97-248, § 502(a), 96 Stat. 324,
671.
[16] Commercial service airports can also use passenger facility
charges for all AIP-eligible and certain other types of projects that
meet established criteria. Larger commercial service airports also rely
on their own funding sources”in particular, long-term debt supported by
airport revenues”to fund capital projects.
[17] Pub. L. No. 97-248, § 509(b)(9), 96 Stat. 324, 685 (1982),
codified as amended at 49 U.S.C. § 47120.
[18] A set-aside was established for system-planning grants in the AIP
in the AAIA in 1982. Pub. L. No. 97-248, § 508(d)(4), 96 Stat. 324,
682. The AAIA set-aside was originally set at no less than 1 percent.
The amount of the set-aside was subsequently amended before being
eliminated by the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996, Pub. L.
No. 104-264, 110 Stat. 3213, 3219 (1996).
[19] Typical agencies authorized to conduct metropolitan or regional
planning are MPOs, councils of government, and regional planning
councils or commissions. We refer to such regional planning agencies
as ’MPOs“.
[20] See 23 U.S.C. §§ 134, 135; 49 U.S.C. §§ 5303, 5304. FAA-funded
projects do not require inclusion in the regional transportation
planning process.
[21] See section 304 of the FAA Advisory Circular 150/5070-7 for a
fuller description of these special studies.
[22] The FACT 2 report used measures of demand and capacity to identify
those airports forecast to face significant capacity constraints by
2025 and 2015. For its analysis, FAA focused on 56 of the nation‘s 291
commercial service airports, including the 35 airports”primarily large-
hub facilities”included in the FAA‘s OEP and an additional 21 airports
identified for more detailed analysis on the basis of airport operation
levels and assumptions about fleet mix at these facilities.
[23] FAA projected the impact of runway improvements planned at 19 OEP
airports and at 5 non-OEP airports. Improvements included new or
extended runways by 2006 in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas–Fort
Worth, Denver, Houston (George Bush), Miami, Minneapolis–St. Paul,
Orlando, and St. Louis. New or extended runways were included for 2015
forecasts for airports in Boston (Logan), Chicago (O‘Hare), Ft.
Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Seattle, Tucson, and
Washington (Dulles). Finally, new or extended runways were included for
the 2025 forecasts for airports in Baltimore, Charlotte, Dallas–Fort
Worth, Denver, Houston (George Bush), Houston (Hobby), San Antonio,
Tampa, and Washington (Dulles).
[24] Improvements included in the OEP (version 8.0) were included in
the FACT 2 analyses for both the 2015 and 2025 time frames. Other
infrastructure improvements were included if FAA airport district
offices determined the projects were sufficiently far along in the
environmental review and funding processes. NextGen improvements, which
include new or revised air-traffic control procedures, were only
included in the 2025 analyses and only for the 35 OEP airports and
Oakland, given uncertainty about NextGen funding for other airports.
Finally, improvements from airspace redesign were included in the 2015
or 2025 modeling based on the best available information. Appendix II
contains additional information about the planned improvements.
[25] For more information about the challenges facing the
implementation of NextGen, see GAO, Next Generation Air Transportation
System: Issues Associated with Midterm Implementation of Capabilities
and Full System Transformation, GAO-09-481T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 25,
2009).
[26] According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the 3 major
airports in the New York region ranked among the 4 worst major U.S.
airports for their on-time arrival performance in 2008. See the
following Web address: [hyperlink,
http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/airline_ontime_tables/].
[27] Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and South Florida
all have more than 1 large- or medium-hub airport within their region.
Nonhub airports enplane fewer than 0.05 percent of systemwide
passengers (i.e., those passengers boarding aircraft for all operations
of U.S. carriers in the United States), small-hub airports enplane at
least 0.05 percent but fewer than 0.25 percent of systemwide
passengers, medium-hub airports enplane at least 0.25 percent but fewer
than 1.0 percent of systemwide passengers, and large-hub airports
enplane at least 1.0 percent of systemwide passengers. See 49 U.S.C. §
47102.
[28] FACT 2 identified 8 congested metropolitan areas, accounting for
12 of the 14 congested airports. Appendix II discusses the criteria
used to identify congested metropolitan areas in the study. Chicago and
South Florida were not identified as congested metropolitan areas
in the FAA study but had individual airports identified as needing
additional capacity. We decided to include them as regions with
potentially significantly congested airports.
[29] These airfield projects include 14 new runways, 3 taxiways, 1
runway extension, 1 completed airfield reconfiguration, and 1 airfield
reconfiguration under way. According to FAA, the projects have provided
these airports with the potential to accommodate 1.9 million more
annual operations, decrease average delay per operation at these
airports by about 5 minutes, and reduce the potential for runway
incursions.
[30] Dallas–Fort Worth International, which opened in 1974, was the
other major commercial airport opened during this time period. In
addition, a medium-hub airport opened in Fort Myers, Florida, in 1983,
and a small-hub airport opened in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1998.
[31] In addition to the airports proposed for Peotone and Las Vegas, 2
new primary commercial service airports are scheduled to open within
the next 5 years in St. George, Utah, and Panama City, Florida. These
airports will replace existing commercial service airports, although
neither is currently predicted to face congestion in the FACT 2 report.
(Primary airports are those that have more than 10,000 passenger
boardings each year.)
[32] Ongoing research entitled Innovative Approaches to Addressing
Aviation Capacity Issues in Coastal Mega-Regions, ACRP 3-10, is in the
process of being finalized.
[33] Jeffrey P. Cohen and Cletus C. Coughlin, Congestion at Airports:
The Economics of Airport Expansions, The Federal Reserve Bank of St.
Louis (May/June 2003).
[34] GAO, Aviation Infrastructure: Challenges Related to Building
Runways and Actions to Address Them, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-03-164] (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 20,
2003).
[35] A former military airport replaced an existing airfield in Austin,
Texas. The new airport in Austin is categorized as a medium-hub
airport. Military airfields have also been converted to civilian use in
Alexandria, Louisiana; Marquette, Michigan; and Portsmouth, New
Hampshire. Each of these new airports is categorized as a nonhub
airport, serving less than 0.05 percent of systemwide passengers.
[36] The lawsuits were consolidated in the D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals, and the court ruled in favor of FAA. County of Rockland v.
FAA, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 12513 (D.C. Cir. 2009). A petition was filed
on November 16, 2009, before the United States Supreme Court, asking
the court to hear the case and determine whether the D.C. Circuit Court
properly ruled on the matters before it.
[37] GRA Incorporated, Alternative Airports Study, prepared for the
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs,
Department of Transportation (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 15, 2003).
[38] Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council,
Airport Cooperative Research Program 3-10: Innovative Approaches to
Addressing Aviation Capacity Issues in Coastal Mega-Regions, draft
final report (Washington, D.C.: Summer 2009).
[39] As we have recently reported, a number of factors make it
difficult to determine the economic viability of any high-speed rail
corridor. For more information about high-speed rail, see GAO, High
Speed Passenger Rail: Future Development Will Depend on Addressing
Financial and Other Challenges and Establishing a Clear Federal Role,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-317] (Washington, D.C.:
Mar. 19, 2009).
[40] The 2009–2013 FAA Flight Plan serves as the strategic plan for
FAA. See FAA, 2009–2013 FAA Flight Plan (Washington, D.C.).
[41] The 7 metropolitan areas and corridors identified by FAA for
fiscal year 2009 were Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Las Vegas;
Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; and San Francisco.
[42] FAA, Airport Improvement Program Handbook, Order 5100.38C
(Washington, D.C.: June 28, 2005).
[43] While Palm Beach International Airport in South Florida was
categorized as a medium-hub airport in 2008, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood
International qualified as a large-hub airport in the same region.
[44] The San Francisco region completed a RASP in 2000 and is currently
developing a new RASP.
[45] Innovative Approaches to Addressing Aviation Capacity Issues.
[46] Los Angeles World Airports attempted to develop service at
alternative regional airports in Ontario and Palmdale. This effort has
stalled, however, given the recent downturn in demand, and the sponsor
has redirected its attention to improving LAX, according to airport
officials. Recently, Los Angeles World Airports gave up its lease to
LA/Palmdale Regional Airport.
[47] The regional demand study found that Stewart International Airport
served 13 percent of the population that was identified as being within
its service area in 2005. An improved rail connection between Stewart
International and New York City is under study. Such a connection could
attract travelers who would otherwise travel from one of the region‘s
more congested airports.
[48] The Boston region was not among those airports forecast by the
FAA‘s FACT 2 report to be significantly congested by 2025, even if
planned improvements occur.
[49] FAA, The New England Regional Airport System Plan, Fall 2006,
which is available at the following Web address: [hyperlink,
http://www.faa.gov/airports/new_england/planning_capacity/airport_system
_plan/media/nerasp_section_1.pdf].
[50] Airport officials told us that regional planners would be able to
provide input on airport-level plans at public hearings, during the
public comment period. An airport official currently chairs the MPO‘s
regional aviation committee and updates the MPO on the airport‘s
planning activities.
[51] According to FAA, 49 U.S.C. § 47106(a)(1) gives the agency the
option of reviewing a MPO-developed RASP for consistency with a project
for purposes of AIP funding eligibility.
[52] According to FAA planning officials, airports within a region are
considered during the environmental review process for specific
projects. At that time, the agency considers service areas and the
potential capacity of alternate airports and their ability to satisfy
the required consideration of project alternatives under the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Pub. L. No. 91-190, 83 Stat. 852,
codified at 42 U.S.C. § 4321, et seq.
[53] The New York demand study included several of the regional
airports in the Philadelphia region, but did not include Philadelphia
International, the region‘s most congested airport.
[54] According to regional officials, the maglev proposal will be
replaced by the voter-approved, state high-speed rail system in the
2012 RASP.
[55] The reduction in funding for regional airport planning in the
Philadelphia region continued in fiscal year 2009. In that year, FAA
awarded the MPO $76,921 to count operations”arrivals and departures”at
general aviation and reliever airports, according to regional
officials. This amount contrasts with annual grant amounts ranging from
$410,310 to $189,170 over the prior 10 years.
[56] Other MPOs able to maintain aviation specialists include those in
St. Louis and Washington, D.C. The latter is unique among the nation‘s
MPOs in that it receives a steady stream of federal funding to support
its regional airport planning. According to FAA, the Metropolitan
Washington Council of Governments receives about $300,000 annually in
the form of an annual state apportionment from AIP. These funds are to
be spent within the specific state from which the apportionment came.
Since there are no publicly owned airports in Washington, D.C., the
funds are used for regional airport planning in the region.
[57] First, it is costly to set up operations at multiple airports,
therefore an airline would need to more than make up for these
additional costs on the revenue side of their balance sheet. Second,
airlines operating on a network system feed transferring traffic into
their system at hubs, and decentralizing traffic would make this more
difficult to accomplish, which is particularly true for the most
profitable long-haul and international routes, according to industry
officials.
[58] Policy Regarding Airport Rates and Charges, 73 Fed. Reg. 40430
(July 14, 2008), 2.2, amending the 1996 Policy Regarding Airport Rates
and Charges, 61 Fed. Reg. 31994 (June 21, 1996). The 2008 amendment
provided airport sponsors of congested airports (as defined in the
policy) with the ability to include in the airfield fees a portion of
the airfield costs of other, underutilized airports owned and operated
by the same sponsor or a portion of the costs of airfield projects
under construction. The 2008 amendment also allows a congested airport
to impose a fee on each operation, under certain conditions. The
current policy is being challenged in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals”
Air Transportation Association of America, Inc. v. Department of
Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, Case No. 08-
1293 (D.C. Cir.).
[59] Cal. Pub. Util. Code § 132358. The California law requires that
the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority develop a regional
aviation strategic plan for the region. Airport authority officials
stated that this document will serve as the region‘s RASP.
[60] Cal. Pub. Util. Code § 132358(a).
[61] The MPO provided the seed money for the development of the
forecasting and demand allocation model”known as RADAM”but most of the
development was funded by private sources. As a result, the model
itself is proprietary. According to regional officials, FAA prohibits
the use of system planning grants for the development of modeling tools,
including aviation forecasting models.
[62] To receive federal surface transportation funding”from FTA and
FHWA”any project in an urbanized area must emerge from the relevant MPO
and state department of transportation planning process. Projects
funded with FAA funds need not be included in these regional
transportation plans.
[63] Unlike the FTA or FHWA requirements for MPO surface transportation
planning, FAA guidance does not include estimates of the impact on
environmental features, including air quality.
[64] In GAO‘s survey, 324 MPOs of the 381 MPOs nationwide responded.
See appendix III of this report for a more detailed discussion of MPOs
and regional airport planning nationwide. Also GAO, Metropolitan
Planning Organizations: Options Exist to Enhance Transportation
Planning Capacity and Federal Oversight, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-868] (Washington,
D.C.: Sept. 9, 2009), for more information about the survey.
[65] In the GAO survey, 41 large MPOs responded to questions about
regional aviation planning, while there are 42 such MPOs in total,
excluding Puerto Rico.
[66] The 2 MPOs without large- or medium-hub airports were among the 17
MPOs that carried out aviation planning activities.
[67] Pub. L. No. 97-248, § 509(b)(9), 96 Stat. 324, 685 (1982),
codified as amended at 49 U.S.C. § 47120.
[68] See FAA, Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System, 2007–
2025: An Analysis of Airports and Metropolitan Area Demand and
Operational Capacity in the Future (Washington, D.C.: May 2007), a
study prepared by The MITRE Corporation, Center for Advanced Aviation
System Development.
[69] In some regions, Councils of Governments or other regional bodies
carry out regional planning, although we refer to ’metropolitan
planning organizations“ throughout this report.
[70] FAA, The Airport System Planning Process, Advisory Circular No:
150/5070-7 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 10, 2004).
[71] The FACT 2 study, which was completed in 2007, also measures the
degree of capacity constraints in the near term. Specifically, the
study provides 2007 estimates of congestion and delay, but these
estimates were based on data from a somewhat earlier time frame. See
Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System, 2007-2025.
[72] The MITRE Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that
conducts federally funded engineering and technical research on a
variety of public policy issues. MITRE‘s Center for Advanced Aviation
System Development provides technical support and analysis on an
array of issues for FAA.
[73] The model assumes the maintenance of current carrier hub
structures and employs a logistic choice model to assign aircraft to
each flight segment based on various factors, most notably segment
distance and passenger density (the number of passengers).
[74] Because the calculation of an ASV was time-consuming, ASV levels
for 2025 were not necessarily computed in all cases. In particular,
because the designation of an airport as capacity constrained in any of
the forecast years required the airport to be found capacity
constrained across all four assessments, future ASV values were not
calculated if the airport was not found capacity constrained in either
of the NAS assessments. If that is the case, the two additional
assessments are not needed for determining whether the airport
will be designated as capacity constrained (because the airport has
already been determined to not meet that designation) and thus up-to-
date ASVs are not necessary.
[75] For those airports included in FACT 2 that did not have benchmark
capacities already established, MITRE developed such measures.
[76] ’Scheduled arrival delay“ is the average delay per flight arrival
at the airport.
[77] ’Arrival queue delay“ is the average delay while a flight waits to
land at an airport.
[78] ’Departure queue delay“ is the average time flights wait for
departure at an airport. This delay is caused by local factors.
[79] Twelve minutes was used as a threshold in these analyses on the
basis of FAA and MITRE officials‘ view that most airports considered to
have congestion problems generally have an average delay of at least 12
minutes.
[80] For this report, we considered regions surrounding the identified
capacity-constrained airports, rather than using the congested
metropolitan areas that FACT 2 identified.
[81] In other work, we found that some airport improvement projects”
including terminal renovations and runway reconstruction projects”have
recently been delayed or canceled because of decreased revenue, less
immediate demand for capacity-enhancing projects, and tightening credit
markets. See GAO, Commercial Aviation: Airline Industry Contraction Due
to Volatile Fuel Prices and Falling Demand Affects Airports,
Passengers, and Federal Government Revenues, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-393] (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 21,
2009).
[82] While we were not able to identify specific airport projects in
the FACT 2 analyses facing such delays, similar challenges are possible
for the OEP projects included in the FACT 2 report. For example, we
previously reported that FAA established a 5-year implementation time
frame for its airspace redesign project in the New York/New Jersey/
Philadelphia region, but has not yet developed a detailed
implementation plan or determined the type or amount of equipment or
software needed to implement the airspace redesign. See GAO, FAA
Airspace Redesign: An Analysis of the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia
Project, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-786]
(Washington, D.C.: July 31, 2008). FAA‘s airspace redesign project in
Chicago is also intended to reduce operational constraints, leading to
additional airfield capacity at Midway International. FACT 2 assumes
this project will be implemented by 2015, taking the airport off the
list of those facing capacity constraints by 2015.
[83] For more information about the challenges facing the
implementation of NextGen, see GAO, Next Generation Air Transportation
System: Issues Associated with Midterm Implementation of Capabilities
and Full System Transformation, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-481T] (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 25,
2009).
[84] As a rough example, the FATE forecast for Chicago‘s O‘Hare airport
forecasts 1,358,000 operations in 2025. Since the upgauge analysis in
FATE only applies to domestic commercial flights, assume for the sake
of this example that 70 percent of these operations are domestic
commercial flights. Under this assumption, 950,600 domestic operations
(.7*1,358,000) are projected for O‘Hare in the 2025 FATE forecast. FAA
and MITRE provided data on how much the average number of seats per
aircraft rose in their projections for each airport”and the increase in
gauge at O‘Hare was predicted to be, on average, 12 seats per aircraft”
from 96 per plane in 2007 to 108 per plane in 2025. The upgauging
estimated for O‘Hare by the FATE forecast was one of the largest among
the airports included in the FACT 2 study. Under a simplifying
assumption that load factors stayed roughly the same, we would expect
that in 2025 the model would be indicating that roughly 11.4 million
passengers (12 seats per aircraft x 950,600 yearly operations) were
accommodated by the higher gauge of the aircraft. If fleet gauge does
not increase over that time frame”that is, if the average gauge remains
96 per aircraft”it would take 118,750 (11.4 million passengers divided
by 96 seats per plane) more operations in 2025”or 325 additional
operations per day”to accommodate that traffic.
[85] FAA‘s FACT 2 report identifies improvements for specific airports.
[86] See GAO, Metropolitan Planning Organizations: Options Exist to
Enhance Transportation Planning Capacity and Federal Oversight,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-868] (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 9, 2009), for more information about the survey.
[87] There are a total of 42 MPOs serving populations over 1 million,
excluding Puerto Rico.
[End of section]
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