NextGen for Airports, Volume 5: Airport Planning and Development (2017)

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91 Outreach Guidance 91 Why Community Outreach Is Needed 92 Preliminary Findings from ACRP Project 01-28 94 Key Enabler of NextGen Implementation—Airports GIS 94 Local Partnerships with ATC, Airlines, and Community Leaders 97 Appendix A ACRP NextGen Initiative Projects 101 Appendix B Best Practices and Lessons Learned from Airport Case Studies 108 Appendix C NextGen Elements and Applicability by Airport Sizes and Issues 119 Appendix D NextGen Resources, Organizations, and Contacts 128 Appendix E Relevant Airport Planning and NextGen References and Guidance Documents 142 Appendix F NextGen—Airport Planning and Development List of Acronyms

Introduction and Background | 1 1 Introduction and Background Since the inception of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), airports have been challenged to understand its potential benefits, costs, and impacts on their operations and on their relationships with industry stakeholders, the public, and other external interests. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the field of airport planning, where anticipation of long-term factors affecting airport development and impacts requires a more detailed understanding of NextGen’s promise and processes. This guidebook is intended to provide airport planning profes- sionals with detailed resources to assist them in understanding how NextGen will affect the traditional airport planning process and their airport’s future development. Objectives The overall objective of this research is to develop a guidebook to help airport industry planning prac- titioners understand and incorporate NextGen capabilities into planning for all categories of airports. Below is a list of specific objectives that were established at the outset of this project: • Determine which NextGen capabilities are applicable for a particular airport planning project and identifying the role the airport sponsor has for implementing a particular NextGen capability. • Identify airport-led planning initiatives that use NextGen capabilities to address gaps that will not be addressed by FAA NextGen plans [e.g., ground-based augmentation system (GBAS), multilatera- tion outside the movement area]. • Identify, justify, and develop strategies for funding airport infrastructure that rely on and accommo- date NextGen capabilities. • Determine the likelihood and timing (near-term and intermediate-term initiatives as well as poten- tial, long-range future concepts) of NextGen capabilities. • Assess local user readiness for particular NextGen capabilities. • Provide planning flexibility to account for the risk and uncertainty associated with NextGen capabil- ities, in order to develop risk-adjusted strategies to guide airport development plans. • Identify opportunities for airport participation in NextGen forums. • Identify and engage various FAA offices and other stakeholders involved in various NextGen capabilities. • Develop strategies for airport participation when prioritizing NextGen capabilities affecting their airport. • Identify a mechanism for obtaining FAA’s navigation and surveillance facility plans for an airport. • Incorporate FAA-estimated capacity improvements from NextGen projects at the airport.

2 | AIRPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT • Explain how airports may stay informed of local and regional airspace efficiency improvements that could impact the airport. • Incorporate NextGen capabilities into the environmental process, including impacts from aircraft operator-initiated and FAA-initiated projects. • Integrate airport layout plan (ALP), GIS (geographic information system), online mapping, FAA data resources, and other “big data” tools. Relationship to Other ACRP NextGen Initiative Projects After considerable consultation with the FAA and industry representatives, ACRP has developed what is referred to as the “ACRP NextGen Initiative” comprising five concurrent and coordinated NextGen research projects, each covering a critical NextGen need and audience, as follows: • ACRP Project 01-27, “NextGen—A Primer.” • ACRP Project 01-28, “NextGen—Guidance for Engaging Airport Stakeholders.” • ACRP Project 03-33, “NextGen—Airport Planning and Development.” • ACRP Project 03-34, “NextGen—Understanding the Airport’s Role in Performance-Based Naviga- tion (PBN).” • ACRP Project 09-12, “NextGen—Leveraging NextGen Spatial Data to Benefit Airports.” ACRP Project 03-33 has been coordinated with the other four ACRP NextGen Initiative projects, primarily through a face-to-face meeting of the five panels and research teams at a 1-day on-site NextGen Initiative workshop. There is considerable and intentional overlap among the scopes of these five projects, although the intended audiences and levels of detail of the five projects differ. Three of the ACRP NextGen Initiative projects are highly focused on specific NextGen capabilities and airport planning elements (e.g., PBN, stakeholder engagement, and spatial data) that will be of great interest to the other two projects (the resource guide/primer and airport planning), which have much broader scopes. The level of techni- cal depth of the three closely related projects on the treatment of airport planning and development issues different significantly: (1) Project 01-27 presents a brief overview; (2) Project 03-33 is like an undergraduate survey course on “NextGen for professional planners 101”; and (3) Project 03-34 is like an undergraduate course focused only on PBN procedures. Summarized below is a brief description of the five ACRP NextGen Initiative projects and how they relate to one another: ACRP Project 01-27, “NextGen—A Primer,” started earlier than the other four projects because it was intended to set the stage for defining NextGen at a high level and developing a NextGen infor- mation guide for airport practitioners, airport decision makers, and the public. It provides a high-level summary of NextGen capabilities, data, and related technologies that airport executives need to understand, and that are presented in greater detail in the other four projects, as appropriate. Proj- ect 01-27 provides a high-level introduction to NextGen issues that is intended to give airport senior executives, airport general staff, and the public an overview of NextGen capabilities, issues, and im- pacts. This airport planning guidebook will give more specific guidance to airport planners, planning consultants, and others with a need to understand the more detailed aspects of NextGen and airport

Introduction and Background | 3 planning. It delves deeply into the information needed to incorporate NextGen capabilities into airport master planning, airport environmental planning, state, and regional/metropolitan airport system planning, airspace redesign studies [e.g., OAPM (optimization of airspace procedures in the metro- plex)] and airport financial and strategic planning. ACRP Project 01-28, “NextGen—Guidance for Engaging Airport Stakeholders,” had the objective of developing guidance for airports for engaging with the FAA and other airport stakeholders on the NextGen development and implementation lifecycle including, but not be limited to, planning, envi- ronmental review, design, and deployment. This project contributes elements not considered in detail in the other four NextGen Initiative projects in that it provides communication and collaboration tools, strategies and methods for engaging stakeholders, and example applications of these tools, strategies, and methods to particular NextGen initiatives through the use of case studies. In particular, Project 01-28 comprehensively addresses the communication issues and methods for interacting with various stakeholders, such as airlines, members of the public, and the press. This airport planning guidebook will focus more narrowly on the interactions between the process of incorporating NextGen into air- port planning activities and working with various internal and external stakeholders. ACRP Project 03-33, “NextGen—Airport Planning and Development,” had the objective of in- corporating NextGen capabilities into airport planning and development processes. In this research, expectations and recommendations are provided for implementing various NextGen capabilities at airports of all sizes, and case studies combined with industry outreach will inform airports of what benefits and challenges they should expect. The other four ACRP NextGen Initiative projects provide essential inputs to the following critical elements of airport planning and development: A common high-level understanding and vocabulary for NextGen technologies and operational im- provements by practitioners, decision makers, and the communities (ACRP Project 01-27). New tools for airports to engage with the FAA and other airport stakeholders in the planning, review, design, and deployment of NextGen capabilities (ACRP Project 01-28). An understanding of the role airports should play in the implementation of PBN flight procedures and the benefits, impacts, and tradeoffs that airports will need to address in their planning for future devel- opment (ACRP Project 03-34). Guidance on the potential benefits of collecting, maintaining, and using spatial data to enable and support the implementation of NextGen at airports (ACRP Project 09-12). ACRP Project 03-34, “NextGen—Understanding the Airport’s Role in Performance-Based Navi- gation (PBN),” provides a user-friendly ”Airport PBN Resource Guide“ that will provide input to this ACRP 03-33 project on relevant federal policies, the potential tradeoffs between efficiency and capac- ity, and potential impacts on airport stakeholders. This project provides both high-level descriptions of PBN for ACRP 01-27 and more comprehensive information for ACRP 03-33 and ACRP 01-28 on the potential benefits, impacts, and priorities for PBN, as well as criteria for airports to use in evaluating proposed PBN flight procedures. ACRP Project 09-12,” NextGen—Leveraging NextGen Spatial Data to Benefit Airports,” has the objectives of (1) identifying the benefits that can be derived from spatial data that are to be collected, maintained, and shared in support of the FAA’s NextGen effort and (2) providing guidance on how air- ports can maximize the use of these data. In particular, this project provides guidance on how airports will participate in the Airports Surveying Geographic Information System (Airports GIS) program in collecting airport and aeronautical data to meet the demands of NextGen.

4 | AIRPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT NextGen Background and Why This Guidebook Is Needed As stated in the RFP for ACRP Project 01-27, “NextGen—A Primer”: For the ACRP NextGen Initiative, the term “NextGen” shall refer to a number of federal programs (predominately airspace, air traffic, or avionics related) that are designed to modernize the NAS (National Airspace System). NextGen is the culmination of a number of air traffic modernization programs that the FAA has initi- ated over many years. The original concept was developed by a broad FAA/industry effort published in October 1995 as the “Final Report of RTCA (Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics) Task Force 3 Free Flight Implementation.” The current initiative started in December 2003 with the Vision 100— Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act, which authorized plans for a new, multi-year, multi-agency effort to develop an air transportation system for the year 2025 and beyond, which would be planned by a Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) at the FAA composed of representatives from FAA, NASA, United States Department of Transportation (U.S.DOT), Department of Defense (DOD), Depart- ment of Homeland Security (DHS), Commerce Department, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. One year later, JPDO published the Integrated Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, which laid out goals, objectives, and requirements for NextGen. This was redefined and expanded in September 2009 by another RTCA industry task force as the “NextGen Mid-Term Implementation Task Force 5 Report,” which advocated for the focus to be on near- to mid- term benefits of NextGen. From the beginning there has been limited but increasing opportunity for airport planning practitio- ners to participate in the development of NextGen. For example: • JPDO established an Airports Working Group to represent the needs and concerns of airports. • The airport associations, e.g., American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and Airports Council International–North America (ACI–NA), began sponsoring conference sessions (and whole conferences) on NextGen and established their own NextGen working groups. • Airports secured representation on various industry NextGen committees at FAA and RTCA, among other organizations. • The FAA established a new Surface Operation Office with the mission to enhance the efficiency of the nation’s airports. NextGen success stories [e.g., surface management at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), the Greener Skies over Seattle program at SeaTac, and wake turbulence recategorization (Wake RECAT)] began to generate increased interest in the potential near-term benefits of NextGen at airports. Despite increasing forums for participation and involvement by airports, there are still significant chal- lenges to airports being able to incorporate NextGen into airport planning and development process- es, including the following: • The perception that NextGen implementation is driven primarily by the FAA Air Traffic Organization (ATO), the airlines, and manufacturers of airplanes, airplane avionics, and air traffic control (ATC) systems is widely held among airports. Moreover, many airport planning practitioners believe that they have little or no influence, or stake, in the implementation of NextGen. • The substantial investment required by the airport users [i.e., the operators of commercial and ge- neral aviation (GA) aircraft] to equip their aircraft with the avionics required to realize the potential benefits of certain NextGen technologies. This concern was validated somewhat by recent expe-

Introduction and Background | 5 riences of certain airlines that have equipped their aircraft only to find out that very few benefits have resulted from their investment. • The uncertainty about the timing of NextGen implementation and its potential benefits to airports has been a factor in many airports’ reluctance to incorporate NextGen into their existing facility, environmental, and financial planning processes. As a result, until recently many in the airports community have chosen not to become engaged with the NextGen planning and implementation process. • The lack of FAA advisory circulars (ACs) and policy documents containing comprehensive guidance on methods to assess NextGen improvements at airports and how they should be addressed in planning and environmental studies. • At a 2013 ACI-NA conference session on NextGen, panel members were asked what they thought was the greatest challenge to the implementation of NextGen at their airports. The almost unani- mous response was gaining community acceptance of the potential NextGen PBN flight proce- dures over the communities surrounding the airport. Two other challenges mentioned by the panel members were (1) convincing aircraft operators to equip their airplanes in order to realize potential benefits and (2) the uncertainty about the timing and benefits that NextGen will actually deliver. The premise of this guidebook is that greater involvement by airports is essential to the acceptance and implementation of NextGen technologies by airport and community stakeholders. In particular, the target audience for this guidebook is the “airport planning practitioner.” For purposes of this guidebook, “airport planning practitioners” are defined as aviation professionals practicing in airport planning and development whose employers could include, but are not limited to, airport sponsors, airport consulting firms, airlines, state or regional aviation organizations, airport and airline associa- tions, FAA Airports Division and Air Traffic Organization, federal contractors, aircraft users groups, and aviation research organizations. Airport planning practitioners have the local knowledge of their airports and communities, which could be extremely valuable in (1) organizing community support and reducing the potential for community opposition; (2) designing and setting local priorities for PBN flight procedures within the broader framework established by industry groups such as the NextGen Advisory Committee; (3) iden- tifying NextGen operational improvements (e.g., closely spaced parallel runway) that could potentially defer investment in capacity-enhancement projects or reduce the cost of those projects; and (4) pro- viding the information needed to counter misunderstandings by airport development opponents of the ability of certain NextGen technologies and operational improvements to reduce or eliminate the need for capital improvement projects. Moreover, it may be possible for airports to provide economic and/or operational incentives for aircraft equipage or early adoption of NextGen-enabling infrastructure. Airports stand to benefit from in- creased equipage by their users because such increased equipage could (1) increase the achievable benefits of NextGen operational improvements, such as reduced aircraft delays and emissions; (2) reach a threshold of feasibility for implementing certain advanced NextGen flight procedures (e.g., such implementation may require in excess of 80% average); and (3) reduce the airline operating costs at the airport, making the airport more attractive for maintaining and increasing air service. Unfortunately, however, at present there is no single source or guidebook that airport planning practi- tioners can use to understand and incorporate NextGen capabilities into their planning efforts. There- fore, the timing is right for the publication of a guidebook for airport industry planning practitioners on how to adapt their facility, operational, environmental, and financial planning processes to incorpo- rate NextGen technologies and operational improvements despite uncertainties in terms of when they will be available, how much benefit they will provide, and how much they will cost.

6 | AIRPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT In summary, this guidebook is needed to define what NextGen means to airport planning practitioners to help them decide how to properly prepare for NextGen. Who Should Use This Guidebook? This guidebook is aimed at airport planning practitioners responsible for master planning, strategic and financial planning, airspace capacity, and procedure development as well as for state and region- al/metropolitan airport system planners. What Existing Guidance on NextGen at Airports Is Available? Although FAA has several helpful publications and online resources describing NextGen for airports, they are not specific enough to provide the level of detail needed for an airport planner to use ef- fectively. For example, in June 2014 FAA published a brochure titled “NextGen for Airports” avail- able at https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/qanda/airports/. More recently, FAA added an update to its NextGen website, “NextGen Update 2016,” which includes a page devoted to airports available at https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/update/operator_investments_and_airports/airport_enhancements/. This new webpage includes NextGen programs of interest to airports such as the Airports GIS pro- gram, PBN, Surface Surveillance and Data Sharing, and Closely Spaced Parallel Runways. Another useful source of information is the FAA webpage on the runwaySimulator program. In particu- lar, many of the basic NextGen operational assumptions (e.g., 7110.308 staggered approach proce- dures, Wake RECAT, etc.) are built into the runwaySimulator program for capacity evaluations. This program can be found at http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/runwaysimulator/. This guidebook will serve as a “desk reference” for airport planners trying to integrate NextGen into their routine planning responsibilities. Organization of This Guidebook The guidebook is organized into five substantive chapters and a number of appendices as described below: Chapter 2—NextGen Technologies and Operational Improvements This chapter provides an in-depth description of the technologies and operational improvements promised by NextGen and emerging non-NextGen technologies, beginning with a high-level review of NextGen technologies, operational improvements, and potential benefits. It continues with a more detailed planning practitioner discussion of the NextGen elements of most interest to airports and how they could affect the airport planning process.

Introduction and Background | 7 Chapter 3—Incorporating NextGen into Airport Planning and Development This chapter provides a working-level discussion of the likely changes to planning practices to reflect the expected gradual introduction of NextGen capabilities to airports. As NextGen becomes more widely implemented, additional and more specific guidance will become available from FAA in the form of revised ACs, orders, and other documents. Not all of the information needed to plan for NextGen is likely to be available from the FAA Office of Airports. As is currently the case, much of the information needed to consider NextGen effects is distributed in other places, such as the Office of NextGen, the ATO, Flight Standards Service, RTCA, and elsewhere. Chapter 4—Applicability of NextGen to Medium and Large Airport Planning and Development This chapter describes how NextGen could affect medium and large airport planning and develop- ment, starting with a clarification of the definition of medium and large airports for NextGen purpos- es. Because the traditional set of airport size definitions (hubs—large, medium, small, non-hubs, and GA) does not accommodate the issues facing airports in NextGen very well, this chapter will develop an approach to defining medium and large airports that is derived from the NextGen capabilities that are most likely to be of interest to those airports. Chapter 5—Applicability of NextGen to Small Airport Planning and Development This chapter describes how NextGen could affect small airport planning and development, starting with a clarification of the definition of small airports for NextGen purposes. Because the traditional set of airport size definitions (hubs—large, medium, small, non-hubs, and GA) does not accommodate the issues facing airports in NextGen very well, this chapter will develop an approach to defining small airports that is derived from the NextGen capabilities that are most likely to be of interest to smaller airports, whether medium/small/non-hubs or GA airports. Chapter 6—Role of Airports in NextGen Development, Implementation, and Community Outreach This chapter provides insight to airport planning practitioners into how to identify and engage the key individuals or interests who may need additional outreach to assure effective communication on Next- Gen issues, as well as some recommended best practices to assist with this problem. Appendices The following appendices have been included to provide additional detail on the information and concepts introduced in the foregoing chapters. Appendix A—ACRP NextGen Initiative Projects Appendix B—Best Practices and Lessons Learned from Airport Case Studies Appendix C—NextGen Elements and Applicability by Airport Sizes and Issues Appendix D—NextGen Resources, Organizations, and Contacts Appendix E—Relevant Airport Planning and NextGen References and Guidance Documents Appendix F—NextGen—Airport Planning and Development List of Acronyms The final technical report of Project 03-33 includes additional technical details on the research con- ducted, data collected, and contacts made with the industry during the project.