Airport Layout Planning

Airport layout planning is a highly complex discipline which requires much forethought, as inadequate or suboptimal solutions could be both dangerous and costly. However, designing a good airport requires compromises between the requirements of all stakeholders involved, ranging from aviation authorities and airlines to passengers and nearby residents. This is a highly delicate issue as evidenced by current airport extension proposals in the UK, including Heathrow and Stansted airports. Although airport planning tools exist, no tool presently allows multiple stakeholders to observe and interact with a single airport planning model, allowing them to evaluate a proposed layout from different points of view. This paper aims to illustrate the applicability of Empirical Modelling concepts to such a process, by constructing and demonstrating the use of an airport model.