Let the Airport Beware ...

April 30, 2007
... well, that might be one interpretation of a Government Accountability Office (www.gao.gov)  report issued Friday on the good and bad for airports related to the oncoming Airbus A-380. The questions related to the A-380 are many – separation with other aircraft due to wake vortices, still under study; taxi times on the ground; passenger throughput at the gates; ground handling turn times; and, aircraft rescue and firefighting response capabilities; among others.   The A-380 will be able to accommodate more than 800 passengers, which the manufacturer likes to point to as a capacity enhancer. GAO isn’t so sure, cautioning that more passengers may be offset by longer times for ground operations and for moving passengers loading and unloading. It may at best be a wash. At a time when the U.S. airport system is again concerned about available capacity to meet projected demand, a clearer handle on the impact of the aircraft on operations could prove helpful. Meanwhile, industry is awaiting an FAA study to determine whether or not it will be safe to allow the aircraft to utilize 150-foot wide runways; ICAO calls for 200-foot wide runways for this new category of heavy aircraft.   GAO says that its research shows “all 18 U.S. airports [planning to accommodate the A-380] we visited anticipated imposing some type of operating restrictions on the A380 or on other aircraft that operate around the A380. The anticipated operating restrictions would generally affect runway and taxiway use.†  Many of the operating questions related to the A-380, like the Boeing 747 before it, will be answered when the aircraft actually enters commercial service, expected later this year. Ironically, the prime beneficiary of all these ‘lessons learned’ will be Airbus’s number one competitor. The next-generation 747-8, expected to be in service by 2010, has nearly identical airfield operating specs.   Thanks for reading. jfi