ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the fundamental concepts that underlie all aspects of airport planning, design, and management namely:
Forecasts are almost inevitably ‘wrong’. What actually occurs differs from expectations. The airport/airline industry is constantly subject to political, economic, and technological change. Flexibility in design is therefore necessary to de-risk and future-proof airport projects, to avoid downside consequences and to take advantage of upside opportunities.
Airports are part of an extensive competitive network. They should not be planned in isolation. They need to be sensitive to threats and opportunities both near and far.
The practical capacity of an airport or any of its facilities is not absolute. Capacity depends on the variability of the traffic and subjective judgements about desirable levels of service. It is particularly sensitive to the inherent instability of queueing processes.
