Understanding airports

The recent imbroglio surrounding the construction of the new passenger terminal building at the ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago underscores the fact that many people in TT do not understand the difference between a terminal building and an airport.

Many commentators in TT refer to the construction of the "new airport" in Tobago, when in fact what is being constructed is a modern passenger terminal.

Likewise, to this day, many people refer to the north terminal building at Piarco International Airport which was opened in 2001 as the "new airport," and the south terminal building as the "old airport."

There are several components of an airport, the main ones being the aerodrome, the passenger terminals, cargo warehouses, maintenance hangars and car parks.

An aerodrome is defined as "an area on land or water (including any buildings, installations and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft."

Aerodromes are vital links in the civil aviation network. They are the key interface between the payload (passengers and cargo) and aircraft. They are also the location where every flight begins and ends.

The land-based aerodrome at an international airport consists of runways, taxiways, tarmac, lighting systems, control towers, navigational aids and signage that are regulated in accordance with the standards of ICAO Annex 14 – Aerodrome.

Helipads are aerodromes for helicopters to land and take off at ground level.

Helidecks are aerodromes for helicopters to land and take off on elevated structures such as the top of buildings and offshore oil and gas platforms.

A water-based aerodrome is a defined area of water for an aircraft to land. In the 1940s, Pan American operated its fleet of Clipper aircraft into TT using a water-based aerodrome at Cocorite.

On January 8, 1945, during a second attempt to land at Cocorite, a Pan American flying boat named China Clipper touched the water at more-than-normal landing speed and with a nose-down attitude. The impact made the hull break into two and water poured into the cabin, and a major portion of the flying boat sank immediately. Of the 30 people on board, 23 died in the crash, including the pilot.

Today, terminal buildings are a critical part of airport systems and are designed to comply with ICAO Annex 9 – Facilitation and Annex 17 – Security.

Terminal buildings are divided into the landside and airside.

The landside is the area within the airport's boundaries that is open to the public and not restricted by security. It's the part of the airport that is farthest from the aircraft and is separated from the airside by access-control security checkpoints Landside activities include passenger check-in facilities, shops, restaurants and carparks.

The areas beyond security checkpoints in an airport terminal are considered airside areas and hold security-screened passengers awaiting aircraft boarding. These areas have shops, restaurants and airline lounges.

The areas in which incoming passengers are processed through immigration, port health, plant and quarantine and customs are considered restricted airside areas.

The airside of an airport also includes the ramp or tarmac where aircraft are parked for loading, unloading and refuelling. The taxiways link cargo warehouses and the maintenance hangars.

Airside access is only permitted after authorised personnel have been screened at designated security checkpoints.

Some airports have many terminals. John F Kennedy International Airport in New York has five active passenger terminals; Heathrow International Airport in London has four active passenger terminals.

There are several categories of airports:

– A commercial airport is an airport used by the public that includes facilities for processing passengers and cargo.

– An international airport is a designated airport of entry and departure for international air services, where formalities such as customs, immigration, public health, animal and plant quarantine are carried out.

– A gateway airport is an international airport that is the first point of arrival or last point of departure in a country where passengers can make connections to domestic airports.

– A domestic airport is an airport used for domestic air services only for which there are no formalities such as customs, immigration, public health, animal and plant quarantine.

Some international airports have a separate domestic terminal. Passengers using domestic airports must be security-screened by ICAO Annex 17 – Security.

– A hub airport is any airport with numerous co-ordinated inbound and outbound flights and a high percentage of connecting traffic with the aim of producing the most convenient connections and/or transhipment for passengers, freight and/or mail.

Associated closely with the airline hub is the hub-and-spoke system, which is an operational system in which flights from numerous points (the spokes) arrive at and then depart from a common point (the hub) within a short time frame, so that traffic arriving from any given point can connect to flights departing to numerous other points. The "power" of such a system lies in its unique ability to combine traffic from numerous city-pair markets on the same aircraft, thus permitting a service to a spoke point that would not otherwise be viable or could not support the same volume and frequency of service. Unlike point-to-point, the hub-and-spoke system works by moving waves of flights from different origins through the hub within a period sufficient for traffic to interconnect.

An intermodal hub or multi-modal hub is a hub that enables convenient connections or transhipment of traffic from one mode of transport to another. An example is air travellers connecting with a cruise ship.

– A private airport serves primarily small and privately owned aircraft, flying clubs, etc that are operated for non-commercial purposes.

Aviation resides in a rapidly changing technological and regulatory environment.

Accordingly, from time to time, changes have to be incorporated into airport elements such as taxiways, runways and terminal buildings to satisfy regulatory requirements or to improve safety and efficiency in accordance with ICAO Annex 9- Facilitation, Annex 14 – Aerodromes and Annex 17 – Security.

Airports are a fundamental component of every country’s socio-economic well-being.

They serve several purposes, from connecting people and businesses to serving as the main port of entry for disaster recovery.

The safety of aerodrome infrastructure and operations is paramount to the public’s continued trust in air transport.