AIRPORT

SOUMEN DAS
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 CONTENTS
Sr. No. Particulars Page No.

1. Acknowledgement 3
2. Introduction 4
3. Airport Characteristics 4
4. Airport Structure 5
5. International Customs 5
6. Shops & Food Services 5
7. History & Development 6
8. Air Traffic Controller 6
- Area or En Route 7
- Aerodrome or Tower 7
- Civilian/Military – Public/Private 7
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9. Airport Traffic pattern 9
10. Guidance Sings 9
11. Ramp 9
12. Runway 10
- History 10
- Distance Declared 11
- Runway marking 11
- Runway Length 12
13. Airport Categories 12
14. World Top 10 Airlines 13
Airport Administration 14-16
 IATA 16
- History 16
- Price Fixing 16-17
- Government Response 17
 ICAO 17
- History 17
- Statute 17-18
- Passport Standards 18
- Airport Codes 18
- Aircraft Registrations 19
15. - Aircraft Type Designators 19
 Cargo 19
- Logistics 19
- Aircraft Used 19
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is a great opportunity to acknowledgement all those who helped and served
me as the steps of a ladder to reach this stage of life. First of all, my deepest
and heartfelt appreciation goes out to my parents, my elder sister and brother
for their blessing and unconditional love and support for me and my work.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my teacher SASWATA

CHATTERJEE for his advice, support and for providing me with the opportunity
to understand my subject. I am also extremely grateful to him for his
understanding, wisdom, patience, enthusiasm and encouragement and for
pushing me farther for completion of this course.

I would also like to appreciate the efforts of all other members of “The Blue
Land Educare Institute” as I truly enjoyed working and learning in environment
that stimulates original thinking and initiative that they created. Their skilful
guidance and continued support have been of great value throughout this
learning period.

I would like to thank you to my class colleagues for all their help with
understanding and troubleshooting ideas that helped me to complete my
dissertation.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank my Almighty God for providing me
and my family with his grace that we prosper every day. I thank my God for
everything that he has provided me with.

Thanks to all of you who directly or indirectly influenced me all through these
years and have been a part of this journey.

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 AIRPORT
INTRODUCTION
An airport is a facility where passengers connected from/to ground transportation to air
transportation. Descriptions of airports can be divided into landside and airside. Landside
descriptions cover how passengers arrive/depart the airport terminal building and move
through the terminal building to board the airplanes. Airside describes the movement of the
airplanes on the airports surface.

At the very minimum, an airport consist of one runway (or helipad), but other common
components are hangers and terminal building. Apart from these, an airport may have a
variety of facilities and infrastructure, including fixed base operator services, air traffic
control, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services.

A military airport is known as an airbase in North American terminology. The terms airfield
and airstrip may also be used to refer to a facility that has nothing more than a runway. The
term aerodrome refers to any surface used for takeoff or landing. The term airport refers to
an aerodrome that is licensed by the responsible government organisation ( ie FAA).
Airports have to be maintained to higher safety standards. There is usually no minimum
standards for a basic aerodrome.

AIRPORT CHARACTERISTICS

Airports vary in size, with smaller or less-developed airports often having only a single
runway shorter than 1,000 m (3,300 ft.). Larger airports for international flights generally
the Far Landing and Take-off Field Lengths. These include considerations for safety margins
during landing and take-off. Typically heavier aircraft require longer runways.

The longest public-use runway in the world is at Ulyanovsk-Vostochny International Airport,

in Ulyanovsk, Russia. It has a length of 16,404 ft.

As of 2008, there were approximately 50,000 airports around the world, including 19,815 in
the United States alone.

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AIRPORT STRUCTURES

Airports are divided into landside and airside areas. Landside areas include parking lots, fuel
tank farms and access roads. Airside areas include all areas accessible to aircraft, including
runways, taxiways and ramps. Access from landside areas to airside areas is tightly
controlled at most airports. Passengers on commercial flights access airside areas through
terminals, where they can purchase tickets, clear security, check for claim luggage and
board aircraft. The waiting areas which provide passenger access to aircraft are typically
called concourses, although this term is often used interchangeably with terminal.

The area where aircraft park next to a terminal to load passengers and baggage is known as
a ramp. Parking areas for aircraft away from terminal are generally called aprons.

Both large and small airports can be towered or uncontrolled, depending on air traffic
density and available funds. Due to their high capacity and busy airspace, most international
airports have air traffic control located site.

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMS

Customs facilities for international flights define an international airport, and often require a
more conspicuous level of physical security. International airports generally have a complex
of buildings where passengers can embark on airlines, and where cargo can be stored and
loaded.

The largest international airports are often located next to highways or are served their own
highways. Often, traffic is fed into two access roads, designed as loops, one sitting on top of
the other. One level is for departing passengers and the other is for arrivals. Many airports
also have light rail lines or other mass transit systems directly connected to the main
terminals.

SHOPS AND FOOD SERVICES

Most international airports have shops and food courts. These services provide passengers
food and drinks before they board their flight. Many recognizable chain food restaurants
have opened branches in large airports to serve passengers. London’s Heathrow Airport, for
example, is home to both a Harrods and Ham leys Top Shop, providing Duty Free for
international passengers.

International areas usually have a duty-free shop where travellers are not require to pay the
usual duty fees on items. Larger airlines often operate member-only lounges for premium
passengers.

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Airports have a capacity audience, and consequently the prices charged for food is generally
higher than are available elsewhere in the region. However, some airport now regulates
food costs to keep them comparable to so-called “street prices”.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

The earliest airplane landing sites were simply open, grass fields. The airplane could
approach at any angle that provided a favourable wind direction. Early airfields were often
built for the purpose of entertainment. These aerodromes consisted of a grassy field, with
hanger for storage and servicing of airplanes, and observation stands for the visitors.

Increased aircraft traffic during World War I led to the construction of regular landing fields.
Airplanes had to approach these from specified directions. This led to the development of
navigation aids for directing the approach and landing slope.

Following the war, some of these military airfields added commercial facilities for handling
passenger traffic. One of the earliest such fields was Le Bourget, near Paris. The first
international airport to open was the Croydon Airport, in South London. In 1922, the first
permanent airport and commercial terminal solely for commercial aviation was built at
Konigsberg, Germany. The airports of this era used a paved “apron”, which permitted night
flying as well as landing airplanes.

The first lighting used on an airport was during the later part of the 1920s; in the 1930s
approach lighting came into use. These indicated the proper direction and angle of descent.
The colors and flash intervals of these lights became standardized under the ICAO. In the
1940s; the slope-line approach system was introduced. This consisted of two rows of lights
that formed a funnel indicating an aircraft’s position on the glide slope.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER

Air traffic control (or ATC) is system whereby ground-based controllers direct aircraft
movement, usually via push-to-talk VHF radio. This coordinated oversight facilities safety
and speed in complex operations where traffic moves in all three dimensions. Air traffic
control responsibilities at airports are usually divided into two areas ground and tower.

Ground Control is responsible for directing all ground traffic in designed “movement areas”.
Except the traffic on runways. This includes planes, baggage trains, snowploughs, grass
cutter, fuel trucks, and a wide array of other vehicles. Ground Control will instruct these
vehicles on which taxiway to use, which runway they will use (in the case of planes), where
they will park, and when it is safe to cross runway. When a plane is ready to take off it will
stop short of the runway, at which point it will be returned to Ground Control.

Tower Control controls aircraft on the runway and in the controlled airspace immediately
surrounding the airport. Tower controllers use radar to identify and accurately locate an

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aircraft’s position in three-dimensional space. They coordinate the sequencing of aircraft in
the traffic pattern and direct aircraft on how to safety join and leave the circuit. Aircraft
which are only passing through the airspace must also contract Tower control in order to be
sure that they remain clear of other traffic and do not disrupt operations.

 AREA OR EN ROUTE

Area controllers are responsible for the safety of aircraft at higher attitude, in the route
phase of their flight surrounding busier airport and airspace. Area controllers may also
handle aircraft at lower attitudes as well as air traffic around small airports that do not have
their own towers or approach controllers. In most nations they are known as “area”, or,
colloquially in the US, “centre” controller. Area controllers are responsible for specific
sectors of 3D blocks of airspace with define dimensions. Each sector is managed by at least
one Area controller, known as a “D-side” controller that handles radio communications.
During busier times of traffic there may also be a second the use of radar, radar allows a
sector to handle much more traffic, however, procedural control is used in many areas
where traffic levels do not justify radar or the installation of radar is not feasible, such as
over oceans.

In the United States, En-Route controller work at Air Route Traffic Control Centre or ARTCCS.
In other countries area controller work in Area Control Centre, controlling high-level en-
route aircraft, or Terminal control centres, which control aircraft climbing from or
descending to major groups of airports.

 AERODROME OR TOWER

Aerodrome or Tower control aircraft within the immediate vicinity of the airport and use
visual observation from the airport tower. The tower’s airspace is often a 5-nautical-mile
(9.3 km) radius around the airport, but can vary greatly in size and shape depending on
traffic configuration and volume.

The tower positions are typically split into many different positions such as Flight
Data/clearance Delivery. Ground Control, and Local Control (known as Tower by the pilots);
at busier facilities, a limited radar approach control position may be needed.

The roles of the positions are:

 Flight Data/Clearance Delivery: Issues IFR flight plan clearances, obtains squawk
codes for VFR aircraft, helps with coordination for GC/LC, and cuts the ATIS
(weather). FD/CD is commonly known in the profession as the secretary of the
tower.

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  Ground: Issues taxi instructions and authorizes aircraft/vehicles movements on the
airport except the active runway(s): controllers are not responsible for aircraft
movement on ramps or other designated non-movement areas.
 Local (Tower): Issues takeoff and landing instructions/clearances and authorizes
aircraft/vehicle movements on or across runways.
 Approach: Issues instructions to aircraft who are intending to land at the airport.
This involves vectoring aircraft in a safe, orderly, and expeditious manner and, if
needed, stacking the aircraft at different holding altitudes.
 CIVILLIAN/MILITARY – public/private

Most countries armed forces employ air traffic controllers, often in most if not all branches
of the forces. Although actual terms vary from country to country, controllers are usually
enlisted.

In some countries, all air traffic control is performed by the military. In other countries,
military controllers are responsible solely for military airspace and airbases; civilian
controllers maintain airspace for civilian traffic and civilian airports. Historically, in most
countries, this was part of the government and controllers were civil servants. However
many countries have partly or wholly privatized their air traffic control system; others are
looking to do the same.

AIRPORT TRAFFIC PATTERN

Smaller airports and military airfields use a traffic pattern to assure smooth traffic flow
between departing and arriving aircraft. Generally, this pattern is a circuit consisting of five
“legs” that form a rectangle (two legs and the runway from one side, with the remaining
legs each from another side). Each leg is named (see diagram), and ATC directs pilots on
how to join and leave the circuit. Traffic patterns are flown at one specific altitude, usually
1000 ft AGL. Most traffic patterns are left-handed, meaning all such as a mountain or to
reduce noise for local residents. The predetermined circuit helps pilots look for other
aircraft, and helps reduce the chance of a mid-air collision.

At large airports, a circuit is not usually used. Rather, ATC schedules aircraft for landing
while they are still hours away from the airport. Airplanes can then take the most direct
approach to the runway and land without worrying about interference from other aircraft.
While this system keeps the airspace free and is simpler for pilots, it requires detailed
knowledge of how aircraft are planning to use the airport ahead of time and is therefore
only possible with large commercial airliners on pre-scheduled flights. The system has
recently become so advanced that controllers can predict whether an aircraft will be
delayed on landing before it even takes off; that aircraft can then be delayed on the ground,
rather than wasting expensive fuel waiting in the air.

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GUIDANCE SINGS

Airport guidance sings provide direction and information to taxiing aircraft and airport
vehicles and assist in safe and expedient movement of aircraft. Smaller airports may have
few or no signs, relying instead on airport diagrams.

There are two classes of signage at airports, with several types of each:

 Location signs – yellow on black background. Identifies the runway or taxiway

currently on or entering.
 Direction/ Runway Exit signs – black on yellow. Identifies the intersecting taxiways
the aircraft is approaching, with an arrow indicating the direction to turn.
 Others – Many airports use conventional traffic signs such as stop and yield signs
throughout the airport.

Mandatory instruction signs are white on red. They show entrances to runways or critical
areas. Vehicles and aircraft are required to stop at these signs until the control tower gives
clearance to proceed.

RAMP
The airport apron, apron, flight line, or ramp is the area of an airport where aircraft are
parked, unloaded or loaded, refuelled, or boarded. Although the use of the apron is covered
by regulations, such as lighting on vehicles, it is typically more accessible to users than the
runway or taxiway. However, the apron is not usually open to the general public and a
permit may be required to gain access. By extension, the term apron is also used to identify
the air traffic control position responsible for coordinating movement on this surface at
busier airports.

The use of the apron may be controlled by the apron management service (apron control or
apron advisory) to provide coordination between the users.

The apron is designed by the ICAO as not being part of the manoeuvring area. All vehicles,
aircraft and people using the apron are referred to as apron traffic.

In the United States, the world ramp is an older term for an area where pre-flight activities
were done; an apron was any area for parking and maintenance. Passenger gates are the
main feature of a terminal ramp. The word apron is the ICAO and FAA terminology (the
word ramp is not), so word ramp is not used with this meaning outside the US, Canada,
Maldives, and the Philippines.

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 THE APRON AREA

RUNWAY

According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a runway is a “defined

rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepare for the landing and takeoff of aircraft”,
Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a
natural surface (grass, dirt, gravel, ice, sand or salt). Runways as well as taxiways and ramps,
are sometimes referred to as “tarmac,” though very few runways are built using tarmac.
Runway lengths are now commonly given in meters worldwide, except in North America
where feet are commonly used.

 HISTORY

In 1916, in a world war effort context, the first concrete-paved runway was in Clermont-
Ferrand in France, allowing local company Michelin to manufacture Breguet Aviation
military aircraft.

In January 1919, aviation pioneer Orville Wright underlined the need for “distinctly marked
and carefully prepared landing place, the preparing of the surface of reasonable flat ground
an expensive undertaking there would also be a continuous expense for the upkeep.

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  DISTANCES DECLARED

Runway dimensions vary from as small as 245 m 804 ft long and 8 m (26 ft) wide in smaller
general aviation airport, to 5,500 m (18,405 ft) long and 80 m (262 ft) wide at large
international airports built to accommodate the largest jets, to the huge, 11,917 m * 274 m
(39098 ft * 899 ft) lake bed runway 17/35 at Edward Air Force Base in California – developed
as a landing site for the Space Shuffle.

Takeoff and landing distances available are given using one of the following terms:

 TORA (Takeoff Run Available) – The length of runway declared available and
suitable for the ground run of an airplane taking off.
 TODA (Takeoff Distance Available) – The length of the takeoff run available plus the
length of the clearway. If clearway is provide.
 LDA (Landing Distance Available – The length of runway that is declared available
and suitable for the ground run of an airplane landing.
 ASDA (Accelerate-Stop Distance Available – The length of the takeoff run available
plus the length of the stop way, if stop way is provided.
 EMDA (Emergency Distance Available) – LDA (or TORA) plus a stop way.

 RUNWAY MARKING

There are runway marking and on most large runways. Larger runways have a distance
remaining sign (black box with white numbers). This sign uses a single number to indicate
the remaining distance of the runway in thousands of feet. For example, a 7 will indicate
7,000 ft (2,134 m remaining. The runway threshold is marked by a line of green lights.

There are three types of runways.

 Visual runways are used at a small airstrips and are usually just a strip of grass,
gravel, ice, asphalt, or concrete. Although there are usually no marking on a visual
runway, they may have threshold markings, designators, and centrelines.
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 Additionally, they do not provide an instrument-based landing procedure; pilots
must be able to see the runway to use it. Also radio communication may not be
available and pilots must be self-reliant.
 Non-precision instrument runways are often used at small-to medium size airports.
These runways, depending on the surface, may be marked with threshold marking,
designators, Centrelines, and sometimes a 1,000 ft 305 m) mark (known as an aiming
point, sometimes installed at 1,500 ft (457 m). They provide horizontal position
guidance to planes on instrument approach Via Non-directional beacon, VHF
omnidirectional range, Global Positioning System, etc.
 Precision instrument runways, which are found at medium and large size airports,
consist of a blast pad/stop way (optional for airports handling jets), threshold,
designator, centreline, aiming point, and 500 ft (152 m), 1,000 ft (305m)/1,500 ft
(457 m), 2,000 ft (610 m), 2,500 ft (762 m), and 3,000 ft (914 m) touchdown zone
marks. Precision runways provide both horizontal and vertical guidance for
instrument approaches.
 RUNWAY LENGTH

A runway of a least 6,000 ft (1,800 m in length is usually adequate for aircraft weights below
approximately 2, 00,000 lb 91,000 kg. Larger aircraft including wide bodies will usually
require at least 8,000 ft 2,400 m) at Sea level and somewhat more at higher altitude
airports. International wide body flights, which carry substantial amounts of fuel and are
therefore heavier, any also have landing requirements of 10,000 ft (3,000 m) or more and
takeoff requirements of 13,000 ft (4,000 m). The Boeing 747 is considered to have the
longest takeoff distance of the more common aircraft types and has set the standard for
runway length of larger international airports.

At sea level, 10,000 ft (3,000 m) can be considered an adequate length to land virtually ant
aircraft. For example, at O’Hare International Airport, when landing simultaneously on
4L/22R and 10/28 or parallel 9R/27L, it is routine for arrivals from East Asia, which would
normally be vectored for 4L/22R (7,500 ft (2,286 m)) or 9R/27L (7,967 ft (2,428 m)) to
request 28R (13,000 ft (3,962 m)). It is always accommodated, although occasionally with a
delay. Another example is that the Lulea Airport in Sweden was extended to 10,990 ft (3,350
m) to allow any fully loaded freight aircraft to take off.

An aircraft taking off at a higher altitude must do so at reduced weight due to density of air
higher altitudes, which reduce engine power. An aircraft must also take off at a reduce
weight in hotter or more humid conditions (see density altitude). Most commercial aircraft
carry manufacturer’s tables showing the adjustments required for a given temperature.

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AIRPORT CATEGORIES

1. Commercial Service Airports are publicly owned airports that have at least 2,500
passengers boarding each calendar year and receive scheduled passenger service.
Passenger boarding refer to revenue passenger boarding’s on an aircraft in service in
air commerce whether or not in scheduled service. The definition also includes
passengers who continue on an aircraft in international flight that stops at an airport
in any of the 50 states for a non traffic purpose, such as refuelling or aircraft
maintenance rather than passenger activity. Passenger boarding’s at airports that
receive scheduled passenger service are also referred to as Enplanements.
a. Non primary Commercial Service Airports are commercial Service Airport that
has at least 2,500 and no more than 10,000 passenger boarding each year.
b. Primary Airports are Commercial Service Airports have more than 10,000
passengers boarding each year. Hub categories for Primary Airports are defined
as a percentage of total passenger boarding s within the United States in the
most current calendar year 2014 data are used for fiscal year 2016 since the
fiscal year began 9 months after the end of that calendar year.
2. Cargo Service Airports are airport that, in addition to any other air transportation
services that may be available, are served by aircraft providing air transportation of
only cargo with a total annual landed weight of more than 100 million pounds.
“Landed weight” means the weight of weight of aircraft transporting only cargo in
intrastate and foreign air transportation. An airport may be both a commercial
service and a cargo service airport.
3. Reliever Airport is airports designed by the FAA to relieve congestion at Commercial
Service Airports and to provide improved general aviation access to the overall
community. These may be publicly or private-owned.
4. General Aviation Airports are public- use airports that do not have scheduled service
or have less than 2,500 annual passengers boarding. Approximately 88 percent of
airports included in the NPIAS are general aviation.

In cooperation with the aviation community. FAA completed two top down reviews of
the existing network of general aviation facilities included in the NPIAS. The results of
these efforts are contained in two reports which capture the diverse functions and
economic contributions GA airports make to their communities and the Nation. Five new
categories for airports serving general aviation (includes non primary commercial
service, relievers and general aviation) were developed based on existing activity levels.

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WORLD’S TOP TEN AIRLINES

1. QATAR AIRWAYS
In a relatively short time, Qatar Airways has
grown to more than 140 destinations
worldwide, offering levels of service
excellence that helped the award-winning
carrier to become best in the world. Qatar
Airways network spans business and leisure
destinations across Europe, Middle East,
Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and
South America.
2. SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Singapore airlines are one of the most respected travel brands around the world.
Flying one of the youngest aircraft fleets in
the world to destinations spanning a
network spread over six continents, the
Singapore Girl is an internationally-
recognisable icon providing the high
standards of care and service that
customers have come to expect of
Singapore Airlines.
3. ANA ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS
ANA All Nippon Airways is the largest airlines in Japan. Founded in 1952, ANA flies to
around 80 international routes and over 110
domestic routes. ANA has been a member of
Star Alliance since 1999. Its Frequent Flyer
Program, ANA Mileage Club, has more than
29 million members. ANA was the launch
customer and is the biggest operator of the
Boeing 787.

4. CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS

The Hong kong - based Cathay Pacific Group
offers scheduled passenger and cargo
services to over 200 destinations in Asia,
North America, Australia, Europe and Africa,
using a fleet of close to 200 aircraft. Cathay
Pacific is a founder member of the one
world global alliance and Cathay Dragon is
an affiliate member.

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5. EMIRATES
Founded in 1985, and flying out of Dubai
with just two aircraft, Emirates now has a
fleet of more than 230 aircraft, and
currently fly to over destinations in more
than 80 countries around the world. The
Emirates network is expanding constantly,
with over 1,500 flights departing due each
week on their way to destinations on six
continents.
6. EVA AIR
Eva Air was established in 1989, and is a
member of Star Alliance. Eva serves a global
network that connects Asia and Mainland
China to Europe, North America and
Oceania and links more than 60 major
business and tourist destinations. EVA
operates from their hub at Taoyuan
international Airport in Taiwan.
7. HAINAN AIRLINES
Hainan Airlines was founded in January,
1993 in Hainan Province. At the end of June
2018, Hainan Airlines and its holding
subsidiaries had over 400 aircraft in
operation and 24 bases/branch companies.
Hainan Airlines network covers China,
numerous points in Asia and extends to
Europe, North America and the South
Pacific.

8. QANTAS AIRWAYS
Founded in 1920, Qantas is the flag carrier of
Australia and a founding member of the
oneworld airline alliance. Qantas is now
Australia’s largest domestic and international
airlines.
9. LUFTHANSA
Lufthansa is the largest airline in Germ any, and
one of the five founding members or Star
Alliance. Lufthansa’s primary hub is Frankfurt

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 Airport, with Munich Airport being the airlines secondary hub.
10. THAI AIRWAYS
Thai Airways is the flag carrier airlines of
Thailand, formed in 1988. Thai Airways is a
founding member of the Star Alliance.
Including its sub diaries, Thai Airways flies to
84 destinations in 37 countries, using a fleet
of over 90 aircraft. The company slogan
“Smooth as Silk” is a key brand
denominator.

AIRPORT ADMINISTRATION

1. IATA( International Air Transport Association)

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a trade association of the world’s
airlines founded in 1945. AITA sets standards for airlines and has been accused of price
fixing.

Consisting of 290 airlines, primary major carrier , representing 117 countries, the AITA’s
member airlines account for carrying approximately 82% of total available seat miles air
traffic. IATA supports airline activity and helps formulate industry policy and standards. It is
headquartered in Canada in the city of Canada in the city of Montreal, with Executive offices
in Geneva, Switzerland.

 HISTORY

IATA was formed in April 1945 in Havana, Cuba. It is the successor to the International Air
Traffic Association, which was formed in 1919 at The Hague, Netherlands. At its founding,
IATA consisted of 57 airlines from 31 countries. Much of AITA’s early work was technical and
AITA provided input to the newly created International Civil Aviation Organisation, which
was reflected in the annex of the Chicago Convention, the international treaty that still
governs the technical of international air transport today.

 PRICE FIXING

The Chicago Convention did not result in a consensus on the economic regulation of the
airline industry. According to Warren Koffler, IATA was formed to fill the resulting void and
provide international air carries with a mechanism to fix prices.

In the late 1940s, AITA started holding conference to fix prices for international at travel.
AITA seceratery J. G Gazdik started that organisation aimed to fix prices at reasonable

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levels, with due regard being paid to the cost of operations, in order to ensure reasonable
profits for airlines.

AITA has been described as “the world aviation cartel”. IATA enjoyed immunity from
antitrust law in several nations.

From 1956 to 1975, IATA resolution capped travel agent commissions at 7% of the airlines
ticket price. The legal scholar Kenneth Elzinga argued that IATA’s commission cap harmed
consumers by decreasing the incentive for travel agents to offer improved service to
consumers.

At a time when airlines were government owned and loss-making. IATA operated as a cartel,
by the government with setting a fixed fare structure that avoided price competition. The
first Conference was held in 1947 in Rio de jenerio and reached unanimous agreement on
some 400 resolutions. IATA Director-General William Hildred recounted that about 200 of
the resolutions at the Rio de jenerio conference were related establishing uniform structure
for tariffs charged for international air transportation.

 GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

The American Civil Aeronautics Board did not intervene to stop IATA’s price fixing. The law
professor Louis B. Schwartz condemned the board’s inaction as an “abdication of judicial
responsibility.

In 2006, IATA entered into a consent decree with the United States Department of Justice
related to alleged price fixing at its traffic conferences.

2. (ICAO) INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION

The international Civil Aviation Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It
changes the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the
planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.
Its headquarters is located in the Quatier International of Montreal Quebec, Canada.

The ICAO Council adopts standards and recommended practices concerning air navigation,
its infrastructure, flight inspection, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of
border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation. ICAO defines the protocols for air
accident investigation that are followed by transport safety authorities in countries
signatory to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.

 HISTORY

The forerunner to ICAO was the International Commission for Air Navigation. It held its first
convention in 1993 in Berlin, Germany, but no agreement was reached among the eight
countries that attended. At the second convention in 1906, also held in Berlin, 27 countries

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attended. The third convention, held in London in 1912 allocated the first radio callings for
use by aircraft. ICAN continued to operate until 1945.

Fifty-two countries signed the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, also
known as the Chicago Convention, in Chicago, Illinois on 7 December 1944. Under its terms
a Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization was to be established, to be replacing
in turn by a permanent organization when 26 countries ratified the convention. April 1947
and replaced by ICAO, which began operations the same day. In October 1947, ICAO
became an agency of the United Nations under its Economic and social council (ECOSOC).

 STATUTE
The 9th edition of the Convention on International Civil Aviation includes modifications from
years 1948 up to 2006. ICAO refers to its current edition of the Convention as the Statute
and designates it as ICAO Document 7300/9. The Convention has 19 Annexes that are listed
by title in the article Convention on International Civil Aviation.

 PASSPORT STANDARDS
ICAO has published standards for machine-readable passports. Machine-readable passports
have an area where some of the information otherwise written in textual is also written as
strings of alphanumeric characters, printed in a manner suitable for optical character
recognition. This enables border controllers and other law enforcement agents to process
such passports more quickly, without having to enter the information manually into a
computer. ICAO’s technical standard for machine-readable passports is contained in
Document 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents.

A more recent standard covers biometric passports. These contain biometric to authenticate
the identity of travellers. The passport’s critical information is stored on a tiny RFID
computer chip, much like information stored on smart cards. Like some smart cards, the
passport book design calls for an embedded contactless chip that is able to hold digital
signature data to ensure the integrity of the passport and the biometric data.

 AIRPORT CODES

ICAO uses 4-letter airport codes. The ICAO code is based on the region and country of the
airport – for example, Charles de3 Gaulle Airport has an ICAO code of LFPG, where L
indicated South Europe, F France, PG Paris de Gaulle, while orly airport has the code LFPO (
the 3rd letter sometimes refers to the particular flight information region (FIR) or last two
may be arbitrary). In most parts of the world, ICAO and IATA codes are unrelated , for
example the ICAO code for Lo0s Angeles International Airport is KLAX. Canada follows a
similar pattern, where a prefix of C is usually added to an IATA code to create the ICAO
code. For example, Calgary International Airport is YYC or CYYC. (In contrast, airports in
Hawaii are in the Pacific region and so have ICAO codes that start with PH; Kona

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International Airport’s code is PHKO. Similarly, airport in Alaska have ICAO codes that start
with PA. Merrill Field, for instance is PAMR). Note that not all airport are assigned codes in
both systems; for example, airports that do not have airlines service do not need an IATA
code.

 AIRLINE CODES

ICAO also assigns 3-letter airline codes (versus the more-familiar 2-letter AITA codes- for
example, ULAL vs. UA for United Airlines). ICAO also provides telephony designators to
aircraft operators worldwide, a one-or-two word designator used on the radio, usually, but
not always, similar to the aircraft name. For example, the identifier for Japan Airlines
International is JAL and the designator is Japan Air, but Aer Lingus is EIN and Shamrock.
Thus, a Japan Airlines flight numbered 111 would be written as “JAL111” and pronounced
“Japan Air One One One “on the radio, while a similarly numbered Aer Lingus would be
written as “EIN111” and pronounced “Shamrock One One One”. In the US, FAA practices
require the digits of the flight number to be spoken in group format (“Japan Air One Eleven”
in the above example) while individual digits are used for the aircraft tail number used for
unscheduled civil flights.

 AIRCRAFT REGISTRATIONS

ICAO maintains the standards for aircraft registration (“tail number”), including the
alphanumeric codes that identify the country of registration. For example, airplanes
registered in the United States have tail number starting with N.

 AIRCRAFT TYPE DESIGNATORS

ICAO is also responsible for issuing 2-4 character alphanumeric aircraft type designators for
those aircraft type which are most commonly provided with air traffic service. These codes
provide abbreviated aircraft type identification, typically used in flight plans. For example,
the Boeing 747- 100, -200 and -300 are given the type designators B741, B742 and B743
respectively.

CARGO
Cargo airlines (or airfreight carriers, and derives of these names) are airlines mainly
dedicated to the transport of cargo air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of
larger passenger airlines.

 LOGISTICS

Air transport is a component of many international logistics networks, managing and

controlling the flow of goods, energy, information and other resources like products,
services, and people, from the source of production to the marketplace. Logistics involves
the geography repositioning of law materials, work in process, and finished inventories.

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  AIRCRAFT USED

Larger cargo airlines tend to use new recently built aircraft to carry their freight. However,
still utilize older aircraft including those no longer suited for passenger service, like the
Boeing 707, Boeing 727, Douglas DC-8, McDonnell Dougles MD- 11, Airbus A300, and the
llyushin ii-76. Examples of the 60-year-old Dougles DC – 3 are still flying around the world
carrying cargo (as well as passengers). Short range turboprop airliners such as the Antonov
An-12, Antonov An-26, Fokker Friendship, and British Aerospace ATP are being modified to
accept standard air freight pallets to extend their working lives. This normally involves the
replacement of glazed windows with opaque panels, the strengthening of the cabin floor
and insertion of a board top-hinged door in one side of the fuselage.

Antonov An-225 Mriya and Antonov An-124 are the world’s largest aircraft, used for
transporting large shipments and oversized cargos.

Usage of large military airplanes for commercial purposes, ploneered by Ukraine’s Antonov
Airlines in the 1990s, has allowed new types of cargo in aerial transportation.

In the past, some cargo airlines would carry a few passengers from time to time on flight,
and UPS Airlines once unsuccessfully tried a passenger charter airline division.

The Boeing 747 is also widely used as a cargo aircraft. The latest aircraft in the wide-body
series is the Boeing 747-8.

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