Acronyms and Symbols

AAR Airport Acceptance Rate :

The number of arrivals an airports capable of accepting each hour.
AATF Airport and Airway Trust Fund :
Provides funding for the federal commitment to the aviation system of the United
States of America through several aviation-related excise taxes.
ACA Airport Carbon Accreditation :
Is an independent , voluntary program administrated by (WPS) Parson Brinker , an
international consultancy appointed by ACI EUROPE to enforce the accreditation
criteria for airport on an annual basis.
ACC Area Control Centre (Europe) :
Also known as a Center (or in some cases, en-route, as opposed to
TRACON control), is a facility responsible for controlling aircraft en route in a
particular volume of airspace (a Flight Information Region) at high altitudes between
airport approaches and departures.
ACCC Australian Competition and Consumer Commission :
Is an independent authority of the Australian government. Its mandate is to protect
consumer rights, business rights and obligations, perform industry regulation and
price monitoring and prevent illegal anti-competitive behavior.
ACES Airspace Concept Evaluation System (a highly detailed
network model) :
Is a non-real-time, computer simulation of local, regional and national aircraft
operations from gate departure to gate arrival .
ACI Airport Council International :
Is the only global trade representative of the worlds airports. Established in 1991,
ACI represents airports interests with governments and international organizations,
develops standards, policies and recommended practices for airports, and provides
information and training opportunities to raise standards around the world. It aims to
provide the public with a safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible air
transport system.
ACRP Airport Cooperative Research Program (U.S.) :
Airports are vital national resources. They serve key roles in the transportation of
people and goods and in regional, national, and international commerce. They are
where the nation's aviation system connects with other modes of transportation and
where federal responsibility for managing and regulating air traffic operations
intersects with the role of state and local governments that own and operate most
airports. Research is necessary to solve common operating problems, to adapt
appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to introduce innovations into
the airport industry .
ACSA Airports Company of South Africa :
Is a South African airport management company. Founded in 1993, ACSA operates
nine of South Africas airports. The company is headquartered in the Maples Office
Park in Bedford view, South Africa .
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act :
Is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It
affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.it is worthwhile to mention that ADA is a law that was
enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990 .
ADF Anti-icing De-icing Fluid also Airport Development Fund :
Ground deicing of aircraft is commonly performed in both commercial and general
aviation. The fluids used in this operation are called deicing or anti-icing fluids.
ADL Aggregate Demand List :
Is the total demand for final goods and services in an economy at a given time.] It
specifies the amounts of goods and services that will be purchased at all possible
price levels.
ADMS Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling System (U.K.) :
Is an advanced atmospheric pollution dispersion model for calculating concentrations
of atmospheric pollutants emitted both continuously from point, line, volume and
area sources, or intermittently from point sources.
AdP Aroports de Paris :
Is the airport authority that owns and manages the fourteen civil airports and airfields
in the le-de-France (Paris) area.
ADPM Average Day of the Peak Month of the year :
Average day activity is obtained by dividing the peak month activity by the number
of days in the month .
ADS Automatic Dependent Surveillance:
Is a surveillance technology in which an aircraft determines its position via satellite
navigation and periodically broadcasts it, enabling it to be tracked. The information
can be received by air traffic control ground stations as a replacement for secondary
radar.
AEDT Aviation Environmental Design Tool (U.S. FAA) :
Is a software system that dynamically models aircraft performance in space and time
to produce fuel burn, emissions and noise.
AENA Spanish Airports and Air Navigation :
is the Spanish public body that owns and operates the majority of airports in Spain,
with the exceptions of the privately owned Ciudad Real and Lleida-Alguaire airports.
AFP Airspace Flow Program :
Is a traffic management initiative that identifies constraints in the en route domain of
the NAS and develops a real-time list of flights that are filed into the constrained
area, distributing Expect Departure Clearance Times (EDCT) to meter the demand
through the area.
AIP Airport Improvement Program (U.S.):
provides grants to public agencies and in some cases, to private owners and entities -
for the planning and development of public-use airports that are included in the
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) .
AIR-21 Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century
(U.S.) :
Is a United States federal law, signed on April 5, 2000, seeking to improve airline
safety. It is popularly called "AIR 21," and is also known as Public Law 106-181.
AIRE Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions :
Fits in with the cooperation protocol signed by the Commission and the FAA to
coordinate two major programmers on air traffic control infrastructure modernization,
SESAR in Europe and NEXTGEN in the United States.
ALAQS Airport Local Air Quality Studies (EUROCONTROL) :
Is an application that simplifies the process of defining the various airport elements
(runways, taxiways, buildings, etc.) and allows the spatial distribution of emissions to
be visualized.
AMASS Airport Movement Area Safety System :
Visually and aurally prompts tower controllers to respond to situations which
potentially compromise safety. ... It uses airport radars, state-of-the-art signal
processing, and advanced computer technology to improve airport safety.
ANA Airports company of Portugal (Aeroportos e Navegao Area) :
Is the Airport Authority of Portugal. The authority manages various airports
including Portugal's largest airport, Lisbon-Portela.
ANCON Aircraft Noise Contour model (U.K.) :
For the purposes of assessing the impact of aircraft noise on people living near
airports, a means is required of quantifying the noise in terms which indicate its likely
adverse effects upon people. These effects are numerous and complicated and, in
practice, it is necessary to simplify the problem by averaging both noise and human
response variables. Average annoyance is commonly used as an index of public
response to noise intrusion; the magnitude of the noise is defined in terms of average
sound levels and numbers of aircraft noise events during specified periods of time.
The relationships between noise and annoyance are determined by social survey
studies and related research and these, to a large extent, guide the choice of indices
used to define noise exposure .
AND Airport Network Delays (a fast queuing network model) :
Is very fast computationally, thus making possible the exploration at a macroscopic
level of the impacts of a large number of scenarios and policy alternatives on system-
wide delays.
ANSP Air Navigation Service Provider :
Is a public or a private legal entity providing Air Navigation Services. It manages air
traffic on behalf of a company, region or country.
AOC Airline Operations Center :
Use of information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) terminal
weather systems to improve safety and operational efficiency (e.g., reduce delays and
diversions, improve predictability, and airline schedule integrity) during severe or
rapidly changing conditions.
APM Automated People-Mover also Airport Performance Manual :
Is a fully automated, grade- separated mass transit system.
APU Auxiliary Power Unit :
Is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion.
They are commonly found on large aircraft, naval ships, as well as some large land
vehicles. power through single or three-phase systems.
ARC Airport Reference Code :
Is a coding system developed by the Federal Aviation Administration to relate airport
design criteria to the operational and physical characteristics of the airplane types that
will operate at a particular airport.
ARSR Air Route Surveillance Radar :
Is used by the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration to
control airspace within and around the borders of the United States.
ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center :
Is an Area Control Center located in Leesburg, Virginia, United States. The primary
responsibility of ZDC is the separation of airplane flights and the expedited
sequencing of arrivals and departures along STARs (Standard Terminal Arrival
Routes) and SIDs (Standard Instrument Departures) for the Washington-Baltimore
Metropolitan Area .
ARTS Automated Radar Terminal System :
Is an air traffic control computer system that air traffic controllers use to track
aircraft.
ASD Aircraft Situation Display also Accelerate-Stop Distance :
Is the distance required to accelerate to V1 with all engines at takeoff power,
experience an engine failure at V1, and abort the takeoff and bring the airplane to a
stop using only braking action .
ASDA Accelerate-Stop Distance Available :
The length of the take-off run available plus the length of stop way.
ASDE Airport Surface Detection Equipment :
Is a runway-safety tool that enables air traffic controllers to detect potential runway
conflicts by providing detailed coverage of movement on runways and taxiways.
ASK Available Seat-Kilometer :
Measures an airline's passenger carrying capacity. It is : seats available distance
flown .
ASM Available Seat-Mile :
A measure of an airplane's carrying capacity available to generate revenue. Available
seat miles refers to how many seat miles are actually available for purchase on an
airline.
ASPIRE Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions :
Air services Australia, Airways New Zealand and the Federal Aviation
Administration joined forces to create the Asia & South Pacific Initiative to Reduce
Emissions (ASPIRE).
ASPM Aviation System Performance Metrics :
Online access system provides data on flights to and from the ASPM airports .
ASQP Airline Service Quality Performance :
Provides information about airline on-time performance, flight delays, and
cancellations. It is based on data filed by airlines each month with the Department of
Transportations Bureau of Transportation Statistics .
ASR Airport Surveillance Radar :
Approach control radar used to detect and display an aircraft's position in the terminal
area. ASR provides range and azimuth information but does not provide elevation
data. Coverage of the ASR can extend up to 60 miles.
ASSR Airport Surface Surveillance Radar :
Is a radar system used at airports to detect and display the position of aircraft in the
terminal area, the airspace around airports. It is the main air traffic control system for
the airspace around airports.
ASV Annual Service Volume :
Annual Service Volume (ASV) is defined as the number of annual aircraft operations
that may be accommodated by the runway system at an airport.
ATC Air Traffic Control :
A service operated by appropriate authority to promote the safe, orderly and
expeditious flow of air traffic .
ATCRBS Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System :
Is a system used in air traffic control (ATC) to enhance surveillance radar monitoring
and separation of air traffic.
ATCSCC Air Traffic Control System Command Center :
Is a part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control system,
located in Warrenton, Virginia (Vint Hill Farms Station).
ATF Aviation Trust Fund :
Provides funding for the federal commitment to the aviation system of the United
States of America through several aviation-related excise taxes.
ATFM Air Traffic Flow Management :
Is the regulation of air traffic in order to avoid exceeding airport or air traffic
control capacity in handling traffic, and to ensure that available capacity is used
efficiently.
ATK Available Ton-Kilometer :
Is a measure of an airline's total capacity (both passenger and cargo).
ATM Available Ton-Mile also Air Traffic Management :
Is an aviation term encompassing all systems that assist aircraft to depart from an
aerodrome, transit airspace, and land at a destination aerodrome, including air traffic
control (ATC), aeronautical meteorology, air navigation systems (aids to
navigation), Air Space Management (ASM), Air Traffic Services (ATS), and Air
Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), or Air Traffic Flow and Capacity
Management (ATFCM).
ATM-NEMMO Air Traffic Management macroscopic simulation
model (France) :
Is an aviation term encompassing all systems that assist aircraft to depart from an
aerodrome, transit airspace, and land at a destination aerodrome, including air traffic
control (ATC), air traffic safety electronics personnel (ATSEP), aeronautical
meteorology, air navigation systems (aids to navigation), Air Space Management
(ASM), Air Traffic Services (ATS), and Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), or
Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM).
ATRS Air Transportation Research Society :
Was launched as a special interest group of the World Conference on Transport
Research Society (WCTR) during the 7th Triennial WCTR Conference at Sydney in
1995.
AWDPM Average Week Day of the Peak Month of the year :
Average week day of the peak month (AWDPM) data, representative of a typical day
from which forecasting and facility requirements are based upon, were used to
develop design day schedules.
BAA British-based airports company (successor of British Airports
Authority):
Is the United Kingdom-based operator of London Heathrow Airport.
BART San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit :
Is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
BOT Build, Operate, and Transfer :
Is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the
private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in
the concession contract. This enables the project proponent to recover its investment,
operating and maintenance expenses in the project.
BT Buffer Time :
Is the extra time added into a time estimate to keep a project on track. The purpose of
this leeway in planning is risk management. It allows project managers to be able to
account for unforeseen situations without having to change the coordination of a
project in a major way .
BTS Bureau of Transportation Statistics (U.S.) :
As part of the United States Department of Transportation, compiles, analyzes, and
makes accessible information on the nation's transportation systems; collects
information on intermodal transportation and other areas as needed; and improves the
quality and effectiveness of DOT's statistical programs through research,
development of guidelines, and promotion of improvements in data acquisition and
use.
CAA Civil Aviation Authority (U.K.) :
Is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil
aviation in the United Kingdom.
CAD Computer-Aided Design :
Is the use of computer systems to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or
optimization of a design. CAD software is used to increase the productivity of the
designer, improve the quality of design, improve communications through
documentation, and to create a database for manufacturing. CAD output is often in
the form of electronic files for print, machining, or other manufacturing operations.
CAEP Committee for Aviation Environmental Protection (ICAO) :
Is a technical committee of the ICAO Council established in 1983. CAEP assists the
Council in formulating new policies and adopting new Standards and Recommended
Practices (SARPs) related to aircraft noise and emissions, and more generally to
aviation environmental impact.
CASK Cost per Available Seat-Kilometer :
Is a measure of an airline flight's passenger carrying capacity. It is equal to the
number of seats available multiplied by the number of miles or kilometers flown .
CASM Cost per Available Seat-Mile :
Is a commonly used measure of unit cost in the airline industry. CASM is expressed
in cents to operate each seat mile offered, and is determined by dividing operating
costs by ASMs.
CBIS Checked Baggage Inspection Systems :
Is a type of conveyor system installed in airports that transports checked luggage
from ticket counters to areas where the bags can be loaded onto airplanes .
CCC Capacity Coverage Chart :
It summarized the range of capacities available at an airport over a long period of
time, such as a year, and the frequency with which these capacities are available .
CCD Continuous Climb Departure :
Continuous climb departure routes to allow for the most efficient use of fuel and
noise reduction.
CDA Continuous Descent Approach:
Also known as Optimized Profile Descent (OPD), this is a method by which aircraft
approach airports prior to landing. It is designed to reduce fuel consumption and
noise compared to other conventional descents.
CDM Collaborative Decision Making :
Is a joint government/industry initiative aimed at improving air traffic flow
management through increased information exchange among aviation community
stakeholders.
CDTI Cockpit Display of Traffic Information :
Is a generic display that provides the flight crew with surveillance information about
other aircraft, including their position.
CFC Customer Facility Charge :
A customer facility fee that is imposed by the airport in addition to the Concession
Recovery Fee.
CFMU Central Flow Management Unit (Europe) :
The CFMU was established in 1995 as a EUROCONTROL Directorate in accordance
with the ICAO Centralized Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Organization to
provide the ATFM Service, on behalf of the participant States, in a specified part of
the EUR Region. The CFMU comprised the Central Executive Unit and the Flight
Data Operations Division with the Integrated Initial Flight Plan processing System.