AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

CE557 AIRPORT PLANNING AND DESIGN

SUBMITTED TO:
HATİCE MERİÇ GÖKDALAY

PREPARED BY:
İREM BAHÇELİOĞLU

SPRING, 2014

METU
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

CONTENT
A- INTRODUCTION
B- SITE SELECTION CRITERIA
- DEFİNE THE CRİTERİA
- DECİDE THE AREA
C- THE EFFECTS OF THE AIRPORT
- PHYSICAL EFFECTS
- SOCIAL EFFECTS
- ECONOMIC EFFECTS
D- SITE SELECTION AS A PLANNER
- GAZİANTEP CASE STUDY
E- EVALUATION OF THE SITE SELECTION OF THE 3RD AIRPORT FOR
ISTANBUL
F- CONCLUSION
G- REFERENCES

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

A- INTRODUCTION

Airports are vital national resources. They serve a key role in 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
for managing and regulating air traffic operations intersects with the role of state
and local governments that own and operate most airports.
The airport is one of the largest local traffic generators in most metropolitan areas.
On the average, about 60 per cent of air passengers use private automobiles, 20 per
cent taxis, l2 per cent limousines, and about 8 per cent public transportation.
Airports also have a considerable amount of truck traffic. Airport-generated traffic
in combination with other traffic often creates congestion on access roads, thereby
increasing the total time of the air travel trip. Because sites for new jetports require
huge amounts of land and relative separation from surrounding development, most
will be constructed at some distance from population centers with a corresponding
increase in the ground transportation problem.
An airport is a gateway to a city. Because of this reason, airport and airport’s
environment become important. In addition, it is huge investment for the city. It is
a brand of the city and also it is development tool. Because of these, its location
become important. In this paper, the airport site selection criteria, the effects of
airport and site selection by planners are explained.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

B- SITE SELECTION CRITERIA

People prefer to travel by plane because of time saving. For this reason, an airport
is a gateway to the city for both national and international dimension. According to
this information, site selection is important topic for the city authority.
Airports are vital national resources. They serve a key role in 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. The engineers and the authority determine the site in two steps:

- DEFINE THE CRITERIA

Criteria can change with the purpose and the type of the airport. Although they can
be changeable, there are certain criteria which are important for the authority.
- Topography: Topographical considerations that should be taken into account
are: (1) the grading that will be required to meet the standards for maximum
runway grades, which vary from one percent to two percent depending upon the
class of the airport; (2) selection of a site which departs sufficiently from the
dead level to allow adequate natural drainage, but does not have portions so
steep that serious erosion may result; and (3) selecting an location where the
soil is pervious, yet has a suitable amount of natural binder, and where the water
table (ground water table) does not come too close to the surface.
- Environmental Impact: This impact can be categorized more than 3 subtitle; such as
pollution impacts, physical impacts, ecological impacts and historical resources.
Wetlands, water quality, floodplains, historical sites, pollution impacts and waste
facilities are in this assessment. Several categories are considered under pollution
impacts. The potential for noise impacts must always be evaluated for any airport.
Other areas include air pollution, water quality, and solid waste. Physical impacts
category evaluates potential physical impacts related to physical factors of
construction of the airport. Included in this evaluation are impacts such as flood
hazard, light emissions, and the airport's effect on energy supply or other natural
resources. Ecological impacts category evaluates the potential impacts on the natural

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

and historic environment. Biotic communities, endangered species, and their habitat
areas are included under this category. Historical resources category evaluates the
potential impacts to historical or cultural resources that may be of national, state, or
local significance. This includes impacts to properties eligible for the National
Register of Historic Places, as well as the archaeological potential of each site.
- Land and Development Costs: The land and development costs of the airport should
not be excessive. In addition to grading, drainage, and construction charges, the
development cost is affected by the availability of suitable construction materials near
the site and the nearness of necessary utilities.
- Obstruction and Airspace: An analysis of the relationship with the airspace
requirements of the existing airport system is essential. It is also necessary to review
the envelope area of each site for the presence or absence of potential obstructions to
aircraft activity. Certain obstructions may be considered immovable or too expensive
to move when other options are available (e.g., large land forms, tall communication
towers, major power lines, water towers, etc.). Others, such as smaller power lines,
trees, buildings, and roads, impose a cost of removal or relocation that must be
considered.
- Accessibility: One of the most important factors influencing the selection of an airport
site is its accessibility to the destination and source of the passengers and cargo. This
is a particularly vital consideration for commercial airports since one of the great
advantages of air travel is its advantage of shorter travel time over other means of
transportation. To provide maximum service to an area, an airport should be located
in reasonable proximity to the population center it is to serve. The location in relation
to business and industry should also receive attention. Preferably, the airport should
be located adjacent to and visible from a major highway route. It is easy to access by
using local and transient roadways. Driving time and distance to the center should be
maximum sixty minutes.
- Residential Impact: This factor examines the magnitude of property to be acquired
for each candidate site. The airfield layout, the size and shape of existing parcel
ownership, and other impacts to neighboring parcels can affect the amount of property
necessary to be acquired. Also included for consideration under this category will be
residence acquisition. The sites should be eliminated if there is more than 10
households due to decrease cost of expropriation.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

- Meteorology: The direction and duration of the prevailing winds at the proposed site
should be studied since these factors will govern the runway layout and will affect the
location and arrangement of the airport buildings. Also, the site should be relatively
free from smoke and fog so that the visibility potential of the site will be good.

- DECIDE THE AREA

In the past, evaluation of these criteria was hard and authority used primitive
methods. On the other hand, today is information and technology age. There are
lots of program which can evaluate these information. People generally use GIS
program to evaluate their criteria. After the criteria evaluation, they consider other
steps and finally they decide the area. In this part, decision steps will be explained.

- Evaluate the criteria: People analyze the city and define the criteria. After that,
they should use evaluation programs; such as GIS, in order to reduce the risk of
possibility of making a mistake. These programs evaluate the whole city
according to the criteria or people specify some areas and these programs
evaluate these areas. After the evaluating they choose 4 or 5 sites to evaluate
the next step. The following picture show the evaluation of the criteria.

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

- Rank the utilized area: The evaluation program designate the suitable area
according to the criteria. Authority select the 4 or 5 suitable areas within the
utilized area. To eliminate these sites, people generally use ranking method.
They give score to each site for each topic. For example, ranking method is seen
the following table. This is for airport selection ranking for Spalding Country.
The authority select 8 sites and they evaluate them according to criteria. After
that they use ranking method. As it seen, there are 8 sites and four of them are
eliminated. Finally 2 area are selected which have high score.

- Cost estimation and fund estimation: After the ranking process, authority
prepare the cost and fund estimation for 2-selected area. The important thing is
“the best service, the lowest cost”. The following table shows the cost
estimation example for Spalding Country.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

- Funding timeline: After the selection of airport site, authority should prepare
the funding timeline. This timeline should show the steps and cost of the
construction process. The following table shows the timeline for Spalding
Country.

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

C- THE EFFECTS OF AIRPORT

All major means of transportation, as they have developed, have had an effect on the way
of life of the nation. As a direct effect, they have allowed people to travel from one place
to another more easily and more inexpensively; those who have lived near the terminal
points or way stations have benefited from the convenience, but may also have found the
transportation facility a noise-maker and a nuisance in many other ways. In addition,
airport transportation saves the people time and connects the cities with each other.
Indirectly, these means of transportation have had an even greater effect on our way of
life; they have helped increase our standard of living, and have made visible changes on
a great number of institutions, customs, and personal values.
In this part, the physical, social and economic aspects of the effect of airports on the
metropolitan district will be examined.

1- PHYSICAL EFFECTS
Physical effects can be examined in 3 sections; residential, commercial, and
industrial.
a- Residential: Nearby residents of airports claim that the airport is a nuisance.
Specifically, they complain of dust, lights and noise. The dust problem has
been almost entirely solved by the use of paved runways and the planting of
grass. The complaint of annoyance by airport lights is more justified. Runway
landing lights are not the prime offender, since they are of steady intensity and
usually hooded. Most of the objection comes from the rotating or flashing
beacon which is usually of high intensity and periodically splashes nearby
areas with light; as with a flashing electric sign, the intermittency of the light
is more objectionable than light itself. The airplane noise that, so far, has been
an inevitable heritage of every area near an airport is the most objectionable
of the three nuisances. The principle source of airplane noise are the
propellers, engine exhausts, the engines themselves, airstream, and vibrating
parts. The noise level is greatest around large commercial fields since the air
traffic is heavier, and large planes are used. Because of the noise factor, people
do not want to live near the airport and it is a definite problem to airport
planners. It has also been claimed that it is dangerous to live near an airport
because of the possibility of a plane crashing.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

b- Commercial: The ordinary airport is not such a revenue-producer that it alone

would support even a medium-sized shopping center nearby. Like food,
relaxing and shopping facilities are being incorporated in the grounds of the
airport, itself and are being let out as concessions in order to take advantage
of all income-producing possibilities; primarily, these include lunch rooms,
news-stands, novelty shops, drug counters, and gasoline service stations.
c- Industrial: The advantages of an industrial location near an airport are great
enough to be significant. A nearby airport would provide an accessible
transportation outlet for executive and sales personal travel and would
necessitate only a short haul for air freight; however, for most industries, these
factors would not be important enough to seriously influence the location of
the industry unless other industrial location factors compare favorably with
alternative areas. On the other hand, the airport would not appreciably benefit
from nearby industries from an economic viewpoint since it would usually got
the industries’ air cargo business in any event.

2- SOCIAL EFFECTS
The mixture of land uses, train noise, and dirt adjacent to railroad rights of way
often have caused a blighting effect on land near the railroad. When the blight was
far enough advanced to depress the values and the rents of the adjacent properties
those people who could only afford to pay low rentals gravitated to the district.
Since a high proportion of these people were socially less than desirable, a stigma
was attached to the area in general; and most people who lived “down by the
railroad tracks” were socially unacceptable in many branches of society.
(Froehlich, 1947)

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

In considering commercial airports, it will be shown later that an airport has the
effect of slightly decreasing the value of nearby residential land. However, the
value of the land has not been lowered to such an extent that it has been stamped
as a low-rental area. Therefore, the blight has not been progressive, and an
individual’s residence near an airport does not have any social significance.
On the other hand, if personal-plane airports become feasible, it may be highly
fashionable to live near such an airport, or airpark; the airparks will be the located
near high-income families who will be the largest users of personal planes in the
near future, and the more fact that a wealthy group is using the small airport will
attract other members of the socialite class so that the airpark may take on a
country club atmosphere. However, the possibility of such a condition coming
about would be entirely dependent upon the construction of airparks in or near
residential areas.
3- ECONOMIC EFFECTS
Like any transportation terminal, the airport affects the value of nearby land.
Residential area is influenced the noise and pollution of the airport. People do not
prefer to live near the airport. In addition, there are some restriction for the
residential area which is near the airport. Because of these reasons, the value of
business properties will decrease near the airport.
On the other hand, the value of business properties are not so likely to be affected
by the noise and light nuisances of the airport since people in business
establishments are generally indoors and do not occupy the buildings after
working hours. Those businesses located immediately adjacent to airports were
found to have benefited from airport, and therefore, showed a slight increase in
property value.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

D- SITE SELECTION AS A PLANNER

According to engineer, planners are more sensitive about the site selection for airport
area. Planners have to consider the economic, social and physical effects of airport on the
city. To select the area of the airport, first step is analyze the city. Existing road system,
wetlands, agriculture areas, forestry area, soil future, industrial area and residential are
analyzed. Existing situation is important for the plan. When planners do plan, they have
to analyze current situation of the city. Second important issue is population. Population
of the city, population trends, and social situation of the city are significant issue. Planners
do the future city plan by using these information. In addition, economic level of the city
is another important topic. This is important because airport is huge and important
investment for the city.
Planners collect these information and analyze the city. They prepare future city plan
according to these analysis. Planner who will select an airport area should use these
analysis and future plan. If they do not use them, the selection is not suitable for the city.
They can decide the size of the area, capacity of the airport and function of the airport by
using these analysis.
After these analysis process, planners implement the other steps of use of engineers. In
other words, they define the criteria, and evaluate the area and finally choose the most
suitable area according to these analysis by using GIS program.
Criteria can be change according to population trends, and social and economic situation
of the city. By using GIS program, the whole area can be evaluated and the most suitable
area for the airport can be selected. Financial work and timeline of construction will be
prepared by the authority.
We can explain with an example of the site selection.

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

- GAZİANTEP CASE STUDY

Gaziantep is one of the historical city in Turkey. The population is nearly 1.800.000.
There are some thresholds which prevent the development of the city. Because of that the
city became to develop north-east site. Their economic resources are agriculture and
livestock. Because of that, agriculture areas, rivers and wetlands are important for the
city. There are an Oğuzeli airport, but it is far from the city (1-1.5 hour from the center).
Because of this, we should proposed a new airport for Gaziantep. The methods of the site
selection is described in this example according to approach of the planners.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

- Analyze the city:

First of all, the existing situation is depicted to the GIS program.

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

These pictures show the analysis of Gaziantep. Slope, geology, hydrology, agriculture,
roads and landuse are the important issue for this project. Because of this, these issues are
evaluated for the site selection of airport.

- Define the criteria:

After the analysis of the city, definition of the criteria is second step. The important issue
for this project is minimum infrastructure cost. The other important issue is agriculture
and hydrology. The criteria was defined according to these important factor.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

Slope Suitable Area According to Geology

Slope is important for both infrastructure and accessibility. For this reason, slope should
be maximum 0-2% for our project. The picture on the right side shows the suitable area
according to geology of the area. The green areas show the most suitable area.

Hydrology Suitability of Agriculture Area

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

The minimum limit of the approach to the hydrology area is 1000 m. Except for irrigated
farmed area and forestry area are available for this project. In this way rivers and
agriculture area will be protected.

Available area according to industrial area Accessibility

Available area according to residential Minimum limitation of the approach

area from the industrial area is 2500m.
The new airport should be within the
distance from highway 5000m., 1.
Degree road 1000m., and 2. Degree
road 500m.
It should not be close to residential
area because there are historical
areas. Because of that, the minimum
approach distance to residential area
is 1500m.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

- Evaluation:
After the definition of the criteria,
all the results should be combined
by the calculation method for this
type of analysis. The green area on
the left-side picture shows the
suitable area for the new airport.
When the current situation and the
future plan of Gaziantep are
considered, the most suitable areas
are on the north-east side. These
areas should be evaluated
according to function of the airport
and size of the airport by
engineers.

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

E- EVALUATION OF THE SITE SELECTION OF THE 3RD AIRPORT FOR

ISTANBUL
Istanbul is metropolitan area of Turkey. Population is more than 14 million. There are
lots of historical places and because of that lots of tourists visit here. In addition, İstanbul
is an international hub. There is two airports: Sabiha Gökçen Airport, Atatürk Airport.
The 3rd airport started to build on the Europe side of İstanbul because the existent airports’
capacity is not enough. The groundbreaking of the new airport was on 7th June 2014 and
authority has a plan to finish the first part of the airport on 2017.
This investment is really important for both İstanbul and Turkey. The reason is that the
3rd airport has “Airport City” concept and this concept is very famous in the world. When
İstanbul has this airport, the competition will be strong between Turkey and other World
city.
On the other hand, the site selection is much-debated issue around the people. Is this area
suitable for this investment? Are there any options for this project? In this part, the site
selection of 3rd airport will be evaluated.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

Location of the new airport is on the Europe site of İstanbul. It is in the districts of
Arnavutköy and Eyüp. It is also close to the Black Sea. The total area is 76.500.000 m2.
The authority explain the reason of selection of this site:
 Capacity and accessibility of the area ( 3rd Bosporus Bridge)
 Low cost of expropriation for this area ( 80% of the area is public land)
 There is not any proposal for another alternative area by Ministry of Transport,
Maritime Affairs and Communications.
Because of these reasons, the authority decided to this area for the project. They did not
analyze the area and they did not consider the master plan of İstanbul. The following
picture shows the project site. As it seen, there is forestry area and there are some ponds.

If the characteristics of this area are examined, there are

 6172 hectare forest
 1180 hectare mining and other usage
 70 puddles
 236 hectare pasture
 60 hectare dry farming
 2 hectare scrub

The chart on the right site

shows the percentage of the
usage on this area. You can see
that a very large part of the area
is forestry.

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

The picture on the above shows the area of the project. This area is 76,500,000 m2. It is defined
as forestry area in the master plan of İstanbul.
When this project is finished, the ecosystem
of this area will destroy because there are lots
of puddles and they fill these puddles to do
this project. In addition, they will destroy the
forestry area and the ecosystem of this area
will be destroy. In addition, there is two
important barrage which are resources of the
drinking water by namely Terkos and Alibey
Barrage. To protect the Terkos Barrage,
there should be long distance conservation.
To protect the Alibey Barrage, there should
be long distance conservation plan.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

The environment engineers established the radius for influence of the area. They think that the
airport will affect their environment where is in the 12 km distance from the center.

According to Environmental Impact Assessment Report, pollution will be increase around the
İstanbul because of %120 increase of the traffic. This pollution will affects the barrage and
water level of İstanbul.
In addıtıon, İstanbul is the 3rd degree earthquake region. Because of this reason, soil survey is
very important issue. The area is sloping and they fill the area. The maximum elevation is 160
and the minimum elevation is -37. So they fill the 2.500.000 m3 area for this project. This
situation has a risk for the people because of the earthquake.
Another important
topic is bird migration
route. The bird
migration route passes
through this area on
the Terkos Lake. This
is dangerous for both
bird species and
plane.
When bird crashes is
occurred, the engine
of the plane can be
damaged or even
aircraft can fall.
Because of these, this
situation is important
for this site. Because of that reason, the bird migration route should be analyzed thoughtfully.

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 AIRPORT SITE SELECTION

In conclusion, if all the situations are evaluated, first of all the topography is not suitable for
this project. Although the expropriation cost is low, infrastructure cost is 2.900.000.000 euro.
In addition, this filling is not suitable such an earthquake area. Secondly, the environmental
damage is more. The puddles will be filled, lots of trees will be cut, the farm lands will be
destroyed and water resources will be polluted. This means that the airport will kill the
environment around itself.
This situation could be solved by selecting different area by using analysis method. The area
should be less sloping area. To reduce the infrastructure cost, the area should be selected from
the area which has infrastructure plan. Moreover, the environment should be protected. Because
of the globalization, most of water resources became to disappear and the climate was change.
People need to protect the environment to reduce the effects of globalization. Finally, the master
plan should be paid attention while selecting the area.
According to these information, two different area can be recommended for the 3rd airport. The
following picture, the red circles show the proposed area for İstanbul airport.

F- CONCLUSION
The airport site selection is one of the most important topic for the city. There are lots of criteria
for deciding the suitable area. The approach of engineers and planners for site selection are
explained in this paper. Although their methods are parallel to each other, planners should be
more sensitive than the engineers. The approach of the engineers is more mathematical. They
define their criteria and select the area. On the other hand, the most important issue for the
planner is existing and future plan of the city. Planners give priority to the analysis of the city.
Which approach is more accurate is debatable.
However, the effects of the airport should be considered when the area is selected. The airport
affects the city by physically, socially and economically. Because of that, both engineers and
planners should consider these effects on the city. People always should respect to the nature
and the capacity of the city.
 İ.BAHÇELİOĞLU

G- REFERENCES

Coffman Associates Airport Consultants, 2006. ‘Airport Site Selection Study’.

Froehlich,W., 1947. ‘Airports: Their Planning, Location, and Control’. Massachusetts Institute

of Technology

İstanbul Bölgesi 3. Havalimanı Nihai ÇED Raporu.

Landrum, Brown, 2008. ‘Friedman Memorial Replacement Airport: Environmental Impact

Statement’.

Westbrook,J.,Babey,A.,others, 2007. ‘Airport Site Selection Study’.

The LPA Group, 2009. ‘Airport Site Selection Study Final Analysis’.

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