SAFETY FEATURES
Security
systems for screening passengers, baggage and cargo would be more efficient than existing airports because they
would be integrated with new construction as opposed to retrofitting aged facilities.
Safety would be enhanced by expanding into unused airways and airspace that enhances
enroute and terminal area system capacity.
Reduction of airport and airspace congestion in the hub
and spoke system.
All weather landing and takeoff capability in zero visibility conditions. 100:1 approach
surfaces for all runways.
Fire and rescue facilities and equipment including emergency response capability.
Ground safety would be significantly improved through standardization and cloning of layout of airfield
facilities and flight procedures.
Computerized airfield surface monitoring
guidance systems including in-pavement electronics to minimize runway incursions.
Weather information
related to ice, snow, fog removal, wind shear detection and special pilot briefing facilities.
Encroachment
protection for all electronic facilities and navigational equipment including radars, landing systems, air traffic control
and communications facilities.
Optimum design of airfield and terminal facilities for enplaning and deplaning
passengers with automated people movers to shorten time from curb to gates, ticketing and baggage areas.
NAME
"Wayport" and "Wayports" describes a futuristic nationwide aviation system. Terms are
needed to differentiate between “local” and “system”
airports to contrast their purposes for public understanding, marketing and development. The term "Interstate
Aviation System" is important because the public can relate it to the Interstate Highway System
and see its value as a nationwide system. The term “Wayports” has been discussed extensively in worldwide
media, institutional, business and government circles.
LOCATION-HOW MANY
Wayports would be strategically located,
planned and developed as a part of a nationwide "system" to supplement and off-load users of the existing airports
system the way Interstate Highways supplement and off-load roads and highways.
Four to six Wayports should be brought on line within the next 10-15 years serving
the mega-regions on the East Coast, West Coast and Mid-America. Peotone and Denver could serve as mid-continent
Wayports.
Wayports supplement
the existing airport system.They are integrated with enroute and terminal air traffic control, airways, airspace, highways
and rail and be fully Intermodal facilities.
Wayports would be located in large geographical areas
and placed where they work best for the national system. Wayports could be on the fringes of urban and metropolitan areas,
at new sites, underutilized airports or abandoned military
bases. Wayports would be positioned to maximize their use and ability to off-load gridlocked hubs that have
difficulty expanding to meet long range demands due to excessive costs and environmental, noise and air pollution impacts.
Locations of Wayports in the nationwide system
would not be left entirely up to local and state governments because they cannot perform system
planning beyond their local and state jurisdictions.
A key feature in selecting Wayport locations is a long-range runway
configuration would be utilized to provide maximum airport and airspace capacity for the next century. Land needed to
develop this configuration would be acquired, however, Wayports facilities would be staged at each location on an as
needed basis to meet long range growth and phased in based on user and tenant demands and operational levels. Future
runways would be protected by federal airspace reservations and local/state zoning. Cargo, postal or express mail may
be the initial activities at one or more Wayports. The highest priority should be enroute and terminal airspace requirements,
however, Wayports should be located reasonably close to communities where the workforce would have access to schools, churches,
shopping, etc.until they develop around Wayports. A respected nationally known urban planner said wayports provided
the opportunity to plan for new cities.
DESIGN
Wayports provide long-term facilities
for air traffic control, technology and next generation aircraft including commercial space program vehicles. Wayports integrates
the latest facilities for passenger and cargo security screening.
Staging
and phase development is an important feature of Wayports. The first phase of Wayports could be primarily cargo until
passenger demand builds up. Facilities be phased in based on demand.
Wayports
should be large enough to accommodate at least four parallel runways separated to provide triple flow simultaneous
all weather instrument landing systems. This runway configuration will provide massive long range capacity. Next generation
aircraft (FAA DGVI) capable of carrying over 800 passengers in all economy configuration could be in the worldwide fleet by
the year 2010. These aircraft require wider runways and taxiways with greater separations and lateral clearances,
larger terminal hold rooms and baggage and ticketing facilities during peak hour activities.
Road and highway systems serving Wayports should be planned to accommodate future growth for origin/destination and
regional trucking and bulk break activities related to cargo.
High speed, regional or commuter rail could link
nearby metropolitan/urban areas. Airport terminals will be designed with high efficiency automated people movers to provide
minimum connecting times with parking facilities, rental car, buses and other transportation businesses to easily access the
enplaning and deplaning roads.
Implementation of Wayports would be phased in over time to satisfy demand and allow
incremental expansion over a 20-40 year time frame. Site locations and land banking needs to be done now.
PURPOSE AND USE
The Wayports Concept is
an integrated aviation system alternative to the threat of gridlock at U.S. and world airports. The Concept calls for an integrated
system of large airport facilities to provide a massive, long-range reservoir of nationwide by-pass air capacity for all types
of air services and related activities including commercial spaceports.
Wayports
provide almost unlimited airport and airspace capacity for all airlines including low fare, regional, commuter, charter and
Very LIght Jets (VLJ's) to serve originating passengers and connecting passengers, cargo, US Postal Service and
express mail and package services; aircraft manufacturing and maintenance and general aviation.
Wayports would
provide a new economic way to collect and distribute regionally, nationally and globally for all types of aeronautical and
commercial activities that do not exist in today’s congested system. A Wayport would function as a “collector
distributor” or “expediter" of goods and services.
Wayports
were never intended to be used exlusively for connecting and transfer passengers. Origin destination passengers in the general
vicinity of Wayports would be accommodated as well as those delivered by regional and commuter airlines. High speed rail links
could be used for origin/destination passengers as is done in Europe and Asia today.
Land
on or adjacent to Wayports could be developed for hotels and conference centers, entertainment centers including recreation
and theme parks, merchandise marts, shopping malls and business opportunities that offer significant economic opportunities
subject to land use and zoning parameters.
COSTS
Wayports would be developed at enormously reduced
costs compared to developing new conventional airports or expanding existing hubs. Funding sources of up to 80%, similar to
Interstate Highways, was proposed in Federal legislation that was not enacted. Private industry could develop wayports with
commercial development surrounding the facility.
World passengers will double
by 2020. An aviation expert recently stated that the equivalent of at least 10 new airports the size of Dallas-Ft. Worth will
be needed in the next 20 years. The first phase of Wayports can be operational in five-ten years if needed by then that will
allow them to provide near term capacity. It is important to understand that Wayports will be phased in over time with only
facilities needed to meet current demand.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Maximum environmental protection would
be provided at Wayports, especially those related to noise and air pollution. Covenants and zoning related to land uses covering
the long-range would be included in initial land acquisitions. Compatible uses of land for economic development around and
in the vicinity of Wayports would be adopted and enforced over the long-range.
FINANCING AND IMPLEMENTATION
Wayports must have positive
leadership to assure all visionary planning and implementation strategies are considered. Privatization efforts are underway
in the USA to develop large tracts of land in non-urban settings to function as cargo airports. Wayports would stretch limited
federal funding by reducing the need for large amounts of funds for new runway and airfield development at the hubs that currently
has a high priority in capturing federal financial assistance. Wayports could be owned and operated by local, state or federal
governments or privatized without the need for local, state or federal funds. Wayports can be implemented in a more economical,
environmental and politically acceptable way than conventional alternatives that have difficulties overcoming opposition which
has prevented the expansion airports in the world in the last 20 years.
