Problems and Prospects of Reuever Airports

Abstract

In recent years, one of the most critical and misunderstood national airport funding and policy challenges has centered on the reliever airport - a growing and ever important general aviation facility normally located within the surrounding metropolitan city area. Officially recognized in the mid 1960's as a means of red ucing delays at larger air carrier airports, reliever airports subsequently expanded and took on additional congressional support. However, even with the special funding considerations set forth in the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) Legislation of 1982, several formidable areas of legislative, administrative and operational deficiencies remain. Without appropriate changes to these consequences, a number of challenges may be insurmountable for many publicly and privately owned reliever airports in the years to come. For relievers, the "legislative" part of the problem focuses on the evolving definition and criteria of relievers under changing aviation laws and re-authorization acts. The "administrative" inadequacies pertain to the level of funding available for relievers during the former Airport Development Aid Program (ADAP) Legislation and continued under the present AIP Legislation. The "operational" dilemma concerns an expressed need for airport expansion as a result of increasing levels of aircraft activity amid the complex operating constraints of their own metropolitan service area. These three areas (legislative, administrative and operational) are the focus of this article and are reviewed as part of a survey conducted in December 1989 of 110 reliever airports (mainly in the Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix areas) in which airport manager's were asked key "reliever" airport issues.