Modern airports

The largest airports in the world employ more than 100,000 workers each. They are immensely complex entities with regard to the physical facilities that they comprise, the organizations that are active within their boundaries, and the services that are provided in conjunction with their operation.

Physical facilities include runways, taxiways, aprons, and strips, which are used for the landing and takeoff of aircraft, for the maneuvering and positioning of aircraft on the ground, and for the parking of aircraft in order to load and discharge passengers and cargo. For the safe landing and takeoff of aircraft, lighting and radio navigational aids are provided. These are supplemented by airfield markings, signs and signals, and air traffic control facilities. Support facilities on the airside of the field include meteorology, fire and rescue, power and other utilities, aircraft maintenance, and airport maintenance. Landside facilities are the passenger and cargo terminals and the access system, which includes parking, roads, public transport facilities, and loading and unloading areas.

Many organizations are involved in the operation of a modern airport. Overall management is usually in the control of an organization, authority, or company that holds a license to operate the facility. This license is granted subject to a judgment by the national civil aviation authorities that the managing body is fit and competent to run an airport within national and international laws governing safety and operations.While overall responsibility for efficient, safe, and legal operation lies with the airport management, many of the individual services at an airport are provided by other organizations. Such organizations include airlines; air traffic control authorities; ground handling companies; fixed-base operators; concessionaires; security organizations; governmental agencies responsible for customs, immigration, health control, and police; support companies providing flight catering, fueling, aircraft engineering, and maintenance; aero clubs; and flying schools. Since the early 1980s, when privatization began to sweep through civil aviation, terminal-operation companies have also become more frequent, such as those that own terminals in Birmingham, England; Brussels; and Toronto.

Airport services related to the aircraft are frequently referred to as airside. Many of these services are concentrated on the apron, or ramp, which is that part of the operational surface adjacent to the terminals where aircraft are maneuvered or parked. They include the apron handling of aircraft, airside passenger transfer to the aircraft, the handling of baggage and cargo, aircraft fueling, catering and cabin cleaning, engine starting, deicing, ground power and air-conditioning, and minor maintenance engineering. Other airside services are runway inspection, lighting and navigational aids, fire fighting and rescue, airside maintenance, and air traffic control. Among the landside services are those related to ground passenger handling; these include check-in, security, customs and immigration, baggage delivery, information, catering, cleaning and maintenance, shops and concessionary facilities, automobile rental, ground transportation, porters, special help for the elderly and handicapped, automobile parking, and public transportation (including taxis). In addition, because airports employ such a large number of workers, extensive provision must be made for their daily requirements.

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