Measuring the Performance of Airports
The FAA measures and reports the performance of airports where NextGen technologies have been implemented. Airport performance results provide crucial information to air traffic controllers, airports and airlines and help them plan schedules and anticipate traffic levels.
Airline operators prefer to set departure and arrival times and the flight routes of their choice. And knowing how long an aircraft must wait to depart, operators can plan for the impacts to fuel burn, emissions and the passenger experience.
The NPS reports the performance, based on efficiency and capacity, of the Core 30 Airports. These are airports in major metropolitan areas with the highest volume of traffic. Complex, high-density operations are the breeding ground for traffic congestion and delays.
To identify areas where improvements can be made, we measure an airport's daily capacity as well as airlines' scheduled versus actual flight time performance. In addition to improvements from NextGen capabilities, myriad factors influence those metrics, including weather, aircraft types, traffic volume and runway conditions.
Most airport metrics in this section are available for fiscal years (FY) 2009-2013, while two efficiency metrics report data for FY 2011-2013.