AVF 4720 Module 7 Final Project: Analysis of an Airport From a Tour and an Executive Interview Example

Tour, Interview and Analysis: Cumberland Bay Regional Airport Through the Lens of Airport Management

Student Name

B.S.B.A. in Aviation Management, Thomas Edison State University

AVF-4720: Airport Management I

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

Tour, Interview and Analysis: Cumberland Bay Regional Airport Through the Lens of Airport Management

Introduction and Method

This paper analyzes Cumberland Bay Regional Airport, a composite county-owned airport with two runways, two airlines, an overnight cargo feeder and an active general aviation community. The analysis rests on two sources of evidence required by the project. First, a two-hour tour covered the operations center, the airfield by vehicle with an escort, the fire station, the terminal and the landside. Second, a one-hour interview with the deputy director of operations, referred to here as the deputy director, followed questions prepared from each course module. Course readings, especially Prather and Steele (2015), provide the framework. Because the airport and interview are composites for this sample, no real person's statements are reported.

History and Structure

The deputy director described the airport's history as a municipal field, then a military training base, then a county airport rebuilt with federal grants and passenger facility charge revenue. That history explains its present obligations: as a grant recipient, it must follow federal grant assurances, including keeping airport revenue on the airport. The airport is a county department, and the deputy director named the main effect: "Every large purchase goes to the county board, so we plan a year ahead." Oum et al. (2006) found that airports run as government departments tend to be less efficient than independent authorities, and the deputy director acknowledged that slow approvals had delayed a fire truck purchase by nine months.

Capacity, Markings and Vehicle Movement

On the airfield tour, the intersecting runways were visible from the operations vehicle. Capacity is not a problem at current traffic levels, the deputy director said, but surface safety is. After three vehicle deviations in one year, the airport adopted a tiered driver training program, contractor escorts and daily gate checks. During the tour, the escort stopped at every runway holding position marking and called the tower before crossing, which showed the training in practice. Wilke et al. (2014) argue that surface safety depends on people, procedures and equipment together, and the airport's program addresses all three.

Environment and Community

The deputy director identified night noise from the cargo feeder as the main community concern. The airport asks the operator to use the runway pointed away from homes when wind allows and holds quarterly community meetings. On the environment, the fire station has replaced its PFAS foam with fluorine-free foam, and groundwater testing near the old training area is under way. The deicing pad, seen on the tour, drains to a collection tank.

Operations and Communication

In the operations center, three screens showed the airfield camera views, the weather and a new shared status page created after a winter storm in which an airline dispatched a flight to a closed runway. The deputy director credited the new shared winter call with improving coordination. This change matches what Corrigan et al. (2015) found: collaborative decision making depends on trust and agreed roles among airport partners more than on technology.

Maintenance and Inspections

The deputy director walked through the morning self-inspection checklist and the log of findings. Pavement is rated every three years, and the airport uses the ratings to time rehabilitation with federal grants. Shahin (2005) recommends preventive treatments on pavement still in good condition, and the airport's crack-sealing program follows that approach, though the deputy director said budget pressure had twice delayed it.

Safety and Security

Module 7 asks how airports manage safety and security, and the interview spent the most time here.

Safety Management System

The FAA now requires many certificated airports to adopt a safety management system (SMS), a formal approach to identifying hazards, assessing risk and checking whether safety measures work. The deputy director described the airport's SMS as still being built: a hazard reporting form is available to all badge holders, and a safety committee meets monthly. The biggest challenge, the deputy director said, is persuading tenants' employees, who do not work for the airport, to report hazards.

Wildlife Hazards

The airport sits near wetlands, and wildlife is its most frequent safety concern. Dolbeer (2006) analyzed bird strike records and found that most strikes occur at low altitude, during takeoff, climb, approach and landing, which places the problem in the airport's own environment. The airport has a wildlife hazard management plan, uses noise devices and habitat changes such as mowing grass to a set height, and records every strike. During the tour, the escort stopped to report a group of geese near a taxiway.

Security

The Transportation Security Administration screens passengers, but the airport is responsible for its security program, including the perimeter fence, access control to secure areas and badges for workers. The airport audits badges each year and requires a new badge holder course. Gates found open are treated as security incidents as well as safety issues, linking the two programs.

Recommendations

First, the county should consider giving the airport authority to approve routine equipment purchases within an annual budget, to speed decisions without full independence. Second, preventive pavement maintenance should be protected in the operating budget, since deferring it raises long-term costs. Third, the SMS should include tenant employees in hazard reporting through short training at badge renewal and a simple phone reporting option. Fourth, the airport should study whether the cargo feeder's schedule can shift earlier in the evening to reduce night noise.

Conclusion

Cumberland Bay Regional shows how the themes of this course meet in one airport. Its history set its obligations; its structure shapes how fast it can act; and its operations, maintenance, environmental and safety programs show careful work limited mainly by budgets and by how well partners participate. The tour and interview made clear that airport management is largely the work of coordinating organizations the director does not control.

References

Corrigan, S., Mårtensson, L., Kay, A., Okwir, S., Ulfvengren, P., & McDonald, N. (2015). Preparing for airport collaborative decision making (A-CDM) implementation: An evaluation and recommendations. Cognition, Technology & Work, 17(2), 207-218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-014-0295-x

Dolbeer, R. A. (2006). Height distribution of birds recorded by collisions with civil aircraft. Journal of Wildlife Management, 70(5), 1345-1350. https://doi.org/10.2193/0022-541X(2006)70[1345:HDOBRB]2.0.CO;2

Oum, T. H., Adler, N., & Yu, C. (2006). Privatization, corporatization, ownership forms and their effects on the performance of the world's major airports. Journal of Air Transport Management, 12(3), 109-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2005.11.003

Prather, C. D., & Steele, R. N. (2015). Airport management. Aviation Supplies & Academics.

Shahin, M. Y. (2005). Pavement management for airports, roads, and parking lots (2nd ed.). Springer.

Wilke, S., Majumdar, A., & Ochieng, W. Y. (2014). Airport surface operations: A holistic framework for operations modeling and risk management. Safety Science, 63, 18-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2013.10.015