6.

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Airfield Master Plan Concept
6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Introduction Movement areas Existing support systems Current airfield capacity Aircraft stand demand Airfield modelling Development concept Emerging technologies 57 57 58 59 59 59 59 61

6.0 Airfield Master Plan Concept

Sydney Airport airfield consists of parallel runways in a north south direction, an east west runway, taxiways and aircraft parking aprons and supporting infrastructure. The parallel runways are capable of handling the regulated movement cap of 80 aircraft per hour during busy hours. A combination of the parallel runways and east west runways are utilised during off peak hours to provide noise sharing under the Long Term Operating Plan. The Master Plan provides for further development of taxiways, aprons and support infrastructure to ensure efficient handling of the forecast aircraft traffic.
6.1 Introduction
progressively being upgraded to better facilitate aircraft operations in low visibility conditions. Runways 16L and 16R are equipped with High Intensity Approach Lighting (HIAL) Systems. All runways are equipped with Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) to permit aircraft to conduct precision approaches in poor weather to Category 1 (see Appendix A Glossary for definition) criteria. In the longer term, it is envisaged that the GPS Landing System (GLS), currently on trial at Sydney Airport, will replace or augment current ILS systems. Operation of the GLS system is discussed in Section 6.8 (Emerging Technologies). A Doppler Very-High Frequency Omni Range and co-located Distance Measuring Equipment (DVOR/ DME) provides the ability to conduct non-precision approaches in poor weather and also serves as an inbound and outbound tracking and en-route navigation aid. It is envisaged that the VOR will not be required for the duration of the Master Plan and that on board aircraft technologies such as Required Navigation Performance (RNP) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) tracking will be progressively introduced (see Section 6.8). 6.2.2 Taxiways Runways are supported by a comprehensive taxiway system designed to facilitate the efficient movement of aircraft between the runways and terminal areas. Rapid Exit Taxiways (RETs) are provided on the parallel runways to minimise runway occupancy time. 6.2.3 Aprons Aprons are areas provided to facilitate aircraft parking. The parking position is known as an aircraft stand (or gate). Existing aprons at Sydney Airport accommodate operations by the full range

The airfield consists of runways, taxiways and aprons. Other elements supporting airfield operations are the control tower responsible for the management of aircraft operating on the airfield, the terminal control unit (TCU) responsible for the management of aircraft within 45 nautical miles from the airport, visual and radio navigation aids, radar surveillance systems and the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) service. Airservices Australia is responsible for the provision of the above support services with the exception of visual navigation aids which are provided by Sydney Airport.

6.2

Movement areas

The existing airfield layout is shown on Figure S1. 6.2.1 Runways Sydney Airport has three runways. The dimensions and declared distances of these runways are given in Table 6.1. Runways 16R/34L and 16L/34R are parallel on an approximate north-south alignment separated by a distance of 1,037m. Runway 16R/34L is suitable for heavy long haul departures. Runway 07/25 crosses Runway 16R/34L and is on an approximate east-west alignment. Weather requires the exclusive use of Runway 07/25 for a limited number of hours per year when strong winds preclude the use of the north/south runways. All runways are provided with Precision Approach Path Indicator Systems (PAPIS). Sydney Airport has recently installed transmissonmeter units to provide accurate visibility assessments to aircraft crews when operating in low visibility conditions and to increase capacity in those conditions. An upgrade to the Airfield Lighting Control system is currently underway and taxiway lights are

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Table 6.1 Runway data

Runway Direction Length (m) Width (m) Take-off run available (m) Take-off distance available (m) Accelerate stop distance available (m) Landing distance available (m)

16R 34L 16L 34R 07 25

3962 3962 2438 2438 2530 2530

45 45 45 45 45 45

3962 3962 2438 2438 2530 2530

4052 4052 2528 2498 2620 2590

3992 3962 2438 2438 2560 2530

3877 3962 2207 2400 2530 2429

of aircraft types. Currently there are 42 stands dedicated to supporting international passenger and freight operations from T1 and 51 stands supporting domestic and regional operations from T2 and T3. There are a number of parking positions on the aprons within the General Aviation area for aircraft of various sizes and Qantas currently provides parking positions for its own use within the Jet Base in the North-east sector of the Airport north of T3. Apron areas also support activities associated with the servicing of aircraft such as baggage, freight, refuelling and flight catering and utilise a variety of ground support equipment (GSE) operated by third parties. A network of airside roads provides for GSE and other vehicle movements. 6.2.4 Qantas Jet Base The Qantas Jet Base is located in the North-east sector of the airport north of Terminal 3. The area comprises a lease area of approximately 30ha. The Jet Base is used by Qantas for aircraft maintenance, layover parking and also contains a variety of aviation support facilities. 6.2.5 General Aviation The General Aviation (GA) parking area is located in the North-east Sector, adjacent to the Runway 25 threshold. The area provides aircraft parking for a number of freight, corporate and private aircraft as well as a variety of aviation support facilities such as maintenance hangars, freight handling and administrative buildings. 6.2.6 Helicopters A dedicated helicopter precinct is located in the South-east sector adjacent to the Runway 25 threshold. The area includes a Touch Down and Lift Off (TLOF) area, taxiways, parking pads, storage/maintenance hangars and administrative buildings.

6.2.7 Emergency facilities Sydney Airport has two marshalling areas for the staging of emergency vehicles and associated communication and coordination facilities located adjacent to the ARFF facilities. There are also two emergency evacuation facilities for marine rescue and recovery located adjacent to the parallel runways within Botany Bay.

6.3

Existing support systems

6.3.1 Airservices Australia facilities Airservices Australia is responsible for the provision of Air Traffic Control (ATC), ARFF and the provision and maintenance of radio navigation aids and systems. The control tower is situated mid-way between Runways 16R/34L and 16L/34R and south of Runway 07/25. The primary responsibility of ATC staff is the processing and separation of air traffic in both the initial and final stages of flight. ATC also provides surface movement control to aircraft and vehicles on the runways and taxiways. The Airport is currently being equipped with a new technology referred to as Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (ASMGCS) to assist with identification and management of all aircraft and vehicles on the ground in the movement area. ASMGCS consists of an enhanced Surface Movement Radar (SMR) combined with a multilateration system to track aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface (see Section 6.8). The Precision Runway Monitor (PRM) is a surveillance system with a high update rate which permits ATC to accurately monitor the position of aircraft on approach. The PRM enables independent parallel runway approaches to be conducted in poor weather conditions and is therefore critical to maintaining runway capacity in these conditions. It is expected that the Precision

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6.0 Airfield Master Plan Concept Sydney Airport Master Plan 2009

Runway Monitor will be replaced by a Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) system in 2010. The Terminal Area Radar (TAR) provides a primary radar surveillance capability out to a radius of 50 nautical miles from Sydney Airport. It provides secondary radar coverage to about 175 nautical miles. This system is expected to be upgraded in 2010 and augmented by Wide Area Multilateration and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADSB). The radar surveillance systems (TAR and SMR) rely on the transmission of radio waves that must be protected from any structures or obstacles that could cause signal refraction or interference. Consequently, areas located either on-airport or off-airport surrounding these facilities may have development restrictions imposed through Sydney Airports development approval assessment process (see Appendix C). The ARFF service has two on-airport fire stations and currently provides ICAO Category 9 standard during hours of flight operations, upgrading to Category 10 as required to facilitate A380 operations. The ARFF service is also equipped to undertake marine rescue within Botany Bay. A fire training area is located to the north of the ARFF facility near Runway 16L. 6.3.2 Bureau of Meteorology facilities The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has a number of airport facilities to support aircraft operations. These include: a weather balloon-launching station; instrument enclosure; a vertical wind profiler; visibility sensors; and observation office. During the planning period, it is proposed that the BOM observation office will be relocated to the South south-east sector of the airfield.

Runways 16R/34L and 07/25 and their supporting taxiways have been upgraded to accommodate operations by aircraft up to and including Code F category.

6.5

Aircraft stand demand

The aircraft stand demand for the 2029 Representative Busy Day forecast is shown in Table 6.2. The stand demand for each category was determined on the basis of the largest aircraft type using a particular stand over the entire busy day. Larger stands can be configured to accommodate smaller aircraft codes - and will be the subject of detailed project planning.

6.6

Airfield modelling

An airfield and airspace modelling study has been carried out using Boeings Total Airport and Airspace Modeler (TAAM) fast time simulation. The simulation model was structured around: the 2029 Master Plan concept for the airfield movement area layout; the 2029 Representative Busy Day schedule; and weather assumptions facilitating maximum runway capacity in all Runway Modes of Operation (RMO). The model was tested against a 2008 traffic and movement area configuration for calibration. Both peak period and noise sharing runway operating scenarios were modelled based on typical weather patterns. The study confirmed that the Master Plan concept for the airfield layout is capable of handling the predicted traffic volumes in 2029.

6.7

Development concept

6.4

Current airfield capacity

The airfield has been progressively expanded and modified in response to traffic growth and changes to fleet mix and aircraft size. Sydney Airport regularly accommodates operations by the full range of aircraft codes with Codes C (such as A320, B737), D (such as B767), E (such as A330, A340, B777 and B747) comprising the majority of operations, and Code F (A380). Code F international passenger services are operated from T1 by A380 aircraft with occasional freight movements by Antonov AN-124 aircraft.

6.7.1 Runways The existing runway system is adequate to cater for future projected traffic and is proposed to be retained in its existing configuration. The airport is subject to a legislated cap of 80 movements per hour (see Section 3.3). However the parallel runways are technically capable of handling a greater number of movements than the cap. This additional capability is utilised to facilitate ground movements of aircraft and other vehicles on the airfield whilst still allowing the movement cap to be achieved. The forecast hourly movement profile remains within this cap (see Section5.7) The Master Plan envisages the installation of a High Intensity Approach Lighting System for Runway 34L with a view to upgrading Runway 34L ILS approach to Category 2.

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6.7.2 Runway End Safety Areas (RESA) Complying RESAs have been implemented at five of the six runway ends. Approval for the construction of a complying RESA on Runway 25 has been granted and work is currently in progress and is due to be completed by in 2010. 6.7.3 Taxiways The Master Plan Concept (see Figure S2) proposes a number of new taxiway elements by 2029 to support the increase in traffic and support new apron areas, including: taxiway J extension; taxiway C extension; straightening of taxiway A; new parallel taxiway east of T1; additional northern taxiway across Runway 16R; and taxiway H extension. 6.7.4 Aprons Additional apron areas are included to provide for the projected aircraft stand requirements as shown in Table 6.2. The proposed additional aprons include the completion of the apron development in the South-west sector, new apron development in the South-east and North-east sectors of the airport. The proposed future apron areas were tested as part of the TAAM airfield modelling exercise. This included testing of the towing assumptions
Table 6.2 Stand demand forecasts 2029
International

underpinning the forecasts of contact and layover stands for international and domestic passenger aircraft. 6.7.5 Airservices Australia facilities Sydney Airport and Airservices Australia, together with the aviation industry, are working cooperatively on the implementation of new technologies which, over time, are expected to result in improvements to air navigation and surveillance. The proposed airfield development concept has been planned to take advantage of these technologies as they become available. The proposed airfield development would result in the necessity to relocate some of the existing Airservices Australia facilities by 2029. SACL is in discussions with Airservices Australia regarding these issues. 6.7.6 General Aviation The General Aviation industry using Sydney Airport is almost exclusively limited to the premium corporate market such as business jets. Most of these aircraft types are unable to be accommodated at other airports in the Sydney Basin on a regular basis. RAAF VIP flights operate through one of the Fixed Base Operators (FBO) and are regular but low-frequency users of Sydney Airport. A dedicated GA precinct is proposed in the South south-east sector, replacing the existing facility in the North-east sector. This area is proposed to

Category (Note 4)

Domestic (Note 5)

Freight (Note 3)

Active (Note 1) Code F Code E Code C Subtotal Layover (Note 2) Code F Code E Code C Subtotal Total
Note 1: Note 2: Note 3: Note 4: Note 5:

17 19 2 38 7 11 0 18 56

0 11 36 47 0 3 13 16 63

0 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 3

Active stands are those used for actual passenger processing. They can be contact stands (i.e. those served by an aerobridge or walk-up), or passengers can be bussed from other locations. Layover stands are those stands where aircraft not carrying out an immediate turnaround are towed and parked, prior to being towed back to the terminal for departure. This is the demand for freight stands occurring concurrently with passenger peak stand demand. Dedicated freight aircraft will operate from common use passenger stands. The stand demand for each category was determined on the basis of the largest aircraft type using a stand. Larger stands should be able to accommodate smaller aircraft codes subject to detailed project planning. Domestic stand demand includes regional aircraft types. For the purposes of land use planning and to maintain future flexibility domestic code C regional stands were sized to accommodate the largest code aircraft type.

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6.0 Airfield Master Plan Concept Sydney Airport Master Plan 2009

include aircraft maintenance hangars, aircraft parking and general support facilities. 6.7.7 Helicopters The Master Plan assumes that demand for helicopter air traffic will not exceed current levels over the planning period and, consequently, the existing facilities are expected to be adequate for the planning period.

Approval to permit MLAT to be used instead of PRM is currently being undertaken in Australia and is expected to be completed by 2010. The system can be augmented to facilitate increased coverage or to facilitate developments in the vicinity of the airport that may otherwise be impossible due to sterilisation of land by on-airport radars or unacceptable reflections from radar transmissions. MLAT receivers are also capable of receiving ADSB transmissions. 6.8.3  Automatic Dependant Surveillance Broadcast Automatic Dependant Surveillance Broadcast (ADSB) is a system that gives aircraft the capacity to automatically broadcast aircraft position, altitude, velocity and other data continuously. Other aircraft and ATC can access the data on display screens without the need for radar. ADSB systems are being defined and standardised by ICAO and other standards organisations worldwide. Aircraft position is derived from the GNSS or internal navigation systems on board the aircraft. The ground unit is simply a receiver for the data, which is then integrated into the ATC System. ADSB units are currently being deployed to provide surveillance of airspace above 30,000 feet over the entire continent, including areas not currently provided with radar coverage. 6.8.4 Required Navigation Performance Required Navigation Performance (RNP) is a statement of the navigation performance necessary for the operation of aircraft within a defined airspace. Procedures based on RNP provide for approaches to a lower minima than non-precision but typically higher than ILS. Such approaches can be conducted independent of any ground based aids. RNP approaches have been developed for Runway 16R and Runway 07 for the operation of Boeing 737 New Generation aircraft. Most modern aircraft are capable of performing RNP approaches subject to procedure development and crew training. RNP approaches will provide safety and operating benefits by providing pilots with a predictability of operations further reducing reliance on ground based aids. Such predictability will provide environmental benefits by reducing aircraft fuel burn and providing for more flexible tracking in airspace around the airport.

6.8

Emerging technologies

Emerging technologies which may affect the layout of the airfield over the planning period are discussed below. The introduction of these technologies will be gradual over the planning period of the Master Plan 2009. 6.8.1 GPS Landing System (GLS) The Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently used for en-route and non precision terminal and instrument approach navigation. As other space based navigation systems become available the term Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) will come into use. In the more critical phases of flight (approach, departure and landing), GNSS requires augmentation to realise the accuracy needed for guidance. These systems are referred to as GBAS (Ground Based Augmentation) or GLS. The benefits of these systems include: the ultimate replacement of all six ILS systems with two independent GBAS installations will allow development of significant areas of the airfield currently sterilised due to ILS signal protection requirements; reduced costs to airlines; and flexible en-route structures for airlines. Newer aircraft are generally equipped with multi mode receivers (MMR) and require only slight modification to be able to take advantage of this new technology. A GBAS unit is currently operational at Sydney Airport and Category 1 certification is expected by late 2009. 6.8.2  Multilateration systems (Multistatic Dependant Surveillance or MLAT) Multilateration (MLAT) is a surveillance system that receives and locates transponder and other transmissions radiating from aircraft on various frequencies, typically 1090MHz - the frequency used by SSR, Mode S and ADSB transponders. All aircraft operating into Sydney Airport are equipped with transponders and nearly all are equipped with transponders capable of interrogation.

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