APPENDIX E

Summary of Survey Results

Background

As part of ACRP Project 10-33, “Incorporating Emerging Transportation and Ground Access Technologies at Airports,” a survey was conducted in order to capture the current state of airport access and landside operations, to understand the level of awareness of operators regarding emerging modes and technologies, and to document how airports are currently planning to adapt their facilities to integrate these innovations.

Survey Objective

The objective of the survey was to determine the current state of transportation and ground access technologies at airports in the United States. The survey sought to capture the following:

• Current access modes serving the airports.
• Current modal share between existing modes.
• Plans for increasing mass transit options to the airports.
• Coordination with local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, transit authorities, and/or mobility providers regarding new transportation modes or expansion of existing modes.
• Airport coordination with city, metropolitan, regional, and rural transportation plans.
• Projects and ongoing conversations for integration of new technologies.

Profile of the Respondents

The responses were analyzed based on airport, title, or function for the 22 respondents from 21 individual airports (Table 47).

Geographical Distribution

The survey captured a mix of airports located across the country, with airports in Arizona (2), California (3), Colorado (1), Florida (3), Georgia (1), Maryland (1), North Carolina (4), Oregon (1), Utah (3), and Washington State (1).

Type of Airport per the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems

Among the responding U.S. airports, 40 percent are commercial service airports while 60 percent are general aviation facilities, per the 2019–2023 National Plan of Integrated Airport

Table 47. List of Airports Responding to Survey

Systems (NPIAS). More than half of the commercial service airports are large-hub airports (Table 48).

Among the 22 respondents, 6 were airport managers or directors, and 6 were airport operations managers or specialists (Table 49). The remaining respondents were airport safety managers (2), airport or airline planning professionals (5), information technology directors (1), and landside managers (2). Respondents were not required to answer each survey question, so in some cases there were fewer than 22 respondents.

Table 48. Respondents’ NPIAS Categories

Table 49. Respondents’ Occupation

Survey Results

This section presents the results to each question of the online survey.

Different Modes Currently Serving Surveyed Airports

Question: What are the different ground access modes serving your airport? (22 responses)

The results indicate that most of the airports are served by legacy modes and technologies, with 21 of the airports being served by individual/personal cars, 17 with traditional taxis and TNCs, 13 with public bus systems, 12 with hotels and resort shuttles, and 1 with bus rapid transit, personal rapid transit, and metro/subway. Many of the respondents were from small airports, and typically larger airports tend to have more public transit options.

Transportation Planning Coordination

Question: Is your airport ground access specifically discussed or addressed in any city/metropolitan/regional/rural transportation plan? (15 responses)

Among the respondents, 5 knew of discussion and coordination with the city/metropolitan/regional/rural transportation plans. The remaining respondents mentioned that these discussions do not take place at their airports, or they are not aware of them.

Knowledge of Impact of Emerging Technologies

Question: Do you agree with this statement? Emerging ground transportation technologies will have a significant impact on ground access at my airport by 2040. (22 responses)

Among the respondents, 12 respondents agreed with the statement that emerging ground transportation technologies will have a significant impact on ground access at their airports by 2040. Many of the respondents were from small airports, thus these technologies might not seem relevant in the short term for them specifically.

Modal Share Increase

Question: Do you agree with this statement? The modal share of mass transit from/to my airport will significantly increase over the next 20 years. (22 responses)

Thirteen respondents agreed with the statement that the modal share of mass transit to and from their airports will significantly increase over the next 20 years.

Integration of Emerging Technologies Discussions

Question: Do you have any projects or discussions for integrating new transportation technologies? (automated vehicles, hyperloop, electric buses, etc.) (17 responses)

Among the respondents, 7 mentioned that their airport has discussions or projects for the integration of new transportation technologies. The remaining respondents said that they are not aware of these discussions, or their airports were not participating in discussions at the time of the survey.

Vertiport Facilities at Airports

Question: Are you considering establishing a vertiport facility at your airport for ground access purposes? (10 responses)

Four of the respondents were considering establishing vertiport facilities at their airport for ground access purposes.

Electric Charger Availability

Question: Do you have any electric chargers for e-vehicles available to the public? If yes, are you providing specific charger for taxis and TNCs? Is this a free service? (19 responses)

Responses to these questions showed that over 10 respondents from the airports surveyed have electric chargers for e-vehicles available to the public, and most of these are available to the public with no added cost.

CAV Integration

Question: Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) may induce a shift in the motor vehicle industry. For instance: passengers may no longer park individual cars at the airport, but instead have their car “drive” back home or return to an on-demand car hub. Are you aware of this and are you planning to adapt your landside facilities to this new transportation mode? (18 responses)

Most respondents indicated that they are aware of the possibility of integrating CAVs into the planning of their landside facilities. Although aware of this shift, only 1 of the respondents mentioned that they are planning to adapt landside facilities for the integration of this new transportation mode.

Transportation Modes Used for Freight Transport

Question: What are the transportation modes used for transporting aviation freight (cargo) to/from the airport? (22 responses)

Responses to this question were relatively similar, with 19 airports using delivery vans/trucks for the transport of aviation freight and 16 respondents utilizing heavy trucks for the same purpose. Only 1 airport utilized trains and small uncrewed aerial systems.