Hub Airports and their Role in the Aviation System

This article discusses the role of hub airports in supporting the aviation system. It explores how hub airports provide more destinations, encourage growth in the airline business, and enable efficient use of transportation resources. It also highlights some of the challenges associated with hub airports. Additionally, the article covers the reasons for airport master planning and the key features of the freedoms of the air. It concludes with an overview of the key stakeholders in the aviation system.

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AVIATION SYSTEMS
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SECTION B
Hub airports and how they support the aviation system
Hub airports refer to the airports which an airline utilizes as a transfer point to get the passengers
to their destinations. Normally it is in the hub airports where the travelers moving between the
airports which are by direct flights usually change planes to planes on route to their destination.
The hub airports usually support the aviation system by;
i) Providing more destinations.
The Hub airports, usually have many flights to different destinations. With the many
destinations, people who don’t have direct flights to their intended destination can be able to
connect without any challenge (Lombardo, 2017, p. 291).
ii) Encourages faster growth in the airline business
With the development, if the airports, there has been growing in the size of the airlines,
competition which leads to high-quality service delivery and improved traffic demand in the
aviation system.
iii) Efficient use of scarce transportation resources
The aviation system usually has a number of routes which connects almost all destinations which
enable efficient utilization of the available resources. This direct flights which are facilitated by
the hub airports reduce the cost of transportation which is incurred by connecting the flight.
Even though the Hub Airports have many advantages there are some setbacks which are
associated with the development of them. Some of the problems include;
i) Delays and congestion at the hub airports

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Due to the provision of the flight's connection in the Hub airports, in most cases their many
passengers who keep waiting for the flight which connects to his/ her destination. In that proves
the number of passengers present at the airport keeps increasing hence bring about congestion.
ii) Airport dependency
The Hub airports and their corresponding alliances have chosen a small number of the airports
on through which they route their traffic. With that majority of the global airlines becomes too
much dependent on the hub airports forgetting about other airports. This leads to slow
development of the aviation system in other countries (Andreas Wittmer, 2013, p. 872).
iii) Discontinuous utilization of the airport facilities
The merging of the traffic in the hub airports implies that a traffic structure of peaks at a given
time of the day when the airport facilities are in high demand. During the off-peak when the
number of passengers in the hub is low, the airport facilities are underutilized.
SECTION C
Reasons for airport master planning
The airport master plan ensures that all landside, airside and the airport support facilities can
enhance and grow their operations in a much-coordinated manner which benefits all the aviation
system stakeholders. The airport master plan should be based on the common airport and airline
business development policies (Binns, 2012, p. 113).
The airport master plan is a study which is used to establish the long –term development plans
for any given airport. The airport master plan offers opportunities for the public and political
entities to take part in the development of aviation plans. It offers a framework for the individual

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airport's development programs constant with long, intermediate and short-range airport system
requirements and then determines the future financial needs.
The airport master plan addresses the development requirements of an airport for a period of
20years. There are regular updates which are done of the master plan due to the dynamic changes
which take place due to advancement in technology. The master plan graphically displays the
concept of the airport and reports the data and the logic upon which the master plan is based on.
Usually, the master planning process puts into account the demands and needs of the airport
users, tenants, and the general public. The guiding principle behind the master planning the
airports is the development of an efficient and safe airport (Pravas Mahapatra, 2016, p. 25). It is
important that airport planning and other infrastructure development encompasses functional,
safe, user-friendly and capacity balanced airports. Working closely with airport authorities,
airlines and design consultants, it is easier to achieve an affordable and flexible facility which
has the ability to support the operations of the airlines and the customer experience.
SECTION A
Key features of the freedoms of the air
The freedoms of air refer to a set of the commercial which grants a country's airline the freedom
to enter and land in another territory ‘s airspace. The freedoms of framed as a result over the
extent of the aviation liberalization in the Convention on the International Civil aviation which
took place in 1944 in Chicago. From the convention, the following features of the freedoms of
air were agreed upon.

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i) The first freedom- This features give the freedom to carry traffic and fly over the
territory of another territory without landing. Currently, all almost all countries
globally are partners to this convention.
ii) Second freedom- This is the right which grants the airlines of one territory to land in
other technical reasons such as deplaning or boarding of passengers.
iii) The third freedom- this refers to the freedoms which are given for another country
to land in their territory and deplane passengers coming from the airliner’s own
country (Seabridge, 2015, p. 443)
iv) Fourth freedom- This is a scenario where an airline from one country is given rights
to land in and board the passengers who are traveling to the airlines own country.
v) Fifth freedom- This is rights which are given to an airline from one country to land in
the second country and, and then and fly them to the third country where the
passengers are deplaned.
vi) Sixth freedom- This refers to the rights which are given to one airline to carry traffic
from one state to another country by passing through the home country.
vii) Seventh-freedom – This refers to the rights which are to an airline to carry traffic
from one state to the second state without going through the home country.
viii) Eighth freedom – This is the rights given to a carriage of air traffic which normally
originates f and terminates within the boundaries of another country.
ix) Ninth freedom – This freed are similar to the eight freedom whereby an airline is
given rights to operate flights within the given country, without continued or prior
services from or to the home country.

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The different features of the freedoms of the air have a great impact on the aviation industry.
They determine the routes which the specific airlines will be prying. At the same time, the
freedoms of the air create a conducive working condition which reduces the monopoly of the air
transport industry by the developing countries. With the freedoms of air being in different
countries are competing fairly in the industry (Vladislav Mazur, 2018, p. 762).
SECTION B
Key stakeholders in the aviation system
The stakeholders in the aviation system are grouped into six categories i.e. Aircraft
communication, Airports, Aerospace, flight operations, Government, passenger and travel
services (Broad, 2017, p. 221).
The aircraft communication; this includes the Air Traffic control Associations. The aircraft
communication takes place through a network of the automated ground stations which includes
the internal computers. Any data from the aircraft is sent through conventional VHF radio waves.
Airports; the stakeholders in the airport's ports include;
o International Civil Organization
o Airport Council International
o ACI Europe
o Aeroports francophone associates (Douglas M. Marshall, 2012, p. 337).
The Aerospace: The stakeholders within the Aerospace include;
o Aerospace industry Associations
o International aviation organization

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o Air transport Association – the technical information committee. Etc
Flight operations; there are aviation system stakeholders who are concerned with the aerospace
and they include;
o Euro control
o Met office
o Civil Aviation Authority
o International air transport Associations
o Airline group of the international federation of the operational research societies. (Moir,
2011, p. 50)
Government
The government is a stakeholder in any aviation system. The government is a stakeholder for
any aviation system through the;
o International Civil Aviation Organization
o World Customs organizations
o International Air transport
o Association Associations of the European Airline (Dillingham, 2016, p. 29)
Passenger and travel services.
This refers to the people who ensure that passengers are well served during flights or before.
Some of the stakeholders in the passenger and travel services include;
o Airport council international Federal aviation administration

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The key stakeholders in the aviation industry relate to each other to ensure that the operations of
flights move smoothly. For instance, the aircraft controller in the tower communicates with the
pilot for guidance. All the stakeholders in the aviation system depend on each other and there is
no stakeholder who work on his or her own (Moir, 2015, p. 89).

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References
Andreas Wittmer, 2013. Aviation Systems: Management of the Integrated Aviation Value Chain.
1st ed. Texas: Springer Science & Business Media.
Binns, C., 2012. Aircraft Systems: Instruments, Communications, Navigation, and Control. 2nd
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Broad, M. L., 2017. Beyond Transfer of Training: Engaging Systems to Improve Performance.
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Dillingham, G. L., 2016. Next Generation Air Transportation System: Status of Systems
Acquisition and the Transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System. 3rd ed.
Sydney: DIANE Publishing.
Douglas M. Marshall, 2012. Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft System. 2nd ed. Sydney: CRC
Press.
Lombardo, D. A., 2017. Aircraft Systems. 2nd ed. Chicago: McGraw Hill Professional,.
Moir, I., 2011. Design and Development of Aircraft Systems. 4th ed. Kiev: John Wiley & Sons.
Moir, I., 2015. Design and Development of Aircraft Systems. 4th ed. London: John Wiley &
Sons,.
Pravas Mahapatra, 2016. Aviation Weather Surveillance Systems: Advanced Radar and Surface
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Seabridge, A., 2015. Aviation security significant management challenges may adversely affect
implementation of the Transportation Security Adminstration's Secure Flight Program. 1st ed.
Chicago: DIANE Publishing.
Vladislav Mazur, 2018. Aviation System Capital Investment Plan. 1st ed. Texas: DIANE
Publishing.