Laserfiche WebLink
sections discuss the reliever airport system concept and the background and need <br />for the Regional System Reliever Airports Study. <br />1. RELIEVER AIRPORT CONCEPT <br />Following the deregulation of the nation's scheduled commercial carriers, many <br />commercial service airports began to experience operational congestion. It was <br />apparent from the onset that augmenting the operational capacity of the nation's <br />commercial airport system through the development of new air carrier airports or <br />new runways would be a slow, and in some cases, impossible process. Therefore, as <br />an alternative to providing additional airside facilities to enhance the capacity of <br />the commercial airport system, methods of demand management were investigated <br />and implemented. <br />Use of the reliever airport concept is one such method of demand management. <br />Guidelines for establishing reliever airports were established by the FAA in the <br />early 1980s. Reliever airports are intended to provide alternatives for general <br />aviation aircraft that might otherwise be based at or operate at a congested <br />commercial service airport. Reliever airports are intended to serve both locally <br />generated operations and transient activity. <br />In response to operational congestion at Minneapolis -St. Paul International <br />Airport (MSP) and in accordance with the FAA reliever airport guidelines, seven <br />general aviation airports in the Minneapolis -St. Paul area are designated as relievers <br />for MSP. Existing relievers include: <br />Airlake Airport <br />Anoka County -Blaine Airport <br />Crystal Airport <br />Flying Cloud Airport <br />• Lake Elmo Airport <br />• St. Paul Downtown Airport <br />• South St. Paul Airport <br />The focus of the Regional System Reliever Airports Study is to determine if <br />the system of seven reliever airports serving MSP adequately meets the objective of <br />-2- <br />