Safety and Capacity

FOD: a $4 billion problem

ACI forecasts indicate an annual growth in passenger numbers of over 4% annually through to 2020, with freight increasing by over 5% annually throughout the same period.

Airports will therefore need to maintain full use of existing capacity, increasing where possible to meet future traffic demands.

Airports have a duty of care to airline customers and their passengers. An accident at an airport can have a negative short term financial impact due to runway closures and loss of capacity. It can also have negative longer term impact through damage to reputation and adverse publicity.

The challenge is meeting the safety needs of all stakeholders, including regulatory bodies and insurance providers.

Optimising limited resource, especially in airside operations, is also key. It is accepted that even with operators’ best current efforts, foreign objects and debris will at times be deposited on the runway and that whilst there, it constitutes a risk – principally of engine or airframe damage, but also a potential risk to aircraft safety.

The associated costs of FOD soon add up:

• delays through lost slots due to runway closures
• lost business due to damaged reputation through catastrophic incidents
• engine and airframe damage
• extra fuel used by planes in holding stacks due to delays
• compensation for passengers due to delays