Indianapolis International Airport(IND) is situated southwest ofIndianapolis city, near the cross-sec-tion of Interstate 70 and the periphery,Highway 465. It is located at N 39°, W086°, at a height of 797 feet (243metres) above sea level. The airportoperates in the EST time zone(UTC/GMT -5) and, from this year on,Indiana will adhere to Daylight SavingTime. The airport serves as the inter-national airport for the state of Indianaand its capital Indianapolis. The cityhas an official population of 781,870(2000). However, its metropolitan areapopulation easily reaches past1,600,000 souls.

Although the airport opened its doorsin September 1931, it wasn't until1957 that the current airport passengerterminal complex was opened to fulfil

the growing demands at that time. Toserve the travellers, the terminal hasapproximately 673,000 square feet ofspace, 8,000 square feet of retailspace, 33 gates and approximately11,000 parking spaces. Although thecurrent terminal building has servedthe community well through the years,due to many renovations and expan-sions, the building is old with partsdating back almost 50 years. The mod-ern requirements for security, parking,baggage handling, communicationsand other support systems are difficultto satisfy in this old building.

Added to the call for this moderniza-tion, a number of studies have indicat-ed that the airport needed to expand itsterminal capacity to accommodate thefuture needs of passenger air traffic atIND. This is apparent from the all-

time record year 2004. For the firstseven months of 2004, passenger vol-ume was 8.4% greater that the sameperiod in 2003 with a total of4,662,983 passengers. With this con-tinuing trend, the traffic increase atIndianapolis is outpacing the nationalpassenger growth rate of 6%. Totalpassenger traffic amounted to8,025,051 passengers in 2004, givingIND a ranking of 49, when comparedto other North-American airports.

Strangely enough, no passenger airlineuses IND as a hub for its operationswhile there are over 35 non-stop desti-nations. Currently, twelve major andsix national passenger airlines fly onIND. Among these airlines are: AirCanada, Air Tran, American Airlines,America West Airlines, ATA Airlines,Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines,

AIRPORTS OF THE WORLD

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Living up to being the Crossroadsof AmericaIndianapolis International Airport

Indianapolis International Airport is a medium sized airport, located in the Midwestern state ofIndiana. Although it may not be the most exciting airport to visit, it keeps up its good reputationby its excellent functionality and its impeccable service record. More exciting to mention is theongoing construction of its new passenger terminal building, set to be completed in 2008. The newMidfield Terminal will relieve the pressure on the airport in dealing with the high growth rate oftraffic it is experiencing.

By Stephan Peters

Management and Ownership The Indianapolis International Airport is owned by the Indianapolis AirportAuthority (IAA). The IAA was founded in 1962 as a municipal organization withthe responsibility of owning, developing and managing the airport facilities in the metropolitan area ofIndianapolis.

On October 1, 1995, BAA Indianapolis LLC was founded to manage six of the IAA airportsunder a performance-based, management contract. These airports include IndianapolisInternational Airport, four general aviation airports in the metropolitan area and the Heliport indowntown Indianapolis. BAA Indianapolis LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAA plc, the pri-vate company which owns and operates seven airports in the United Kingdom includingHeathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports serving London.

It is clear from the excellent service record that BAA Indianapolis LLC is doing a good job. The airport has hadthe most consecutive inspections with no discrepancies, along with Madison, WI. This service record continueswith the 6th consecutive annual inspection by the FAA.

Frontier Airlines, Independence Air,Midwest Connect, NorthwestAirlines/KLM, Southwest Airlines,United Airlines and US Airways.

On the cargo side of traffic, totalfreight amounted to 932,449 metrictonnes. This would place IND as oneof the top ten cargo airport in the USA,number 9 to be exact. The main reasonfor this high cargo traffic is that theairport functions as Federal Express'second hub in the USA.All these developments have resultedin the creation of master plan by theIndianapolis Airport Authority (seebox). This master plan, formulated in1975, acknowledged the growth needfor the next 50 years and was created

exclusively for the development of theinternational airport. At the time, arunway layout of two parallel runwayswith a non-intersecting crosswind run-way was chosen while there was leftroom for a new terminal complexbetween those runways. Together withthis runway layout and new terminalbuilding, a new highway access fromInterstate 70 was incorporated to facil-itate ground access to the airport.

Currently, the airport operates thesetwo parallel runways, 5L/23R and5R/23L, and a crosswind runway,

14/32. The two parallel runways areoriented in a northeast and southwestdirection and the crosswind runway isoriented northwest and southeast. Thetable below lists useful informationabout these runways. While growth ispredicted, no plans for expansion inthe runway layout are made for thefuture. However, the construction of athird parallel runway is still possible.

In 1992, a study commissioned by theIndianapolis Airport Authority affirmsthe need for a new midfield terminalcomplex. Ten years later, in 2002, theSt. Louis-based Hellmuth, Obata +

Kassabaum, Inc., was selected to com-plete the master design and the termi-nal design, of which the constructionis currently underway. Only recently,officials broke ground on the construc-tion of the new passenger terminalbuilding at Indianapolis InternationalAirport. The new terminal is sched-uled to open in 2008.

This new terminal will feature a mod-ern passenger complex built in themidfield area of the present airport,between the two main runways. Thislocation was an unencumbered greensite that has been reserved for the air-port's expansion since 1975. This loca-tion facilitates the efficient movementof aircraft because connector taxiwayswill align with existing exit taxiwaysto provide the shortest and most directroute to aircraft gates, thereby reduc-ing taxiing time.

The new glass-enclosed passenger ter-minal building will feature 1.2 millionsquare feet of space. It will include amodern ticketing hall with anadvanced baggage handling and secu-rity system, retail and dining spacegreater than that available in the cur-rent building, and two concourses witha total of 40 gates.

The terminal is designed as a dynamicform to emphasize its function as gate-way and symbol of the city, which isknown as the "Crossroads ofAmerica". The design is the product ofSt. Louis-based Hellmuth, Obata +Kassabaum, Inc. (HOK), an interna-tionally known architecture, engineer-

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Fleet MixThe specific types of aircraft at the airport can be divided in a couple ofcategories. Passenger air carrier jet operations accounted for 35.0 per-cent of the total operations in 2003 and included Boeing 727-200, Boeing737-200/300/400/500/700, Boeing 757-200, Airbus 319/320, DC9-30/50,and MD-81/82/88 types. Cargo jet aircraft include Boeing 727-100/200,Airbus 300/310, DC10-10/30, and MD-11. Commuter and general avia-tion jet aircraft account for 26.5 percent of the total operations and includ-ed Canadair and Embraer regional jets, as well as Lear jets. The remain-ing operations were distributed among single-engine and twin-engine tur-boprops in the propeller aircraft category.

In the future, passenger air carrier jet aircraft are projected to fly 36.9 per-cent of the total operations and will primarily be composed of Boeing 737-300/700/800, Boeing 757-200, Airbus 319/320, and MD80/83/88 types.Cargo jet aircraft are forecast to fly 14.1 percent of the total operationsand the cargo fleet mix will mainly consist of Boeing 757-200, Airbus300/310, DC10-10/30, and MD11 aircraft.

Layout of Indianapolis International Airport, including its current terminal buildingand the planned Midfield terminal building

Runway Length [ft] Width [ft] Instrument5L/23R 11,200' 150' CAT III ILS (5L) CAT I ILS (23R)5R/23L 10,000' 150' CAT III ILS (5R) CAT I ILS (23L)14/32 7,600' 150' CAT I ILSOverview of IND Runway Information and Instrumentation

ing and construction planning firm. In2002, this company was selected asthe Master Designer for the newIndianapolis Airport and it will pro-vide a comprehensive design solutionfor the entire development. For exam-ple, the Midfield terminal will use thelatest green, energy saving practices togain operational efficiencies. This willbe achieved by designing the buildingas energy-efficient as possible and byemploying energy management sys-tems.

Total costs of the construction willamount to approximately $1 billion. Itwill be financed through a combina-tion of federal grants, passenger facili-ty charges, airline facility rents andaircraft landing fees. No state or local

tax money will be used to finance con-struction of the new airport. However,the federal government will contributesome funds for aviation purposes, suchas contributions for the new controltower.

All in all, it is apparent thatIndianapolis International Airport willbecome one of the most functional andpleasant airports of the US. Theupcoming developments on theground side of IND will, together withits impeccable service record, prove tobe a combination that can propel theairport to new heights.

About the author Stephan Peters is graduating with theAerospace Management andOrganization chair at the TechnicalUniversity of Delft. He is currentlyfinishing his final thesis inIndianapolis, IN, USA. He has com-pleted his undergraduate studies inAerospace Engineering at the sameuniversity. His academic interestsfocus on entrepreneurship and supplychain management in the aircraftindustry.

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Current Terminal Midfield TerminalTotal area [sq ft] 673,000 1,200,000Retail space [sq ft] 8,000 90,000Office space [sq ft] n/a 55,000Passenger gates [-] 33 40Passenger check-in counters [-] n/a 96Security screening checkpoints [-] n/a 18Capacity parking garage [-] 1,800 7,000Capacity surface parking [-] 9,115 11,000

The check-in hall will have nearly a hundred passenger check-in counters androom for expansion.

This aerial view of the future passenger terminal clearly shows the location ofthe building between the two parallel runways, currently in operation.

Overview of IND terminal complexes, current and planned

2003 2008Operations% Operations %

Air Carrier Jets 72,270 35.0% 100,010 36.9%Cargo Jets 29,200 14.1% 37,960 14.1%GA 54,750 26.5% 75,920 28.0%Propeller Aircraft 50,370 24.4% 56,940 21.0%Total 206,590 100.0% 270,830 100.0%

Aircraft Operations at IND (Source: Landrum & Brown, 2003)