Introduction

[The introduction sets the scene for the whole report by clearly stating what the report
will be about

These seven airports with the worst weather-related delay experience many impacting
weather events but weather alone does not necessarily lead to huge delays.

If an airport has much excess capacity, many delayed planes can be shifted to non-weather
periods without overloading the system. However, airports with the most weather delays also
tend to operate close to capacity for large parts of the day. System-impacting weather,
combined with excess demand, means that delayed flights may have to wait hours to land or
depart.

The portion of delay due to weather represented nearly 10 million minutes in 2013. Delays
translate into real costs for the operators and passengers. Currently, the cost to the air
carrier operators for an hour of delay ranges from about $1,400 to $4,500, depending on the
class of aircraft and if the delay is on the ground or in the air. If the value of passenger time
is included, the cost increases annother $35 per hour for personal travel or $63 per hour for
business travel for every person on board.

Chart showing total

number of weather-related delays compared to the total number of delays for the combined three
major airports in NY by month in 2013. The chart shows corresponding sharp increases in both types
of delays in the summer and lesser increases through late fall and early winter. The least amount of
both types of delays occur in February and September. The weather-related delays range
approximately from 50-80% of the total delays over the year.Weather-related delays compared to
total delays at Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy airports by month over the course of 2013.

The pie charts below show the type of weather leading to this combined delay. In the
winter, October through March, the combination of airport surface winds and low
ceiling and visibility (C&V) conditions account for about 75 percent of delays;
convective weather, winter weather, and a small amount of other weather conditions
contribute to the remaining 25 percent.

However, during the summer months, April through September, when delays peak,
more than 40 percent of the delay affecting airport arrivals is due to rain and
thunderstorms. Low C&V conditions cause about 30 percent, airport winds create
about 20 percent, and "other" account for 10 percent of summer delay.

Significance of the Study

The significance of the study is a written statement that explains why your research was
needed. It's a justification of the importance of your work and impact it has on your
research field, it's contribution to new knowledge and how others will benefit from it.
How informant is your research.
Statement of the Problem

Delimitations
Thus, delimitations are the characteristics that limit the scope and describe the boundaries of
the study, such as the sample size, geographical location or setting in which the study takes
place, population traits, etc. Additionally, the researcher might also choose to use some
research tools and methodologies to collect data but not others. These delimitations might be
imposed for practical reasons, such as lack of time or financial resources to carry out a more
thorough investigation. The delimitation section of the study should explain why specific
choices were made while others were excluded and how this might affect the outcome of the
research.

The research will examine the airports according to five criteria: demand, spatial
quality,
managerial, facility, service, and quality. To get a bigger picture the study will enlarge
the scope of study to the neighboring airports to get clear picture of the bad weather
experiencing the this area.

limitation
[What factors beyond your control limited the study from being generalized to the
population? Limitations may include a smaller than ideal sample size, lack of random
sampling, limited information available due to factors such as confidentiality,
 Lititerature review

John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) is an airport serving the New

York City area and is an international gateway into the United States. In 2014,
the airport had 422 415 plane movements and carried 53 254 533 passengers
(Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 2017). JFK’s northerly latitude and
coastal location provides cold, snowy winters and warm summers. It is also
influenced by operations at other airports in the region such as La Guardia (LGA)
and Newark (EWR).

While most people associate JFK as NYC’s major international passenger airport, it serves a
more vital function as a major shipping, cargo hub, and supply chain participant for North
America and its companies. As the number one airport in North America in terms of cargo
value, it is home to four million square feet of warehouse and storage facilities, with climate-
controlled, cold-chain, and animal handling capabilities. With this much valuable cargo
running through JFK, it’s a good thing that it isn’t close to any major bodies of water.
Extreme weather and changing weather patterns are of major concern for the United States’
air travel infrastructure, particularly an airport like JFK. For JFK, some reports have
indicated that certain hurricane categories could put its runways under as much as eleven to
fifteen feet of water, the highest total among all major U.S. airports. And these extreme
weather events are becoming more prevalent with the US incurring 12 of them in 2011,
alone. While storm surges of these levels would obviously halt flight operations, it could
result in not only safety issues at the airport, but also damage to any cargo held in its
warehouse and storage facilities, costing billions in damaged goods and lost time. This issue
could be further exacerbated in the future, as increased sea level rise will move JFK into the
flood zone in the coming years

Rising temperatures also can impact JFK. First, rising temperatures can cause pavement
cracking, resulting in higher maintenance and runway repaving costs. Second, higher
temperatures require more cooling use, for both runways and more importantly, JFK’s
temperature-controlled warehouses. Overall, the rising temperatures result in higher
operating costs which can be passed through to its freight customers through higher lease
rates. For JFK to remain the number cargo destination in North America, it must continue to
operate an efficient and low-cost airport. The climate issues raised above could put its
position in jeopardy as there are other alternative airports on the east coast that are less
susceptible to flooding and rising temperatures.

Currently, the PANYNJ has taken actions to address the potential effects of extreme weather
and rising temperatures. For all future runway renovation projects, the PANYNJ will model
an anticipated increase in temperature and precipitation levels to maximize the useful life and
minimize costs. For example, in 2010, JFK renovated its longest commercial runway taking
these steps and used light-colored concrete, as opposed to more traditional asphalt. Light-
colored concrete absorbs less solar energy than dark-colored asphalt, decreasing the rate of
pavement cracking and its associated maintenance costs. Additionally, the use of light-
colored concrete raises the height of runways, helping to alleviate the potential effects from
rising sea levels.

Over the medium and long-term, PANYNJ is forecasting climate change projections on its
major infrastructure assets, including JFK, for three decades 2020s, 2050s and 2080s. These
projections are revisited every two years and are used to assess future maintenance and
operations efforts, capital projects, and regulations [5].
In addition to the actions already taken by PANYNJ, additional steps can be taken to
mitigate the risks posed by climate change. In the short term, PANYJN could follow
Massport’s lead to address storm surge by investing money into additional flood doors and
barriers and portable pumps to keep the airport operating in the event of a major weather
event. PANYNJ should also consider the low-hanging fruit for JFK. Returning to Massport,
Logan International Airport decided to relocate all its IT infrastructure to the highest floors of
the airport, ensuring all systems remained operational in the event of a storm surge.

In the medium term, PANYNJ should consider consolidating rental car and other ancillary
airport activities to conserve space which could be used for increased storage and drainage
capacity. An interesting area to consider eliminating at the airport would be parking.
Currently, subway service runs from Manhattan to JFK, albeit at a slow speed. If PANYNJ
were to create a “bullet train” to JFK from Manhattan, it might decrease the number of self-
drivers, taxis, and Ubers, creating more space for mitigation systems against storm surges.
An added benefit would also be a decreased carbon footprint from less cars.

While this paper is not suggesting that JFK is in imminent danger of being submerged under
water, there are some important questions for PANYNJ, airlines, and freight customers to
consider. For the UPS’ and FedEx’s of the world, is it worth the risk to ship cargo and store
cargo at an airport that is susceptible to major flooding from storm surges, even if there is
only a 1% chance this can happen (see exhibit 1)? And if so, who should bear the costs of
upgrade projects at JFK related to climate change and disaster mitigation?
New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) isn't the busiest airport in the world, nor is it the largest in
terms of overall size or terminal size. But what JFK lacks in size or passenger flow, it makes up for in
prestige. Or at least it used to. Airlines from around the world would go out of their way to operate
flights to JFK, as this was seen as a mark of honor.

These days, any regular traveler knows full well to avoid JFK or its sister airports LaGuardia and
Newark. Or at least, they should. Chronic delays and cancellations, dilapidated and isolated terminals,
poor connectivity to the city's public transit system and long lines are just some of the problems
presented by New York's airports. Once Mother Nature decides to join the party — as she did quite
forcefully during the recent “bomb cyclone” storm — New York’s airports simply fall apart.

One of the biggest drivers behind JFK’s high delay and cancellation rate has little to do with the airport
itself. New York City’s airspace is one of the most complex and congested in the world. With JFK,
LaGuardia and Newark all in such close proximity, along with smaller airports such as Teterboro and
White Plains, air traffic controllers have to carefully guide aircraft to each airport while making sure
they never conflict with each other. The slightest bit of unfavorable weather can throw the entire region
into air traffic control chaos by dramatically reducing the number of aircraft each airport can handle per
hour.

While the obvious answer to fix New York’s airspace may seem as simple as adding runways or
creating more efficient flight paths — something the Federal Aviation Administration hopes to do with
the advent of NextGen air traffic control — those options are no silver bullet.

New York City’s airspace is one of the most complex and congested in the world.

“Any increase in capacity that any of those options might create would be minimal at best,” explained
Phil Derner, Jr, founder of NYCAviation.com, a respected New York City based aviation blog. “That
newly found ‘breathing room’ would surely be filled with more flights in this high demand region.”
Derner suggests instead that the region look to build a more distant high capacity regional airport, an
idea that so far has failed to gain much traction with politicians and the public.

JFK was once the worldwide standard for what an international airport look like. Born out of the need to
relieve LaGuardia of its overcrowding, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the early
1940s set out to build one of the first major airports of its kind. Rather than building one large terminal
to be shared by all airlines, it was decided by the airlines that each airline was to build its own terminal
and compete for the business of travelers on their unique architecture.

This pre-jet era decision gave JFK the fragmented, disconnected terminal structure it is still known for
today. Despite terminals being demolished and rebuilt over the years, the core structure remained the
same. Each passenger terminal remains it's own mini-airport within an airport, a decision that would set
the airports inefficiencies in stone for decades to come.
The disconnected nature of JFK makes transferring between flights a potential nightmare for
passengers. Whereas most modern airports are made up of one of two major terminals shared by all
airlines, JFK sports six passenger terminals. Transferring between them is a confusing and time-
consuming process. Forget about transiting to any of the major airports in New York City if you’re re-
booked, too. Doing so by public transit is a frustrating and time consuming process.

I just don't know how @JFKairport clears out this mess. Airplanes keep landing and there's nowhere for
them to go. Departure line is dozens long. pic.twitter.com/Ak4d5q3csr

— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) January 6, 2018

While a few terminals at JFK are operated and managed by a specific airline, the major international
terminals are managed by independent management groups and have become jam packed with dozens
of foreign airlines. JFK’s Terminal 1 is co-owned by Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, and Air
France, but is home to an ever increasing number of other airlines. Under the best-case scenarios, these
terminals operate on a razor-thin time margin between flights and without a single gate to spare.

Once a single raindrop or snowflake falls in the New York area, however, the delicate operation falls
apart. If departing flights are delayed from pushing back, incoming flights have no gate to pull into,
stranding those passengers on the taxiways. Those delays add up quickly, and it can take days for a
single aircraft to recover from its delay. It isn’t uncommon for arrivals to wait several hours for a gate.
Because there are so many airlines crammed into terminals, finding someone to help rebook after a
cancelled or delayed flight can be nearly impossible.

With little hope for improvement on the horizon, the New York region should be avoided during any
season when adverse weather conditions are possible. Unfortunately, that is just about the entire year.
The political will to overhaul JFK into a more modern, functional and cohesive airport simply doesn’t
exist, dooming travelers to painful travel and giving New York black eye after black eye with each
passing storm.