Airport System Plan

The last Oklahoma Airport System Plan was prepared in 1999. Since that time, the aviation industry has changed, and new/additional system planning guidance is available. Since Oklahoma’s last plan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued new system planning guidelines and has implemented programs that provide additional context and input for the state system planning process. In late 2020, the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics (ODAA) initiated a comprehensive airport system plan of the 108 airports included in the state system to respond to changes in the aviation industry and to incorporate the most current FAA guidance.

This introduction discusses the primary guidelines that directed development of the state airport system plan. In 2004, the FAA released AC 150/5070-7, The Airport System Planning Process and published an update on January 15, 2015. This 2015 AC update provides the foundation of Oklahoma’s State Airport System Plan. Based aircraft—those stored at an airport for more than six months—are often a primary driver when making system planning decisions. In 2007, the FAA implemented its Based Aircraft Inventory Program. As part of this program, based aircraft are now identified and counted by tail number by airport. This program helps to reduce double (or in some cases even triple) counting of the same aircraft and provides a more realistic view of general aviation demand that influences development needs for all system airports.

Lastly, in 2012, the FAA released a study, referred to as ASSET 1, entitled General Aviation Airports: A National Asset. A follow-on study, ASSET 2, was released in 2014. As part of its ASSET studies, the FAA assigned, for the first-time, roles to general aviation airports that are part of the federal airport system. Federal roles for general aviation airports were not identified at the time the last Oklahoma Airport System Plan was last conducted in 1999. FAA assigns roles to all airports included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). The
Oklahoma 2021 Airport System Plan is informed by the FAA resources noted in this introduction. Primary objectives for the system plan follow:

Inventory airport facilities, services, and activities and store data in a searchable database.

• Evaluate system safety, efficiency, accessibility, economic support, and user services.
• Identify system adequacies, deficiencies, and redundancies to address the need for an affordable system.
• Revisit airport classifications/roles considering the facilities they provide and the communities and customers they serve.
• Determine if additional role classifications are needed and/or if further airport “stratification” within the existing role classifications is desirable.
• Identify projects needed to raise the bar for system performance and to support the state’s transportation needs and economic objectives.
• Estimate costs that are associated with maintaining and improving the airport system, using a holistic approach the considers the cost related to improvements identified in the system plan and OAC NPIAS needs list.
• Provide information to support sound decisions on investment needs.
• Include the public and airport stakeholders in the planning process.