TAXIWAYS

TAXIWAY DESIGN
 Taxiways

Taxiway provides access to the aircrafts from the runways to

the loading apron or service hangar.
 Factors controlling Taxiway Layout
Taxiways should be arranged that the aircrafts which
have just landed & taxiing towards apron should not
interfere with the aircrafts taxiing for take-off.
The taxiway should be located at various points along the
runway so that the landing aircraft leaves the runway as
early as possible. Such taxiways are called e it
ta iwa s .
Exit taxiways should be designed for high turn off speeds
of aircrafts so that runway occupancy time gets reduced.
The route should be a shortest distance from the apron
to the runway end.
Intersection of taxiway & runway should be avoided.
 GEOMETRIC DESIGN STANDARDS
Length of taxiway
Width of taxiway
Width of safety area
Longitudinal gradient
Transverse gradient
Rate of change of longitudinal gradient
Sight distance
Turning radius
 TAXIWAY GEOMETRICS AS PER ICAO
Classifica Taxiway width Max. Mini. Max. rate of Safety area
tion by Longitudinal Transverse change of width
ICAO gradient (%) gradient (%) longitudinal
Meter Feet gradient per
30m (100ft)
in %

A 22.5 75 1.5 1.5 1.0 Turfed or

paved
shoulders
B 22.5 75 1.5 1.5 1.0 are not
mandatory
C 15.0 50 3.0 1.5 1.0 but are
suggested
if need
D 9.9 33 3.0 2.0 1.2 exists.

E 7.5 25 3.0 2.0 1.2

 EXIT TAXIWAYS
Factors controlling location of exit taxiways
Number of exit taxiways
Exit speed
Type of aircrafts
Weather conditions
Topographical features
Pilot variability
 Optimum location of Exit Taxiways

AVERAGE ACCEPTANCE RATE ARRIVAL RATE

WAVE-OFFS
BALANCE
PT.
ACCEPTANCE
RATE

ARRIVAL RATE

Acceptance rate of runway with a system of exit taxiways =

Arrival rate of aircrafts
 The point beyond which the acceptance rate deviates
from the ideal relationship of equal arrival and
acceptance rate is balance point .
Balance point occurs when the runway is loaded to its full
capacit and such situation is runway saturation .
At higher arrival rates, the runway cannot accept all
aircrafts and hence few are waved off.
For a given set of conditions, the exit taxiways should
yield the highest possible rate of acceptance. Such
location of e it ta iwa is Optimum location .
 Separation Clearance

two parallel trafficways should be separated by an adequate

distance from each other
depends upon
type of airport
wing span of aircraft
navigational aids
 HOLDING APRON
These are also known as run-up or warm-up pads
located, where the aircrafts wait for their turn to take-off,
and where they are finally checked before the take-off.
Holding aprons are usually provided near the runway ends
sufficiently large so that if one aircraft is unable to take-off
another can pass it for the fake-off
size of holding apron
peak hour aircraft movements
aircraft size
ground maneuvering characteristics
Holding apron may not be required
if the volume of traffic is small
 TURNAROUND OR BYPASS TAXIWAY
Many airports in the initial stages have low airport traffic
and are constructed without a parallel taxiway.
As the traffic increases, the need of a parallel taxiway may be
felt although it may not always be feasible to provide it from
economic considerations
As a substitute for parallel taxiway, sometimes a turnaround
or bypass taxiway is constructed which also serves the
purpose of a holding apron.