ACRP Report 153: Guidebook for IROPS Stakeholder Communication & Coordination provides details on strategies and tools for reducing IROPs impacts on passengers. This guidebook will assist communication and coordination as airports and airlines implement IROPS contingency plans. Included are communication checklists and a strategy for obtaining and maintaining stakeholder contacts; a list of federal flight data resources and other technologies, which allow for expedited communication regarding diversions on a national, regional, and local scale; flow diagrams to illustrate the integration of communication and collaboration processes; case studies of a variety of scenarios depicting IROPS responses; scenarios and instructions for conducting tabletop exercises; and a tool to assist in predicting the risks associated with national, regional, and local IROPS events to improve planning and response. This CD-based tool includes a response plan for stakeholders’ involvement in assessing the likelihood and severity of reoccurrence of IROPS impacts, data sources to help alert an airport when an IROPS event is likely to occur, and the ability to create reports on IROPS risk levels for the stakeholders. The case studies and tabletop exercises also serve as training materials and can be customized for any airport.
Process recommendations for airports to coordinate their IROPS contingency plans with airlines were developed as part of the recent ACRP Report 65: Guidebook for Airport Irregular Operations (IROPS) Contingency Planning. Follow-up regional discussions hosted by the U.S. DOT, FAA, and ACRP have helped many airports in coordinating contingency plans with other stakeholders. While certificated airports and airlines have filed their Tarmac Delay Contingency Plans with the U.S. DOT, many of these plans could be better coordinated between the stakeholders and the airports. Better communication and collaboration is necessary to prevent, or to respond to, events that lead to delays and unwanted impacts to the traveling public. This guidance has been developed to help provide more timely communication and coordinated planning among stakeholders for cooperative responses to IROPS events.
Under ACRP Project 10-23, research was conducted by Metron Aviation in association with Aviation Innovation, LLC/ Anderson Consulting, LLC/ RFMarchi Aviation Consulting, Inc./ Barich, Inc./ and Mead & Hunt, Inc. A series of interviews were conducted with airport stakeholders from numerous airports to gather information about airport and airline experiences responding to IROPS. Electronic files available on CRP-CD-180, include the IROPS Risk Assessment Tool and Users Guide, Tabletop Exercises, Tools for IROPS Stakeholder Communication & Coordination, as well as IROPS resources from ACRP Report 65 bound into this report and also available at www.trb.org.
STATUS: Report 153 is published
