Land Use Around Airports: Policies and Methods for Third-Party Risk Assessment—A Review

The development and land use surrounding airports are a concern and interest for airport operators, public communities, business communities, and local authorities. Airport development and operations are governed by both national and international regulations that often extend beyond airport property boundaries. Typical international airports’ regulations, recommendations, and guidance documents (e.g., Noise Exposure and Obstacle Limitation Surfaces) and their national counterparts focus on airport land-use planning. Individual third-party risk assessment of airport operations serves as a complementary tool to these regulations, providing means to assess and manage land-use compatibility and control activities near airport perimeters. Developing robust risk assessment models is essential for defining and validating public safety areas and Runway Protection Zones to ensure land-use compatibility and public safety. Although several quantitative risk assessment models exist, significant differences remain in their methodologies and applications. Over the past 20 to 35 years, most models have evolved based on historical data from aircraft accidents. This article provides a comprehensive review of risk analysis methods for areas surrounding airports and presents a quantitative comparison of two specific approaches, the ENAC/Sapienza and ACRP methods, along with their associated calculation software.