Airport Topics 

FAA Western - Pacific Region 

Volume VI Issue 2 September 2018 

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR, 

OFFICE OF AIRPORTS 

Fiscal year (FY) 2018 is coming to an end! 

In this edition of Airport Topics I would like to highlight 

some of the changes and highlights for FY 2018. We 

would like to thank all of you for your support in making 

FY 2018 another successful year. 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Regional Office 

On July 27, 2018 , the Western Pacific Regional Office 

moved to its new location. You may send correspondence 

to both the Office of Airports and the Los Angeles Airports 

District Office (ADO) at: 

777 S. Aviation Blvd, Suite #150 

El Segundo, CA 90245 

Noteworthy Environmental Milestones 

 Tucson (Proposed Airfield Safety Enhancement Project and other Land Transfers). FAA prepared a 

detailed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the proposed projects. This involved direct close coordination with the U.S. Air Force and National Guard Bureau, the Tucson Airport Authority, Pima County, City of Tucson and Raytheon Missile Systems. FAA published the Draft EIS 

on May 18, 2018. We published the Final EIS on August 31, 2018, we anticipate being able to sign a 

joint Record of Decision in October 2018. FAA is tracking the EIS under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST) consistent with Executive Order 13807 to complete the federal enviIn this issue: 

Message from the Director 1 Honolulu ADO News 10 

AWP Spotlight 4 Los Angeles ADO News 13 

Planning and Programming 6 Phoenix ADO News 15 

Safety and Standards 8 San Francisco ADO News 18 

Mark McClardy 
Robin Hunt, Deputy Director 

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR; OFFICE OF AIRPORTS 

(continued) 

ronmental process in about 24 months. 

 Burbank (Proposed Replacement Passenger Terminal Building). FAA selected a consulting firm to 

assist in preparing an EIS for construction and operation of a replacement Passenger Terminal Building including aircraft parking apron and new parallel and connecting taxiways. FAA anticipates issuing a Notice of Intent to prepare the EIS in FY 19. 

 Los Angeles (Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP). FAA worked with the City of Los 

Angeles to prepare a detailed federal Environmental Assessment for a proposed Landside Access 

Modernization Program that consists of an Airport People Mover, two intermodal transportation facilities (ITF), consolidated Rental Car facility and connection to the Los Angeles County Metro rail 

system. This EA was specifically challenging because it involved complex General and Transportation Conformity air quality analysis issues that required coordination with various federal, state, and 

local air quality control agencies. FAA approved a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of 

Decision in January 2018. 

 AIRPORT OUTREACH—FY 2018 FAA Airports Conference 

Thank you for making our annual AWP Airports Conference a success. Conference presentations are on 

our FAA Webpage. https://www.faa.gov/airports/western_pacific/

 Here are some quick links. 

Conference Presentations (organized by session) 

https://faa-airports.sharefile.com/share/view/s039685db616486ab/fo74d0e1-11c4-4126-a61ff5904efa3ecc 

Conference Photos 

Day 1. https://faa-airports.sharefile.com/share/view/s039685db616486ab/fo6885f5-913b-4a1b-8830-

4f5a41dfe451

 Day 2. https://faa-airports.sharefile.com/share/view/s039685db616486ab/fo3e0b25-b38a-4ca6-bf2d07dbb976ee6e

 Day 3. https://faa-airports.sharefile.com/share/view/s039685db616486ab/foa73d98-2c4d-497b-8ecf971aaca8ad66 

 2 
Robin Hunt, Deputy Director 

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR; OFFICE OF AIRPORTS 

(continued) 

AIRPORT FUNDING—Airport Improvement Program (AIP) 

 AWP issued 149 AIP grants totaling about $427M. .About $294M went towards airfield pavements,

$43M towards airport noise mitigation, $39M towards targeted airport safety/security projects, $11M

towards airport planning studies, and $15M towards other development.

I will provide a more detailed summary of FY18 accomplishments in our first quarter newsletter. 

In closing, I would like to inform those of you who are not aware that I am on assignment at our FAA

headquarters until early November. I would like to end this article where I started; by thanking 

everyone for a successful FY 2018! 

Mark A. McClardy, Director 

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AWP SPOTLIGHT 

Hazel Johns, AAE, Santa Barbara Municipal Airport 

Hazel Johns has served as the Director of the Santa Barbara Airport since June 2014. Ms. Johns oversees 

the operations, maintenance, fiscal management, and long-term capital planning for the Santa Barbara 

Airport with a staff of 70 employees. In addition to the airfield the Santa Barbara Airport’s 950 acres is 

comprised of 400 acres of wetlands and 95 acres of commercial/industrial property currently leased to 

about 100 tenants. Ms. Johns joined the airport as the Assistant Airport Director in 1987. She was responsible for strategic fiscal leadership for the Santa Barbara Airport. 

Hazel Johns 

The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) certified Ms. Johns, as an Accredited Airport 

Executive, in 1994. She received the 2002 Southwest Chapter of AAAE (SWAAAE) Aviation Award for 

Exceptional Performance and Outstanding Contribution to the Airport Management Profession. She 

served on the SWAAAE Board of Directors representing airports in Southern California, and from 2003 

to 2006 on the national AAAE Board. The Santa Barbara Airport also won the 2018 FAA Western Pacific Region Airports Division Outstanding Airport award. 

 4 
AWP SPOTLIGHT

Hazel Johns, AAE, Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (continued) 

Ms. Johns got her start in aviation at the Will Rogers World Airport. She was working for Oklahoma 

City for 4 years with various duties including Human Resources and grants management, when the Oklahoma City Department of Airports created a new position. Ms. John thought the position as the Manager of Business and Property for the Department of Airports sounded interested, so she applied. As 

happened to many of us, the minute she got in she loved it. 

Ms. Johns and her husband decided to leave Oklahoma and move to Colorado for a small adventure as 

the owners of a bar and restaurant. After a few years, they decided to move on to the next adventure. 

While visiting San Francisco for a job interview, Ms. Johns and her husband decided to drive down the 

California coast. When they arrived in Santa Barbara, they knew they were home. So they left Colorado and moved to Santa Barbara. Not long after the move, a position opened at the Santa Barbara Airport, and as they say, the rest is history. 

After her long and illustrious career, Ms. Johns is retiring on August 30. She has no plans to relax and 

enjoy all the wonderful things the Santa Barbara area has to offer. Please join me in thanking Ms. 

Johns for her contribution to aviation. 

Robin Hunt, Deputy Director 

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PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING

$1 Billion Supplement Information 

On March 23, 2018, the President signed H.R. 1625, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. The legislation provided the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP) an 

additional $1 billion in discretionary grants, to enable the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for 

projects as authorized by subchapter 1 of chapter 471 and subchapter 1 of chapter 475 of title 49, United 

States Code. 

The Act also stipulated that the Secretary shall give priority consideration to projects at: (a) nonprimary 

airports that are classified as Regional, Local, or Basic airports and not located within a Metropolitan or 

Micropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the Office of Management and Budget; or (b) primary airports 

that are classified as Small or Nonhub airports. 

Key points in the law: 

- For projects authorized by chapters 471 and 475. 

- To remain available through September 30, 2020. 

- Funds to be distributed as discretionary grants to airports. 

.- Federal share for a grant under this heading to a nonprimary airport shall be 100 percent. 

Airports eligible for “Priority Consideration”: 

- Currently 1,099 Nonprimary airports meet the criteria. 

- Currently 319 Primary airports meet the criteria 

- Currently 1,418 airports meet the criteria 

- List will be updated once FAA publishes the next NPIAS Report. 

- List is publicly available now—but pay close attention to the caveats listed on the front page. 

- List available online at: 

 https://www.faa.gov/airports/aip/aip_supplemental_appropriation/ 

Broad process: 

- A Federal Register Notice was published on July 9, 2018 which outlined two primary deadlines: 

- Deadline #1: August 8, 2018: For air ports that meet the criteria for “Priority 

Consideration” and want to be considered for supplemental funds in FY-2018. 

Submissions are currently under review. 

- Deadline #2: October 31, 2018: For any NPIAS air port that wants to be consid 

ered for supplemental funds during FY-2019 or FY-2020. 

- Specific Submission Requirements— See the Links below 

Federal Register Notice 

Federal Register Notice: Supplemental Guidance on the Airport Improvement Program 

(AIP) for Fiscal Years 2018-2020 (83 FR 31834, July 9, 2018) 

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PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING

$1 Billion Supplement Information (continue) 

Note: Footnotes 6, 7, and 9 should r efer back to Footnote 5, not 4. 

 Revised Federal Register Notice/Updates 

Federal Register Notice: Corrections to Previous Notice Regarding Supplemental 

 Guidance on the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) for Fiscal Years 2018-2020

 (PDF) (83 FR 35052, July 24, 2018) 

- Optional Template Request Form: 

FY 2018-2020 AIP Supplemental Appropriation - Optional Airport Project Request Template and Instructions (PDF) (added 7/24/2018) 

This optional form can be used to meet the submission requirements established in the July 9, 2018, Federal Register Notice listed above. Use of this 

form is optional, but may enable the FAA to process requests more quickly. 

Note: The FRN r equir es r equests to be submitted via email. This form can 

also be used for submittals under the Deadline #2 (October 31, 2018) request 

as well. 

Related Guidance: ; 

FY 2018-2020 AIP Supplemental Appropriation Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (PDF) 

(added 7/16/2018) 

Airports eligible for 'Priority Consideration' as of April 30, 2018 (PDF) 

Arlene Draper, Manager 

 7 
SAFETY AND STANDARDS 

Vanquishing the VPD 

This publication is directed primarily towards airport management to be disseminated to all levels of 

personnel working at your airfield. Vanquishing the Vehicle/Pedestrian Deviation (V/PD) can be accomplished through a solid partnership between the FAA and airport management. The responsibility of 

making sure that the proper safeguards are in place, however, lies squarely on the shoulders of airport 

management. Please use this information and all that follows as a guide by which to provide a safer environment at your airfield. 

In the aviation community, Airfield Operations employees are considered professionals when it comes to 

the execution of their duties. This consideration applies especially to the manner in which they drive the 

movement areas at their airports. Since January 1, 2017, there have been seven V/PDs in the WesternPacific Region involving Airfield Operations. All of them were runway incursions. With the exception 

of one incident, all occurred at large airports certificated under 14 CFR Part 139. This is an alarming 

trend we want to see reversed. 

As you perform your airfield operational duties, keep in mind that you are professionals. Airfield Operations personnel work closely with the best air traffic controllers and the best pilots in the aviation industry. This is a very serious working environment and executing your assigned duties with a safe and professional attitude is paramount. How can you strive to accomplish this? We can begin by following a 

few, basic tenets: 

 Report for work physically and mentally fit. It is your pr ofessional responsibility to gover n 

your physical and mental condition. Working back-to-back shifts or reporting to work when you are 

ill does not promote mental acuity or safety. I have known airfield operations personnel who have 

fallen asleep while driving their vehicles and collided with other vehicles on the airfield. 

 Complacency kills. We all under stand that complacency leads to inattention and inattention 

leads to disaster. I have always found that the best remedy for a self-congratulatory or self-satisfied 

attitude is a simple walk through the terminal. The human connection of looking at the faces of the 

passengers and realizing that each one of them have families, friends and loved ones is enough to 

dispel complacency and garner attention to the task-at-hand. 

 Trust but verify. Assuming that a given situation on the air field is always cor r ect is unwise. 

You can be satisfied that (usually) when Air Traffic Control (ATC) issues you a clearance, it will be 

safe to proceed; however, it is a good practice to verify your assumption by looking for traffic and 

comparing your situational awareness with ATCs. Do not trust that pilots or ATC never make mistakes. Pilots and ATC are humans and, as humans, make mistakes. This is why pilots, ATC and Airfield Operations should all back each other up by exercising situational awareness. The concept of 

trust but verify applies to every operational responsibility assigned to Airfield Operations personnel 

including self-inspection duties, escorting, overseeing construction activities, entering the runway 

environment or responding to an accident or incident. 

 The runway is sacred territory. The r unway envir onment must be treated in an inviolate manner. The boundary of this sacred territory begins at the runway holding position marking and ends 

where you exit the runway. When ATC clears you onto the runway, you have a clearance to occupy 

that space, much the same as an aircraft is granted sole occupation of airspace while flying IFR. We 

 8 
SAFETY AND STANDARDS 

Vanquishing the VPD 

(continued) 

have recently had incidents in the Western-Pacific Region where airfield operations per 

sonnel have entered active runways, completely unaware that they were doing so. In some 

cases, inclement weather or disorientation contributed to the incursions. Nevertheless, in 

the most egregious cases, one or more of the preceding tenets were not followed. These I 

ncursions led to revocation of airfield driving privileges or outright dismissal of the employ

 ee. 

Airport Operations employees are entrusted with the responsibility of executing their duties safely 

and professionally. They are considered dedicated professionals who keep the airport running safely and efficiently. Following the four tenets of professionalism will keep you out of trouble and 

keep you in the highest esteem of the flying public. 

Steve Oetzell, Lead Airport Certification Safety Inspector 

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HONOLULU ADO NEWS 

GUAM MOST EFFICIENT AIRPORT UNDER 10 MILLION PAX 

The A.B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM) was voted the "most efficient airport under 10 million 

passengers," by the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS), as a result of its 2018 Global Airport 

Performance Benchmarking Report. 

"This is another feather in our cap," stated Chuck Ada, Executive Manager. "This unbiased, research 

based benchmarking report was prepared by members of a task force from Canada, USA, Australia, 

Japan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Germany and 

Israel. Clearly, our facility and operational 

performance is on top globally in productivity and 

efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, 

financial result and airport charges; categories that 

were considered in this benchmarking report. Guam 

should be extremely proud of its Airport and being 

acknowledged as one of the best, not only in the 

region, but on global scale as well." 

Chairman of the Board Ricardo S. Duenas received the 

award for the Guam Airport, at the ATRS conference 

held this past July in Seoul Korea. Chairman Duenas 

stated, "In our commitment and efforts to create an 

exceptional airport experience for all our airport users 

and stakeholders, as well as being industry-leading in safety and security, and we are pleased to report 

that the Guam International Airport has made significant progress in both regards. Thanks to all the 

staff and airport stakeholders for the hard work and efficient performance. This award is a result of 

them." 

Overview of the GUM’s performance include: 

Airport facility handles operations that include 60,400 flights annually 

3.8 MILLION arriving, departing and transit passengers a year 

Airport Mission is critical to the success and continued growth not only to Guam, but to our region 

as well 

Airport activities infuse $2.3 billion annually into the island's local economy 

GUM expects to continue to raise the performance bar to better serve the people of the island and all 

who travel to and through the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam! 

The Air Transport Research Society was established in 1995 to enhance the research capability for 

multi-national and multi-disciplinary issues on air transportation, and to foster interaction between 

international and national aviation academics dealing with policy, management strategy and 

infrastructure issues. 

Honolulu Airports District Office 

 10 
 

HONOLULU ADO NEWS

MARTINEZ JACOBS APPOINTED REGIONAL DIRECTOR 

– AMERICAS FOR IAFPA ASIA 

Mr. Martinez Jacobs, Fire Chief for Hawaii Airports, was recently appointed the Regional Director – 

Americas, at the annual International Aviation Fire Protection Association (IAFPA) Asia meeting held in 

Singapore on May 9, 2018. 

The next IAFPA conference will be in Hawaii. The proposed dates to be September 11 – 13, 2019. 

IAFPA was formed in 2000 to promote the information exchange, study, and improvement of aircraft rescue fire fighting and airport facility fire protection. 

IAFPA Asia was r ecently set up in Singapor e as a r egional headquarter s to better ser ve the Asia Pacific region to help to promote International Civil Aviation Safety Standards in Aircraft Fire Fighting and 

Rescue and closer co-operation between the various Emergency Responders across Asia and the Middle 

East. 

Honolulu Airports District Office 

 11 
HONOLULU ADO NEWS 

E Komo Mai (Welcome) to Kevin Nishimura 

Our New Environmental Protection Specialist 

The FAA Honolulu Airports District Office is very pleased to welcome Kevin Nishimura as our Environmental Protection Specialist (EPS). Kevin started with us on September 17, 2018. 

Prior to joining the FAA, Kevin was an EPS with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District 

(District). He worked on a wide range of environmental projects for the District with varied responsibilities including providing natural resources support and field contractor oversight for projects under the Formerly Used Defense Sites program; project manager for the clean-up of former live fire ranges; technical 

environmental lead for construction projects at the US Army Garrisons at Hawaii and Kwajalein Atoll and 

for the District’s Civil Works Program in Hawaii and the US Territories in the Pacific; and writing, contracting and overseeing the development and issuance of NEPA documents. 

Kevin’s other past lives include serving as a Microbiologist with the US Navy’s Environmental Lab at 

Pearl Harbor, a Sanitary Chemist with the City and County of Honolulu’s Water Quality Lab and as a retired Commander with the US Coast Guard Reserve with a specialty in Maritime Safety. 

Having worked in agencies whose areas included assignments primarily involving water and land, he is 

excited to begin work involving a different arena...air. 

Kevin is very excited and enthusiastic to join the Western-Pacific Region Airports Division and looks forward to partnering with our airport sponsors in the Pacific. 

Join us in welcoming Kevin to our FAA Ohana! 

Gordon Wong, Manager 

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LOS ANGELES ADO NEWS

Long Beach Airport – Airport Capital Improvement Program 

Long Beach Airport (LGB) currently has nearly 300,000 annual operations and 12.5 million square feet of 

airfield pavement. For a small hub airport with significant commercial aircraft operations, maintaining the 

vast amount of the airfield pavement has proven to be a challenge. LGB relies on the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) to ensure that the Airport continue to conform to existing and future demands, facilitate safe and efficient operations, and sustain an FAA compliant airfield. 

As LGB evolved since the late 1920’s, pavement additions have resulted in increasingly complex runway 

and taxiway alignments and intersections. In 2002, LGB was identified as one of the sixteen assessed airports which would benefit from safety enhancements to prevent runway incursions. FAA identified multiple “Hot Spots” or high risk of incursion locations within the LGB airfield. The Airport subsequently completed a multi-year geometry study that was intended to address the complexities of the airfield geometry. 

This study was done as a collaborative effort, with extensive input from LGB staff, Stakeholders, and the 

community, and resulted in identified implementable solutions. The solutions comprised of numerous airfield geometry reconfigurations that need to be implemented incrementally and is estimated to take 20+ 

years to construct. 

To execute this new airfield layout, LGB recently overhauled its Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) strategy, 

moving away from the typical annual AIP grant applications to requesting grants in alternating years. This 

would mean a smaller number of potential larger grants, which allows the airport to develop plans for 

larger scale projects, every other year. The airport has cited several advantages, including significant decreases in unit bid prices due to the increased quantities. The greater economies of scale have apparently dramatically decreased bid prices, allowing the airport to build more with the same amount of money. Other cost benefits include fewer contracts to manage, decreased mobilization/demobilization costs, 

reduced administrative/CM/PM and other soft costs. 

LGB’s new strategy has made managing their open grants more efficient. LGB used to maintain 9 open 

AIP grants at any given time, they now only have 2 open AIP grants. Projects were phased over several 

grants years. According to the airport, this resulted in longer construction periods and increased cost 

for mobilization. The current strategy of deferring/alternating years allows the airport more time to plan, 

design and coordinate their projects. By completing the project one or less contract phase, there are 

cost savings, there are less disruptions and construction impacts to ATCT, Airport Tenants, Commercial 

Airlines, and their Airport Operations staff. 

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LONG BEACH AIRPORT – AIRPORT CAPITAL

IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (continued) 

LOS ANGELES ADO NEWS 

Mark Guan 

Lead Engineer/Program Manager 

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PHOENIX ADO NEWS

Runway Incursion Mitigation (RIM) Program 

Airfield geometry has been identified as a primary contributing factor for runway incursions. After 

analyzing more than 10 years of national runway incursion data between 2007 and 2017, ARP has developed a preliminary inventory of locations (initial version released in July 2015) at airports where risk factors might contribute to a runway incursion. To address these existing issues, we initiated a new comprehensive multi-year Runway Incursion Management (RIM) program in 2015 to identify, prioritize, and develop strategies to help airport sponsors mitigate risk at these locations. 

Runway incursions occur when an aircraft, vehicle, or person enters the protected area of an airport 

designated for aircraft landings and take offs. Risk factors that contribute to runway incursions may include unclear taxiway markings, airport signage, and more complex issues such as the runway or taxiway 

geometry. Through RIM, the FAA will focus on reducing runway incursions by addressing risks at specific 

locations at the airport that have a history of runway incursions. 

The FAA has made significant progress in improving runway safety at U.S. airports over the past 

15 years by working with other members of the aviation community on education, training, marking and 

lighting, standard runway safety areas, new technology and airfield improvements. The FAA plans to build 

on that success by working with airport sponsors over the next 10-15 years to further reduce runway risks 

through risk-based decision-making. 

The Phoenix Airports District Office (PHX-ADO) is currently working with the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority (RTAA) to implement mitigations at RIM locations RNO-HS2 and RNO-02 at Reno-Tahoe 

International Airport. During the Airport Capital Improvement Program (ACIP) meeting, the ADO discussed hot spots and RIM locations on the airfield and developing implementation strategies. The ADO 

anticipates RTAA will request AIP funding to address the RIM issues in their upcoming runway 16R-34L 

reconstruction project. 

The Runway Safety Action Team (RSAT) meetings are also used to identify strategic activities to 

reduce risk of runway incursions. Attendees were the ADO and other FAA Lines of Business such as Tech 

Ops, Flight Standards, and Air Traffic Organization. The purpose was to review operations, incident history, airport layout, and hot spots. Once these issues were identified an Action Plan was developed to implement these issues. 

. 

 15 
Runway Incursion Mitigation (RIM) Program 

(continued) 

PHOENIX ADO NEWS 

. 

Ricky Sanchez, Civil Engineer/PFC Specialist 

 16 
 

PHOENIX ADO NEWS

Introducing Ken Hall – Community Planner 

Ken Hall has joined the Phoenix ADO as our new Community Planner. Ken is originally from Milwaukee, 

Wisconsin and has lived in Arizona since the 1990’s. He has a B.A. in Geography and a M.S. in Urban Affairs from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and has been working in professional planning and 

community development for over 25 years. His professional work experience includes the Southeastern 

Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, the Maricopa Association of Governments and the City of Mesa. He has also worked as an urban planning consultant, and was recently the Executive Director of the 

Central Arizona Governments, which comprises over 20 governments and is situated between the metropolitan regions of Phoenix and Tucson. 

Ken has traveled to 47 states and 18 countries. He has three adult kids (one of which lives in California), 

and he likes to hike and travel around the Southwest on road trips in his spare time. Ken doesn’t miss the 

snow in Wisconsin, and isn’t quite sure about living in a place that can’t naturally support a palm tree. 

Mike Williams, Manager 

 17 
SAN FRANCISCO ADO NEWS

Foresight Pays Off! 

Early partnership and conversing with airport project stakeholders helps collaboratively predict the next 

steps and strengthens the likelihood of a successful outcome. This group strategy approach is important for 

Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funded proposed development projects that can on occasion require 

elevated coordination across Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) organizational lines. 

Our Airports District Offices (ADO) often coordinate with the FAA Air Traffic Organization (ATO), National Airspace System (NAS) Planning & Integration (NPI) Team in or der to determine the effect of 

a proposed airport development project on the NAS. Our NPI Team often provides a high-impact role behind the scenes of ADO led projects by helping to lead conversation for projects with potential impacts to 

NAVAIDs and/or Flight Procedures. Our ATO NPI Team colleagues are located in Des Moines, Washington, and will often travel to join the ADO staff to conduct airport site visits for mission critical project coordination. 

So, when does an Airport Sponsor need to communicate with the NPI Team? 

The NPI Team serves as a focal point for Airport Sponsor’s planning of airport construction projects that are expected to impact existing FAA-owned facilities and/or equipment (such as NAVAIDS, VISAIDS, communication or 

surveillance systems). NPI Planners work closely with the ADO and Airport Sponsor to ensure that critical project 

requirements are known well in advance of construction, and that all necessary FAA resources and arrangements 

are in place to make your project a success! 

“NPI – The home of Reimbursable Agreements (RA)! 

An RA is a legal document executed by the FAA and the Airport Sponsor that provides the FAA engineering and 

technical resources needed for your project. 

RAs also ensure that: 

Work on FAA-owned facilities is in accordance with regulatory requirements. 

Performance of commissioned facilities is maintained. 

The safety and efficiency of the NAS is maintained. 

FAA and Airport Sponsor responsibilities are clearly defined. 

I think I might need an RA for my project!...Now what? 

 18 
 

 

SAN FRANCISCO ADO NEWS 

Foresight Pays Off! (continued) 

The Airport Sponsor and/or ADO contacts their NPI Lead Planner as soon as they think that a construction project might impact FAA facilities. (During or following Environmental Assessment, early in project design 

(15% or sooner), etc.). 

NPI typically starts planning for reimbursable agreements supporting airport projects 18-36 months prior to proposed start of construction. They’ll work with the ADO and all necessary ATO field offices to evaluate potential projects for NAS impacts. 

Standard RA Development...How long does it take? 

Develop work scope & cost estimate: 60-90 working days 

FAA Local and HQ approval: 20-30* working days 

Accounting system set up: 14-21 working days 

Total development time (average): 4.5 to 6 months 

*The timelines above do not account for additional time needed for sponsor execution and funding of the RA. If the FAA must contract out 

some portion of the required FAA work scope, allow 6-8 months after RA has been executed and fully funded for FAA contract award. 

Featured NPI Team: 

Matt Robertson & Matthew Murphy 

Fernando Yáñez, Lead Program Manager—Airport Planning 

Matt Robertson, Aviation Technical Systems Specialist 

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Organization 

Contact AWP Offices: 

Find AWP Online: 

http://www.faa.gov/airports/ 

western_pacific/ 

Honolulu Airports District Office 

300 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 7-128 

Honolulu, HI 96813. 

808-312-6028 

Phoenix Airports District Office 

3800 N. Central Ave 

Suite 1025, 10th Floor 

Phoenix, AZ 85012 

602-792-1060 

FAA Western-Pacific Region 

Airports Division 

777 South Aviation Blvd., Suite #150 

El Segundo, CA 90245 

424-405-7300 

Los Angeles Airports District Office 

777 South Aviation Blvd., Suite #150 

El Segundo, CA 90245 

424-405-7265 

San Francisco Airports District Office 

1000 Marina Blvd, Suite 220 

Brisbane, CA 94005-1835 

650-827-7600 

WESTERN—PACIFIC SUGGESTION BOX 

If you would like to suggest an article or topic for the 

newsletter, please contact the ADO Manager for your area. Be 

prepared to provide information, photos, and references to 

material if requested. 

If you would like to be added to the e-mail list for this 

publication, please contact the FAA Western Pacific Region, 

Airports Division Office. 

Contact information is given above. 

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