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. . . . . General Aviation Terminal Aircraft Hangars Aircraft Parking Aprons Auto Parking and Access Airport Support Facilities AIRFIELD REQUIREMENTS Airfield requirements include the need for those facilities related to the arrival and departure of aircraft. The adequacy of existing airfield facilities at San Marcos has been analyzed from a number of perspectives, including airfield capacity, runway length, runway pavement strength, airfield lighting, navigational aids and pavement markings. AIRFIELD CAPACITY A demand/capacity analysis measures the capacity of the airfield facilities (i.e. runways and taxiways) in order to identify a plan for additional development needs. The capacity of the airfield is affected by several factors including airfield layout, meteorological conditions, aircraft mix, runway use, aircraft arrivals, aircraft touch-and-go activity, and exit taxiway locations. An airport's airfield capacity is expressed in terms of its annual service volume. Annual service volume is a reasonable estimate of the maximum level of aircraft operations that can be accommodated in a year. Pursuant to FAA guidelines detailed in the FAA Advisory Circular 150/5060-5, Airport Capacity and Delay, the annual service volume of an intersecting runway configuration normally exceeds 230,000 operations. Parallel runway configurations can provide even greater annual service volumes of up to 300,000 annual operations. FAA Order 5090.3B, Field Formulation of the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) indicates that improvements should be considered when operations reach 60 percent ofthe airfield's annual service volume (ASV). Thus, once the airport reaches the intermediate term operational level, the airfield's ASV will exceed the 60 percent threshold. FAA also suggests that airports implement capacity enhancing projects once operations reach 80 percent of the airport's ASV. The airport will reach 80 percent of the airport's ASV at 184,000 operations, which would occur before the long term planning horizon. The most typical and effective enhancement to airfield capacity is the construction of a parallel runway. Construction of a parallel runway would provide for an ASV of approximately 300,000 operations. Many airports plan and build a small parallel runway specifically designed for small aircraft and touch-and-go activity. These runways relieve the primary runway as local operations typically dominate airport activity at general aviation airports, Other capacity enhancements include construction of additional taxiways and improved navigational instrumentation. For San Marcos Airport, construction of additional exit taxiways would provide congestion relief as aircraft could be expedited from the runway. Navigational aid improvements, including GPS improvements and better minimums to 3-2