What is the typical length of a Master Plan?

What is the typical length of a Master Plan?

• A. 5 years
• B. 10 years
• C. 20 years
• D. 25 years

Answer: (C)

A master plan sets the long-term development path for an airport, and the horizon must be long enough to cover major capacity projects and their financing over time. The twenty-year horizon is standard because it lines up with the life cycles of key investments like runways, terminals, and access infrastructure, and with capital budgeting and regulatory planning cycles. It gives planners enough time to forecast demand, design staged improvements, secure funding, and implement construction in logical phases. Shorter timeframes (five or ten years) don’t capture the full sequence of needed projects, while longer horizons can add excessive uncertainty. While some plans may stretch beyond twenty years, twenty is the common, practical length used in most airport master planning.

A master plan sets the long-term development path for an airport, and the horizon must be long enough to cover major capacity projects and their financing over time. The twenty-year horizon is standard because it lines up with the life cycles of key investments like runways, terminals, and access infrastructure, and with capital budgeting and regulatory planning cycles. It gives planners enough time to forecast demand, design staged improvements, secure funding, and implement construction in logical phases. Shorter timeframes (five or ten years) don’t capture the full sequence of needed projects, while longer horizons can add excessive uncertainty. While some plans may stretch beyond twenty years, twenty is the common, practical length used in most airport master planning.