The role of an airport within the air transport system used to be largely incontestable. The system is now being shaped less by the concept of social service and more by market forces. Progressive liberalisation of air transport, together with trends to privatisation and globalisation are causing the roles of airports to change, for planning to become increasingly decentralised, and for the traffic to become more volatile. Airports are increasingly in competition for markets. Yet the markets are limited, and airport expansion is made difficult by environmental pressures that push towards...