What is the Airport Acceptance Rate?

• A. Agreed upon number of aircraft that can land at a given airport in an hour, used by ATC
• B. Maximum number of departures per hour
• C. Average taxi time from runway to gate
• D. Number of passengers processed per hour

Answer: (A)

Airport Acceptance Rate is the agreed limit on how many aircraft can be accepted to land at an airport in one hour. This planning figure helps Air Traffic Control manage arrivals, sequencing, and spacing to fit the runway capacity while maintaining safe separation between aircraft. It's determined by factors like runway configuration, available approach paths, wake turbulence requirements, weather conditions, airspace constraints, and staffing levels. This is why the correct understanding matches the definition of the acceptance rate.

It isn’t about how many aircraft can depart in an hour, which would be a departures capacity metric. It isn’t the average time to taxi from runway to gate, which describes ground movement efficiency, not capacity. It isn’t the number of passengers processed per hour, which measures terminal or passenger throughput rather than airfield capacity.