In the preface to the fourth edition of this text, the late Dr. Francis McKelvey remarked that the technological and legislative developments related to the air transportation industry in the 1980s and early 1990s were of such significance that an updating of the book was needed. The fourth edition, published in 1994, enhanced previous editions, the first of which was published in 1962.
In the 16 years since this last update, it may be said that the changes to the practice of airport planning and design have been more significant than in any other era in the history of aviation. Implementation of twenty-first-century technologies has resulted in the first major overhaul to aircraft and air navigation systems in generations, computer-based analytical and design models have replaced antiquated monographs and estimation tables, and highly significant geopolitical events have all but rewritten the rules of planning, designing, and operating civil-use airports.