Abstract:
Airports in South Africa are required by law to provide adequate maintenance to their
pavement infrastructures as to ensure serviceability and operational safety at all times, for
the continuity of their business and services. Runways are key facilities on the airport
which should be maintained at times. In recent years, drone technology as a tool in the
project life cycle has gained recognition by the civil engineering industry locally and
internationally, as a potential technique that can be used by airport industry to aid the
maintenance of its pavement infrastructure.
This research paper explores the possibility of introducing drones to the airport
environment to aid the inspection and maintenance of airport pavements. The aim is to
test the willingness of the industry to adopt the drone technology in the South African
airport and to explore the approaches currently used for runway pavement maintenance.
This was done by designing a survey questionnaire to be administered to selected
participants that are based in 20 major airports in South Africa. The outcome of this
research study will assist in the airport facilities environment to carry out scheduled
pavement inspections on the airport in a speedy manner.
