Title 17 . Transportation and Public Facilities

Chapter 45 . Miscellaneous Provisions

Section 990. Definitions

17 AAC 45.990. Definitions

In this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise,

(1) "air carrier" means a person engaged in the transportation of passengers or cargo in air commerce for compensation;

(2) "air freight forwarding" means

(A) accepting or consolidating goods or property for delivery to an air carrier for transport as cargo; and

(B) receiving cargo from an air carrier for surface delivery to or pick-up by the cargo consignee;

(3) "aircraft" has the meaning given in AS 02.15.260 ;

(4) "aircraft maintenance and repair" means those activities applicable under 14 C.F.R. Part 43, as amended through January 1, 2002;

(5) "aircraft operation" means the fuel powered or electrically powered rotation of an aircraft engine installed in or on an aircraft, as well as the movement of an aircraft under its own power; "aircraft operation" includes testing, runup, taxiing, take-off, landing, and all other activity of an aircraft from the start of the first propeller, rotor, turbine, or engine until all propeller, rotor, turbine, or engine rotation ceases;

(6) "airport" has the meaning given in AS 02.15.260 , but excludes airports that are not owned, operated, or otherwise controlled by the department and does not include Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and Fairbanks International Airport;

(7) "airport form" means a written form that the department has prepared for use under this chapter;

(8) "airport manager" means the person designated under 17 AAC 45.010(a) to carry out functions and responsibilities under this chapter relating to maintenance and operation of the relevant airport and that person's designated representative; if no person is designated to supervise maintenance and operation at a specific airport, "airport manager" for that airport means the department;

(9) "airworthy" means the condition of an aircraft that is legally authorized and mechanically capable of flight through the air;

(10) "appraisal" means an unbiased estimate, made using methods generally accepted in the professional appraisal industry, of, as applicable, the nature, quality, dollar value, or utility of an interest in, or aspect of, identified real estate and related personalty or of a legal right or privilege;

(11) "assigned space" means a specific location at an airport that the department designates for use by a person who applies for, pays the applicable fee for, and receives a department-issued permit under 17 AAC 45.500 - 17 AAC 45.590 for the parking of that person's aircraft; "assigned space" does not include an aircraft parking space on a premises or at a department-owned or operated seaplane float facility, in a transient aircraft fee parking area, or in an open parking area;

(12) "assigned-space aircraft parking" means, as applicable,

(A) a program under which aircraft that are based at an airport and are not parked on a premises may be parked on the airport only on an aircraft parking space expressly assigned for that aircraft by the department under 17 AAC 45.500 - 17 AAC 45.590; and

(B) the parking of an aircraft in an assigned space;

(13) "assignee" means a person who receives an interest under an assignment of a lease, permit, or concession;

(14) "assignment" means the transfer to another person of all or part of the interest of a lessee, permittee, or concessionaire in a lease, permit, or concession; "assignment" includes a merger, consolidation, or a cumulative transfer of controlling interest of a lessee, permittee, or concessionaire;

(15) "assignment for security purposes" means an assignment that grants to a creditor an interest in a lease, permit, or concession, including improvements, as collateral to assure payment or performance of a debt, loan, or other obligation by the lessee, permittee, or concessionaire;

(16) "assignor" means a lessee, permittee, or concessionaire who is the grantor in an assignment;

(17) "auxiliary use" means any business, service, or other function that is neither an aviation use nor a nonaviation use and is located and carried out on an airport for the convenience of the air traveling public, aviation businesses on the airport, or the employees necessary to the maintenance and operation of an airport; "auxiliary use" includes the following:

(A) air freight forwarding;

(B) ground transportation services not operated by the department, such as a taxicab service, an airport limousine or shuttle service, a rental car agency, or a vehicle parking business;

(C) in-flight catering;

(D) hotel accommodation;

(E) in-terminal food service;

(F) in-terminal concessions;

(18) "aviation fuel" means any petroleum distillate or other product manufactured, distributed, or sold for use as a propellant for aircraft engines, including aviation gasoline, turbine fuel, and automotive gasoline when used in an aircraft;

(19) "aviation use" means any business, service, or other function that directly involves, or is necessary for, the normal operation of aircraft that use an airport; "aviation use" includes the following:

(A) aircraft loading, unloading, tiedown, parking, storage, sales, service, rental, maintenance, or repair;

(B) sale or storage of aviation fuel and aviation petroleum products;

(C) pilot flight training;

(D) air charter or air taxi service;

(E) airport terminal building;

(F) air carrier operations;

(G) aircraft ground handling;

(H) aircraft parts sales;

(I) air traffic control tower, air navigation aid, and aviation weather instrumentation;

(20) "base of operations" means

(A) the location at which an aircraft spends the greatest time not in flight on an annual basis or, for a float-equipped aircraft, either on an annual basis or during the period the airport float facility is unfrozen and open for use;

(B) each airport where a commercial aviation business does one or more of the following:

(i) primarily maintains and repairs aircraft during its aircraft operation season;

(ii) primarily maintains and repairs aircraft on an annual basis;

(iii) conducts its greatest number of operations or dollar volume of transactions with its customers;

(21) "bonus bid" means an offer of a one-time payment, excluding rent or other fees, offered by a bidder in a competitive award solicitation under this chapter;

(22) "building lease" means a lease of all or a portion of a structure owned by the state, including space in a department-operated terminal building, regardless of whether the lease also grants the right to use or occupy land;

(23) "calendar year" means the period from January 1 through December 31 of each year;

(24) "certified activity report" means a report that a lessee, permittee, concessionaire, aircraft operator, or other airport user must submit to the department to report gross sales, fuel deliveries, passenger and cargo volumes, number of landings, CGMTW, or other information;

(25) "CMGTW" means the certificated maximum gross takeoff weight of an aircraft as established by the FAA;

(26) "commercial aviation business" means a person or enterprise that holds itself out to carry passengers or cargo by aircraft, to perform other aerial services, or to provide aircraft for hire, rent, or lease, either for compensation or in connection with other compensated services and includes

(A) scheduled passenger and cargo airlines;

(B) air taxis and other contract and charter air transportation providers, including a service that operates an aircraft in flight-seeing or photographic tours, fishing or hunting guiding, fish spotting or counting, or aerial photography or mapping service;

(C) operators of aircraft to provide transportation to or from a hotel, motel, lodge, commercial or work camp, work site, or other place of employment or public accommodation under an arrangement or understanding with the operator of that facility or activity;

(D) aircraft leasing and rental businesses;

(27) "commercial fueling service"

(A) means the selling or offering for sale of

(i) fuel;

(ii) fuel storage services;

(iii) fuel delivery services; or

(iv) fuel dispensing services;

(B) excludes self-fueling;

(28) "commercial passenger vehicle" means a taxi cab, limousine, van, bus, motor coach, shuttle, or other motor vehicle used to transport passengers for compensation; "commercial passenger vehicle"

(A) includes a vehicle used

(i) to transport passengers as part of a pre-ticketed tour or excursion; or

(ii) as a "courtesy car" that is owned or operated by a hotel, motel, lodge, other place of public accommodation, or other business and used to transport guests or customers of that business to or from an airport;

(B) does not include a vehicle operated by

(i) a commercial air carrier only to transport the air carrier's employees; or

(ii) a vehicle rental business;

(29) "commissioner" means the commissioner of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities or the commissioner's designated representative for the applicable function;

(30) "concession" means a written agreement with the department, whether in the form of a permit, land lease, building lease, or other agreement, that authorizes the holder of the agreement to operate a business on an airport or to derive business from the airport and that requires the holder to pay the department on a basis other than land or building rent only;

(31) "concessionaire" means the operator of a concession;

(32) "contamination" means the unpermitted presence of any released hazardous substance;

(33) "control device" means a sign, signal, marking, barrier, or other device designed to regulate conduct or activity on an airport and erected or placed by authority of the department;

(34) "courtesy car" has the meaning given in AS 02.15.095 ;

(35) "department" means the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities; unless the context requires otherwise, where an action is to be taken by or an authorization or request is to be requested from the department, "department"

(A) means any person, whether an employee of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities or other person, who is designated under 17 AAC 45.010(a) to carry out functions and responsibilities under this chapter relating to leasing and property management or any other applicable function or responsibility relating to an airport; and

(B) may include an airport manager when a person described in (A) of this paragraph delegates one or more of that person's functions or responsibilities to the manager;

(36) "engine runup" means operation of an aircraft engine, except in direct connection with a flight arrival or departure, for the purposes of maintenance, repair, and testing;

(37) "environmental assessment" means an assessment of property, prepared in a manner consistent with generally accepted professional practices, that is supported by reports and tests that determine the environmental condition of property and the presence, type, concentration, and extent of a hazardous substance in, on, or under the surface of the property;

(38) "environmental law" means any federal, state, or local statute, regulation, ordinance, code, permit, order, decision, or judgment from a governmental entity relating to environmental matters, including littering and dumping; "environmental law" includes, as applicable, 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q (Clean Air Act); 33 U.S.C. 1251-1387 (Federal Water Pollution Control Act); 42 U.S.C. 6901-6992k (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act); 42 U.S.C. 9601-9657 (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act); 49 U.S.C. 5101-5127 (Hazardous Materials Transportation Act); 15 U.S.C. 2601-2692 (Toxic Substances Control Act); AS 46 (Alaska Water, Air, Energy, and Environmental Conservation Acts); and the provisions of 18 AAC (Environmental Conservation), implementing AS 46;

(39) "exclusive right" means the department's grant of a lease, permit, or concession that authorizes a person to exercise a specific right, use, or privilege on an airport to the exclusion of all other persons;

(40) "FAA" means the Federal Aviation Administration;

(41) "fair market rent" means the most probable periodic rental payment, in dollars, that a property, right, or privilege, as applicable, would bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions necessary for an equitable rental, the property owner and tenant each acting prudently and knowledgeably and at arm's length;

(42) "first amendment activity" means

(A) the dissemination of information and the expression of ideas to the general public by speech, written materials, photographs, demonstrations, or other means; and

(B) the collection of information or donations from the general public;

(43) "fuel" means any motor fuel or liquid heating fuel; "fuel" includes gasoline, aviation gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, kerosene, propane, and liquid natural gas;

(44) "fueling" means delivering or dispensing fuel, defueling, and refueling or any other transfer of fuel on airport property;

(45) "government agency" includes the United States, the state, and political subdivisions of the state;

(46) "ground handling agreement" means an agreement between a leaseholder and a commercial aviation operator for the leaseholder to turn the aircraft of the commercial aviation operator when needed at a particular airport, including fueling and other servicing and loading and unloading of passengers, mail, or freight;

(47) "hazardous substance" means any substance that is defined under an environmental law as hazardous waste, hazardous substance, hazardous material, toxic, pollutant, contaminant, petroleum, petroleum product, or oil;

(48) "heavy aircraft" means an aircraft that has a CMGTW of 6,000 pounds or more;

(49) "holdover" means continued occupancy of a premises by the lessee or concessionaire after the date of expiration of the lease or concession when the continued occupancy has the express or implied consent of the department and is in accordance with the terms of the lease or concession;

(50) "land lease" means a lease of state land managed as part of an airport and under which the lessee owns and retains or covenants to erect certain permanent improvements on the land according to specification and to maintain the improvements during the term of the lease; "land lease" does not include a grant of a right to use or occupy a state-owned building;

(51) "lease" means a written agreement that creates a relationship between the department, as landlord, and a person, as tenant, and that grants to the tenant the possession of airport land or building space for a determined period of time;

(52) "lessee" means a person legally competent to enter into contracts and who enters into a lease with the department;

(53) "lessor" means the department acting in the department's capacity as grantor of a lease on airport property;

(54) "light aircraft" means an aircraft that has a CMGTW of less than 6,000 pounds;

(55) "local government" means an Alaska municipality and any entity recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as a tribal government located in Alaska;

(56) "mail" means to send by first class or higher priority service via the United States Postal Service or a comparable level of delivery service via a nationally recognized private carrier of correspondence and other communications;

(57) "mailing" means when the post office or private carrier takes possession of the item mailed;

(58) "manager" means airport manager;

(59) "material amendment" means a written change to a lease, easement, right of way, concession, or permit that increases the size of the premises, extends the term, or changes the authorized use of the premises; "material amendment" does not include an adjustment to charges, rents, or fees or a change in the configuration or size of a premises that results from a minor boundary survey adjustment;

(60) "materially contribute to" means to play a substantial role in causing or increasing the release or migration of a hazardous substance in a reportable quantity as defined under an applicable environmental law;

(61) "mobile fuel tank" means a truck or trailer with a mounted container designed or used for holding, transporting, or dispensing fuel;

(62) "nonaviation use"

(A) means any business, service, or function that

(i) is not an aviation or auxiliary use;

(ii) is not directly or indirectly related to aviation or the air traveling public;

(iii) does not offer a product or service that is specifically related to aircraft operations or to air transportation; or

(iv) is located or operated to derive revenue primarily from members of the public not using air transportation services; and

(B) includes a grocery store, a restaurant, cafe, food wagon, or other eating establishment not within a department-owned terminal, a liquor store, lumber yard, agricultural activity, golf course, automobile service station, shopping center, and bowling alley;

(63) "open parking" means the parking of aircraft in an area on an airport that the department has designated for aircraft parking and that the department has not designated for assigned -space aircraft parking under 17 AAC 45.500 - 17 AAC 45.590 or for transient aircraft fee parking under 17 AAC 45.600; "open parking" does not include aircraft parking on a premises;

(64) "permanent fuel storage tank" means a container designed and constructed for storing fuel and either installed under ground or installed above ground and fixed to a concrete or piling foundation anchored in the ground;

(65) "permanent improvement" means a fixed addition or change to land that is not temporary or portable; "permanent improvement" includes a building, building addition, retaining wall, storage tank, and well; "permanent improvement" does not include

(A) site development work or materials, such as earthwork, fill material, gravel, or pavement; and

(B) items of ordinary maintenance, such as glass replacement, painting, roof repairs, door repairs, plumbing repairs, floor covering replacement, or pavement patching;

(66) "permit" means a written, revocable authorization or license that the department issues to allow a person to perform an act on an airport;

(67) "permit cycle" means the period during which an assigned-space permit issued under 17 AAC 45.500 - 17 AAC 45.590 is effective;

(68) "permittee" means a person who enters into a permit agreement with the department;

(69) "person" has the meaning given in AS 01.10.060 ;

(70) "premises" means property that is on an airport and is the subject of a lease, permit, or concession; for purposes of this paragraph, "property" includes land managed as part of an airport, space in a state-owned building, and other state-owned facilities and improvements;

(71) "release" has the meaning given in AS 46.03.826 ;

(72) "remaining useful life" means the period during which an existing building or structure, considering its age and condition, with normal wear and tear and prudent, cost effective maintenance and without major repairs or replacements can reasonably be expected to continue to perform fully the function for which it was designed or intended;

(73) "responsible," when used in regard to contamination, means having materially contributed to, assumed under an assignment, or being otherwise liable for by law or contract;

(74) "restricted area" means those areas of an airport, building, or facility where the airport manager or the department has limited or controlled access under 17 AAC 45.060;

(75) "rural airport" means an airport owned or operated by the department other than Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and Fairbanks International Airport;

(76) "Security Identification Display Area (SIDA)" means a portion of a restricted area on an airport within which the airport manager designates under 17 AAC 45.060(a) that the provisions of 17 AAC 45.060(d) apply;

(77) "self-fueling" means fueling an aircraft or vehicle using fueling apparatus owned or leased by the owner or operator of the aircraft or vehicle;

(78) "site development" and "site development work" mean activities to prepare land for construction of a building or other structure or to provide a firm surface on which to operate a vehicle or aircraft; "site development" and "site development work" include efforts used in clearing, mucking, grubbing, and filling some or all of a site;

(79) "site development materials" means materials used for site development; "site development materials" includes geotextile, fill, gravel, paving, and pavement reinforcement materials;

(80) "sublease" means a transaction or agreement under which a lessee, permittee, or concessionaire leases, rents, or otherwise grants occupancy rights to all or a portion of a premises or improvements on a premises to another person; "sublease" does not include the assignment of a lease, permit, or concession;

(81) "sublessee" means a person who leases, rents, or otherwise receives occupancy rights under a sublease;

(82) "successive lease" means a lease between the department and a person who was a lessee of the same subject premises immediately before that lease;

(83) "temporary fuel storage" means the storage of fuel in a barrel, bladder, or other portable container, but not in a mobile fuel tank;

(84) "transient aircraft" means an aircraft that is located at an airport other than the airport at which the aircraft spends the greatest amount of time on the ground on an annual basis;

(85) "transient aircraft fee parking" means the parking of transient aircraft in an area designated by the department for that purpose under 17 AAC 45.600 or in an assigned space made available under 17 AAC 45.530(c) ;

(86) "vehicle" means a motorized device, other than an aircraft, upon or by which a person or property may be transported or drawn;

(87) "vehicle rental business" means the activity of renting or leasing or offering to rent or lease vehicles for use by others and that

(A) operates on an airport; or

(B) derives business from an airport and picks up, offers to pick up, or arranges for pick-up of customers at the airport.

History: Eff. 3/28/2002, Register 161

Authority: AS 02.15.020

AS 02.15.060

AS 02.15.090

AS 02.15.200

Editor's note: A list of all department-operated airports and the administrative region of the department responsible for each airport, the address for persons designated to carry out the functions and responsibilities of the department for the airports in each administrative region of the department, and the name and address of the airport manager designated for each airport operated by the department are available through the commissioner's office at Commissioner of Transportation and Public Facilities, 3132 Channel Drive, Juneau, AK 99801-7898.