ARFF index determination true statement?

• A. It depends on the longest aircraft serving the airport and the number of average daily departures.
• B. It depends on the runway length alone.
• C. It depends on the number of gates.
• D. It depends on the annual passenger count.

Answer: (A)

ARFF index sets the level of firefighting and rescue capability an airport must have, and it’s determined by two factors: the size of the longest aircraft that regularly uses the airport and the volume of air traffic, measured as average daily departures. The larger the aircraft and the busier the airport, the higher the required ARFF index, because bigger planes pose greater potential fire hazards and more frequent operations increase exposure risk.

That’s why the other factors don’t set the index by themselves. Runway length isn’t the index determinant on its own, and gates or annual passenger counts don’t directly measure the firefighting capability needs. A long runway might enable large aircraft, but what really drives the index is the combination of the largest aircraft and how often aircraft operate there.