Definition
The number of arriving aircraft an airport is able to accept per hour, set by air traffic control based on current conditions such as weather, runway configuration, staffing, and traffic complexity. The AAR is used by traffic management to meter inbound flights so arrivals do not exceed what the airport can safely handle.
Plain English
The maximum number of planes an airport says it can take in each hour right now. If more flights are heading in than that, ATC slows them down or holds them back so the airport doesn't get overwhelmed.
Context Anchor
Seen in traffic flow, airport delay, and air traffic control planning discussions, especially when weather or congestion affects arrivals.
Derivation
"Acceptance" here means how many arrivals the airport will accept (take in) per hour. It is not about approving or rejecting individual flights — it is a capacity number.
Why Pilots Care
It determines whether arrival delays or flow control will be applied to prevent overload.
Grounding Statement
If weather reduces the number of runways that can be used for landing, the airport acceptance rate goes down because fewer airplanes can arrive safely in the same amount of time.
Intuition Check
Do not read “acceptance” as approval of one specific flight. Here it means the airport’s capacity to receive arriving aircraft over time.
Example Sentence 1
Because of low ceilings and a single-runway operation, the AAR at the destination dropped to 30 per hour, triggering a ground delay program.
Example Sentence 2
During peak hours the airport posted an AAR of forty-five, allowing steady inbound traffic without holding patterns.