Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) may not regularly deal with icing conditions, but that doesn't mean they are not a concern for its airlines and airport management. As the busiest passenger airport in the United States, roughly 6% of all U.S. enplanements occur at ATL. So when operations slow there, the rest of the country is impacted.
Several years ago, YSB started investing in larger pieces of equipment that do the work of multiple machines to help its small, but seasoned, staff remove more snow in less time. That, in turn, allows the airport to allocate its 15 snow removal employees and seasonal workers more efficiently. To handle copious amounts of snow with a relatively small snow removal staff, the Ontario airport takes a tactical approach that emphasizes advanced equipment and machines that boost productivity and efficiency.
Hundreds of airports are harnessing the power of cooperative purchasing for everything from pencils to multimillion-dollar fire trucks to airfield striping services, and they're enjoying streamlined procurement and often better pricing as a result.
The Los Angeles Airport Police Division (LAXPD) now has a home befitting of its status as the largest airport law enforcement agency in the United States. The 1,100-member department moved into a new $216 million facility on the north side of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in fall 2021.
In July, San Diego International Airport (SAN) commemorated the opening of its brand new Airline Support Building. The $49 million project is part of a larger program to enhance overall behind-the-scenes facilities. The purpose-built facility was designed to provide a more efficient approach to cargo operations and consolidate support functions into a single centralized location.
As the last major step of a plan to control its own destiny, Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers will soon give FAA the keys to its new $81 million airport traffic control tower. As such, the Lee County Port Authority is the first airport owner/operator to build and equip an FAA control tower without any federal funds.
Construction of the tower is expected to be substantially complete by November, and the FAA is slated to begin installing equipment by January 2022. If all goes according to plan, RSW's new tower will start operating before the end of 2022 with freshly trained staff.
Big changes are underway at Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport (HVN), and even bigger changes are in the works. Current projects include $5.2 million of improvements, most notably the addition of modular buildings to provide space for a 300-seat holdroom and a new ticketing area.
Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS) had expanded its terminal and amenities to accommodate an unprecedented boom in passenger traffic over the past decade. Now, the central Texas airport has also improved its behind-the-scenes operations with a new consolidated maintenance complex.
Early this year, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) struck a noteworthy deal to manage and operate Miami University Airport (OXD), a quiet general aviation airfield located about an hour north of CVG in Oxford, OH. Per the five-year agreement, CVG will lease OXD for $84,000 per year and take over revenue streams such as aircraft fueling, aircraft parking and hangar rental.
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) made history in June when it flipped the switch on its own natural gas and solar energy powered microgrid. In an era when energy resiliency and independence have become a Holy Grail of sorts, PIT is the first airport in the world to be completely powered by its own microgrid. And, it did so at no cost to the airport or local taxpayers.
For years, personnel at Murfreesboro Municipal Airport (MBT) manually tracked aircraft to estimate daily traffic at the central Tennessee airfield. Based on crude visual tallies, MBT officials began this year thinking the general aviation facility logged about 225 operations per day.
The team that maintains the airfield and operates snow removal equipment at Redmond Municipal Airport (RDM) worked out of a 7,000-square-foot building with modest heavy equipment storage bays. Equipment was stored in several different places across the airfield, some outside. That led leaders at the Oregon airport to invest in a larger facility.
