MIA is investing nearly $9 billion in maintenance upgrades and capital improvements over the next 10 years. It also launched a $10 million program to add maintenance staff.
The $7.6 million project removed older, various-angled taxiways and replaced them with new taxiways that meet the airport’s runways at right angles and adhere to current FAA design standards.
Sometimes the best path to efficiency and cost-savings is decidedly low-tech. That’s the case for Appleton International Airport (ATW) when it comes to groundskeeping. The central Wisconsin airport is keeping things organic by using a flock of sheep to help tend its offsite wetlands.
It can be tough finding time to build relationships with the greater community. However, leaders at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) on Florida’s Gulf Coast know that such efforts are not just vital to developing a positive service-oriented identity; they can also be effective early recruitment tools to support the long-term success of the airport.
File it under “good things come to those who wait.” The roughly year-long reconstruction and rehabilitation of the primary runway at Punta Gorda Airport (PGD) was a welcome improvement that took patience, planning and lots of enabling projects.
Staff members at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in British Columbia refer to the experience almost cryptically as ‘the Four Days in December.’ And it’s as ominous as it sounds. A mix of snow, freezing rain, low temperatures and fog arrived in waves over four crucial holiday travel days in December 2022.
Golden Municipal Airport (YGE), which is owned, operated and funded by its namesake town, does not support scheduled passenger service. It does, however, serve the residents of Golden and the surrounding Columbia Shuswap Regional District by providing air access to the popular tourist area via private aircraft.
No one had to convince Airport Director Tim Wright that Decatur Airport (DEC) desperately needed a new aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) facility. He began his career at DEC as a firefighter back in 2004 and was well aware that its 1960s-era fire station was outdated.
The historic COVID pandemic forced businesses around the world to rejigger, reconfigure and muster all the ingenuity they had to remain viable. At Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) in Hanover Township, PA, the pandemic exacerbated passenger flow problems the airport had wrestled with for years.
Shortly after midnight on the first Monday in March, police officers on the newly formed SRAA Police Department began patrolling the Upstate New York airport grounds for the first time. They replaced officers from the Syracuse Police Department who had worked at the airport both directly and on a contract basis through a third-party security company for most of SYR’s existence.
The new 20,865-square-foot, single-story ARFF facility at Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is about three times larger than its predecessor. The station it replaced was more than 50 years old and not designed to be staffed around-the-clock. Construction of the new facility began in August 2020 and was completed last June.
Creating a better workspace was the driving force in early 2020 when executives at Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) committed to building a new operations center. In addition to housing everyday operations functions and equipment, the $8.5 million building includes an upgraded emergency operations center for the Grand Rapids, MI, airport.
Airports, along with other public agencies, are essential to a community’s economy and quality of life. Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport (YQM) in Dieppe, New Brunswick, codified this sentiment by partnering with another critical public utility.
There’s nothing ordinary about the traffic at Stennis International Airport (HSA) in southwestern Mississippi, so it stands to reason that many of its facilities are unconventional as well. Located near several U.S. military installations, the airport’s sole 8,498-foot runway is frequently used for pilot and equipment testing. Usually twice a week, HSA shuts off the airfield lighting so pilots from Keesler Air Force Base, the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard can practice flying C-130J transport aircraft with night vision goggles.
When a baseball or soccer team performs above expectations, sportscasters sometimes say, ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.’ Arguably, the same could be said about the new South Concourse 1 of Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX). With a price tag of $310 million, the new 130,000-square-foot concourse is scheduled to open this summer with eight additional gates, all operated by Southwest Airlines.
Officials at Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) don’t consider the new terminal they unveiled in January to be theirs. Executive Director Steven Picou takes great pride that it was a project of the people, by the people and for the people of the Louisiana communities LFT serves.
If a commercial building fails to keep pace with changes in its industry, it affects everyone who uses it’customers, employees and third-party partners. This is especially true in the ever-evolving airport sector. Columbus Airport (CSG) in western Georgia has lived both sides of that coin. After three decades of continual use and no budget for regular updates, the terminal’s outdated layout and failing infrastructure were negatively impacting everyone’s experience.
When the Broward County Aviation Department replaced the checked baggage inspection system in Terminal 4 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), the team had a wealth of experience on its side.
There is a certain type of NASCAR fan who prefers to watch races from pit road because that’s often where races are won or lost. They love to see the carefully choreographed flurry of action as crews fuel up a car and swap out four tires in less than 15 seconds.
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.
Practice makes perfect, and everyone wants aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) teams to be as close to perfect as possible when they respond to airfield emergencies.
Few U.S. cities have experienced a more pronounced growth spurt than Nashville, TN. The country music mecca rebounded robustly after the 2008-09 recession, gaining nearly 300,000 jobs between 2010 and early 2020, an almost 40% increase. During the same period, Nashville also became one of the hottest tourist destinations in the country, and passenger growth at Nashville International Airport® (BNA®) followed suit.
Last August, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) completed construction of an 11-story parking ramp and transit facility at Terminal 1. When the $443 million project broke ground three years earlier, MSP was in the midst of a 10-year growth trend that peaked with a record 39.5 million passengers in 2019. But by the time the project was finished, the airport was only serving about 25% of its normal volume due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Knowing that late-spring snowstorms can be among the heaviest and hardest to clear, airport operations managers in cold-weather cities like Manchester, NH, and Minneapolis implemented plans to keep their maintenance crews safe while also remaining ready to clear away snow. Thankfully, most of North America was spared significant snowfall for the remainder of the season. The challenge of keeping workers safe increased in late spring as COVID-19 cases rose, but the concern about getting socked with a major snowfall subsided.
Airport projects generally fall into two groups: ‘sexy’ projects, such as new terminals or faster baggage handling systems, and enabling projects that are important but far less tangible for passengers and guests.
