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.
Plenty of unknown challenges emerged when COVID-19 turned the industry upside down in a matter of weeks. San Diego International Airport (SAN) also found an opportunity. While air traffic is at record lows due to the global pandemic, the metropolitan airport is analyzing how the noise data it routinely collects correlates with the number of noise complaints from the community.
Spoiler alert: The relationship is not what you might expect.
Last fall, the Winnipeg Airport Authority received a $30 million grant from the National Trade Corridors Fund, a Canadian transportation infrastructure investment program. That money will be put toward a $62 million project to increase cargo capacity at YWG. The airport is a key transportation hub for central Canada, the Canadian North and for Canada’s international trade.
Every new airport executive wants to hit the ground running and complete projects that are electrifying. In her first year as director of Long Beach Airport (LGB), Cynthia Guidry pulled it off’literally. When Guidry arrived at the Southern California airport, LGB had already approved a project to install 15 electric chargers for airline ground support equipment. In fact, the project was just going out to bid when she assumed the helm last July.
Anytime an airport outgrows part of its infrastructure, it’s challenging to keep operations running smoothly. When that component is the outbound baggage handling system, it can cause a cascade of other operational inefficiencies.
While business across most industries has screeched to a halt or slowed to a crawl amid the COVID-19 outbreak, executives at airports across the U.S. are pushing forward with billions of dollars in construction and improvement projects.
Frequent flyers take great pride in their ability to overcome travel hurdles. They have finely honed strategies for moving efficiently through security, managing tight connections and scrambling to book other flights when theirs are delayed or canceled. It’s almost a science.
Travelers have their minds on many things, but separating their trash and recyclables is not always among them. To get more customers participating in its recycling program, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) is trying to make the process almost automatic.
In Alaska, the days start to cool quickly in September, and by October, daily high temperatures struggle to reach 50 degrees. At Juneau International Airport (JNU), the ground maintenance team knows what’s looming: cold, freezing rain in autumn, followed by an average snowfall of more than 85 inches during winter.
Winding through busy terminals, waiting in security lines and enduring flight delays are just a few stressful facts of life for air travelers. Imagine, however, navigating these challenges while traveling with a child who has autism and is extremely sensitive to sights, sounds and physical touch.
As confirmed reports of measles continue to emerge in pockets throughout the United States, airport operators throughout the country face the prospect of receiving contagious passengers and visitors.
If Tom Petty is right and waiting really is the hardest part, winters just got easier at O’Hare International Airport (ORD). A new aircraft deicing facility is helping carriers cycle gates more quickly by moving the crucial pre-flight process away from the terminal to the west side of the airport. As a result, passengers should spend less time waiting on the tarmac and in holdrooms.
Like the youngest brother who grows up in a family of star athletes, Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO) is used to being overshadowed by its bigger North Carolina brethren. With approximately 1.7 million annual passengers, it serves a fraction of the traffic handled at Raleigh-Durham International and Charlotte Douglas International.
In March 2016, Jeff Huntus, the manager of Medicine Hat Regional (YXH) in Alberta, asked for $12.5 million to replace the airport’s main runway. Transport Canada told him not to expect funds until 2018 or 2019. But in 2017, he received notice that the program had been approved’and for $400,000 more than the airport had requested.
Roger Moats, airfield maintenance manager at Tulsa International Airport (TUL), understands that flight safety begins and ends on the ground. It’s why he regularly emphasizes to his crew the importance of their work.
Like other airports, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG) in Hebron, KY, is in the people transport business; but it’s also in the business of moving stuff. And the ‘stuff side’ of the business is doing quite well. In fact, CVG is the fastest-growing cargo airport in the United States. It’s also the eighth largest cargo airport in the country, and the 34th largest in the world.
A project to install 27 electric charging stations at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) is among the recent examples of the ongoing shift to zero-emissions fleets of airside vehicles such as baggage tugs, belt loaders and pushback tractors. The Alabama airport installed 13 dual-port chargers and one single-port charger to support electric ground service equipment purchased by Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines. The charging stations and supporting infrastructure, installed in 2016, are located on concourses A and C.
There is a lot of buzz about the ‘customer experience’ these days. Sometimes referred to as simply ‘CX,’ it has become the focal point of business plans and marketing strategies across a wide swath of industries. Everyone from chief executives to frontline foot soldiers is charged with making customer interactions exceptional, memorable and worth repeating.
When Devon Brubaker began his job as manager of Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport (RKS) in spring 2015, many residents of the southwest Wyoming community were not even aware the airport offered service to major connecting hubs. Since then, his team has worked with SkyWest Airlines to create more affordable flights, supported by more effective marketing; and Brubaker is proud of the results.
Wander through the new Northeast Cargo Facility at Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD), and you never know what you’ll see. It could be a multimillion-dollar racehorse, a 1950s Ferrari restored to impeccable condition, or something so unique it’s hard to tell exactly what it is.
