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Issue 2 2008
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Not known
Four years ago the European Commission set up an initiative to increase security for European citizens. It started with a Preparatory Action for Security Research (PASR), with E45 million of research funding over a three year period. This was driven by the Directorate General of Enterprise. In addition to this, the 6th Framework Program continued to cover detailed topics on parts of the security chain, with the 7th Framework Program starting in 2007. This included E1.4 billion of funding for mission oriented security research over 7 years. Meanwhile the Directorate General for Justice, Law and Security set up the European Program for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP), with a further E180 million.
Diehl BGT Defence, together with 20 partners from 9 nations, proposed and led the PASR project PATIN. The project covers the protection of air transportation and critical infrastructure, and aims to build a community with special knowledge concerning the security of air transportation. The focus is on new technologies, processes and security solutions, to be used in the future, to ensure the free mobility of European citizens. (more…)
Tagged with: Emergency response, European Program for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP), Preparatory Action for Security Research (PASR)
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Donald Barbagallo, Project Manager, FAA
From its dedication in 1999, the National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF), of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has been tasked with conducting research on both rigid and flexible airport pavements. The facility offers a unique opportunity to study, instrument and record full-depth soil and pavement interactions under a variety of test parameters.
Pavement experiments can be performed over three different subgrade soil strengths as measured by California Bearing Ratio (CBR): Low Strength (CBR 3-4), Medium Strength (CBR 7-8), and High Strength (CBR 25-30). Of particular interest to NAPTF engineers, are the load interactions which occur from multiple-wheel landing gear on a given pavement structure. To date, research conducted at the NAPTF has been instrumental in developing refined design procedures that provide more reliable predictions of pavement life from aircraft traffic. (more…)
Tagged with: Donald Barbagallo, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF), Pavement structure, Runway engineering
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Jim Patterson Jr, Airport Safety Specialist, FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting research to evaluate various technologies capable of detecting Foreign Object Debris (FOD), that may have fallen onto a runway or taxiway. The research being conducted under this program is very aggressive, calling for the installation of different detection technologies at major United States airports, along with a very thorough evaluation process that assesses performance under a full range of weather and operational conditions.
With the data collected from these evaluations, the FAA will be able to develop performance standards for FOD Detection Systems. It is expected that the implementation of these types of technologies will greatly enhance operational safety at many large airports in the United States. (more…)
Tagged with: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Foreign Object Debris (FOD), Foreign Oject Detection (FOD), Jim Patterson Jr
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Pierre Graff, Chairman & CEO, Aéroports de Paris
La Galerie Parisienne is the new boarding satellite of terminal 2E at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. It has handled nearly 2.4 million passengers since it was unveiled by the French Republic President, Nicolas Sarkozy, in June 2007. This satellite, in line with Aéroports de Paris strategy, allows the growth of handling capacity and reinforces the performance of the first European hub. It is also a showcase of the service policy of Aéroports de Paris. La Galerie Parisienne brings together technological innovations with a string of record figures: its length of 750 metres, 3 hectares of glass façade and 225,000 square metres of built up area (more than 40 soccer fields). Its steel structure weighs more than 13,000 tonnes, nearly twice the weight of the Eiffel Tower.
The opening of La Galerie Parisienne is in line with the Aéroports de Paris Group strategy. In 2006, Aéroports de Paris launched a large investment program of 2.7 million euros for its Paris airports. This program aims, in particular, at increasing the handling capacity of Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport by 19.4 million passengers by 2010. La Galerie Parisienne contributes to this objective of Aéroports de Paris Group, to take advantage of the expected traffic growth, by developing its airport capacity. This new satellite has become one of the centrepieces of Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. With its total capacity of 19 to 26 pier-served aircraft stands, its 22 boarding gates and its 5,000 seats, it can handle 8.5 million passengers per year. (more…)
Tagged with: Aéroports de Paris, Boarding, France, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Pierre Graff
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Rajgopal Swami, CFO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL)
Travel to any airport in the country and among the many things you will see are trucks re-fuelling aircraft while they are parked on the apron area. It is not just in India. This is commonplace in many other airports across the globe. The new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, Hyderabad, being developed by a consortium led by the GMR Group, is going to be the exception to this. In fact, it’s going to be the first airport in our country that has done away with the old system of deploying trucks to carry fuel to the aircraft.
The new system, created at the airport in Shamshabad, ensures that the supply of fuel to the aircraft goes through an underground pipeline. This system, named the ‘Open Access Model’, is based on the Hong Kong Airport fuel farm system.
After undertaking a rigorous screening for selecting the fuel farm operator, GHIAL has awarded the mandate to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). About 10 companies, including the Indian fuel giants, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC, took part in the tender process; among them, five submitted their bids. Subsequently, Reliance Industries emerged the winner based on its technical and financial bids. (more…)
Tagged with: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), India, Rajgopal Swami, Refuelling
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Erik Gill, Director of Airport Services, Oslo Airport
Based on many years of experience, winter at Oslo Airport is defined as the period between 15 October and 15 April. This is when we enter a period which will require the planning to have been completed and the manpower and equipment to be in place. We have to ensure that we are ready to resolve the challenges a Norwegian winter can bring.
Oslo Airport Gardermoen has been in operation as Norway’s main airport since the autumn of 1998. On 8 October of that year, air traffic was switched there from Oslo Airport Fornebu, which until then had been Norway’s main airport. Geographically the main airport was moved from an area beside the sea, with a coastal climate, to a typically inland climate and an area which has always been noted for its heavy snowfall.
From the end of the war in 1945 until 1998, Gardermoen had been a combined civil and military airport and had handled southern Norway’s charter traffic, in addition to the military traffic. Despite the sound winter experience at both Gardermoen and Fornebu and the detailed planning in advance of the opening, the first winter was awaited with some suspense. The concept of two runways and an extensive network of taxiways presented new challenges. After the first winter it was necessary to make some fairly major changes to procedures, manning and the composition of machinery. (more…)
Tagged with: Erik Gill, Norway, Oslo Airport, Winter operations
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Tebogo Mekgoe, Assistant General Manager, O.R. Tambo International Airport (ORTIA)
Considering that O.R. Tambo International Airport is fast gaining status as world class, it is no wonder that all the facilities and technologies available in the airport precinct compare with the best in the world. As the largest airport in Africa, currently processing over 18 million passengers annually, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) have made certain that O.R. Tambo has a baggage handling system comparable with the best in the world. (more…)
Tagged with: Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), Baggage handling, O.R. Tambo International Airport (ORTIA), South Africa, Tebogo Mekgoe
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Paul Fraser-Bennison, Aerodrome Standards Policy Officer, UK CAA Safety Regulation Group
On 6 February 1958, an aircraft crashed whilst making its third attempt to take off from Munich’s Reim Airport. Twenty-three of the passengers and crew on board were killed. After a lengthy investigation, the cause of the accident was identified as slush on the runway. Fifty years later, this event lingers in the public consciousness because some of the casualties were star players from Manchester United Football Club. It is also remembered in the aviation world for the important part it played in the study of contaminant drag and its effect on aircraft tyres, as well as in the wider context of the overall assessment of runway friction, work that still continues today.
In the UK, the aerodrome licence holder is responsible for assuring adequate runway surface friction characteristics are maintained. ICAO Annex 14 Volume 1 contains Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) relating to runway friction and these are interpreted and applied in the UK, as set out in the CAA’s publications CAP 168, ‘Licensing of Aerodromes’ and CAP 683 ‘The Assessment of Runway Surface Friction for Maintenance Purposes.’ (more…)
Tagged with: Friction testing, Paul Fraser-Bennison, Runway friction, UK CAA Safety Regulation Group
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Prof. Hamsa Balakrishnan, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Flights in the United States spent more than 20 million minutes taxiing in to their gates and over 49 million minutes taxiing out for departure in the year 2006. Aircraft taxiing on the surface contribute significantly to the fuel burn and emissions at airports.
The quantities of fuel burned, as well as different pollutants such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter, are proportional to the taxi times of aircraft. This is in combination with other factors such as the throttle settings, number of engines that are powered, and pilot and airline decisions regarding engine shutdowns during delays. In addition, at several of the busiest airports, the taxi times are large and tend to be much greater than the unimpeded taxi times for those airports. (more…)
Tagged with: Environment, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Prof. Hamsa Balakrishnan, Surface emissions
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Professor Paul Clark, Director – IATA Training and Development Institute
Many people believe that IATA, as the representative of the airline industry, has an exclusive focus on airlines. This could not be further from the truth. IATA’s contribution embraces all key sectors of the industry, especially airports. A key IATA commercial objective is to provide integrated solutions to member airlines, as well as other stakeholders in the aviation business. These solutions may involve offering data services, consulting services, and of course training.
Training in IATA is under the responsibility of the IATA Training and Development Institute (ITDI). The organisation consists of over 50 staff, mostly located in our headquarters in Montreal, but also located in our network of Regional Training Centres in Geneva, Miami, Singapore and Beijing. We anticipate extending our network of Regional Training Centres in 2008, with a new facility expected to open in Delhi soon. Activities at these RTCs are focused around classroom courses. We are currently implementing a strategy of strengthening some key Affiliated RTCs to strengthen our global coverage. One such ARTC is ATNS (Air Traffic Navigation Services, Aviation Training Centre) in Johannesburg. ATNS deploys IATA courses locally and takes full responsibility for assuring IATA quality standards, as well as market development. In addition to classroom courses, which are organised around a published calendar, we also offer in-company programmes for specific organisations. (more…)
Tagged with: IATA Training and Development Institute, Policy & strategy, Professor Paul Clark
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Luis Eduardo Pérez, Executive President, Corporación Quiport S.A.
Buried deep in the mountains, Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is set in the Pichincha province at 2,800 metres above sea level (masl). The International Airport, Mariscal Sucre, opened 73 years ago, is located at the same altitude.
For this South American country, bordering with Colombia at the north and Peru at the south, tourism is the third most important source of income, after oil and bananas. According to the National Police Migration Management, over 800,000 foreign tourists come to the country every year, with 300,000 passing through the Quito airport.
Exports of agro-industrial products are another important line of business, which fosters the progress and development of this 256,370km2 country. According to the Superintendence of Companies, 88 cargo handling companies operated in 2004. From these, 62 are located in Pichincha (Metropolitan Quito District).
Such passenger and cargo volume, plus urban growth of the capital city, have turned the Mariscal Sucre International Airport into an unsafe and undersized airport (it is located in the middle of the northern area in Quito). (more…)
Tagged with: Airport profiles, Corporación Quiport S.A., Ecuador, Luis Eduardo Pérez
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Fernando Chico Pardo, President and CEO of ASUR
Following inauguration of a state-of-the-art new terminal in 2007, the airport’s operator, ASUR, is continuing its capacity expansion programme with the construction of a second runway for simultaneous operations. Early last year, I was pleased to receive an invitation from International Airport Review to submit an article on the new terminal that ASUR was building at the company’s airport in Cancún. Now, almost one year on, I am delighted to report that Terminal 3 began operations without a hitch in May 2007, and we are continuing our expansion scheme at this important destination with the construction of a second runway. (more…)
Tagged with: ASUR, Cancún International Airport, Fernando Chico Pardo, Mexico
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Martin Eurnekian. Director General, Puerta del Sur S.A.
The new terminal is a reflection of rapid regional and global integration, spurred by a burgeoning economy and developing tourism.
Uruguay is a small South American nation of just 3.4 million people, nestled between Brazil and Argentina. Its Carrasco International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco-AIC), sited 18 kilometres from downtown Montevideo, currently serves approximately 1.2 million passengers annually, and is the only airport in the country providing year-round direct international flights or connections. It carries great symbolic value as the ‘front door’ for many visitors to the country.
As Uruguay’s economy expands, inflation decreases, unemployment declines, and GDP rises, all signs indicate the country is poised for rapid growth in tourism. Last October, the beginning of the Uruguayan summer, the nation’s Tourism Ministry announced that it expected a record-breaking season of tourist expenditure at US $700 million, fuelled significantly by the country‘s budding reputation as a resort destination. (more…)
Tagged with: Airport profiles, Carrasco International Airport, Martin Eurnekian, Puerta del Sur S.A., Uruguay
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / General de Brigada Aérea (A), José Huepe Pérez, Director General of Civil Aviation
In the last few years, the Chilean aeronautical sector has experienced significant growth; in 2007 9,010,979 passengers were transported, of which nearly 8.5 million went through Santiago’s airport. In total, over 120,000 tons of freight and 95,000 operations make Arturo Merino Benítez Airport the main entrance gate to Chile.
The Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (Chilean Aviation Authority), together with the Ministry of Public Works and SCL Terminal Aéreo Santiago (the company which has administrated the Terminal since 1999 through a concession, in respect of the concessionary policy defined by the government), have carried out constant improvements in matters of infrastructure, technology and procedures to meet the demands of the users and the air transport.
The airport provides services such as Air Traffic Control, Air Operations Office (ARO), Airport Security, Fire Fighting and Rescue services, Meteorological Information, Passenger Terminal (national and international), Air Freight, Border Police, Customs, Sanitation (SAG), Private Flights Terminal (FBO), Handling, Catering, Bank and Finance, Aircraft Maintenance and Medical Emergency Services (SUM). (more…)
Tagged with: Airport profiles, Chile, Chilean Aviation Authority, Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil, José Huepe Pérez, Santiago Airport
Issue 2 2008 / 28 March 2008 / Mike Davies CBE, Project Director T5
An interview with Mike Davies CBE, Project Director T5. (more…)
Tagged with: Heathrow Airport, Mike Davies CBE, T5, United
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