Latest issue

The pilots’ role in the safety chain

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA)

The safe operation of airports, of aviation generally, relies on many factors. As has been said before, you only need one link in the safety chain to fail to bring about potential disaster in this potentially dangerous business.

Pilots play one of the most vital parts in that safety chain, not least because they are the ultimate arbiters of safety and are entrusted to take the crucial decisions to ensure that passengers get to their destinations safely. But pilots’ ability to fly safely is currently under threat by way of new pilot fatigue proposals which will undoubtedly reduce safety standards here in the UK.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was tasked with constructing new pan-European flight time limitations (FTLs) which will replace weak regulations in some EU countries, but which will also replace the high standards we enjoy in Britain. Our UK rules, while far from perfect, are seen by many as the gold standard in Europe, and have resulted in our having one of the best air safety records in the world. (more…)

Tagged with: British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Jim McAuslan, Safety, UK Civil Aviation Authority

Europe’s new gateway

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Prof. Dr. Rainer Schwarz, CEO of Berlin Brandenburg Airport

Berlin Brandenburg Airport starts operating on 3 June 2012. The new airport will be Berlin’s new gateway to the world. It is a next-generation hub airport with a strong focus on European traffic as a feeder for long-haul connections. Following the start of construction work in September 2006, we officially started the countdown to the opening of the new airport in June 2011, and replaced the project name ‘BBI’ with the new airport’s real name: Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt. The new IATA code for the airport is BER. These three letters are the new hallmark of the airport and will be carried out into the world on tickets and boarding passes.

The Berlin Brandenburg region currently has two airports, Tegel and Schönefeld. Tempelhof was closed on 30 October 2008, and Tegel Airport, which is stretched way beyond its capacity, will follow this year. As of June 2012, all air traffic will be concentrated at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is located on the site of the current Schönefeld Airport, south east of Berlin. This concentration of air traffic will turn BER into a hub, reduce operating costs, increase productivity, create up to 40,000 new jobs and cut aircraft noise considerably for hundreds of thousands of citizens due to the closure of Tegel and Tempelhof.

BER will be Europe’s most modern airport and will offer airlines excellent opportunities for growth. (more…)

Tagged with: Airport construction, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Dr. Rainer Schwarz, Germany, Lufthansa, Schonefeld Airport

Australia’s busiest airport aims high

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Mark Glover, Commissioning Editor, International Airport Review

Located in the suburb of Mascot, Sydney, Australia’s busiest airport, served over 26 million passengers in 2010 and is a primary hub for the country’s major airline Qantas and a secondary hub for Virgin Australia and Jetstar Airways.

Terminals

The airport has three main passenger terminals. Terminal 1, originally opened in 1970, replaced the old overseas passenger terminal and has been greatly expanded since. It is now known as the International terminal located at the airport’s north western sector and is made up of 30 gates and split into three levels serving arrivals, departures and airline offices.

In 2010, the terminal underwent a major $500 million redevelopment expanding shopping facilities, centralising custom operations and increasing the terminal floor space.

Terminal 2 is located in the north eastern section of the airport, incorporating 14 parking bays, aerobridges and a number of non-contact bays. Terminal 3 is the airport’s domestic terminal, also located in the north-eastern section. Extensions were made to this terminal during the late 1990s. Here there are 14 parking bays served by aerobridges. The terminal is also home to a ‘heritage collection’, dedicated to Qantas, that showcases the airline’s 90 years of service. The freight terminal is located north of Terminal 1 and is used for international freight operations. (more…)

Tagged with: Airfield maintenance, Australia, Baggage handling, Mark Glover, Qantas, Sydney Airport, Sydney Airport Corporation Limited

Poland is ready

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Mark Glover, Commissioning Editor, International Airport Review

The Ukraine and Poland will be jointhosting the European Football Championships in June, creating a range of operational challenges on the countries’ airport infrastructures. Mark Glover, from International Airport Review spoke to Rafal Marczewski, the National Airport Controller of Poland and the Polish State Enterprise’s Representative for UEFA EURO 2012, about how the country’s airports are preparing for this festival of football.

Mark Glover: Is Poland prepared for the increased rise in passenger numbers in the summer?

Rafal Marczewski: Our challenges began even before the teams had qualified for this tournament, as we did not know which teams would be playing where and when and therefore how many passengers or fans of a certain country would be attending. We liaised closely with our colleagues at UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) and also internally between all of the major airports. We obviously know that the passenger numbers will increase, so we had to look beyond our main airports for traffic and include a range of ‘supporting’ airports. These will be utilised if the infrastructure, currently under construction, is late, or if there are problems with capacity or cargo. So along with the four main airports, we now have four supporting airports. Warsaw Airport will be supported by Lódź Airport, Gdańsk by Bydgoszcz, Poznań by Zielona Góra and Wrocław by Katowice. (more…)

Tagged with: Euro 2012, Mark Glover, Modlin Airport, Poland, Policy and Strategy, Rafal Marczewski, Warsaw Chopin Airport

An Olympic effort

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Mark Glover, Commissioning Editor, International Airport Review

London will be hosting the 2012 Olympic Games this summer, an event that will have the eyes of the world focused on England’s capital city. For many, Heathrow Airport will be the gate to the event with spectators and athletes passing through one of the world’s busiest airports. Mark Glover, Commissioning Editor at International Airport Review spoke to Nick Cole, Head of Olympic and Paralympic Planning and Operations at BAA, about the challenges that such an influx of passengers will cause at Heathrow.

Mark Glover: What affect are you expecting on the games will have and how are you prepared for these?

Nick Cole: I see it as two major issues to deal with; the quantity of passengers and the quantity of bags. The 13th of August 2012 will be a major day for us as it will be the busiest day for departures after the closing ceremony. Our busiest day to date at Heathrow was when 123,000 passengers departed from the airport in one day. On the 13th, we expect to process 137,000. Heathrow is a hub airport so it is geared at 65 per cent take-up through the ‘front door’ of the airport and 35 per cent through the ‘side door’. On the 13th, the dynamic changes tremendously and we will be expecting 87 per cent of passenger intake through the ‘front door’, which will certainly strain our assets. (more…)

Tagged with: BAA, Heathrow Airport, Nick Cole, Olympic Games 2012, Paralympic Games 2012, Policy and Strategy

Let the Games begin

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Michael Rumpf, Senior Project Consultant, Baggage Operations at Munich Airport Consulting

Handling the traffic of an Olympic Games is a challenge for airports. Not only the volume but also the nature and the special needs of Olympic passengers pose problems for airports and call for special operational procedures to be set up. Having had experience of overseeing the baggage of teams and visitors during the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos Airport and the 2010 Commonwealth Games at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport, I am aware of the challenges that London’s airports will have to deal with.

The biggest problem with the Olympic Games are the unbelievable peaks just before the Games are officially declared open and after the closing ceremony. While the inbound traffic is stretched out over the weeks before the games open, it is as though everybody waits for the closing ceremony to finish and then want to fly out immediately afterwards. This stretches the airport’s facilities and systems to their limits, especially considering the higher number of bagsper- passenger ratio during the Olympics. But it is also a chance for airports to prove their ability for pre-planning and handling such events smoothly.

The airport is not the centre of the Games but it is usually the first and last point for Olympic visitors. For Heathrow Airport especially, where passengers still associate it with the baggage fiasco that occurred at the opening of T5, it will now be the unique opportunity to prove to the world how efficient the airport terminal has become. (more…)

Tagged with: airport operations, Baggage handling, Michael Rumpf, Munich Airport, Olympic Games 2012, Paralympic Games 2012

Ten years of RVSM

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Joe Sultana, Chief Operating Officer, Directorate Network Management, EUROCONTROL

On 24 January 2002 at 01.00 UTC, the Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) programme went live. At one stroke past, 6,000 air traffic controllers in 41 European states allocated aircraft to six new flight levels. Capacity gains of 25 per cent were made between 2002 and 2007.

It was the biggest, most important project Europe had ever seen – and the first one to be implemented right across the continent, from North Africa to the Arctic. The programme increased capacity in the airspace of 41 states by providing six extra flight levels between 29,000 and 41,000 feet, bringing the total number of flight levels to 13.

By reducing the number of aircraft sharing a given flight level, this change not only enhanced safety by allowing more aircraft to operate at their preferred flight levels, it also underpinned better en-route performance, reduced delays, lowered fuel consumption and boosted capacity. The average yearly cost benefits for aircraft operators were estimated at around €3.9 billion; savings derived from reductions in delay and fuel consumption. Europe’s upper airspace capacity grew by up to 25 per cent, helping airlines and other airspace users meet rising demand more effectively and simultaneously make substantial fuel savings. (more…)

Tagged with: Air traffic control (ATC), airport operations, ATC / ATM, EUROCONTROL, European Airspace, Flight Levels, Joe Sultana, Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM)

Economic decline but airport growth

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Vincent Harrison, Director of Strategy at the Dublin Airport Authority

Traffic at Dublin Airport Authority’s three Irish airports returned to overall growth last year, as a jump in inbound travellers more than offset continued weakness in outgoing trips.

More than 22.7 million passengers used Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports during 2011, an increase of one per cent. Dublin Airport was DAA’s best performer last year with passenger traffic increasing by two per cent to 18.7 million passengers. Excluding domestic air travel within the Irish Republic, which has declined due to domestic economic factors and a much improved road network, international passenger numbers were up two per cent across the group and by three per cent at Dublin.

Economic conditions remain the main driver of air travel and as the Irish economy contracted from 2008 passenger numbers declined, just as they had enjoyed double digit growth during the period of economic expansion.

Dublin Airport’s traffic, for example, is still almost 40 per cent higher than it was in the year 2000, which equates to an extra five million passengers over the past 11 years, despite the recent slowdown. (more…)

Tagged with: Cork Airport, Dublin Airport, Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Ireland, Passenger volumes, Policy and Strategy, Shannon Airport, Vincent Harrison

Securing the States

Latest issue / 29 March 2012 / Chris McLaughlin, Assistant Administrator for Security Operations at the Transport Security Administration

Over the past year, the Transpor – tation Security Administration (TSA) has made great strides to implement smarter, intelligencedriven, and more efficient screening procedures at airport checkpoints around the country. The agency is moving away from a one-size-fits-all security model to an approach built on mitigating risk. These strategic enhancements to security protocols are helping transform the TSA into a more focused and high-performing counterterrorism agency. This reflects a fundamental shift that requires a determined, dedicated and co-ordinated workforce, as well as a clear vision for the future of aviation security. TSA possesses all of these ingredients and is in the midst of implementing several components of this risk based security concept at airports nationwide.

Undertaking these efforts allows TSA to focus its resources to strengthen security and improve the passenger experience at security checkpoints by modifying, or finetuning, screening procedures and using the latest technologies.

TSA’s risk based approach to security comprises several initiatives, including expanded behaviour detection techniques, refined screening of passengers aged 12 and under, and the passenger pre-screening initiative, TSA Pre✓™. Additionally, TSA continues to support the aviation industry’s efforts to expedite airline pilot screening through a known crew member initiative. (more…)

Tagged with: Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), Airlines for America (A4A), Airport security, Christopher McLaughlin, Transport Security Administration (TSA)

Safety first at Schiphol

Latest issue / 28 March 2012 / Mark Glover, Commissioning Editor, International Airport Review

Mark Glover from International Airport Review spoke to René Verjans, Senior Advisor Crisis and Disaster Management at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport about the ARFF and recovery procedures in place at one of Europe’s busiest hubs.

Mark Glover: How are your staff prepared for emergency tasks at the airport?

René Verjans: We have a training ground here at Schiphol that we use to train staff in the more ‘standard’ emergency scenarios. For the ‘non-standard’ we use an on-site virtual reality facility and table top exercises. We also use the training facilities at Manston Airport in the South East of England. Here we are able to train our personnel in standard and nonstandard scenarios using real foams and powders and larger amounts of it, unfortunately there are not many training grounds where you can use large quantities of this material. We come to Manston once every three years, with the full ARFF team, which consists of 125 individuals, where we stay for two full days undergoing intense and vigorous ‘standard’ and ‘nonstandard’ training that covers a range of different scenarios involving the aircraft. (more…)

Tagged with: airport operations, Amserdam Schiphol Airport, ARFF and Recovery, Emergency Planning, Mark Glover, Rene Verjans, Safety

Taking off with TETRA

Latest issue / 28 March 2012 / Phil Kidner, CEO, TETRA + Critical Communications Association

TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) is the global open standard for professional mobile radio communi – cations systems. TETRA is used through out the world to deliver secure, reliable and robust critical communications for professional users. It is the technology of choice for public safety agencies, and is deployed by governments around the globe looking to protect their citizens.

The adoption of TETRA technology by the public safety sector catalysed its use in a wide range of markets, and today the second largest sector using TETRA after public safety is transport. The use of TETRA in transport is increasing yearon- year, and a significant proportion of that growth is due to the implementation of TETRA in airports – in fact the first commercial contract for TETRA implementation anywhere in the world was for Gardermoen Airport in Oslo in 1996. The dynamics of today’s airport environments, with their rapidly changing requirements, demand innovative and comprehensive solutions within the field of mobile communication.

Airports around the world use TETRA to ensure reliable and secure communications. One of the latest implementations of a TETRA system is at Billund Airport, which covers 400 acres in the south-west of Denmark and handles more than 2.6 million passengers a year for both domestic and international travelling. Bangalore was India’s first international airport to adopt TETRA. In any world-class airport, a robust comm – unications network on a digital platform is critical to supporting the many facets of airport ground operations. (more…)

Tagged with: Hanover Airport, Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport, Phil Kidner, Technology, Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA)

Technology vs the elements

Latest issue / 28 March 2012 / Joshua Paurus, Duty Manager, Airside Operations at Minneapolis–St Paul International Airport

People, process and technology are all part of an effective winter opera – tions strategy. The extent that each component is successfully integrated with the others plays a large role in influencing the outcome of a winter operations event. At Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport (MSP) we have a history of refining these components over the years. With approximately 1,200 operations to and from 135 destinations daily, MSP ranks amongst the busiest airports in the world. This level of activity combined with an average annual snowfall of approximately 50 inches provides us with ample opportunities to test our winter operations skills.

In addition to dedicated, experienced personnel and proven processes, MSP’s Airside Operations department utilises numerous technology tools. These range from systems for current and forecasted weather conditions, aircraft and vehicle tracking, surface condition sensors, runway friction management and more. We have a history of partnering with vendors early in the development of products, not only to meet our needs, but also the needs of other airports. This ongoing commitment to up-front input and effective partnerships results in us having the technology we need to make sound decisions and develop effective management processes.

Perhaps the best way to describe some of these tools and their benefit to MSP is to take you through a hypothetical winter storm experience. (more…)

Tagged with: Airfield maintenance, airport operations, Joshua Paurus, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Weather Technology, Winter operations