EXPLORING GSE, AIRFIELD EQUIPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE | WWW.AIRSIDEINT.COM SPRING 2017 #AIRSIDEINT REACHINGHIGH LIFTS & LOADERS THE HEIGHTS COMMS SYSTEMS FOR GSE TRACKING ` SIMPLIFYING THE SUPPLY CHAIN GROUND SUPPORT EQUIPMENT RELIABLE EQUIPMENT DELIVERED ON TIME YOUR SUPPLIER FOR USED/ REFURBISHED GSE & RENTAL SOLUTIONS 2017 25TH - 27TH APRIL SHERATON MILAN MALPENSA AIRPORT HOTEL PLATINUM SPONSOR Stand No. 45 & 47 CONTACT US DANNY VRANCKX BART KROONENBERG CEO COO Tel: +32471942780 Tel: +31653765332 [email protected] [email protected] www.aviaco-gse.com JAMES SHERIDAN EDITOR’S NOTE | CONTENTS Chairman [email protected] PARVEEN RAJA Publisher [email protected] Time is the enemy 2 IAN TALBOT Sales Manager Reaching the Heights (part one) 10 [email protected] Communications systems for GSE tracking 16 YASMIN LYDON Events Coordinator [email protected] Buyer’s Assessment 22 GEMMA KEEN Handling the pressure 26 Events and Circulation [email protected] Simplifying the supply chain 28 SHOBHANA PATEL Head of Finance Reaching the Heights (part two) 32 fi[email protected] SHELDON PINK Looking forward to GSE & Ramp-Ops 2017 38 Creative Director [email protected] Airport Show 2017 preview 42 SOHAIL AHMAD Conference Sales Airside update 46 [email protected] EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Chris Aaron, Chris Lewis, Megan Ramsay, Martin Roebuck, David Smith elcome to the Spring 2017 issue of Airside International. This issue COVER PHOTO, COURTESY of the magazine is in a new A4 format that will display our content in what we believe will be an even better way. The new design, we think, is more appealing and does even better justice to our news GROUND SUPPORT EQUIPMENT W , articles and features. Address changes and subscription Any feedback on the new design would be welcomed, either by myself, orders to: [email protected] Ian Talbot or Parveen Raja. ISSN 2054-8958 It’s been another few months or turbulence in the world of geopolitics, PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY accompanied as ever by economic flux, all of which has its bearing on the EVA International Media Ltd aviation and – consequently – the airside industries. But one thing that is Boswell Cottage, 19 South End completely predictable is that the industry continues to grow, in size and Croydon, London, CR0 1BE, UK complexity. Making sense of that is just part of what Airside International Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8253 4000 Fax: + 44 (0)20 8603 7369 is all about. m{x{PD{wDy ©9wz{ We hope you enjoy the issue. PRINTED BY Headley Brothers The Invicta Press, Lower Queens Road Ashford, Kent, TN24 8HH, UK DISTRIBUTED BY: Asendia EVA INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LTD PUBLISHERS & EVENTS SPECIALISTS Issue 37 © 2017 | www.airsideint.com | Content may not be reproduced in any format without MIKE BRYANT EDITOR written permission from EVA International Media Ltd [email protected] SPRING 2017 | AIRSIDEINT.COM 1 FEATURE | AIRPORT RUNWAY MAINTENANCE Time is the enemy With more and more aircraft using them, it is more important than ever that airports keep their runways in good condition. But at the same time, the ever-growing number of fl ights means that fi nding a window in which to do this vital work is increasingly diffi cult. Chris Lewis reports unways surely represent the most important and in electronic rather than paper format. Th e better things are critical feature of any airport; whereas taxiways and documented, the easier the maintenance task, says Chalk. other aspects of infrastructure are usually to some “Otherwise, you need to start drilling holes to fi nd exactly R extent duplicated, “if you don’t have a runway, you what you’ve got.” don’t have an airport,” points out Chris Chalk at Th e length of time a runway can last before needing Mott MacDonald. signifi cant work undertaken on it depends on many factors, Chalk, the global practice leader for aviation at the global including the number and weight of aircraft using it, the engineering, management and development consultancy fi rm prevailing climatic conditions and the materials it is built from, based in Croydon in the UK, explains that shutting even one but as a very rough rule of thumb a bitumen runway might last runway at multiple-runway airports can be tricky at very busy 20 years, while the top layer will need replacing every 10 years. locations, so it’s oft en only something that can be done at night, Another factor that can aff ect the interval between usually within quite tight time windows. maintenance operations relates to the ground conditions As with most maintenance, doing work in good time oft en underneath the runway. Generally speaking, the stronger the pays greater dividends than letting things deteriorate to the underlying terrain (granite as opposed to light soil or crushed point that a major rebuild from the foundations up is required. coral, for example) the longer lasting the runway, although Th e problem, in most parts of the world, is persuading weak ground conditions can to some extent be compensated by airport paymasters that this is an eff ective use of public or a thicker bitumen layer on top. shareholders’ funds. Runway maintenance just isn’t exciting An important part of the equation, as noted above, is the compared with building new terminals or so many of the other number and type of aircraft that use a runway. Just as heavy demands on the public purse. lorries tend to cause more damage to roads than private cars, Some airports are better at planning maintenance than so larger, heavier widebody aircraft cause proportionately more others. Th e same applies to documenting their assets, although wear than narrowbody types. Another, related factor relates to an increasing proportion of such information is now available the number of wheels on those aircraft . Older narrowbodies 2 AIRSIDE INTERNATIONAL | SPRING 2017 AIRPORT RUNWAY MAINTENANCE | FEATURE On the apron at Dubai International Airport with fewer wheels like the B727 or Tristar used to cause a operation. French-owned Colas, for instance, works in a relatively large amount of damage, whereas some of the newer number of diff erent European countries. widebodies such as the B787 are relatively gentle by comparison. Expertise will probably have to be imported in less developed The materials used for runway maintenance, and indeed countries, possibly with a foreign fi rm acting as lead contractor. the actual techniques involved, haven’t changed much over While there are similarities to road repair and maintenance, the years, Chalk informs. Polymers are often added to the it’s unlikely that the local contractors will have the skills – or asphalt mix to allow it to be laid during a wider range of the necessary airside and security clearance – to carry out climatic conditions. runway operations themselves. Mott MacDonald itself works Th e laying equipment is essentially similar to that used for all over the world. roads, although runway operations have to take place under Runway maintenance periods are also a good chance to far greater time constraints – and clearly, quality control has to renew or replace fi xtures such as apron lighting infrastructure. be even higher. GPS and IT systems have replaced string lines, Light fi ttings will oft en have to be removed during runway improving accuracy as well as speeding operations. But the maintenance operations anyway, and many airports might milling or material and the asphalting process have remained take the opportunity to replace existing lights with superior largely unchanged. (perhaps LED) ones. Runway markings will also be removed; Modern, powerful systems used to light the work site these get replaced more oft en than the surface itself. have eased the contractors’ task, given that levels of air traffi c Th e opportunity may also be taken to groove the runway intensity mean that most maintenance at major airports will surface to improve skid performance. take place in darkness. In the more developed parts of the It is rare for major work to take place on taxiways at the world, there are specialist contractors who will carry out same time as runways. Th ere is less pressure on taxiways and runway maintenance operations. US contractors, for example, it is usually reasonable to take some out of use during the tend to do business primarily in their home country, whereas daytime rather than at night. in Europe, for example, there is an element of cross-border The weather – principally rain and low temperatures – SPRING 2017 | AIRSIDEINT.COM 3 FEATURE | AIRPORT RUNWAY MAINTENANCE is the biggest hindrance to smooth-running maintenance work. Long-term forecasts are of very little use in trying to decide whether it will rain or be unusually cold on a particular day several months hence, though obviously maintenance planners do avoid periods such as monsoon seasons or times when winter freezes can be expected. In some respects, the weather can cause most problems in temperate climates (such as Britain’s), when rain can happen at any time, including midsummer. A runway maintenance Usually, planners will build a ‘weather margin’ into their schedules, which is usually – but not always – suffi cient to allow programme is crucial “so that the operation to take place within the planned time-scale. we can make replacements or DIY – OR CONTRACT OUT? maintenance at the right time” Th e extent to which airport authorities perform their own Dan Meincke, director of traffi c and maintenance varies hugely around the world. Dan Meincke, airside operations at Copenhagen Kastrup Airport director of traffi c and airside operations at Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, says that the airport authority, Københavns Luft havne, carries out daily technical maintenance itself but that asphalt coating is subcontracted via a framework agreement to a contractor. As with all signifi cant pieces of work at the airport, the task is subject to EU tenders.