New Standards to Build And Maintain New Terminals
Skyscrapers and schools
have them. So do hospitals and shopping malls. But in the airport
business, there are no consistent benchmarks for airline terminals,
no performance data for multi-billion dollar facilities and
infrastructure construction projects built for millions of
travelers. DFW International Airport officials are intent to make
that change.
The airport, in partnership with the International Facility
Management Association (IFMA), will host the first-ever Airport
Facilities Council for airport and airline executives March 25-26
with the goal of establishing industry-wide standards to measure
and benchmark airport facility performance, and ultimately the
potential development of industry facility design, operations and
maintenance protocols. Executives from major U.S., Canadian and
European airports are expected to attend.
"What we are all trying to do is make our facilities and our
maintenance of them more cost effective, while providing the best
customer experience we can," said Jim Crites, executive vice
president of operations at DFW Airport, whose management staff will
host the meeting. "Airport facilities must be operated in a way to
exceed customer service expectations: they must be cleaner, more
comfortable, and have all the latest customer amenities. If we can
begin to define airport facilities standards that architects,
consultants, contractors and airport managers can use as a guide of
"how to" in design, it will indeed enhance the passenger experience
at airports around the globe."
DFW will convene the meeting in the heart of its $2.7 billion
Capital Development Program, which includes opening the new
International Terminal D, new SkyLink automated people mover
system, and enhancements to the Central Utility Plant all in 2005.
The terminal itself adds 2.1 million square feet of space to the
Airport's Central Terminal Area, while the SkyLink project includes
a 110,000 square foot Maintenance Storage Facility to support the
12 SkyLink stations.
Construction of the first airport Grand Hyatt Hotel is also
under way and is incorporated into the Terminal D structure. The
Grand Hyatt is a 12 story, 298-room facility that includes 17,100
square feet of ballroom space. Industry leaders will see first-hand
how DFW is using innovative benchmarking and performance standards
in these three projects. The Airport is working closely with the
International Facilities Maintenance Association to facilitate this
industry-first forum. An Airport's unique uses as well as tough
safety and security standards make industry benchmarks and
protocols even more critical almost three years after the September
11 terrorist attacks.
"For years, we've
studied standards for what it takes to operate or construct a
shopping mall or high-rise office tower, but an airport terminal,
cannot be compared to any other facility," says Rusty Hodapp, DFW
Airport's Managing Director of Capital Development Program Facility
Transition. "Airport terminals have higher transient population
densities, a mix of retail shopping, hotel and restaurant uses, and
security measures unlike other commercial facilities. These
differences translate into significant differences in operations
and maintenance, design and construction requirements to keep
passengers safe, secure and comfortable with using airports."
And an airport's bottom line budget is also affected. The
operations and maintenance budget for airport facilities
constitutes a significant portion of an airport's overall annual
budget. Professional facility management associations supporting
the commercial and retail industries are readily available,
however, there are no industry-wide airport facility benchmarks to
enable facility managers or airport executives to assess where
budget improvements -- or savings -- can be made.
"This is the first step in a process, but we can see the need
and desire of airport and airline facility experts to join forces
for the betterment of the aviation industry and the traveling
public," said Robert Barker, Council President and Vice President
of Energy & Asset Management at DFW. "The Council will
potentially improve the overall design and maintenance of these
facilities to make the traveling public safer and more comfortable
at all airports - while simultaneously reducing the cost of
maintaining these facilities. Reduced maintenance costs affect air
travel cost since our budgets are indirectly paid for by air
travelers."
There is no fee to attend the inaugural meeting. For more
information contact DFW Airport at 972-574-6715.