marchapril2021 - 21

BOARDING BRIDGES
Monaco said the team executed a
two to three week turn per gate, with
the start date at each gate offset by one
week. Once the project was underway,
they were taking a gate out of service
and putting a different gate back in
service each week.
" We had to phase the work. Multiple
activities and crews were closely
coordinated and worked together
including electricians, civil contractors,
ramp striping crews, cranes and of
course the bridge and equipment all
within one gate area. In this approach,
we were able to perform all the work at
the gate without impacting any adjacent
operations, which was much appreciated
by the airport and how we normally
perform our installations, " Pearson said.

Airport made this an all-inclusive
turn-key project that, in addition to
the PBB equipment itself, included all
the necessary foundations, electrical
upgrades, low voltage improvements,
plumbing work, access control, fire
alarm connections, ramp striping and
exterior building improvements to
complete the entire scope of a gate
replacement, " said Pearson. " This
streamlined the entire process for the

airport, resulting in a well-coordinated
project completed ahead of schedule and
within budget.
" Getting through that turn-key
delivery decision process, making sure
the design is correct, and then issuing a
single package was a great decision by
ORF and one we would suggest for any
airport considering a passenger boarding
bridge replacement program. " 

The Benefits of Holism
With only some finalizing left to be done
for the iOPS system, ORF is reaping
the rewards of their holistic approach to
the project. Bass said it's been a major
benefit from a maintenance perspective.
" Because I can purchase spare parts,
and they work on every single one of
the bridges, I don't have to keep as many
spare parts because I don't have a variety.
And it really reduces on my overall costs
for keeping stock, " he said.
" And my maintenance costs, because
they're not unique, each one is a repeat
of each other, I only have to train my
staff on one particular type of passenger
loading bridge, and then they can
basically work on any of them, " Bass
continued. " And so, now I'm able to
take over a lot of maintenance items
that usually you had to have a significant
amount of knowledge since each
manufacturer is a little bit different in
how they construct and how they wire
up their particular passenger loading
bridges. This is not the case for us
now. So, when they're trained, they
can basically work on majority of our
passenger loading bridges, which has
been a big cost savings to the airport. "
Aside from ORF saving time and
saving money, which allowed them to
add another bridge to the project, the
holistic approach also proved beneficial
on the construction side.
" They didn't procure just boarding
bridges and issue separate contracts for
other scopes of this project. Norfolk

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