Ground Support Worldwide - 33

PASSENGER
HANDLING

One of the most strongly requested features
is automatic aircraft-docking technology from
ADB Safegate, which the airport has equipped
each bridge to take advantage of should the
bridge's carrier want it. McClendon says that
Delta Air Lines is the first to take advantage
of the auto-docking in ATL.
"The controls and the computer capabilities
have been brought up to modern standards,"
notes McClendon. "They just come down,
press a button and the bridge pre-positions
itself to be in line with the location it needs
to be in to receive the aircraft. It's a much
smoother, safer operation."
Jason Pearson, an Aero Group project
executive who leads several docking system
projects across the country, explains that
aircraft docking systems are something the
Aero Group has seen a lot of and that it's been
a growing design-build trend in the U.S. over
the past 12 to 18 months.

Outside of the bridge's auto-docking capabilities, other features include self-diagnosis
systems and integration with the airport's
building asset tracker software, Maximo,
allowing for the airport and the carriers operating the bridges to perform preventive maintenance and track who has done what with
the bridges. The bridges also sport a pre-cool
function, which allows the same pre-conditioned air units used to cool parked aircraft to
cool the bridge and create a more comfortable
environment for passengers as they queue off
of the plane.
The project, costing $174 million, has so far
gone smoothly and McClendon estimates they
are about 84 percent of the way to completion.
The first phase of the project was completed 41
days ahead of schedule - in time for Atlanta's
hosting of Super Bowl LIII - thanks to deft
coordination between the airport, Aero Group
and the airlines.

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"We were able to accelerate the job at no
cost to the owner, and finish all 86 Phase
One gate replacements one month before
the Super Bowl and about a month and half
before the actual substantial completion," says
Grantham.
"Our carrier partners are instrumental in
saying, 'hey, we have a lull coming up here'
and they give us an advanced notice that we
can get more bridges in our hands and we can
take advantage of the time where they're able
to free up an extra date and we're able to get
more done," McClendon says. "That goes back
to the very early co-ordination and collaboration with our stakeholders that we had and
paid big dividends here as we moved along. So
they're at our meetings with us, we're seeing
schedules every week, we're collaborating with
them as if they were managing the project.
We couldn't do it any other way, they got to
be there."

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Ground Support Worldwide

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ground Support Worldwide