January-February 2022 - 33

COVER STORY
to fewer flights. Janisch said this allowed them to avoid an
originally planned route through an alley, which had more
utilities than initially anticipated.
STL invested another $50 million into other fueling-related
infrastructure as part of the project, including hydrant system
improvements, a new emergency fuel shut-off system, a hydrant
cart test facility, a truck load facility and parking, and new
Jerry Beckmann airport deputy director,
planning and development, STL
old fuel storage facility. STL will be able
to utilize the area for a different purpose
for the future.
Jerry Beckmann airport deputy director, planning and
development for STL, said the airport is currently undergoing
a layout plan update and the old site will likely result in
parking usage.
" The existing fuel farm site is 3 acres next to parking near
the terminal, " he said. " The big plus of this is that it's freeing
up that space for development engaged in revenue generation. "
Janisch said planners looked at several sites on the STL
property, which had contaminated soil. The chosen location
for the new fuel storage facility is in a former subdivision that
was removed due to noise abatement issues.
The site is also across the street from one of the two fuel
supply pipelines, making an easy connection.
" Being an old subdivision, we recognized there would
be no environmental aspects to the construction activities, "
Janisch said. " We would not be digging through impacted
material and then having to deal with that. "
The chosen site is farther from the closest connection to
the terminal, so Burns & McDonnell had to build a 2-mile
long pipeline to connect the new fuel storage facility to the
hydrant system. The pipeline wraps around the eastern side
of the airport and through the airline cargo operations area
to the hydrant system at Terminal 2.
The 11,000-foot underground fuel transmission pipeline
with a leak detection system delivers fuel to the terminal,
along with five horizontal pumps, each capable of delivering
fuel at 1,200 gallons per minute.
Janisch said the pipeline route had to work around any of
the potential airport improvements STL is considering as to
not impede future construction.
" The biggest challenge was thinking through what is
needed, how are we going to construct it and how are we
going to future-proof this system so that it doesn't become
a problem for the airport or St. Louis County or the city of
Berkeley, " Janisch said.
Work on the project took about two years to complete.
Janisch said COVID didn't speed up the construction timeline,
but it did allow for some efficiencies and less nighttime work.
" Fortunately, this took place in the summer of 2020 when
air traffic was significantly down, " Beckmann said. " Had we
had to do this during normal summer traffic, it would've been
much more unpleasant. "
They were able to run the pipeline through a parking lot
primarily used by Southwest Airlines employees due in part
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fueling stations for ground service equipment.
" The GSE fueling was driven by the airport. Fuel was delivered
at the gate to each individual piece of GSE equipment, "
Janisch said. " STL recognized that create more opportunities
for fuel spills. As part of this project, they wanted individual
GSE gas stations. "
Beckmann said upgrading approximately 20-30 hydrant
locations ensured attachment points were in perfect condition
to connect with the transfer line.
" There were a lot of projects that occurred in front of and
concurrent to the fuel farm upgrades, " he said.
The new fuel storage facility became fully operational in
August. Katan said the reduction in operational complexity,
increased protection from environmental risk and ability for
airlines to store additional fuel inventory to mitigate supply
risk have already greatly benefited the airlines.
" The new fuel storage facility helps improve operations at
STL by providing a new environmentally friendly, state-of-theart
fuel system and more fuel storage capacity to support future
growth in air travel for decades to come, " he said. 
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January-February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January-February 2022
