Engineering Inc - July/August 2018 - 7

"We are very excited to see that additional $1 billion," says
Heaton. "Maybe Congress is beginning to understand the
pent-up demand for airport infrastructure investment."
PRIVATE FUNDING

With public funding flatlined, airports and airlines are relying
more on private financing sources, including public-private
partnerships (P3s).
"We have been doing P3s for a long time, but we did not
call them P3s," says Millan. She points to car rental centers at
airports, which are typically funded through the revenue from
the car rentals.
There have been several attempts to create P3s for entire
airports, but only one has gone through-San Juan Luis
Muñoz Marín Airport in
Puerto Rico. Better, Millan
says is to "get away from
thinking of an airport as one
major thing and break it
down into a lot of different
funding opportunities."
For example, Denver
International Airport wanted
to include solar in its power
grid. The airport contracted
with a solar company to
install the array on its land.
The airport takes its share of
the power, and the company
sells the rest.
This common financing
arrangement, called "soft
P3s," is one in which the
airport and one or more airlines collaborate on a project.
"For the past 18 years, we have worked with the city
of Philadelphia and an airline on more than $1 billion in
infrastructure improvements to Philadelphia International
Airport," says David Yeamans, president, aviation &
federal, Burns & McDonnell. Philadelphia Area Industrial
Development, or PAID, the bond authority on behalf of
the city, sells the bonds. The airline executes the contract
for design and construction, which it then turns over to the
airport. The airline then becomes a tenant. "This method
allows the projects to get done more affordably and in about
half the time because the city has lengthy procurement
requirements," Yeamans says.
C&S Cos. has been working with several airports to
improve their land use. "We work with them to identify
opportunities that help generate revenue from their land
holdings," says Hotaling. "Using detailed market analytics,
we determine the best uses for the land, how to market it for
development and to whom."
Smaller airports are also getting in on the action. Crawford,
Murphy & Tilly recently worked with Chicago Rockford
International Airport and an airplane maintenance and repair
company to build two large fabric structures capable of
housing a 747 aircraft.

The FAA
estimates that
U.S. airport
traffic will
increase by

50 percent
by 2036 to
1.2 billion
passengers
annually

"This is the largest maintenance facility in the country that
is not owned by an airline," says Heaton. "The airport is using
the new facility as an economic generator, to bring traffic and
new users to the field."
PASSENGER EXPERIENCE

An increasingly important focus of infrastructure investment
for both the airlines and the airports is improving the
passenger experience.
"Customer satisfaction numbers are driving how the airlines
are investing," says Yeamans.
The FAA estimates that U.S. airport traffic will increase by
50 percent by 2036 to 1.2 billion passengers annually. Most
major airports are geographically constrained, so they cannot
build themselves out of the expected congestion. They need to
use their space better, getting passengers from the curbside to
the jetway faster and more efficiently.
Engineering firms are working with airports and airlines to
improve the operational logistics, such as designing security
screening to take up less space and move faster and speeding
up baggage handling.
"Airports are competing for travelers," says Pilney. "And the
passenger experience has become a huge differentiator." n
Gerry Donohue is ACEC's senior communications writer. He can be
reached at gdonohue@acec.org.

Important
news for
Bentley Users
®

* Prevent Quarterly and Monthly Overages
* Control all Bentley® usage, even licenses
you do not own
* Give users visibility of who is using licenses now
* Warn and Terminate Idle usage
SofTrack controls
Bentley® usage by
Product ID code and
counts (pipe, inlet,
pond, and all others)
and can actively
block unwanted
product usage

SofTrack reports
and optionally
controls usage of all
Autodesk® products
by Version, Feature
Code, and Serial
Number!

SofTrack reports
and controls ESRI®
ArcMap concurrent
and single use
license activity

CONTACT US NOW:
(866) 372 8991 (USA & Canada)
(512) 372 8991 (Worldwide)
www.softwaremetering.com
©

© 2017 Integrity Software, Inc. Bentley is a registered trademark of
Bentley Systems, Incorporated

JULY / AUGUST 2018

ENGINEERING INC.

7
http://www.softwaremetering.com http://www.softwaremetering.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc - July/August 2018
