Per-Olof Hammarlund, Head of Sales & Marketing, ADB SAFEGATE: “With ADB SAFEGATE’s integrated tower solutions, Birmingham Airport will improve both airport operational efficiency and predictability by enabling greater real-time information-sharing within the airport ecosystem – airport operators, air traffic control and network operations.”
The integration of ADB Group and Safegate Group earlier this year has delivered practical synergies and efficiencies, and ADB SAFEGATE is adopting a truly collaborative approach to optimising airport operations, as its Head of Sales & Marketing Per-Olof Hammarlund explained to Ross Falconer.
Every airport is unique and when it comes to optimising operations, a consultative approach is most effective. A key challenge for airports is expanding their efficiency rather than their infrastructure, and unlocking the hidden potential for air traffic growth.
“Our success relies on our customers’ success and we listen to the airport to find out their most pressing challenges, whether growth-related issues like congestion and delays, or a more specific problem like inability to operate under certain weather conditions,” says Per-Olof Hammarlund, Head of Sales & Marketing, ADB SAFEGATE. “In many cases it is a combination of the two – increased demand and weather-related issues – like in Lahore, where we helped weatherproof the airport last year.”
Whatever the operational challenge, the answer most often is collaboration between the different stakeholders – the airport itself, airlines, civil aviation authority, or air traffic control.
It was recently announced that Birmingham Airport will get an efficiency boost with ADB SAFEGATE integrated tower solutions. October was the airport’s 20th consecutive month of growth, in which it handled over one million passengers – up 16.7% year-on-year. The airport takes a proactive approach to growth and is rising to the challenge of increasing air traffic demand. “With ADB SAFEGATE’s integrated tower solutions, Birmingham Airport will improve both airport operational efficiency and predictability by enabling greater real-time information-sharing within the airport ecosystem – airport operators, air traffic control and network operations,” Hammarlund explains. “It is a shift from paper to digital that will change and ease the controllers’ daily work by taking away non-critical tasks. Parts of the tower solutions delivered include Electronic Flight Strips, Arrival and Departure Management Systems, and A-SMGCS (Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System).”
Meanwhile, ADB SAFEGATE has installed its AIRMAX Air Situation Display System at Leeds Bradford Airport. The airport’s ATC upgrade is part of an ambitious capacity expansion. “AIRMAX interfaces with radar systems and displays consolidated surveillance information of air traffic at the tower and approach control units,” Hammarlund comments. “Using the system’s intuitive interface, air traffic controllers can determine the aircraft’s location mid-air, as well as the location of ground traffic, to support safe and efficient departure and approach traffic flow. The safety net modules, installed atop the radar display, detect potential incidents and help air traffic controllers to ensure aircraft avoid conflicts and meet flight level restrictions.”
Strengthening the A-CDM process
The SESAR Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) programme has been implemented at 20 European airports as a direct response to airport congestion, and is vital to increasing capacity.
At Paris-CDG and Paris-Orly airports, ADB SAFEGATE will design, implement, maintain and support its SafeControl – Apron Management System, and its Safedock Advanced Visual Docking and Guidance Systems (A-VDGS). “These implementations will considerably strengthen the A-CDM process at both airports,” says Hammarlund.
The new apron management solutions are designed to further improve communication between the different stakeholders, displaying critical information from the airport network, and helping shorten the airport transit process time. “Adding safety and automation to the arrival and departure process for aircraft, in accordance with SESAR initiatives, will improve airport efficiency and punctuality,” Hammarlund contends.
