Many organizations, including airports, operate in a “silo” fashion where it is common that employees have developed their own data and information for the systems in which they are responsible without necessarily sharing access to those systems with other members of the organization. Encouraging centralization of and access to these data can enhance the ability of the airport to make effective financial and strategic decisions. A typical airport includes both land and airside assets including buildings, aerobridges, utility services, paved surfaces, mobile plan and equipment, fueling systems, firefighting facilities, perimeter security systems, instrument landing systems, and leased areas.
- Understand future needs to service customers competitively;
- Incorporate planning requirements for infrastructure assets;
- Focus on achieving operational efficiency;
- Gain awareness of environmental consequences of infrastructure failures; and
- Greater awareness and understanding of specific system functionalities needed to support the business.
- Be able to describe key elements to ensure the cost-effective life-cycle of assets;
- Identify important issues and inspection and testing tasks to maximize asset life;
- Focus on the critical items to maximize asset life;
- Understand the value of design and constructability reviews; and
- Become more observant to identify issues that may impact asset life.
- Strategic drivers - regulatory, economic/commercial, environmental;
- Business goals and objectives;
- Levels of Service - capacity reliability cost;
- Contracting strategy;
- Optimized capital improvement planning;
- Condition assessments;
- Economic remaining life estimations;
- Lifecycle cost considerations;
- Business risk exposure and asset criticality;
- Optimized Operations and maintenance strategies (failure mode analysis etc.);
- Asset management information systems;
- Data and knowledge management; and
- Performance assessment and improvement.
The accurate and repeatable determination of the condition of airfield assets is of paramount importance for the effective management of these high value assets. For airport pavements, the majority of owners in North America utilize the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) method as described in the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) D 5340 standard. This method and standard was developed some 30 years ago specifically for foot on ground surveys to assess the types, extents, and severities of various flexible and rigid pavement surface distresses to determine an overall pavement condition index on a scale of 0–100 (poor to excellent). Technology has changed rapidly, and there are other more efficient methods to assess pavement condition, including laser-based 2D and 3D image assessments which may be combined with mobile LiDAR. This course introduces several methods to determining asset condition and provides the advantages and disadvantages of each and best appropriate practices for their effective use.
Another example is a passenger boarding bridge. It consists of many individual components which all must function to serve it purpose. A detailed 10-step process will be described from asset registry through condition assessment, target levels of service, risk of failure, and optimization of operations and maintenance investment will be described.
While the course materials are structured, there is ample opportunity to explore any aspects of airport asset management. The instructor effectively uses discussion, case studies, and real-world examples to highlight key aspects and interests of the group.
- Engineers and technicians involved in airport asset design, construction, and maintenance;
- Provincial, municipal, and private sector personnel involved in the management of airport infrastructure; and
- Trainers and educators involved in managing airport assets.
David Hein, P.Eng., has over 35 years of experience in the design, management, and rehabilitation of pavements throughout North America ranging from parking areas and walkways to major highway facilities and airports. He is actively involved with many organizations including the Transportation Association of Canada (past chair of the pavements committee) and co-author of the Pavement Design and Asset Management Guide, Ontario Good Roads Association, American Society of Civil Engineers (past president of the Transportation and Development institute, chair of the education and workforce development council, and chair of several standards committees including the committee that released a new Permeable Pavements Standard ASCE 68-18 in the fall of 2019), World Road Association (past chair of the pavements committee and Canadian member of the transportation asset management committee). He is a co-author of the Cooperative Airport Research Program (ACRP) report 1-16 on airport asset management. He has completed training courses for over 10,000 participants across North America.
