International Airport Facilities Council Plants Flag

The Airport Facilities Council has been sanctioned by the International Facility Management Association, a Houston-based umbrella with 15 other councils dedicated to making the "World Workplace" a smoother running machine. The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was the staging ground with its $2.7-billion capital improvement projects as the backdrop for 110 architects, facility managers and engineers from the US, London and Canada in town for the two-day inaugural session.

Robert A. Barker, acting vice president of Energy & Asset Management for DFW International, has been named as the Airport Facilities Council's first president. Vice president is Gerry Holden, director of engineering for London International Airport in Ontario, Canada, and membership chairman is Ed Ratuski, terminal operations, Winnipeg Airport Authority.

"In the aftermath of 9-11, our jobs have gotten harder, our responsibilities greater. And the stakes are high for our airports, our airlines, our passengers and our economy," said James M. Crites, DFW International's executive vice president. "With the hue and cry for more facilities at airports, we hope to affect design and generate demand."

The council's thrust will be "smart design with the environment in mind," the executives said in a variety of ways at the first biannual meeting. Barker tells GlobeSt.com that the council will set up four committees--environment, security, facilities management and customer service--to start formulating "best practices" benchmarks with the first formal presentation to come at IFMA's World Workplace in October in Salt Lake City. The bottom line, he says, is to reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and overcome across-the-board challenges facing airport operations teams.

Yesterday's buzzwords were environment, sustainability and life cycle costs with built-in, long-term efficiencies for total asset management. The goals that are gelling call for smart buildings with "green" features for a "return on perception" from the traveling public, which most often is unaware of the depth of the 24/7 beehive of activity required for lift-offs and touch-downs.

The DFW International team used the forum to introduce some models that it's employing for the $2.7 billion of capital improvements, most delivering next year. The most talked-about business practice was outsourcing, with DFW now in the midst of the largest initiative of its type in the US.

The transition plan is in place to begin outsourcing maintenance for 6.9 million sf of existing and new space. The idea took shape after plans were made for the $650-million Terminal D with a 300-room Grand Hyatt and 8,100-space parking garage, which deliver in April 2005.

"We had a 300% growth in responsibility in less than two years," Barker said of the outsourcing decision. "We decided we should be in business to manage an airport not to manage staff to clean the airport...Outsourcing does not necessarily mean the existing staff is going to be eliminated or reduced in size."

Under the phased-in plan, the 138 employees will remain intact, some with new roles as quality control technicians while others transition to outsourced employment force. Barker said the key to the plan is having "teeth in the contract to enforce levels of service," including performance penalties, so the change doesn't have an impact on airport customers.

At the end of the day, the benchmarks will be "achievable, reasonable and feasible," Crites emphasized of a council designed as a clearinghouse and a repository, not a lobbying arm. With 429 US airports and more on the way, he said "the CFOs are listening. The CEOs are listening. The people who design the buildings are listening and we are listening...It's going to be a very difficult to keep up with demand.