Chicago crowned ice king

O’Hare International Airport has modernised its de-icing infrastructure via a centralised facility, set to be the largest in the US.

Canada-based company JCAII, in partnership with American Airlines, United Airlines,and the Chicago Department of Aviation, has provided the centralised de-icing facility at the Chicago airport.

O’Hare is one of the busiest and biggest airports in the world, boasting eight runways that makes it the only commercial facility that can handle four take-offs and landings at the same time.

The new de-icing facility is the largest in the US, and necessary to keep planes taking off safely from the Windy City’s main airport.

It faces heavy snowfall for several months every winter, so the new de-icing facility was designed to be expandable – with enhanced safety protocols that allow large-scale deployment of anti-cold equipment.

JCAII president Jeff Campbell said: “O’Hare had unique and sophisticated requirements, and they really stretched us to meet this challenge. They were extremely competent and knowledgeable and they knew what they wanted.”

JCAII equipped the airport with SmartPad and IceLink technology for digitalising the process of winter airline operations and creating a foundation for an interactive platform.

Its geospatial console offers the precise location of every flight and truck, and it automates the process of progress updates, reporting and truck assignments through real-time applications, minimising manual entries for dispatchers, pilots and de-icers.

Cologne to get private network

Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany has partnered with IT service provider NTT to develop a wholly private 5G mobile phone network across its 1,000ha premises.

Under this joint research and cooperation project, the organisations will work on technological innovations, including border control and intelligent luggage checking, with the aim of enhancing the airport’s operational efficiency.

The network, once completed, is set to become one of Europe’s largest private 5G mobile phone networks.

This will enable the future monitoring of the precise location of people and devices, as well as the transportation of luggage on self-driving vehicles.

It will also offer intelligent services for the logistics hubs and facilitate the usage of autonomous robots for security.

For this project, the airport has been awarded a licence by the Federal Network Agency from the industry spectrum, with frequencies ranging from 3.7GHz to 3.8GHz.

The airport stated that a private network will provide stabilisation in the processes with low levels of downtime, allowing customisable operational and security strategy.

Cologne Bonn Airport president and CEO Johan Vanneste said: “We see the decision to set up our own 5G network covering the entire premises of the airport as an important strategic step.

“Having continuous connectivity and our own high-speed mobile network will open up a range of completely new possibilities for our processes and services, which will not only be of benefit to our airport operations but also to the businesses that are based here and to our passengers.”

Breezing through security

The new US airline Breeze Airways has joined the TSA’s expedited security screening programme, to speed up procedures for trusted passengers.

The TSA has added Breeze Airways under its TSA PreCheck expedited screening programme.

Current members will now be able to book flights immediately on Breeze Airways via their Known Traveller Number, and will face reduced waits at security.

As an expedited screening programme, TSA PreCheck provides a screening experience to low-risk passengers at over 200 US airports.

This screening programme eliminates the need to remove shoes, food items, belts, liquids, laptops and light jackets, but is only available to qualifying passengers.

Under a five-year membership, US citizens, US nationals and US lawful permanent residents can apply for this service at a cost of $85.

More than 80 airlines are currently enrolled under the programme, and the TSA stated that about 98% of travellers in the system-specific lanes waited less than five minutes to get through security.

Milking it

San Francisco International Airport has opened part of its $2.4bn (£1.69bn) expansion, just in time for summer.

Seven new departure gates, for domestic and international flights, have been opened at Harvey Milk Terminal 1 in the Californian airport.

The next phase in the hefty project also features a new post-security connector to the international terminal, which will enable passengers to access domestic flights between the two without the need to go through a security checkpoint again.

In addition to a children’s area adjacent to the new departure gates, the new phase of Harvey Milk Terminal 1 features a museum gallery with rotating exhibitions by SFO Museum.

The phase also includes a new display of exhibit content honouring the life and legacy of Harvey Milk.

Additionally, the terminal features an expanded Recompose Area, which is located post-security check, providing passengers with a relaxing space to gather items after security screening.

SFO Airport Director Ivar C Satero said: “We are excited to complete the latest phase of Harvey Milk Terminal 1 on schedule and in time for this summer travel season.

“With this newest addition, we’re taking the airport experience at SFO to a whole new level, using this facility to share the story of Harvey Milk to an even broader audience of global travellers. My thanks go out to the entire project team for this achievement.”

The final phase, which was originally expected to be completed by spring 2023, has been pushed back until at least early 2024.

Bags to riches

London Stansted Airport has concluded a £70m ($99m) upgrade to its baggage system beneath the airport’s terminal.

The airport authorities said that it is the largest baggage network upgrade since the terminal’s launch in 1991 – and contains more than 2.4km of conveyer belts.

The baggage system revamp, which took four years to complete, involved the replacement of the ageing set-up of conveyor belts and chutes, and adding 180 automated carts.

London Stansted Airport Hold Baggage System Programme lead Steve Radford said: “We’re delighted to reach this very important milestone in the hold baggage system project.

“While passengers simply hand their baggage in at check-in for their journey, below the terminal is a highly automated and complex system that seamlessly and safely ensures the right bag reaches the right flight.

“The Beumer autover system uses the latest digital technology, which will future-proof London Stansted’s baggage operation for years to come, improving performance for both our passengers and airlines.”

Beumer Group designed the state-of-the-art baggage system, the longest of its type in the world, which has been designed to transfer luggage from check-in point to be ready to load onto an aircraft in less than six minutes.

Group UK CEO Klaus Schäfer added: “This now means the airport has a future proof system and a great deal of built-in flexibility for years to come.”