As we near the end of 2023, passengers are once again filling the nation’s airports. Air travel has hit several post-pandemic records this year with no signs of slowing down heading into the upcoming holiday season. Airlines are enjoying near record profits, airports have resumed Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects paused by the pandemic, and three of the four largest U.S. carriers have reached new long-term labor agreements with pilots promising higher salaries and improved working conditions as travel demands remain buoyant. But even as the industry is once again in a steady climb, modernization, sustainability, and investment are key challenges that must be addressed.

AIRPORT CONSTRUCTION MARKET IS TAKING OFF

Earlier this year, Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) updated their U.S. Airport Infrastructure Needs Report. The report highlights the increasing and staggering need to invest in updating the nation’s airport infrastructure. ACI-NA’s assessment finds airports in the United States collectively need $151 Billion in investment over the next five years to meet current needs. This represents an increase of over 30% to address the backlog of planned and necessary projects put on hold during the pandemic. Airports are scrambling to the meet the growing demands of increased air travel with outdated infrastructure and they don’t have time to spare.

While material cost escalation and cost of labor increases account for a portion of the change, aging infrastructure adds new project needs each year. Of note, is the increasing need to invest in the expansion and redevelopment of terminals at the nation’s airports. Airport terminal facilities were expanded significantly during the 1980s and 1990s after airline deregulation in 1978. The proliferation of new routes, airlines, regional jets, and lower fares dramatically increased passenger volumes. These facilities require large investments to maintain, update, or replace as they reach the end of their useful life cycle.

Traditionally, airports have relied on Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) local user fees, issuing bonds in the open market, and tenant rents and user fees to finance new terminals. Airports are getting an additional financial boost from Congress through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the CARES Act.

INVESTING IN ECONOMIC SUCCESS FOR OUR COMMUNITIES

Airports have a footprint in every community. Contributing to local economics is a goal for every JE Dunn airport project. These projects provide good-paying work that build skills and capacity in the communities we serve. Airport projects are particularly well suited to engage local trade partners, providing prime opportunities to engage and grow the capacity of disadvantaged, minority-owned, and women-owned small businesses (D/M/WBE).

To maximize participation in Portland International Airport’s (PDX) Parking and Rental Car Center, scopes of work were scaled appropriately to optimize participation by disadvantaged firms. By creating smaller packages that fit the capacity and abilities of more D/M/WBE firms, the project was able to award work to 76 contractors and 15 designers. These firms invest back into their communities through wages and payments while creating opportunities to build generational wealth.

BUILDING EFFICIENCIES INTO THE SMART(ER) AIRPORT

U.S. airports are leading in their commitment to developing sustainable and resilient facilities. As a leading national general contractor, JE Dunn brings innovative solutions to large projects in the aviation, healthcare, and mission-critical sectors – environments that require the highest demand for precision and delivery of results in active, highly secure, and sensitive facilities.

MODULARITY

JE Dunn employs modularity and prebuild techniques to assure clients of project outcomes and expedited timelines. Modular construction not only grants airports economic advantages, enabling them to realize revenue sooner, but also enhances passenger satisfaction. While significant focus is directed toward large-scale offsite modular construction, JE Dunn equally prioritizes partnering with airport clients to enhance passenger experiences through modular programs, revamping airport terminals from the inside out. A notable initiative entails constructing complete restroom facilities offsite and delivering preassembled modules, reducing the downtime of existing facilities during renovation by an impressive 50%.

CREATING VALUE THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY

JE Dunn’s recent Design/Build projects at the new Kansas City International Airport (MCI) and PDX incorporated many sustainable elements. One area of focus during the design of these mega-structures was reducing cement’s CO2 emissions. These projects also provided different economical solutions to reduce CO2 during construction.

At MCI, the garage concrete structure and foundations incorporated a high percentage of SCM (supplemental cementitious materials) to reduce the required quantity of cement, a high carbon footprint building material. At PDX, all concrete used in the project employed CarbonCure concrete, which injects CO2 into the concrete mix to permanently sequester industrial-waste carbon in the concrete and further reduce carbon impacts by allowing a reduction of cement content in the concrete mix. Both offer economically beneficial solutions to airports working to become net-zero.

MCI’s design also included installing the first embedded wireless charging pad in an active roadway at an airport.

Working with InductEV, the airport now enjoys the cost-saving benefit of allowing the airport’s long-term parking shuttle fleet to recharge while the shuttles remain active in operation. Not only does this solution reduce CO2 emissions, but it will help the airport realize substantial future gains by eliminating fuel costs.

PROTECTING COMMUNITY’S MOST VALUABLE ASSET, ACCELERATING AIRPORT RESILIENCY

The epicenter of electrification efforts may occur at our airports, with current demands on airport grids soon to be further strained by broader adoption of electric vehicles. With a larger selection of EV rental cars, electric-powered ground support equipment, and the rapidly developing eVTOL industry with Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles expected to be serving many larger airports by the end of the decade. Airport power grids need to be upgraded or replaced to protect a metropolitan area’s most important economic driver.

Upgrading and replacing Central Utility Plants (CUP) is becoming a priority in nearly every updated airport Master Plan to tackle this emerging challenge. As an experienced design-builder of large-scale CUP, JE Dunn is a trusted resource. Many JE Dunn CUP projects beyond airports support heavy demand and no-fail environments, such as mega data centers for the world’s biggest tech companies and large healthcare campuses.

INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION AT AIRPORTS

Earlier this year, the Airports Council International – North America Annual Conference, a leading airport industry event, underscored the pressing requirement to handle surging passenger volumes within existing airport facilities. Airports worldwide are actively embracing cutting-edge technology, prominently artificial intelligence (AI), to streamline and enhance the processing of higher passenger volumes.

The integration of various airport systems has emerged as an essential economic consideration for the planning and design of terminals, aimed at optimizing space utilization, workforce efficiency, and delivering an exceptional passenger experience. Notably, airports are increasingly leveraging digital twin technology, allowing them to create virtual models of their facilities to simulate scenarios and pinpoint optimal solutions. This strategic approach not only improves operational efficiency but results in substantial cost savings by avoiding the construction of unnecessary or inadequately designed facilities. Aptitude™, a subsidiary of JE Dunn, serves as a single-source integrator for seamless technology implementation across an airport project.

PREPARE FOR TAKEOFF

America’s aging airports must modernize to meet evolving demands and travel needs – from infrastructure to power grids. Sustainable investment is more important than ever to reduce the carbon footprint of airports while offering unique economic solutions to the local communities where we build. JE Dunn has worked on nearly two dozen airport projects and our experts can help you reimagine and redesign with an eye to the future. Our suite of services, including Aptitude™, can help integrate the changing technology landscape and industry’s shift to the use of artificial intelligence.