Bus buyers
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Posted Date: 15/09/2008
Issue: Airside International September 2008
Publication: Airside International
Buying buses is a no brainer for Ray Attard, Head of the Ground Equipment Maintenance Section at Air Malta. The use of buses to transport passengers is a must because there are no passenger boarding bridges at the airline’s terminal building at Malta International Airport.
Starting from humble beginnings with 53,500 passengers transported in 1973, Air Malta now carries 2.1 million passengers every year in its fleet of 12 narrow-body aircraft. A deal has been done with International Lease Finance Corporation to ensure that the future shape and size of its aircraft fleet meets its market requirements and the airline has turned to MAN Nutzfahrzeuge in Munich with its bus brand NEOPLAN to ensure passengers are safely delivered to and from the aircraft.
When asked whether Air Malta’s recent purchases from MAN were for large passenger volume airside buses, Attard responds: “We have a mixed capacity fleet of buses and they are utilised in accordance with the aircraft type we are handling. In my opinion, large passenger volume buses are best utilised for disembarkation of passengers. On arrival, incoming passengers are more impatient to reach the terminal building to collect their luggage and go through customs procedures. On departure, outgoing passengers are more relaxed and are not in a rush to board the bus.”
He explains that Air Malta was careful to choose buses that are compliant with EU regulations, especially from the environmental perspective. The airline has also put in place trained and dedicated staff as drivers. Buses are used only for the transportation of passengers from the terminal building to the aircraft and vice versa, he confirms. There are no other routes they are permitted to take.
When asked how these buses help Air Malta to transport passengers with reduced mobility (PRMs), Attard responds: “The entrance height from the ground to the bus door sill can be adjusted for the passenger’s comfort during embarkation and disembarkation from the bus.” However, the airline also has two ambulifts for the transportation of PRMs to the aircraft and back again.
Air Malta is not alone in choosing NEOPLAN airport buses. Dubai international Airport is NEOPLAN’s biggest customer with more than 100 NEOPLAN airport buses operating at the airport.
Built to fit
The challenge for airport bus manufacturers is to ensure there is no turbulence between passenger check-in and aircraft departure Thousands of passengers have to find their way from the gate to the aircraft and back again without delay, discomfort or error. So what are the bus manufacturers’ priorities when building buses to meet the airport market’s needs?
Klaus Dieter Rudolph is the Sales Director of the Aviation Division of the MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Bus Division. Recently the apron bus business has come under the newly founded MAN subsidiary VISEON Bus GmbH in Pilsting,Lower Bavaria, which will run the former NEOPLAN plant. MAN’s clients are the triumvirate of airlines, airports and ground handlers worldwide. “We are present at 155 airports in 96 countries,” he explains. He says that NEOPLAN airport buses have been built to accommodate very short journeys and very fast loading and unloading.
Rudolph comments that airport expansion is largely accountable for NEOPLAN’s market
success. As airports strain under the demand from airlines to increase their capacity, remote parking areas served by airside buses are implemented to complement passenger boarding bridges at gates close to the terminal building. Larger aircraft that have to be parked at a distance from the terminal building also feed the demand for airport buses. This also means there is a demand for higher capacity buses to meet the capacity of the aircraft they serve.
To tackle manoeuvrability issues, NEOPLAN produces its buses in five different sizes. “Buses are tailor-made for each airport’s needs,” he comments. “In some airports there is a lot of open space for service roads and at some airports space is very tight with columns, tunnels and bridges. The smaller the bus the better the turning circle,” he says.
To accommodate PRMs, NEOPLAN buses have a lifting and lowering device as well as a ramp on either side of the bus. This is an important feature now that PRMs, when travelling by air, have their rights to dignity and safety enshrined in European law and that of other jurisdictions worldwide.
Logistics and planning
The use of airport buses has long been associated with improved logistics during the construction phase of an airport. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is a case in point. The airport discovered it would take five years to design and build a new terminal building and airline clients were crying out for more gates immediately. The solution was found in four new COBUS 3000 buses. 10,000 passengers are now moved every month by COBUS buses serving aircraft on hardstands.
Andreas Funk, Director of Sales and Marketing at CONTRAC, the manufacturer of COBUS buses, explains that the airport bus business was really kicked off in the mid-1970s when airports started to look for a bespoke solution to airside passenger transportation – and not just the use of city buses on the airfield. “Our first solution had a full low-floor passenger cabin; which is the major difference between city buses and airport buses,” comments Funk. “The advantage of this design approach is very fast and safe passenger flow inside the bus which means that you can fill the bus very quickly and empty it very quickly too.” Doors on both sides of the bus enhance operational flexibility at the ramp.”
COBUS buses are operated at more than 285 airports in almost 100 countries all over the world. “We offer our buses in five different sizes equipped with wheelchair ramps and also wheelchair locking rails,” comments Funk. “It is our pleasure to make the customers’ needs become reality.
Apart from valuable service during the construction phase of the airport, Funk reiterates Rudolph’s point that buses have a huge role to play in ensuring that airport utilisation is not limited by the number of gates at the terminal building. “Let’s talk about Frankfurt Airport,” Funk urges, adding that Acciona is using COBUS buses at Frankfurt’s Terminal 2. “Frankfurt Airport has about 100 boarding bridge gates but they also have about 100 remote parking positions served by airport buses.”
Frankfurt is not alone in this approach. Many large airports experience congestion at the terminal gates which is why servicing the aircraft beyond the terminal area is so necessary. And, let’s face it, with turntimes becoming increasingly short, remote parking areas served by airport buses facilitate fast embarkation and disembarkation of passengers to the advantage of the airlines operating to and from these remote parking positions.
Whenever a new terminal building is planned, says Funk, bus gates are usually included in the drawings with the apron designed to accommodate remote parking positions. This is less often the case at large US airports where airlines may have their own terminal buildings with boarding bridges but, with the slowdown in the economy, even US players are buying more airport buses.
“In terms of developing countries, we have had out first sales successes in India and we have around 200 buses in China especially for the Olympic Games, we had newly designed eight buses for VIPs and delivered just in time,” says Funk enthusiastically.
Going green
Rudolph is quick to point out that airside buses are becoming more environmentally friendly. “We are using very sophisticated low emission engines – zero emissions is the future target. In India, the airports only allow completely emission-free vehicles; either electrically powered or with gas,” he explains. MAN is using engines rated at Euro 4 Level without any additives. This is always paired with a particulate filter.
Last year, CONTRAC complemented the COBUS series with a pollution free variant. Natural gas has already proved its environmental friendliness, safety and reliability in public transport systems and now COBUS buses are being powered by compressed natural gas (CNG).
Truth be told, this move was prompted by AENA’s tender for airport buses at Madrid Airport where CNG variant buses were specified. Six COBUS buses were acquired by Groundforce for operation at Madrid Airport. Now, CONTRAC has introduced Euro 5 technology into its buses – the highest and most recent level of exhaust emission requirement – which come with a particle filter as optional.
Moving away from Europe and the Middle East to the US, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) has acquired 12 CNG buses from North American Bus Industries Inc (NABI). These stylised, articulated 60-BRT buses will be the first articulated vehicles for passenger service at LAX.
Transporting passengers between terminals and remote boarding gates, the CNG-powered 60-BRT vehicles will replace a 22-year-old fleet of diesel buses. The buses will be necessary to accommodate large aircraft, such as the A380. If circumstances require, these vehicles may also be used for off-airport shuttling of passengers.
The 60-BRT vehicles are able to accommodate unusually large passenger loads with space for carry-on bags, wheelchairs and strollers. These buses also have wheelchair boarding provisions at both rear doors. With delivery of these 12 buses NABI will have supplied over 230 60-BRT CNG buses to four different operators. Also, 118 additional 60-BRT CNG vehicles are on order with two other operators.
LAWA has additionally put in place NABI CNG buses for airport shuttle services. Twenty-one 35ft low-floor CNG buses were ordered at a contract value of approximately $7.3 million. These 21 new Model 35-LFW buses provide shuttle service between airport terminals and parking facilities. NABI’s 35-foot buses supplant existing buses as part of LAWA’s ongoing commitment to replace existing gasoline-powered vehicles in the airport’s fleet with alternative-fuel vehicles when they reach the end of their useful service life.
The use of alternative fuels is very much in focus at LAWA. Apart from the buses, LAWA’s Board of Airport Commissioners has approved the purchase of 40 alternative-fuel vehicles as part of LAWA’s Alternative-Fuel Vehicles Program. It is purchasing the 40 ethanol fuelled police Ford Interceptor sedans to replace similar gasoline powered sedans and to increase the available fleet of the Airfield Operations and Airport Police divisions at LAX, Ontario International and Van Nuys airports.
Fit for purpose
Bus buying decisions involve serious capital outlay and are not being made lightly. However, as Rudolph at MAN points out, the usual life of its buses are 15-20 years if they are maintained properly. “It all depends upon the quality of the workshop, the skills of the labour force, whether the owner invests regularly in spare parts and whether preventive maintenance is undertaken,” Rudolph states emphatically.
Buying buses is not just about the equipment itself; the decision also has to revolve around future airline operations, future airport infrastructure considerations and future environmental regulations.
So what criteria are most important to the airline when it acquires airside vehicles like buses? Does Attard at Air Malta look only at cost or are there other considerations like maintenance, the environment and durability that are equal to cost as purchasing criteria? “All of the above considerations,” responds Attard. “And, ultimately, passengers’ comfort.”
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