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37 The projects included in this synthesis range in size from the approximately $100 million terminal and/or concourse expan- sion projects to a multi-billion dollar new terminal, new con- course, or entire new airport projects. Interestingly, the chal- lenges faced by those responsible for the activation of all of these projects and the approaches taken to address them are remarkably similar: ⢠All of those interviewed indicated that the projects they were involved with incorporated an activation program of varying degrees of formality and comprehensiveness. ⢠All of those interviewed indicated that activation pro- grams cannot start too early. Sometimes programs started during the later stages of construction resulting in a need to develop operational procedures based on what was built as opposed to creating new facilities that most effec- tively support operational requirements. Although the industry has not yet established best practices for airport terminal facilities activation, those involved with opening new airport terminal facilities have independently arrived at processes and procedures that are very similar. This is likely because many individuals involved with airport oper- ations regularly meet at industry conferences and are willing to share experiences and provide advice on what works well and what can be done better. This informal process has resulted in most airport terminal facilities activation programs adopting current practices, which include: ⢠Establishing an activation steering committee with exec- utive level sponsorship and representatives of all airport departments, airline(s), the construction/capital projects team, and other stakeholders. ⢠Creating focus groups to work on specific aspects of the activation (e.g., development of plans of operation, train- ing, trials, and planning the activation). ⢠Mechanisms to track and report on progress. The trans- parency, accuracy, and timeliness of progress tracking and reporting appear to be a key predictor of success. When focus groups and steering committees do not have accurate, timely information, decisions can be flawed. ⢠Training and familiarization programs to ensure that air- port authority staff, airlines, and other stakeholders are familiar with the new facility and trained on new systems and procedures. ⢠Recruitment programs for additional staff necessary to operate new facilities (note that when the new facility is a replacement, new/additional staff may only be needed during the transition). ⢠Trial programs to prove that new facility, new systems, new processes, new staff, etc., all function as planned so that there are no surprises on opening day. ⢠A transition program to manage, monitor, control, and report on progress of transition. ⢠A public relations or media management program to pro- vide media with accurate, timely, unbiased information. Unfortunately, problems get much more media attention than successes. Therefore, ideally, new airport facilities open with little or no media attention. Although these current practices have resulted in success- ful airport terminal facility activations, there is still room for improvement. The biggest challenge is generally open, transparent communications between the construction/ commissioning team, the activation team, and all other stake- holders. The goal of the construction/commissioning team is to construct, commission, and handover the facility as soon as possible. Any extension in the construction and commissioning period results in added costs and delays in payments. Therefore, there is a motive for hiding delays in construction and commis- sioning. The result is that sometimes the opening date is not informed by actual completion and some facilities are activated before construction and commissioning is 100% complete. As evidenced by the well-publicized, disconcerting, and expensive problems experienced at the opening of Chek Lap Kok in Hong Kong, Terminal 5 at London Heathrow in the United Kingdom, and other new airport facilities outside North America, it appears that lessons learned from troubled airport openings have not been universally learned. To mitigate the possible problems at future airport openings, further research is needed to: 1. Examine how airport terminal facilities are delivered and identify ways to make the process more transparent. 2. Exploreways of keeping airport operations staff engaged throughout the entire delivery process (planning, design, construction, commissioning, and activation). 3. Develop a comprehensive database of practices used to activate airport facilities and formalize industry best practices for activating new airport terminal facilities. 4. Develop an inventory of and better publicize and pro- mote success stories highlighting the importance of air- port terminal facilities activation programs and identi- fying the practices that lead to success. CHAPTER EIGHT CONCLUSIONS AND CURRENT EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
