Being the busiest, it’s critical for airport facilities to operate at the highest levels of efficiency and reliability. For FM firms, meeting the needs of passengers, airlines, staff etc., while maintaining the assets is a complex balancing task.
But what does FM entail at airports? Airports around the world have moved away from in-house services to outsourced services, says Jiji Francis, senior director of operations, Berkeley Services UAE. Some of the services they have outsourced include, cleaning, MEP services, security, waste management, pest control services, landscaping, specialised systems like elevators, baggage handling, CCTV, BMS, fire alarm and fire-fighting etc., trolley management services and support services for airport operation Francis says: “It is more economical for airports to outsource services to specialised FM services providers, as it will reduce their operational cost, improve efficiencies through innovative and sustainable practices from specialist service providers, remove bureaucracy (normally involved in government entities), offer longer asset life cycle due to professional maintenance activities, and above all ensure deliverance of good customer experience.”
Talking specifically about hard services, Kelvin Vargheese, senior director of TFM, Farnek says that FM systems would include but are not limited to, HVAC, lighting, UPS, BMS, plumbing, civil, furniture & special airport systems.
On the soft services side, Julian Khalil, senior director of soft services and security, Farnek, says: “Similar to other entities [airport maintenance include] cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting (more critical these days) of common areas, washrooms, offices, façade cleaning, and high-level ledge cleaning.
“In addition, an airport has other requirements in terms of special cleaning requirements such as 24 hours of maintaining of locations such as check-in counters, boarding gates, washrooms, greeter lounge at arrival, baggage belt areas, passport control, immigration counters and so on.
David Nice, associate director – operations, Emrill, adds: “The services that facilities management providers deliver in airports are fundamentally the same as in other types of buildings. Where the difference lies, is in the capacity of many international airports and how critical those services are to an airport’s ability to maintain a positive brand image and ensure visitors are satisfied with consistent service standards, the safety and security of the environment and, now more than ever, the steps being taken to ensure the risks of infection and cross-contamination are mitigated with exemplary cleaning and hygiene practices.”
Currently, Emrill provides housekeeping services, which include the cleaning and disinfection of Terminal 3 and connected concourses. This scope includes maintaining pristine conditions in restroom facilities, walkways, boarding gates, the check-in area and immigration, as well as back-of-house areas and offices.
Nice adds: “It’s vital to understand the visitor’s journey when identifying essential services. From the moment people arrive at the airport to passing through external areas, opening doors, using elevators and escalators, checking in and passing through security and immigration areas, visiting shops and facilities, and finally waiting at boarding gates and boarding the aircraft — at each step of this journey, we need to anticipate how passengers and airport staff will interact with their surroundings and then ensure every area they come into contact with meets not only expectations but world-class hygiene standards.
“The same essential cleaning and disinfection services are also delivered in the areas of the airport that passengers will likely never see, such as the back-of-house areas and offices of all the stakeholders within the airport. Dubai International [airport] is like a small city in itself, and this is why the planning and resourcing of all services are so vital.”
On cleaning, Khalil adds that some areas are unique to cleaning services such as PLB (Passenger Loading Bridge), APM (Airport Passenger Mover), Air Side Cleaning that requires special permit, baggage mover belt cleaning, customs office, police office, detention centre, central scanning area, and smart gates – all these require special approval and task knowledge.
Challenges
Elaborating more on the challenges with airport maintenance, Francis says: “Airports are one of the main gateways to a country and they ensure to display the best of services, technologies, good passenger experience etc. To consistently meet the high standards and to maintain high standards, FM services providers must strive to innovate, improvise on the operations, automate the services, minimise downtime, and work to have 100% availability of assets. The task though is herculean in nature.
“As there are several stakeholders involved in the airport operations, managing expectations of all the stakeholders is extremely difficult. Coordinating with all of them and completing the work within the stipulated timeframe is challenging. Customer experience is the key to showcasing the quality of services provided by the airports. There are several factors that lead to showcasing customer satisfaction. Addressing all factors from a holistic perspective is challenging.”
Berkeley Services UAE has provided the following services to airports around the country: cleaning services, trolley management, landscaping, MEP services, project works and capital asset (MEP) replacements.
Francis adds: “We have provided all the above-mentioned services to Dubai airport for several years and we continue to provide some of them even now. We have also been associated with Emirates Airline since the beginning of its establishment and are providing services to several of their properties which include their HQ, hangars, residential properties, commercial properties, training centres and large warehouses.
Berkeley Services was recently selected as a vendor to provide minor variation jobs (MEP) to all the airports in Abu Dhabi. “This is a huge achievement for us as we had to compete against the best in the industry to achieve this success,” Francis adds.
Nice explains Emrill’s set of challenges: “Dubai International is the busiest international airport in the world, and it operates 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. The challenge of providing soft services in an environment that is always open is not having the luxury of a time when the airport is closed to the public and being able to use that time for deep cleaning activities. Therefore, we have to complete all services associated with ensuring the environment remains clean and safe while thousands of passengers and airport staff are using the facility, ensuring the flow of people is never interrupted and that we are not inconveniencing people within the airport.”
To meet this challenge, Emrill ensures high concentration levels of staff and robust work schedules at all times. This enables it to ensure work is carried out safely, unobtrusively and to the very high standards, Dubai Airports expects.
Kelvin adds that one of the challenges is “catering to requirements that come at a very short span from clients”. Khalil concurs and lists some of the challenges: Managing the site with multi-nationality footfall and their observation and considerations; providing the related documents, seeking approvals to provide staff airport access cards to access the locations within airport premises; managing 24/7 cleaning services of which some areas are operational round the clock such as baggage area, passenger arrival area, passenger departure area, APM etc.; and as a result of Covid-19 situation, cleaning and fumigation services round the clock at short notice and bringing back the area into operation. He also says that there is very limited time to close the front of house areas as lounges, PLB area between two flights, washrooms, passenger arrival and departure areas, and duty-free shops – all these are required to be cleaned and maintained in a short span of time. The list goes on…
Nice concludes: “The Covid-19 pandemic has added another layer of complexity to the challenge of providing world-class cleaning services in Dubai International. Emrill conducts frequent training for all site staff that focuses on Covid-19 awareness, disinfection methods and procedures and BICSc standards, which Emrill complies with across every contract. Additionally, we monitor all staff both on duty and in the accommodation facilities, ensuring social distancing guidelines are followed at all times and staff transportation maintains a no higher than 50% capacity. We also regularly check staff temperatures when they are leaving the accommodation facilities to travel to Dubai International. Finally, to keep Emrill’s employees and airport passengers as safe as possible, all of the staff working at DXB have been fully vaccinated.”
With all this going on in the background, one must stop and ponder at the effort FM companies put in to ensure smooth passenger arrivals and transit.