As travel continues to boom following the COVID pandemic, many U.S. small and mid-sized airports are embracing innovative technologies to plan for airport growth and expansion with a focus on sustainability.
InfraSolutions, a division of McFarland Johnson, recently launched AVIAS™, a cloud-based comprehensive airport management platform. The launch of this patented, proprietary technology is playing a role in the modernization efforts of small and mid-sized airports as they plan and facilitate regional growth across the country. The software system is the brainchild of McFarland Johnson President, Chad Nixon, who along with many in the organization, has decades of experience in planning, engineering, and construction management of airport expansion projects.
“During the pandemic, regional airports and their surrounding economies suffered retraction, particularly those that cater to business travelers,” Nixon said. “As traffic has come back, those airports need the ability to quickly, efficiently and cost effectively plan for and implement strategic growth initiatives. We developed the AVIAS solution for evaluating, forecasting, and analyzing airport compliance, safety, growth, and funding so airports can better plan future development and more efficiently use their financial resources.”
An early adopter of the AVIAS platform technology is the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) who has plans for over $500 million in capital improvements in the next few years. Greenville-Spartanburg President and CEO, David Edward Jr. explained, “Our airport has improvement projects underway that continue to focus on our customers and further enhance the travel experience as well as meet growth, sustainability, and efficiency objectives. We have leveraged MJ’s AVIAS technology to help us visualize our future plans for innovative projects like an automated transit network that will transport passengers between the airport’s parking lots and the terminal facility. The autonomous shuttle system will help accomplish the Airport District’s plan to decrease or eliminate passenger and employee shuttle buses, thereby reducing curbside congestion and traffic on airport roads. This will improve the on-airport roadway levels of service, which will enhance the customer experience and assist in GSP’s plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
“With the AVIAS platform technology, we are able to track our performance activity and forecast airport needs, allowing us to maximize our resources, reduce costs and facilitate regulatory compliance, all in record time,” Mr. Edwards added.
AVIAS is comprised of a suite of six specialized applications that alleviate the tedious, time-consuming, and labor-intensive aspects of airport operations, data management and development planning. From dynamic analysis and airfield inspections to real estate management, obstruction tracking, pavement condition monitoring and comprehensive project planning, AVIAS offers a one-stop solution that optimizes airport efficiency and development.
The AVIAS platform’s suite of cloud-based applications includes:
- AVIAS AeroClear, a comprehensive resource for visualizing, identifying, tracking, and analyzing obstructions within an airport’s specific airspace, now enhanced with the capability for users to define and place their own obstructions.
- AVIAS Caplan, a centralized hub and document control system with built-in workflows for managing projects, grants, financials, and funding transfer data across a multi- airport system.
- AVIAS DAT, dynamic airport master planning now enhanced with the AI-powered feature DAT CHAT, a robust and flexible application that not only analyzes both likely and unforeseen future airport scenarios with basic user inputs, but also allows for interactive querying of the airport's master plan.
- AVIAS Inspect, an airport inspection and asset management application that is an integral piece to maintaining smooth operations at an airport. With unlimited user defined inspections, Operations staff can use this application to conduct, manage, and maintain self-inspections, continuous surveillance inspections, periodic condition inspections, mobile fueler inspections, fuel storage area inspections and special inspections, and it can be customized to provide elements specific to an airport.
A user-friendly work order system with simple asset management features can be integrated with existing third-party systems for a cost-effective seamless solution.
- AVIAS Rumble, a pavement management application that combines the GIS portion of an interactive map with data McFarland Johnson collects to conduct timely and cost saving pavement studies. The unique ability to toggle individual pavement sections allows airport staff instant access to current and historical information on deterioration rates, pavement conditions and more.
- AVIAS Sites, a land development and management application that allows staff to manage a portfolio of real estate assets. It provides an auto-updated map of all parcels the airport has available, or may become available, for both aviation and non-aviation development. The application will also automatically develop pro-formas and highest and best analyses for various development concepts.
For more information about the AVIAS platform, please visit: https://www.mjinfrasolutions.com
