A new partnership has been agreed by Axis ORAT, an Operational Readiness, Activation & Transition (ORAT) firm, with MidAmerica St Louis Airport (BLV) and engineering firm Crawford, Murphy & Tilly. Axis will be providing ORAT services for the airport's $30 million terminal expansion.
ORAT is a structured project delivery method that prepares organisations and their stakeholders to successfully assume the duties of operating a new facility. ORAT programs can save facility owners considerable operations and maintenance costs over the lifecycle of the facility and significantly decrease risks. For BLV, Axis will be assisting with project phasing, performing operational trials, and creating contingency plans to ensure that critical systems such as boarding bridges, backup power, and baggage systems work properly prior to going into service. These critical steps will ensure that passengers are not disrupted when new project elements come online.
Scheduled to open in December 2022, the BLV airport terminal expansion project will essentially double the size of the passenger terminal. The multifaceted programme will expand gate hold areas, relocate the security checkpoint, and provide new customer amenities like family restrooms and a service animal relief area. The development comes at a time when the airport is achieving record passenger numbers and will allow the staff to deliver an improved customer experience.
"Bringing Axis onto the team is the airport's insurance policy that its multimillion-dollar investment will work properly on opening day and well into the future," stated Kyle Elliott, Axis Chief Executive Officer. "BLV has taken the smart step to ensure its airport will operate efficiently, sustainably, and at a significantly reduced risk level."
In addition to on-the-ground support during the construction and activation process, Axis will also provide the BLV airport team with its proprietary operational readiness software. This software is designed to manage all functional areas of facility activation, including trial planning and execution, task tracking, risk management, procedure, and contingency plan development, training, and readiness reporting. The software leverages popular Microsoft technologies for ease of use across all stakeholder groups, ensuring ready adoption and effective utilization of the activation tools.
