Looking to improve airside safety, efficiency, and reduce costs?
As the aviation industry is looking to open up again in a post-pandemic world, everyone is looking to see how they can save costs without risking safety. When it comes to sweeping your AOAs for Foreign Object Debris (FOD), the FOD*BOSS is not only the most effective FOD sweeping system available, it is also the safest and most cost-effective! The most dangerous debris cannot be seen with the naked eye, but The FOD*BOSS Sweeper will find it!
Sweeping your airfield clean, increasing productivity, and ensuring you have the safest airside work environments are key to reducing expenses at a time when airports and airlines are struggling to rebuild in a post-pandemic aviation world. In this newsletter, you can learn how the FOD*BOSS Sweeper can provide the cleanest possible tarmac surface, improve airside safety, and at the same time reduce your operating expenses. (3 Min Read)
Most countries rely heavily on the aviation industry for their economic growth and well-being by enabling efficient trade, tourism, and investment. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, air transport continues to be one of the most severely impacted industries nearly 18 months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the initial COVID-19 outbreak, a pandemic.
When the pandemic first started, countries closed their borders to help protect their population from the various COVID-19 strains. However, economies have had to deal with the consequences of this decision as a result. In a large number of cases, domestic travel has been equally decimated. To put some numbers around this, Airports Council International (ACI) reported that global 2020 traffic declined 62.3%, a reduction of 5.9 billion passengers! In terms of revenue, this equates to a loss of US$129 billion against forecast.
There is light at the end of the tunnel though. As vaccination rates continue to climb, governments are planning on borders opening up again with freer cross-border movements of passengers without the need for strict quarantining.
It is estimated that domestic markets will continue to struggle though as passenger confidence remains low and businesses have found alternative means of meeting and communicating across the world and different time zones. The domestic US market for example (the largest market in the world), is tipped to reach about only two-thirds of the traffic seen in 2019.
So, what does this mean for airlines and airports as they try and return to a positive balance sheet? It inevitably will mean a hyper-focused review of operating expenses with every department tasked with finding savings wherever possible.
Can the FOD*BOSS Save Me Money? An often overlooked area where savings can be made is around the regulated requirement to keep AOAs FOD-free. Previously, you may have systems and processes that were put into place prior to the pandemic and when company revenues were high and supported the use of the equipment currently in use. However, now is probably a good time to reconsider the use of more effective alternatives, which can also save time and money. Aerosweep’s FOD*BOSS Ultimate airfield sweeper is a logical choice when it comes to ensuring the safety of airside activities through effective and efficient FOD sweeping tasks. It is also very capable of helping you save up to 95% on operating costs associated with mechanical sweepers.
Let’s take a look at these financial and productivity benefits that can be almost instantaneously achieved when adopting the FOD*BOSS.
First of all, a very brief look into the history of the FOD*BOSS Ultimate. The FOD*BOSS friction sweeper changed aviation tarmac cleaning forever in 1994 and has been protecting every major Air Force, Airport, and Airline.
It is recognized by many as the safest, most effective airfield sweeper, guaranteed. Indeed it was the FOD*BOSS that the Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 150/5210-24, (Airport Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Management, section 5.2 b. (1) and appendix B.1 a. (b)) . However, after going through a 30-year continuous improvement process, our FOD*BOSS now exceeds those requirements.
The FOD*BOSS is fully equipped with our exclusive and unique critical safety features that are the secret behind its unbeatable performance and essential to your successful FOD removal operations, and importantly, These are unavailable with any other sweeper.
So how can the FOD*BOSS save money and increase productivity? If we compare the operational cost of a mechanical sweeper, it has been identified by the US Federal Highway Administration (www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/env_topics/water/ultraurban_bmp_rpt/3fs16.aspx) that a mechanical sweeper costs approximately US$154 per hour to operate (including the driver). Now if we consider a runway surface, as a point of reference, and one with the dimensions of 7546 ft x 148 ft (2300 m x 45 m), we can start comparing several metrics that we hope start you thinking. Mechanical sweepers are generally considered to be relatively slow and have a recommended forward operating speed of only 5-12 mph (8-20 kph) to be their most effective (depending on the make and model). Therefore, using a mechanical sweeper to clean the runway identified above will take at least approximately 2 hrs and 30 mins. At the hourly cost also mentioned earlier, this will be approximately US$385.00. If we compare that to a FOD*BOSS, this will take approximately 44 minutes and with an 84% saving, that includes the labor cost of the driver! To put this into perspective, a FOD*BOSS Ultimate can provide you with an unrivaled FOD pick-up rate and clean this runway in less than a third of the time and for a saving of at least 84%. Our Duplex system offers additional savings of up to 89% and is even faster again. Not only are you saving significant money, but an airport’s revenue-generating capability is closed for significantly less time, while your operations team has gained a significant productivity boost as well!
We used the runway as a point of comparison because it was an easy calculation. However, one of the strengths of the FOD*BOSS Ultimate is its sweeping flexibility and its ability to be operated around GSE activities and parked aircraft without too much hassle. With our Duplex system, imagine being able to sweep the runway as above, but then separate the sweepers and use them as single sweepers for your taxiway(s) and apron/ramp(s) at the same time! Not only is this offering unprecedented flexibility, but the productivity and revenue benefits will have airport and airline management smiling!
Does this mean you ditch your mechanical sweeper? The short answer is no. While it is certainly feasible to develop a case to sell it and/or not replace it if using a FOD*BOSS. We suggest they can co-exist in the same environment and use each technology in the AOA where their relative strengths suggest they are best used.
