Access equipment for airport maintenance

Featuring some of the most advanced access equipment used for airport maintenance.

The aviation sector in India is growing very rapidly with more and more new airports being constructed, older airports being modernised, newer players are entering the aviation sector (latest being Vistara and Air Asia) to accommodate the increase of passenger flow in the country with air travel getting more common day by day.

AWPs becoming integral
Aviation is one of the major sectors for Haulotte Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs) globally and Indian aviation sector is not an exception. Gemini Power Hydraulics Pvt Ltd, the PAN India distributor of Haulotte, has over the past years been successfully tapping. They have supplied Haulotte machines to the Indian Air force, aviation service providers like Airwork for Tata Singapore Airlines JV- Vistara, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and various airports across the country including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pondicherry.

However, Gemini has had its biggest success in the Indian aviation sector by having successfully supplied and commissioned till date 25 Haulotte AWPs to GVK- Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd for the prestigious state-of-the-art Terminal 2, informs Souma Ray, Director, Haulotte India Pvt Ltd. This range of equipment include Haulotte Push Around, Electric Scissor Lifts, Vertical Mast and Light weight Articulated Booms. The machines are used by the Facility Department and E&M Department for facade cleaning and maintenance of the T2 at Mumbai International Airport.

This prestigious order from MIAL also propelled orders from other airports across the country like Chennai International Airport, Pondicherry Airport, Bengaluru International Airport and Kolkata International Airport, who put their trust in using Haulotte machines with the proactive and efficient after-sales support from Gemini, Ray said.

Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd is the distributor for IMER, Italy which has range of self-propelled aerial platforms having both battery and diesel as power source; and articulated boom lifts, and the crawlers. IMER equipment complies with latest safety standards of EN-280: 2013.

Airports need to be maintained both indoors and outdoors and IMER equipment are available for both the applications. These equipment are very safe as there is no deration while platform is extended, claims Sumeet Bansal, DGM Marketing and Sales, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd. “This means an operator need not to worry about weight need to be put on the extension. These are very compact and few models give high working heights at minimum width.”

The equipment can be operated at maximum height as well as reach which increase productivity.

For any function operated, if machine goes out of safety zone, the machine cuts off immediately and can be retracted with the help of manual controls provided at the chassis and thus prevents any accident.

“There is lateral deck extension available which is highly safe when working for order picking within aisles of airport warehouses. The safety increases because AWP gets aligned along the racks,” explains Bansal.

Lifting solutions for airport maintenance)
“Mtandt, an expert in man lifting and material lifting solutions, brings most advanced technology from world-class manufacturers, offers a wide array of solutions for airport maintenance be it inspection or electrical / civil maintenance or façade cleaning jobs,” claims Rakesh Modi, Managing Director, Mtandt Group.

Canopy / Roof Inspection & Maintenance: Modern airports have canopies which need frequent inspection and can require a great amount of maintenance and cleaning, especially when airports are located next to a busy road. Walking on canopy for these purposes brings certain risks such as accidental slipping or fall through hazards. To over such situation, Mtandt provides custom-made Life Line Systems which can be fitted on existing canopy structures and provide safe work environment to workers working at height.

Electrical Maintenance: Inside airport terminals thousands of light bulbs and downlighters are always working. To change blown up lights or to repair faulty wiring at a height as high as 30-metre specialised AWPs are used otherwise there is no other safe way for such maintenance jobs. Mtandt provides both mechanised and non-mechanised solutions which can be used by airport authority or their contractors to do the job.
t Mechanised solutions: These are hydraulic AWPs mostly battery driven for working inside the terminal buildings.
• For only vertical reach: AWPs like Scissor Lift and Vertical Lifts are used for doing the simple job of vertical lifting over clear height for maintenance job. For example working under aero bridge, changing advertisements or buntings etc.
• For vertical as well as horizontal reach or working beyond obstacles: Most airports have complex structure and every time clear vertical working height is not available in such scenarios, most demanded product by airports is Crawler mounted Spider Boom Lift, some of the interesting unique features of this product are:
– Non marking crawlers which exert very low ground pressure hence safe for working over expensive tiles.
– Compact stowing dimensions thus can pass through narrow passenger doors for seamless movement inside terminal.
– Light weight, can be lifted to different floors using service / material lifts.
– Articulation enables user to work across most of the obstacles.
• Articulated Electrical Boom Lifts are also used by the airports for interior cleaning and maintenance jobs, they also provide vertical and horizontal reach.

t Non-mechanised solutions: Mtandt manufactures and supplies Aardwolf Quicklift range of Mobile Access Platforms. Unique features of these platforms are:
• Made up of Aard Alloy (Aluminium & Tungsten) which makes them very strong and light weight.
• Tool less installation, Quick Fit joints make them very easy to install and dismantle without use of any tool.
• Can be stored in a compact area.
• Can be installed on very complex areas like above escalator or stairs.
• Can cover most difficult to reach area where other equipment cannot work, through its unique bridge section.
• When there is a weight restriction on the top floor or equipment cannot be carried via lift, AQ Mobile Access Platforms are best choice then.
• We can provide option of battery powered platform for vertical movement.

Similarly, these equipment can be used for working at height jobs pertaining to civil maintenance, interior structures and facade cleaning and maintenance, trusses repainting and cleaning, aircraft maintenance and hanger maintenance as well.

Inter Terminal Maintenance Jobs: When equipment is frequently exchanged between the terminals we recommend the use of towable spider boom lift which can be easily towed behind the tractor or a van to cut down the travel time drastically.

Advertisement: Airport advertisement is a big industry and many prominent media companies are engaged into it. For replacing the advertisement posters and buntings or for repairing digital media they need to access vertically for this Mtandt provides specialised scissor lifts and vertical lifts depending upon the SWL (Safe Working Load) requirement of the contractor.

Advanced facade access systems
The unique requirements of airports both in terms of design and usability make all systems complex and unique, observes Tarun Khemlani, Managing Director, Cradle Runways India Pvt Ltd.

Cradle has successfully commissioned facade access systems at DIAL T3, MIAL T2, Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports. They have also completed systems at the new ATC tower at DIAL and HIAL ATC. From all of these projects, the specialised trolley and gantry supplied at Terminal 2 in Mumbai is definitely the most complex, acknowledges Khemlani. He adds, “The site only had stub columns every 12 metres and we designed a system that spanned that length and suspended the complete load while raising and lowering along the facade. That was combined with the special gantry system supplied for the bull nose of the processor building to manoeuvre the unique shape and clean the facade without applying any load to the bull nose itself.”

All the systems had to be designed to accommodate the airport construction and complexities. “We not only successfully commissioned these systems but have been maintaining them as well. Our sister concern, Technoclean, is currently cleaning both the DIAL T3 and MIAL T2 facades,” Khemlani informed.

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