VOL. 132 | NO. 15 | Friday, January 20, 2017
Airport Authority OKs Update to Design Plan
By Patrick Lantrip
Memphis International Airport leaders are moving forward with plans to consolidate all of the airline and retail operations to an updated Concourse B.
As a part of those modernization and consolidation efforts, the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board of commissioners approved Thursday, Jan. 19, an amendment of AERO Systems Engineering Inc.’s jet bridge and aircraft parking utilization study.
AERO’s contract, which was initially approved in 2014, was to lay out a plan for the airport’s jet bridges and terminal aircraft parking aprons.
Since the original agreement included a provision for future design improvements, the MSCAA sought an amendment to provide construction documents for aircraft parking that include fuel modifications; ramp striping removal and installation; potable water cabinet installation; and the demolition, refurbishment and installation of the passenger boarding bridges in Concourse B.
“These sky bridges are our handshake to the world, and they may well be our weakest attribute as an airport,” board member Jack Sammons said.
The work done to improve the bridges is a part of the multiphase modernization project, which will consolidate airline, retail, and food and beverage operations to Concourse B. While improvements are being made to the concourse, operations are being moved to other areas of the airport.
The airport authority board also approved Thursday a resolution to create a construction fund, disburse the proceeds of the authority’s airport revenue bonds and to designate a trustee for the bonds.
The board of commissioners in October adopted a resolution that would authorize the issuance of up to $110 million of the MSCAA’s airport revenue bonds to help pay for the construction costs of certain projects. The amendment approved Thursday will create the construction fund, plus a construction interest account and a cost-of-issuance account. The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. was designated as the trustee for the bonds.
Meanwhile, the board also approved A & B Construction Co.’s contract for a temporary airfield maintenance facility.
“In order to occupy those while we build a new airfield maintenance facility, we need to ready these facilities,” MSCAA president and CEO Scott Brockman said.
Four companies bid for the job, but only two met the airport’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program requirements – Chris Woods Construction Co. and A & B Construction, the latter of which submitted the winning bid of $1.65 million.