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Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

This week's edition of the Indianapolis Business Journal has a cover story about the airport's preparations for handling the mammoth A380. If you're not aware, the A380 is a double-decker passenger plane that can carry 555 people. It is a competitor to Boeing's venerable747, but much larger. The article discusses the need for IND to handle the plane, both because of FedEx's use of the freighter version to handle Asia-Pacific cargo, and because of IND's status as a primary diversion airport to ORD. (Since Lufthansa has made a big move into A380's, the thinking is that they will use them on FRA-ORD routes, and IND must be ready in case one of those beasts has to divert for some reason).

The improvements at the airport involve widening taxiways and turning areas. No changes to the terminal are expected, but just the taxiway work is estimated to cost around $66 million.

Here is an excerpt of the article. Sorry there's no public access to the article, but this is the first few paragraphs...

Making way for a MONSTER


Airport to dish out millions to accommodate Airbus A380


By Chris Oâ??Malley comalley@ibj.com




The 7,700 acres that are Indianapolis International Airport may soon look like the city squashed by Godzillaâ??when big, bad A380 comes to town. And it is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars to keep the beast happy.
The A380 is the Airbus Industrie superjumbo jet. Airport managers want to start crunchingâ??er, make that estimatingâ??what it will cost to accommodate the worldâ??s biggest airliner.
They plan to ask the Indianapolis Airport Authority board for $200,000 from the 2006 airport budget to hire a consulting firm to study the existing footprint of runways and taxiways.
Planners say theyâ??re not sure what A380 accommodations will cost until they know exactly what work needs to be done. But in a 2001 survey of 14 airports by the General Accounting Office, it was estimated Indianapolis would need to spend $66 million to accommodate the â??new, very large aircraftâ? segment such as the A380.
â??We know that there will be a need for some modifications. Two of the major issues are the turning radius of the aircraft and, because of the wings, the outboard engines might extend beyond the width of the taxiways,â? said Dennis Rosebrough, spokesman for airport management firm BAA Indianapolis.
If those engines hang over grassy areas, they could be damaged by ingesting grass, rocks or critters.
Airfield improvements for the A380 are tentatively scheduled for 2007-2009, under the airportâ??s proposed 10-year capital plan. The estimated cost is $16 million, although planners say thatâ??s more of a â??placeholderâ? number that was penciled in, pending the outcome of the study.
Generally, airfield improvements are funded by federal grants.
The A380 is large enough to intimidate like Godzilla.
Its wings are 50 feet wider than a Boeing 747â??s. Itâ??s 7-1/2 feet longer, 16 feet taller and nearly 300,000 pounds heavier than the U.S. plane thatâ??s ruled the skies since the late 1960s.
In January, Memphis-based FedEx said it would be the first to take delivery of the cargo-version of the double-decker A380, in 2008. It plans by 2011 to have a fleet of 10, which will replace its MD-11 freighters.
FedEx intends to fly the European-built plane between Asia and its U.S. hubs, of which Indianapolis is second-largest, behind Memphis.
Whatever FedExâ??s timetable, Indianapolis International needs to plan for the A380 if only because it is a primary diversion airport for Chicago Oâ??Hare, which handles thousands of international passenger flights. A significant chunk of those will likely be flown using A380s.
â??We could easily have a Lufthansa A380 diverted here,â? Rosebrough said of the German airline that flies through Oâ??Hare and is buying several of the super jumbos.
If that happens, the A380 would fit at the midfield airport terminal when it opens in 2008, said midfield project manager John Kish. â??Fitâ? is a loose term in this case; it would take a while to unload A380 passengers because only one jet bridge would be available under current midfield plans. The A380s will be able to dock to three jet bridges to quickly unload their 550-650 passengers, depending on the version. The largest 747, which rarely makes an appearance in Indianapolis, seats 525 people.
â??We didnâ??t configure anything differently to handle 500 people,â? Kish said.
The reason: Indianapolis is likely too small a city to lure direct international flights or others using something as large as the A380.
Airport planners also are trying to watch costs, with the $1 billion midfield terminal now projected to cost some $25 million more than anticipated three years ago, thanks to rising security and other costs.
â??If somebody actually committed to A380 passenger service here, weâ??d probably add a new wing out the building with jet bridges specifically designed for the A380,â? Kish said.
â??Wingspan isnâ??t much more than the 747. The difference is where the engines are. Thatâ??s why itâ??s an airfield problem, generally,â? he said.
The A380 is the first aircraft to fall under the Federal Aviation Administrationâ??s â??design group VIâ? designation that sets a standard of 200-foot-wide runways and taxiways a minimum of 100 feet wide, according to a report by Kansas City-based aviation consulting firm Burns & McDonnell.
Indianapolis is built to meet the design group V capabilities that can accommodate a 747-400, with 150-foot-wide runways and 75- to 100-foot-wide taxiways.
Burns & McDonnell said many airports might be able to handle the A380 without complete renovation of their fields by marginally widening taxiways and increasing the radius of paved intersections.
The GAO survey in 2001 put the total cost of modifying the 14 major U.S. airports, including Indianapolis, at $2 billion.
Airbus responded by saying it believes airports overstated the cost, which it puts at $520 million.
â??The costs â?¦ appear to us to be somewhat higher than reasonable,â? Airbus said of the estimates for Orlando and Indianapolis in a response to the GAO study. â??We have no basis for affirming the validity of the $66 million cost estimate given for IND [Indianapolis].â?
Rosebrough said Indianapolis has paved shoulders that extend 15 to 30 feet beyond the airportâ??s 150-foot-wide runways. That could ease the need to make changes. â??It depends on what the FAA requirements are.â?
...........

AirTran Reporter

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 341
Location: Indianapolis

How many international gates is the new terminal building going to have? I know that they will all be in one concourse.

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

If memory serves me correct there will be 3 international arrivals gates.

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

And I think the international gates will be flexibly configured, such that one or two of the three gates could be easily converted into domestic gates (i.e. not route pax through customs/immigration) - similar to what they have at RDU.

In the case that an international A380 (or any other plane on an int'l route, for that matter), would have to divert from ORD, CLE, DTW, or CVG, I don't think it would typically pull up to the international arrivals gates. At least not at first. If it diverted for weather, wouldn't it just park on the tarmac for an hour or two, get a little gas, and wait to fly up to ORD or wherever? Maybe if it diverted for some other reason, like a security breach at ORD or (god forbid) some kind of crash that blocked the runway and shut down ORD, then perhaps they would offload the plane and process pax through customs.

Can you imagine the rebooking nightmare, though, if a Lufthansa A380 with 500 pax diverted to IND, was processed through customs, and then rebooked on domestic flights to ORD? That's almost three whole day's worth of seats on all the UA IND-ORD flights!

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

The 3 international arrivals gates can easily go domestic. Just depends on which door they open. It will be pretty much transparent to passengers. I think it will be as simple as walking off the jetway and going straight out the door to the concourse and the door to the right being closed OR the door in front of you being closed and the door to the right being open. Door to the right would keep you behind a wall and take you to customs. I think thats pretty much standard at most airports.