A bold, new presence: Anchorage's Ted Stevens International Airport, top-ranked cargo airport in North America, gains new cargo facility.

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Lee Nunn, president of Anchorage Global Logistics Airpark Development Inc., has been receiving favorable comments about the new cargo facility that AGLAD Postmark LLC is developing at the airport.

"Air carriers and users have told me it's something Anchorage has needed for a long time," says Nunn.

The 28,000-square-foot building and aircraft parking ramp will be built on a 40.5-acre tract just south of FedEx. Its proximity to FedEx, UPS, and the post office establishes it as a strategic location.

The project is financed through private investors and bonds issued through Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority (AIDEA). Bonds will be paid back by AGLAD through revenues generated.

BUILT TO SUIT

The new facility is designed on a build-to-suit concept.

Initial tenants will opt to have their building space specially designed to meet their needs. "Preferential" tenants will also have assured parking reservations for all confirmed flights with flexibility for other flights.

Initial tenants can designate how much space they want and where they would like it to be in the facility. Some clients have asked for lockers, access to a fax, a conference room, a training room, and a window overlooking aircraft on the ramp.

GENERAL FEATURES

The cargo building will provide space for each client to host operations, maintenance materials, and administrative space. AGLAD also will offer a co-shared day receptionist and large conference room.

AGLAD's plan is to have a facility that will accommodate the complete range of needs of the air-cargo industry. It may even have an international pilots' snack bar and shower facilities.

CENTRALIZED FACILITY PROVIDES COST SAVINGS

A centralized facility offers benefits and savings to all companies involved, says Nunn.

The savings will occur in three different areas: less equipment will be needed on the ground, the carrier costs will be less, and faster turn times (less time on the ground) for the aircraft will assist carriers in meeting schedules to avoid landing curfews at other international airports. AGLAD's facility will offer the closest private wide-body hardstands to the primary take-off runway at the airport.

The facility will include wider wing clearance for safety and for de-icing access to the planes.

Hydrant fueling, heated hardstands, pneumatics for air start, ground power, covered equipment parking, and extra ramp space for equipment are some of the other advantages of the new facility.

EASY AS 1, 2, 3

The facility will expand in three different stages. Stage 1 should be substantially completed by Nov. 30. The steel for the project will be delivered this month. Stage 1 costs are estimated at $10 million to $15 million, while cost completion for the entire project is estimated at $55 million.

If there are enough client prospects, Stage 2 will be built simultaneously with Stage 1, although the completion date would need to be adjusted somewhat because the project would double in size.

Stage 2 will have an expanded building and five more wide-body parking positions, or "hardstands."

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Stage 3 will include more cargo businesses. AGLAD has already had interchanges with many interested airport-based businesses as well as new national and international clients. Some want to be in the facility this year while some have asked for next year. Clients can plan accordingly with the staging diagrams and schedules.

LEASEHOLDERS JUMP ON BOARD

Kalitta Air, a Michigan-based global air-cargo company, was the first cargo carrier to sign a 12-year lease for ramp and building space. A typical lease is 5 years, with an option to extend.

Pegasus Aircraft Maintenance LLC and Evergreen International Airlines signed leases; other leases are still in the negotiation and processing stages. Leases may extend from 15 or 20 years, up to 30 years.

AGLAD signed a 55-year lease for the property with the airport.

LOCAL CONTRACTORS

Watterson Construction Co., the same contractor that built the new FedEx maintenance building, will be constructing the new building facility.

Enterprise Engineering Inc., which designed the airport's most recent three aircraft parking and refueling positions along with taxiway upgrades, will execute the ramp design. Nunn has talked to landscape firms that will establish screens in front, but has not designated a particular firm as of yet.

Trailboss Corp., the ramp coordinator, was chosen as the independent "ramp czar" to orchestrate the ramp activities as a controller.

Other contractors include: Pruhs Corp., fulfilling the civil work for the site, and EEIS Consulting Engineers, performing the overall engineering management.

Great Northern Engineering in Palmer will design the ramp's electrical and mechanical work and plans for the fuel-hydrant system.

Shannon & Wilson Inc., a geotechnical firm, provided analysis of the soil structure and materials testing, whereas Lantech Inc. landed the survey contract.

AGLAD has purposefully used all Alaska partners and contractors; not one company is from outside.

MORE EFFICIENT AIRCRAFT TURN-AROUND

When cargo planes land, maintenance crews are in a hurry because the aircraft may have to meet curfews in Hong Kong and other major Asian airports. Sometimes air has to be blown on the brakes to cool them in readiness for early takeoff. A quick turn-around occurs in just 45 minutes. De-icing should just take 15 minutes.

Most of the hardstands at the airport require "push back" of the aircraft, which requires equipment and time to move the plane, rather than having facilities for aircraft to "power through" on their own. AGLAD will have the only private "power through" hardstands at the airport.

During the turnaround, planes need auxiliary power for the length of their stay. During that time, a jet's auxiliary power unit (APU) may burn 800 pounds of fuel an hour. That's 100 gallons and, at a $2 to $3 range for aviation jet fuel, that's $200 to $300 that's being spent during that time. The APUs are also making noise, and adding to pollution during that time. The planes need power for instruments, lighting and heat, but ground power is more efficient, less costly, and reduces pollution.

Aircraft also need high-pressure air to "air start" their engines when their APU is not being used.

"AGLAD will provide central air so pilots can start the plane without an auxiliary power unit," says Nunn. "We will have air-start capability. A high pressure air start is less expensive than an APU or an air cart."

The airport will rebuild five of its hardstands this summer and install ground power, but without high-pressure air, or "pneumatics." AGLAD's hardstands will provide ground power and be less costly. Ground-service and line-maintenance companies, like the Pegasus tenant at the facility, will provide loading equipment, crew ladder, and ramp services.

In most other private facilities, air carriers have to lease the real estate for a period of years. "AGLAD will just charge for the stop," says Nunn. "There is less risk for the carrier with us, and Trailboss, our ramp coordinator, will make certain that traffic flows safely during the day and night operations."

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BACKGROUND

Lee Nunn has been a part of the construction industry since 1979. He originally came to Alaska in 1979 in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At that time he was district engineer and based at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Through the years he has worked with Arco, with Mayor Tom Fink's office, with Red Dog Mine, and with several of the Native corporations.

AGLAD has been planning the air cargo facility for several years.