Aviation 2000: meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

"The year of the airport is 1999," said Bill Fife, corporate vice president and director of aviation services for Frederic R. Harris, Inc., in his opening remarks as moderator for Professional Women in Construction's (PWC) symposium "Aviation 2000: Meeting the Challenges."

The seminar, held recently at the Yale Club in Manhattan, attracted a sellout crowd of nearly 250, which included airline representatives as well as subcontractors, suppliers, construction companies, architects and designers who hoped to discover work opportunities. As Fife later explained, "Airport development and expansion is the hot topic today. PWC is following its 'leading edge' tradition by once again delivering the inside 'scoop' to the general construction community."

Noting that the millennium's final year is poised to pave the way - and the runways for the 21st Century, Fife, a member of PWC, then introduced the morning's panelists: Marilyn Jordan Taylor, a partner with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP; Edward J. O'Sullivan, senior manager, Global Gateway Program with Continental Airlines Corp. Real Estate; and Robert Kelly, Director of Aviation with the Port Authority of NY & NJ.

Kelly began with kudos to PWC for "playing a major role in helping us meet our goals with minority and women contractors." He then provided an overview of the history of the area airports and a look at their future.

When it opened in 1928, Newark Airport had the first paved runways of any airport, the first nighttime lighting for runways, the first air traffic control and weather station and the first air postal facility. In 1938, LaGuardia opened and offered similar services. The systems begun in the 1920's served passenger needs until the 1970's and the advent of deregulation.

"Although it didn't change the basic mission of the airports... [deregulation] did begin to increase the complexities of life," Kelly said. "[Airports]... have become global business enterprises."

The business climate became more uncertain as mergers, alliances and acquisitions took place just as advances in aircraft technology were being developed. Furthermore, deregulation occurred when airports were aging and often at capacity, and created an "unprecedented growth in demand," said Kelly. Passengers doubled from 300 million in 1978 to 615 million 20 years later. The number is expected to grow by another 300 million and approach the one billion mark in the next 10 years.

The demands of capacity and service are likewise accelerated. Access to the airport and mobility at the airport need to be eased. Terminals, gate space and aeronautical capacity must be enlarged, while more flights, facilities, services and amenities are added, Kelly said.

To meet the various challenges, airports have invested over $100 billion since 1978, and the Port Authority and its airline partners are currently investing over $11.5 billion. Newark's monorail, which now serves 7,000 passengers per day, will soon be connected to Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. At LaGuardia, one goal is to extend the N train from Manhattan. Roadways are being widened and improved at LaGuardia at a cost of $700 million. At JFK, the changes are extensive, as airlines and the Port Authority work to, in Kelly's words, "revitalize, rejuvenate and turn it into a modern airport" that will rival, as Taylor later noted, "the other gateways around the world."

The Authority is constructing a $1.5 billion light rail system to Jamaica station in Queens. A new quadrant roadway system is 60 percent complete at JFK. Last year, JFK opened its $438 million new Terminal One, which received PWC's Project of the Year Award in 1997. It houses Korean Air, Japan Air Lines, Air France and Lufthansa in 500,000 square feet. The new $1.2 billion International Air Terminal will be completed in 2002.

Shortly after the seminar, American Airlines announced plans for a 1.9 million square-foot, $1 billion terminal with 59 gates that will serve 40,000 passengers a day at 200 check-in counters. It is slated for completion in July 2006. British Airways has already committed $140 million to renovations.

Kelly concluded with topics that affect air travel in general. Federal funds of $3 million have been earmarked for a national airspace redesign to relieve the highly congested airspace of New York and New Jersey, where over 70 percent of national flights cross over. Environmental concerns, the threat of terrorism and competition are other issues that continue to emerge.

O'Sullivan began with an analysis of Continental Airlines' role in the globe and the metro area. The fifth largest U.S. carrier serves 125 U.S. cities and 67 international cities with major hubs in Houston, Newark and Cleveland. Its 1997 revenues were for $7.2 billion and 47.9 passenger miles.

The airline, noted O'Sullivan, "carries more passengers out of New York City than any other airline." Continental served 16 million passengers at Newark in 1997 with 46 gates, 9,530 employees and 350 daily departures. Those numbers are expected to swell to 23 million passengers, 63 gates, 12,657 employees and 434 departures per day by 2002.

To meet the demands of increased capacity, Continental's Global Gateway Projects include a major terminal development program to reconfigure and make sizeable additions at Continental's Terminal at Newark. Some of the planned changes include $300 million on Terminal C, where a third concourse is being added; $80 million on Terminal A; and $81 million for a centralized baggage handling system.

Northside development includes $49 million on Newark's cargo building; $27 million on a wide body hangar; and $24 million on the material storage building. Together with the Port Authority, Continental is investing $100 million in a parking structure and $60 million on extended frontage roads.

Taylor noted that "five years ago, little appeared to be happening at the New York area airports," but today much work has been set in motion. At Newark, Continental and Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), which together with TAMS will design the project outlined by O'Sullivan, are the "beneficiaries of a thoughtfully planned airport," Taylor said. Newark owes its success in accommodating capacity, in part, to the existence of the monorail and to "bold stroke ideas" that hark back to the 1960's, according to Taylor, when the airport was designed in a unified plan.

At JFK, which is a complex of separate, individually-designed and distinctive terminals, there is need for a more radical transformation, said Taylor. The goal now is to "get the best use out of every square foot of space," he said.

One major project at JFK is Terminal 4, formerly known as the International Arrivals Building, which will finally fulfill its role and, as Taylor noted, "be the 'mothership' of all." LCOR and Schiphol USA have formed a commission to design, build and operate the new terminal. A team of SOM, OveArup and TAMS is designing the project, which features a centralized retail hall including 100,000 square feet of shops and cafes "to encourage passengers to stay comfortably until it is time to board," Taylor said.

"Air travel, which was once an elite activity, is now mass transit," Taylor concluded. "To meet the challenges we face today, we have to work together. Teamwork is the only way to achieve the fast track schedules our clients face. But as colleagues and citizens of this region, we must be clear that our transportation systems require a continuous investment. Public and private sources must continue to invest in whatever way is needed."

Lenore Janus, president of PWC, said "As the world grows smaller, airports need to expand in inverse proportion. Our panelists have shown that they will usher us into the 21st Century."

The events sponsors were: Maitra Associates; Frederic R. Harris, Inc., HNTB Corp.; Torcon Inc.; Tams Consulting; URS Greiner Woodward Clyde; Langan Engineering; L.K. Comstock & Co., Inc.; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Morse Diesel International; and O'Brien Kreitzberg and Associates.

Founded in 1980, Professional Women in Construction is a non-profit association dedicated to the advancement of women business owners, professionals and executives actively engaged in construction and allied industries. It presents over 15 events annually.