A major Canadian international airport initiated a program to introduce a formal apron management service and construct a new digital apron control centre.

Before the project, aircraft start-up, pushback, towing, and other apron movements were largely conducted at the discretion of flight crews and ground personnel rather than coordinated through a dedicated apron control function. Following direction from the national aviation regulator, the airport began transitioning toward a structured apron management model consistent with practices at other major international airports.

The new control centre was designed to include four controller working positions and a large video wall displaying live, panoramic camera coverage of the airport’s apron areas. Once operational, trained apron controllers will provide coordinated oversight of aircraft start-up, pushback, towing, and movement within the apron environment.

The program required more than the construction and commissioning of a new control facility. It involved the creation of an entirely new operational service, including new responsibilities, procedures, systems, staffing requirements, stakeholder interfaces, and transition arrangements.

A coordinated Operational Readiness, Activation and Transition process was therefore required to ensure that the facility, technology, personnel, procedures, and supporting organizations would be prepared to operate together safely from the first day of service.

The engagement included responsibility for leading the ORAT workstream as the sole dedicated ORAT resource assigned to the program during this phase of development.

The scope covered procurement support, project-stage ORAT advisory, readiness tracking, and operational launch planning.

During the initial procurement phase, support was provided to the request-for-proposal process through the review and evaluation of ORAT plans submitted by prospective proponents.

As the program progressed, ongoing ORAT advisory services were provided to the wider project team to ensure that operational-readiness requirements remained integrated into planning and project delivery.

Key activities included:

• Reviewing proposed ORAT methodologies during the procurement process

• Evaluating the operational-readiness plans submitted by project proponents

• Advising the project team on ORAT requirements throughout multiple stages of development

• Identifying dependencies between facilities, technology, staffing, procedures, and stakeholder activities

• Tracking readiness and work-package completion as key delivery dates approached

• Supporting the identification and escalation of outstanding readiness items

• Developing the operational launch plan for the new apron management service

• Planning the transition from the existing operating model to formal apron-controlled operations

The engagement established a structured ORAT approach for the introduction of the new apron management service and helped ensure that operational considerations remained integrated throughout the project’s development.

The launch plan provided the project team with a coordinated framework for activation, readiness verification, stakeholder alignment, and the transition into live operations.

The wider program remains under development. The contribution described above covered the procurement, advisory, readiness-tracking, and launch-planning stages completed during the period of involvement.

Capabilities demonstrated

• Operational Readiness, Activation and Transition
  

• Airport Operations
  

• Apron Management
  

• Procurement and RFP Evaluation
  

• Readiness Tracking
  

• Operational Launch Planning
  

• Stakeholder Coordination