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2006 Honor Award for ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE
Presented by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia
AirTran Airways Maintenance Hangar project at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport receives recognition for engineering excellence
Challenge
AirTran Airways needed a modern, versatile hangar facility that satisfied both programmatic and aesthetic needs.
Solution
Prime Engineering, Inc. provided civil engineering, surveying, and landscape architectural support for a 76,000-square-foot maintenance hangar and adjoining operations facility. Notable design benefits include:
Energy Conservation and Cost Control: The hangar’s translucent tension membrane roof and glass curtain wall permit natural daylight to penetrate work areas. These features minimize the need for artificial lighting during daylight hours, enhancing aesthetic attractiveness while reducing power use and controlling costs.
Flexibility and Space: The hangar itself is 56,000 feet in area and 75 feet in height. Despite its size, the hangar is constructed from lightweight but sturdy material and has a modular roof. These design features permit the structure to expand or contract, allowing diverse configurations of 717, 737, and 757 aircraft to dock in comfort and safety.
Safety: In a post-9/11 world, aviation safety is paramount. The maintenance hangar incorporates architectural structured fencing directly into the design, enhancing security controls in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
“21 st-Century” Maintenance Hangar Features Innovative, Versatile Design
Prime Engineering, Inc. and AirTran Airways partnered to create a state-of-the-art maintenance hangar facility at Atlanta’s prestigious Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Featuring a multipurpose design, “green” features, cost-efficient paving, and a configuration designed to accommodate newer-model aircraft, the hangar is a model of how future facilities can be engineered to meet the needs of new, leaner carriers.
Completed in May 2004, the facility was designed to be a flagship worthy of the number-two carrier at Hartsfield-Jackson. Accordingly, the hangar was constructed in keeping with a versatile design scheme that meets operational, environmental, efficiency, and cost needs simultaneously. Hangar design and construction combined “best practices” engineering from several disciplines, ensuring that each design feature fulfilled multiple design objectives simultaneously.
For example, when extending the taxiway to the hangar area and developing the ramp and apron, Prime Engineering employed an innovative paving design method. Using 20’ x 20’ one-piece slabs instead of the standard 25’ x 25’ multilayered panels, pavement designed in this fashion lasts longer and costs less. A built-in drainage system on the hangar’s ramp and apron carries away impurities and minimizes spill hazards. An industrial waste treatment system complements the drainage system, reducing environmental side effects.
The 56,000-square-foot hangar is large enough to hold two Boeing 717 jets simultaneously and in addition was designed to house the new Boeing 737-700 aircraft, one of the world’s most fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft. The hangar is constructed from lightweight, galvanized steel and features a modular roof design, enabling it to be expanded and contracted depending on fleet configurations. AirTran staff can perform maintenance work on three aircraft inside the hangar, as well as three more outside the facility, at the same time.
A 20,000-square foot, two-story office building attached to the hangar houses engineers and other support staff. Approximately 220 employees are based at the hangar, including 100 new jobs specifically created to work at the facility. This facility consolidates maintenance, operations, and administrative functions in a single centralized area.
The roof of the hangar is constructed from a translucent tension fabric membrane, allowing the facility to be lit by natural rather than artificial light. A 30-foot-tall glass curtain wall serves a similar function for the adjoining office facility. These two design features promote environmental consciousness while saving considerably on power costs.
In keeping with the heightened safety awareness fostered after 9/11, the hangar incorporates a variety of safety features, including a 150,000-gallon fire sprinkler water tank, a foam fire suppression system allows fully fueled aircraft to be docked and maintained in safety , and built-in security fencing that enhances security controls in a visually pleasing manner. Separate employee and visitor parking restricts unauthorized access to off-limits areas, enhancing security.
Because the hangar is intended to showcase AirTran’s presence at the world’s busiest airport, considerable attention was paid to aesthetic as well as functional concerns. The hangar features a landscaped interior courtyard and architecturally structured fencing; additionally, the hangar’s translucent membrane roof and glass curtain wall were engineered to present a striking visual panorama for visitors.
In summary, AirTran chairman and CEO Joe Leonard called the new maintenance hangar “a world-class facility, [with] world-class support, brand-new computers, and brand-new systems, so just imagine the quality of work that will come out of this hangar with the technicians that we employ here at AirTran.” He added, “This hangar will improve how we run our airline by helping keep our costs low and our service levels high. We currently have exceptionally high dispatch reliability and completion factors, and these great figures will only get better, thanks to this new building and the efficiencies it will afford our crew members.”
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