Critical aviation infrastructure projects win national recognition

The projects to procure new fire vehicles, realign almost 100 satellite dishes nationally and replace or refurbish instrument landing systems (ILS) at the nationals busiest airports were all successful in the Defence and Aerospace Category of the 2009 AIPM Project Management Achievement Awards. Leading the pack was Airservices multi-million dollar fire vehicle replacement project (Stage 3). The project saw 20 ultra large fire vehicles introduced to service to protect the travelling public. It also marked a move from traditional fire engine signal red to a more visible yellowish green colour. The fire vehicle replacement project won the Defence/Aerospace best project award at the Queensland branch of the AIPM Achievement Awards in Brisbane on Friday 4 September. The project will now go on to contest the national AIPM Awards, to be held in Adelaide on 13 October. Airservices ILS upgrade project was highly commended in the Victorian chapter awards and the satellite dish realignment project won the Presidents Awards in the ACT chapter awards. Both presented significant project management challenges for Airservices. The ILS project took place between 2005 and 2008, and was completed 18 months ahead of schedule and $1.3m under budget. It involved work on active runways without disruption to critical navigation equipment a major feat of planning and engineering. The satellite project was one of the largest operational and logistical projects ever undertaken by Airservices. 33 field technical teams of 227 personnel repositioned 96 satellite dishes across the country in just 12 days. The adjustments were required due a change in the satellite service which carried Airservices critical communications data. The successful completion of these projects and their recognition by AIPM is testament to the skills, dedication and professionalism of our people across Australia, Airservices General Manager, Alastair Hodgson said.