HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-04-04 Airport Committee Minutes City of Bangor Airport Committee
April 4, 2022
Meeting Minutes
The following City Councilors attended: Council Chair Rick Fournier, Susan Hawes, Gretchen
Schaefer and Dan. Also in attendance were Airport Director Tony Caruso, Assistant Airport
Director Evan Thomas and Marketing and Business Development Manager Aimee Thibodeau.
Agenda and Discussion:
1. ABS Aviation—Update from Assistant Airport Director Evan Thomas
ABS was here in January to conduct a Full Audit looking at fueling operations, fuel quality
control, equipment and equipment maintenance. Based on the Audit, the Senior Team
developed some immediate goals:
• Ensure highest level of safety and security is provided to our employees and users
• Maintain facilities and equipment that make the Airport a sustainable and reliable
service entity
• Provide value-added services to maximize resources and opportunities of the Airport
We are committed to continually evaluating our culture, policies, procedures, etc. to maintain
a safe organization. Auditors gave us very high marks for our safety practices, and were very
impressed with Work Order process we implemented about 6 months ago. As we move
forward, we are working on written training plans for our POL, Ramp & GSE operations.
The next step will be to develop a Policy Portal that will contain detailed SOP manuals for
each department.
We are implementing a"Culture of Safety" approach including quarterly divisional `audits'
using a pre-established and standardized safety checklist developed by the City's and BGR's
Safety Officers.
Within our GSE division, our budget request includes a Parts Clerk position to eliminate the
time mechanics spend sourcing parts. RFPs are out for three additional refueling trucks and
we are building an equipment replacement schedule. Our current draft Master Plan
recommends adding enclosed building space to keep vehicles out of the elements to reduce
cold weather breakdowns.
We have budgeted additional funds for training especially on our more complex equipment
such as De-icers and refueling trucks. Other training dollars will be invested in additional
customer service training and enhancing our Supervisor's Leadership skills.
2. Airport Advertising & Marketing Update- Report from Marketing & Business Development
Manager Aimee Thibodeau
a. February Statistics
Aimee reported we were within 1,000 passengers of having a record month. Great numbers
given that the Canadian border wasn't open yet. Load factors are consistent with 2019
percentages.
Both February total and military operations were down compared to February 2021. We
have no control over military operations. Fuel sales remain strong because commercial and
traffic coming back. Tony mentioned we are a little concerned about fuel prices.
b. New spring ad campaign
Aimee distributed a report showing Facebook digital ad statistics that we track. We'll have
more information from the media outlets soon. The report shows people reached—the
people where our ad showed up in their Facebook feed. Top 3 locations are Canadian cities.
Now that Canadian travel restrictions have been lifted, we are, anecdotally, seeing an
increase in Canadian travelers.
Today, we had the official ribbon cutting for "Deconstructing Stigma", the mental health
awareness installation we did in collaboration with Northern Light-Acadia, McLean and
NAMI-Maine.
Meeting Adjourned