The Government of Thailand plans to develop U-Tapao Airport as the third international airport serving Bangkok and the Eastern Seaboard, as part of the ‘Eastern Economic Corridor’ (EEC) initiative.
The development comprises new Passenger Terminals, Cargo, Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) facilities, Aviation Training Centre and a Free Trade Zone to serve the ‘S-Curve’ industries targeted as part of the EEC development.
The initial airport capacity will be 12 million annual passengers in the initial phase increasing to an ultimate capacity of 60 million.
PTT is the aviation fuel provider at the current airport and intends to tender for the upgrading and expansion of the aviation fuel supply facilities to serve the new airport development.
PTT appointed Brightstar to study the fuel system required to support the airport development, which was divided into 4 separate elements (sub-projects):
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- Airport Fuel Hydrant System (including Intoplane facilities)
- Upgrading of the existing Fuel Depot
- Marine Tanker jetty unloading and transfer facilities
- Dedicated Fuel pipeline from Map Ta Phut refineries
Brightstar Scope of Work:
In order to estimate the required capacity of the fuel supply system, Brightstar carried out fuel uplift projections for the initial, intermediate and ultimate phases of the airport development.
Based on these projections and the available data for the airport configuration, Brightstar carried out an assessment of each element of the system which considered the options, utilization of existing facilities where appropriate and order of magnitude costs. Recommended configurations were presented and iterated with PTT.
Following agreement, Brightstar developed conceptual designs and associated cost estimates for each element of the system.
Value Added:
Fuel Uplift Projections
Fuel uplifts are often calculated by simple extrapolation of historic volumes and/or the application of typical demands to projected passenger or ATM numbers. However, this methodology does not deliver confidence levels concomitant with multi-million-dollar investment decisions.
Brightstar adopts a more sophisticated approach to fuel uplift projection which reflects the complex array of influences including aircraft mix, journey profile and industry trends.
For this project, the projections were based on the various passenger and air traffic movement (ATM) forecast data sets published by the Government as part of their market soundings, historic fuel data for the existing Bangkok airports and typical fuel uplift data published by IATA and others.
Using our accumulated knowledge base from other airport developments, Brightstar then processed this data for the assessed aircraft mix, anticipated route network and allowances for load factor, fuel efficiencies, etc.
This provided the basis for the sizing of the various supply facilities including jetty, pipeline and along with an assessment of strategic stock holding requirements, for the fuel storage capacity at the depot.
For sizing the hydrant fuel system, the maximum instantaneous fuel demand was required. Peak hour departing ATM forecasts were used as the basis for this and applied for the sizing of the buried pipe network and pump station capacity.
The resulting fuel uplift projections produced by Brightstar provided a robust basis for the optimal sizing and configuration of the various system facilities and in turn an accurate assessment of project costs for financial analysis and project investment appraisal.
Master Plan
The Master Plan had not been finalised at the time of the Study. Two very different basic airport terminal configurations were under consideration by each of the prospective concessionaires.
Brightstar therefore prepared apron stand layouts and conceptual fuel hydrant Designs for both potential options, allowing the study to be completed and arming PTT with the information to evaluate and respond quickly and definitively to the requirements of either selected airport concessionaire.
Fuel Depot Upgrade
The existing fuel farm was originally constructed to US military standards with large tank spacing. This led to a number of unusual technical challenges including pump suction head, fire protection requirements and power supplies for the added facilities.
Brightstar were able to develop cost effective solutions to all these challenges which were incorporated into the conceptual design for the fuel depot upgrade and cost estimate.
Landside Operating Base
Due to the diverse fuel supply facilities requiring control, the mixed use configuration of the existing fuel depot and its distance from the airport apron areas, Brightstar devised the concept of a Landside Operating Base (LOB) as a common facility to provide integrated control, operations and maintenance facilities for the various supply elements. The LOB also includes testing, maintenance and calibration facilities for the Fuel hydrant dispenser and refueler vehicles, separately from the airside GSE staging facilities provided for in the airport master plan.
The LOB concept will allow PTT to implement the fuel system projects with a lower dependency on the readiness of airport provided infrastructure than would otherwise be the case.