By Zosia Lav
When the air navigation service provider of Thailand, AEROTHAI, was on the look-out for safety management expertise in connection with the construction of a new international airport in Bangkok, the choice fell on Integra Consult A/S. The new airport – Suvarnabhumi – will replace Don Muang as Bangkok’s international airport by spring 2006, relegating the latter to domestic use only. Eventually, Suvarnabhumi will be the busiest airport in Southeast Asia, coping with 100 million passengers per year and thus placing heavy demand on airport safety.
More precisely, Integra faces three major challenges from the safety project. First, Integra is to support AEROTHAI in the development of an efficient safety management system to ensure that safety is continuously monitored and improved. The second challenge is to perform a safety assessment of the operational aspects of the airport in order to ensure that risks and hazards are identified and mitigated before the airport becomes operational. Finally, the project includes support to the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to set up safety regulation functions and to ensure that oversight of the services provided by AEROTHAI is in line with international standards in terms of safety. The project is well off the ground and is expected to be completed by the end of January 2006.
Integra was established in 1988 and since then the company has built up a succesful track record of several projects within the air traffic management environment, particularly in Scandinavia and Central Europe, but lately also in the Far East. The Suvarnabhumi project is Integra’s first contract in Thailand, and it clearly gives the sales director of Integra, Michael Niels Thorsen, good reason to be optimistic about Integra’s opportunities in the region: “There is a growing demand for our services and expertise in the Asian region, so this project gives us a unique chance to demonstrate our knowhow within safety. We expect the project to be a doorway to the rest of the Asian market in the long term“, he explains.
The possibility of expanding the market to the Far East opened up for real when Integra developed a manual on safety management for air traffic services for the International Civil Aviation Organisation – ICAO – which sets all international standards for aviation. Subsequently, Integra has been invited to speak about safety at seminars held by ICAO in international cities, and it was at one of these seminars – in Singapore – that the contact between Integra and AEROTHAI was established.
When asked about her impression of the Thai-Danish collaboration, project manager, Nina Banke Rasmussen, says: “To work as a Danish company in Thailand is a very positive experience, but the start-up can be a little slow. We discussed the final scope of the project in January 2005, but we didn’t have the actual kickoff meeting until June because AEROTHAI had to meet public authority requirements before we could sign the contract. Once the paperwork was done, however, the Thais turned out to be efficient, helpful and very committed to the project. They have proved to be professional partners and we hope that our successful teamwork will lead to more projects in the future”, Rasmussen concludes.
Facts about Integra Consult A/S
• Integra is an independent Danish consultancy with its headquarters placed in Troeroed, north of Copenhagen.
• The company was established in 1988 and employs around 30 people with various educational backgrounds such as: engineers, air traffic controllers, auditors, management experts, marketing consultants and administrative staff.
• Integra offers nearly all services required by an Air Navigation Service Provider or Civil Aviation Administration. Key competencies are aviation technology and systems, safety management, risk management, project management, strategic advisory services and services in connection with procurement and tenders.
• For further information, please visit Integra at www.integra.dk.
