The construction of green airports encompasses various aspects, including the use of new energy vehicles and special new energy vehicles. However, the reduction in carbon emissions and energy consumption from ground power sources is significant. Therefore, how to promote the use of bridge-mounted equipment/ground power for aviation, increase utilization rates while ensuring safety, and how to effectively manage a fleet of bridge-mounted equipment, as well as establishing corresponding management systems and obtaining necessary support, are all critical focus areas for the construction of green airports.
Currently, there is no unified operational standard for ground power equipment across all airports in the country. Each airport uses operational standards based on their specific circumstances, which can cause significant inconvenience for ground power users. I suggest establishing a national industry standard to greatly enhance utilization rates and further promote the construction of green airports.
On the other hand, since there are no regulations mandating the use of equipment, from the perspective of maintenance staff or crew members, "it's better to do less than more," and users sometimes refuse to utilize the equipment. Across the nation, not a single airport has implemented a requirement that aircraft must use ground power as soon as they land. This issue is one of the current dilemmas.
The two issues mentioned earlier are the lack of standardized practices and the non-mandatory use of ground power equipment and aviation ground power. If these two issues are resolved within the next one to two years, a third question will arise: Can individual airports keep up with the control of safety and service quality?
For the past six years since the commissioning of the aviation ground power equipment at Chengdu Airport, it has maintained a leading position in scale across the country and has developed a relatively comprehensive management model. However, it has not yet reached a 100% success rate, so the issue ultimately boils down to quality management. Training and assessment of the operational staff, as well as maintenance and repair of the hardware equipment, are all key aspects of the process. Only by addressing these issues effectively can we say we have taken a solid step towards building a green airport.
Since 2016, Chengdu Airport has been actively promoting the development of new energy, new technologies, and new equipment in collaboration with ground power manufacturers. The green micro-storage ground power for aircraft currently in use is the fruit of this collaboration. By harnessing solar power to charge batteries, which are then used to supply power to the aircraft, energy consumption has been significantly reduced.
