Opening in 1938, Manchester Airport, part of the Manchester Airport Group, is an international airport located in Ringway, just outside Manchester. As the third busiest airport here in the Uk, it has grown to become a key hub for both domestic and international travel, serving over 29 million passengers annually.
Today, it has three terminals, offering a variety of amenities such as shops, restaurants, and lounges. The airport continues to expand and upgrade its infrastructure, highlighting its role as a crucial component of the UK’s transportation network.
The challenges:
- Supporting team communications for passenger safety
- Needed a scalable, fail safe technology
- No requirement for secondary devices
The solution:
- MOTOTRBO capacity max
- MOTOTRBO DP4801e and R7 capable two way radios
- TRBOnet dispatcher
- Managed service
The results:
- Improved airport and services co-ordination
- Real time, resilient system
- Ability to scale up when required
- 24/7/365 onsite support from Radiocoms
Image Credit: MAG media
Find out why Manchester Airport selected this technology.
Watch their story.
The challenge
As Manchester Airport continued to expand, the demands on its communication infrastructure grew exponentially. The bustling airport faced an array of challenges. One of the most pressing issues was keeping various teams connected and informed, especially during incidents. Whether it was a minor disruption or a major emergency, seamless communication could make the difference in maintaining operational continuity and safety at the airport. Ground and air staffing shortages added another layer of complexity, along with the growing demand for skilled workers to man immigration and security checkpoints, manage cargo movements, and ensure that flights departed and arrived on time.
“Should communications fail in our airport, that could have catastrophic consequences. We have seen many incidents worldwide where poor communications have lead to significant casualties. Having reliable communications that we can use to co-ordinate our efforts with air traffic control, emergency services, airlines and ground handlers for example, is absolutely essential.”
Rob Salzano, Airport Operations Manager, MAG
The solution.
Partnering with Radiocoms Systems Ltd (Radiocoms), their long-term communications technology partner, Manchester Airport deployed MOTOTRBO Capacity Max – a state-of-the-art trunk radio communications system complemented by a TRBOnet dispatcher to meet their multifaceted needs head-on. The major benefit of a trunked radio system is its resiliency. Should a major part fail, the system automatically switches to backup units to reroute traffic, allowing the local connection to operate independently and eliminating any single point of failure, unlike other technologies. Moreover, with advanced features such as AES256 encryption, location tracking, and emergency alerts on all handheld and mobile vehicle radios, the airport significantly enhanced both security and efficiency.
“From the start of the project we had Radiocoms on board. They took everybody’s requirements into consideration and designed a system around that.”
Billy Adams, Data Centre IT Manager, MAG
To further support the system, Manchester Airport opted for Radiocoms’ fully managed service, which includes a guaranteed SLA framework designed to ensure contractual compliance, strict adherence to security standards and system management.
Results.
The heart of a radio system lies in its users, and feedback has been a vital catalyst for driving change and improvement. The MOTOTRBO system is now being used by over 1600 users both air and landside, including: security, air traffic officers, amenities, airlines, and services to car park attendees and shuttle buses.
Furthermore, with the integration of TRBOnet, MAG can now analyse past incidents for health and safety. This has been invaluable as the airport continues to onboard new staff to keep up with its expansion. Manchester Airport now has a communications system that it knows it can rely on and is designed with built-in scalability to ensure it can support increased capacity as and when required.
“With the Cap MOTOTRBO Max System we would have to close the airport,
it’s that simple.”
Billy Adams, Data Centre IT Manager, MAG
