Speaking to the GHI Podcast, Marisa Von Wieding, Vice President of Operations, The New Terminal One at JFK, said: “This is a new way of doing things. Ground handlers now don’t have to invest heavily in capital [equipment] and infrastructure, they can invest in their teams, which is a big change in how they operate.”
Von Wieding added: “We have lofty ambitions to be not only a five star terminal, but the top five from a guest experience perspective. We realise that starts with the employees. If you have good and happy employees then they’re going to treat your customers in a good way. We feel the same applies to ground handlers on the ramp. If they have pride in where they work and really care – it’s going to drive significant improvements”
The comments came in an exclusive interview on JFK's partnership with TCR that will see 700 units enter service in a centralised electric fleet from 2026.
Kevin Constant, Commercial Director Americas, TCR said. “NTO approached this from the start as a greenfield and wanted to set the ambition really aggressively... All of a sudden you have a blank sheet in front of you where you think: ‘what do we really want to do?’.
“NTO saw some of the pooling projects we’ve done across the globe and saw a great fit . We’ve been able to do something completely new in the industry… all the factors aligned and it’s really exciting – the biggest infrastructure project in North America and one of the bigger ones globally.”
The project had involved painstaking planning to ensure adequate charging infrastructure was in place for the all-electric kit, Von Wieding revealed.
“I lost some sleep because some of the charging would take many hours and how do you run an operation with GSE that isn’t charged? We had to ensure we had the right power supply in the right place for these units. It was a collaborative approach with TCR.”
NTO is now tendering for two ground handlers to begin operations next year and work alongside TCR in operating the centralised GSE fleet.
Listen to the full interview on the GHI podcast below:
