How One Airport Plans to Cut FAA-Mandated Escort Costs by 82%

Michael Bettua Square
April 27, 2024//Airports/airports, geofencing, smart badges

Summary: In a bid to enhance safety, ensure FAA compliance, and reduce costs, one major U.S. airport is pioneering a groundbreaking solution utilizing smart badges and advanced geofence-based positioning systems. This innovative approach slashes projected escort costs by a staggering 82%, as illustrated by our detailed cost analysis.

Airports constantly seek ways to improve safety, maintain FAA compliance, and reduce costs. An innovative solution now shows the potential to help airports achieve all three goals simultaneously – enhancing safety, ensuring compliance with FAA Safety Management System regulations, and significantly cutting projected escort costs for one major U.S. airport by 82%.

The key to this groundbreaking approach lies in using smart badges and an advanced geofence-based positioning system.

How One Airport Plans to Cut FAA-Mandated Escort Costs by 82% Blog Post

By equipping construction workers with these badges, a single escort can effectively monitor the location of 40 workers using just a laptop. This technology enables the escort to maintain a compliant span of control, ensuring that all workers are always within the designated secure work areas and adhering to safety protocols.

This pioneering solution eliminates the need for the traditional 1:5 escort-to-worker ratio, which leads to high costs, particularly during extended projects.

Here’s the calculation one major U.S. airport used to determine how much they would save by using smart badges:

  • For a 6-month construction project involving 40 workers, the airport would typically require 8 escorts at a total cost of about $8,000 daily. With an average of 20 construction days per month, the monthly escort cost would be:
    • 8 escorts x $1,000 per day x 20 days = $160,000 per month
  • Over the 6-month project, the total escort cost would amount to $160,000 per month x 6 months = $960,000

In contrast, by implementing advanced positioning technology, the airport found that it could reduce the number of escorts to just one individual for the entire 6-month period. The projected cost breakdown would be as follows:

  • One escort for 6 months at $1,000 per day x 20 days per month: $120,000
  • Smart Badge Technology licensing fee: $50,000
  • Total projected escort cost: $170,000
  • By implementing this smart solution, the airport realized they could potentially save $790,000.

That’s $960,000 – $170,000 = $790,000 — a potential cost reduction of over 82%, all while maintaining the highest safety and FAA compliance standards.

Significantly, this innovative approach not only cuts costs but also advances FAA compliance. By providing real-time visibility into worker locations and movements in secure and dangerous areas, the technology helps airports increase a positive span of control at all times.

As more airports explore this innovative approach, the future of construction safety, FAA compliance, and cost-efficiency looks brighter than ever before. By harnessing the power of advanced positioning technology, airports can enhance safety measures, ensure regulatory compliance, and redirect funds to other critical areas – a true win-win for all involved.

To learn more about our Volan technology, please click here to contact us.

Read Our Other Blog Posts

Reduce Risk & Improve Efficiency with Real-Time Location Systems

Reduce Risk & Improve Efficiency with Real-Time Location Systems

, , , ,
Our CEO, Michael Bettua explains that high-risk environments like airports and industrial sites demand precise, real-time visibility to prevent costly errors and safety incidents. Volan’s infrastructure-free RTLS platform delivers sub-second tracking of people, assets, and equipment — without GPS or complex installations. Customers have used Volan to reduce search time, enhance safety, and uncover inefficiencies that were otherwise invisible. In high-risk environments, every second counts — and visibility is everything.
Read more
Smart Infrastructure Without the Headaches Modernizing Without Massive IT Projects

Smart Infrastructure Without the Headaches: Modernizing Without Massive IT Projects

Airports are facing growing challenges from labor shortages and stricter FAA safety requirements, prompting a need for smarter, more flexible technology solutions. Traditional infrastructure projects—costly, slow, and rigid—are no longer effective for managing the vast number of assets and personnel involved in modern airport operations. In response, wireless mesh networks offer a scalable, adaptable alternative that improves situational awareness without massive IT overhauls. The future of airport operations lies in incremental innovation that enhances safety and efficiency through real-time insights rather than large-scale capital investments.
Read more
The Last Mile of Airport Security Modernizing Access Control in the Age of Contract Workers

The Last Mile of Airport Security: Modernizing Access Control in the Age of Contract Workers

Airports are struggling to manage security for unbadged, temporary workers involved in large construction projects, exposing a critical gap in traditional access control systems. Relying on human escorts is proving ineffective due to staffing shortages and high turnover, making it nearly impossible to maintain proper oversight. Forward-thinking airports are adopting role-based geofencing and real-time location tracking to monitor workers virtually and prevent security breaches. The future of airport access control lies in smart, scalable systems that enhance human oversight and secure every corner of airport operations.
Read more
Beyond Air Safety The Hidden Challenges of Securing Airport Ground Operations

Beyond Air Safety: The Hidden Challenges of Securing Airport Ground Operations

Recent incidents have highlighted the importance of aviation safety, but securing airport ground operations presents equally critical challenges. Staffing shortages make it difficult to monitor hundreds of contractors and delivery workers daily, increasing the risk of security breaches. Advanced technologies now enable real-time monitoring, providing immediate alerts if escorted workers deviate from authorized areas, improving security without overburdening human resources. By integrating automated monitoring with human oversight, airports can enhance safety standards while addressing workforce limitations.
Read more
The Invisible Revolution How Location Intelligence is Transforming Industrial Operations

The Invisible Revolution: How Location Intelligence is Transforming Industrial Operations

,
Industrial operations are undergoing a silent revolution driven by location intelligence, transforming efficiency and productivity in ways most businesses don’t yet realize. Traditional methods of managing workflows—relying on manual oversight, outdated tracking systems, and reactive problem-solving—are no longer sustainable. Advanced location technology now provides real-time visibility into assets, movement patterns, and workflow optimization, eliminating operational blind spots that cost companies time and money. By leveraging precise tracking and actionable data, businesses can reduce inefficiencies, streamline operations, and gain a significant competitive advantage. In this new era, location intelligence isn’t just an upgrade—it’s the key to operational reinvention.
Read more
From Blind Spots to Insights How Real-Time Visibility is Transforming Operations at Airports and Warehouses

From Blind Spots to Insights: How Real-Time Visibility is Transforming Operations at Airports and Warehouses

,
Real-time visibility is revolutionizing operations at airports and warehouses by replacing outdated, assumption-based methods with actionable, live data. This transformative technology allows facilities to track assets like vehicles, equipment, and cargo indoors and outdoors, enabling safety, efficiency, and cost savings. Facilities that adopt these innovations can uncover inefficiencies, prevent safety incidents, and optimize processes in ways previously unattainable. As these advancements become essential for competitiveness, organizations that quickly adapt will lead the way in operational excellence.
Read more
An Almost Catastrophic Delivery Preventing the Next Runway Incursion

An Almost Catastrophic Delivery: Preventing the Next Runway Incursion

Runway incursions remain one of the most critical safety challenges for airports, with incidents often stemming from unauthorized access by vehicles or personnel unfamiliar with airport layouts. Current manual systems are increasingly strained by labor shortages and high turnover, exposing vulnerabilities in safeguarding restricted areas. Adopting advanced real-time location technology can address these risks, ensuring proactive monitoring, precise intervention, and enhanced operational safety across the airside environment.
Read more
Airport CFO Checklist Graphic

Airport CFOs Checklist | Trust AND Verify to Minimize Airport Labor Costs

As airport operations expand, CFOs face the increasing challenge of accurately tracking contractor labor costs across multiple, complex projects, with traditional manual methods often resulting in millions of dollars unverified. Without precise labor tracking, valuable insights that could enhance resource allocation and operational efficiency are missed. We have created a checklist for forward-thinking CFOs to identify areas for improvement. 
Read more
New Tracking Technologies A Potential Game-Changer for Airline On-Time Performance

New Tracking Technologies: A Potential Game-Changer for Airline On-Time Performance

Ramsey Nuwar highlights how new micro-location tracking technologies, like the system developed by Volan, can revolutionize airline on-time performance by offering real-time visibility of ground operations. Traditional manual tracking methods have often led to inefficiencies and delays. With Volan's system, wearable devices for personnel and USB-connected trackers for vehicles provide precise data on the location and movement of resources such as fuel trucks, baggage handlers, and cleaning crews. This allows proactive delay prevention, optimized resource allocation, enhanced safety, and better accountability. 
Read more

Airport Solutions

Airports

Our construction barrier technology provides geofenced barriers for airport construction sites to keep workers out of restricted areas and reduces the costs for worker escorts. Airport construction projects are never-ending, have many workers, and regulations require full-time monitoring of worker location. Volan’s technology can provide alerts within 2-3 seconds if a worker moves into a restricted space, along with the precise location of the worker and a live map view. Visit our Solutions for Airports page.