A Brookville company has been awarded a contract to rehabilitate the mobile lounge and plane mate prototype vehicles for the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority.
Brookville Equipment Corp. was given a notice to proceed on a $16.4 million contract for the rehabilitation and upgrade of the existing plane mate and mobile lounge vehicles at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
The rehab will include one prototype of each vehicle type, and when the work is complete the airport authority will have the option of revamping the rest of the fleet for an estimated $143 million, but not to exceed $160 million, over six years.
The fleet consists of 19 mobile lounges and 30 plane mates. The mobile lounges have been an essential part of Dulles International since it opened in 1962 and are considered a historic element.
The mobile lounge saves passengers time by eliminating walking long distances from the ticketing gate to the jet ramp. Currently, the vehicles are used to disembark passengers from most international flights arriving at Dulles.
The plane mates were an evolution of the concept and were produced in Pennsylvania in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The vehicles remain a critical part of the airport’s passenger transfer operations.
Brookville Equipment’s contract consists of rebuilding, redesigning and updating the interior of the units, as well as rebuilding the drive train and upgrading the engine to a tier 4 engine, lowering the emissions and resulting in a cleaner burning engine.